Why do dreams vary so much from day to day?

[beachgirl]

this morning i had THREE extremely vivid dreams... 1) reuniting with my deceased cat (very emotionally moving) 2) with my deceased father at a birthday party for him 3) with Michael Jackson (okay, he's deceased) when he was younger, at a party, with weird teeth, and black, and we hit it off really well, and eventually .... all three dreams were really vivid. after each one i said: If you see ANYONE deceased, go lucid (which i didn't). so my question nonetheless... why one day, such vivid dreams, all about deceased people, (or events or memories)? and another, nothing? or blurry dreams? or ordinary ones? does anyone have theories for this kind of thing? or even know why it happens? even if i didn't go lucid, i am certain i was *this close* to going lucid! i want to set up this type of situation again.

[Bobblehat]

I have been asking myself the same question just this week. My two recent lucids came from vivid dreams - if they weren't nightmares they were certainly stressful events! I'm sure that more vivid dreams like that would seriously increase my lucidity strike rate. But the last couple of nights my dreams recalled have just been a blur.

[Daydreamer14]

Maybe you've been thinking about someone who has died, or just dieing in general recently. Or maybe you've been thinking about something completely different, but your brain just associates it with deceased people/animals..? I find that if I think about something a lot in a week, I am more likely to dream about it... But who knows. Dreams are strange things.

[oceanblue]

Dreams are strange things indeed. Some of the most fantastic dreams have just seem to come out of the blue for me. I can recall some dreams no problem, yet some nights, the dreams seem a blur, and I can't remember a thing. I wish I knew the answer myself!