Extremely weird dream.

[Lioncor]

10/19/14 Hi friends, i signed up to this forum just because of this dream. Dreamt about helping someone but out of nowhere, a cop came inside the building and started shooting, I killed his partner but he shot his gun at my back, my left wrist and different parts of my body that i don't remember vividly. I felt intense pain on the first few shots but as i laid down on the ground i became numb but he began to say something that i couldn't remember but i just looked at him and told him to go ahead and shoot me, he shot me one last time in the head and i felt nothing. I became a ghost for a short moment and then went back to life in pain. I looked at the bullet holes and i could see the fragments of the bullet, especially on my left wrist, it was underneath my bone and off to the side. i saw my big brother lying injured on the ground. (I don't remember what happens so i skipped to this part) While i was alive, i could feel the pain of the gunshots in my body so i went to a doctor, the pretty nurse wanted a urine sample, I went to the washroom and it was extremely unsanitary, and there were a couple of people there who were standing around, with unusual physical display, one of them had a leg where their arm is supposed to be, i was starting to worry. The nurse came in and watched me do my urine sample. She brought me to a doctor (I vaguely remember her name, but the doctor was an east-indian doctor, around middle age) she told me to put a robe on, I shyly put it on. The room looked like a butcher room with different sets of bodies on different tables, she told me to lay down on the table and she began to cut open the parts that have been shot open with a scalpel, extracting the bullet fragments, and sent me on my way. After that I woke up in real life... It was a pretty intense and vivid dream. This is one of the most vivid dreams i remember. My life right now: 22 year old male, attending university, stressed by midterms, annoyed by one of my friends, and i also am starting to form feelings for one of the girls i met recently, I am planning to ask her out but haven't got the time to.

[sisyphus]

I wouldn't read too much into the particular imagery and detail of the dream. As you described yourself, you're under stress. Maybe you feel vulnerable and self-conscious. In that case, your dream narrative seems very typical. What's more notable is the likelihood that your waking day stress and other issues are negatively impacting your sleep. You aren't getting as much deep slow-wave sleep, and too much REM sleep. That means your sleep is not as restful to your body, and you spend more time in the zone where you might have vivid and memorable dreams. Lots of REM sleep can be good if you're aiming for lucid dreaming, but maybe not if you're just trying to manage a busy daily routine. So what I'm saying is, you should take this dream as a warning to improve your sleep habits, rather than any mystical omen. There are ways to deal with stress. Exercise or meditation come to mind. Maybe find some resolution with your girl issue. Point is, look to taking care of yourself during the waking hours. Find some relief in your waking stress and your sleep will improve. And better sleep with positively improve your waking hours. That creates a positive feedback loop. But above all, don't let the dream add to your worries. It's just an secondary indicator of your overall state.