Nightmares

[irishcream]

What causes them, from where do they originate? Does anyone else here suffer from them? I've just had the worst nightmare in over a year...

[Wee YaK]

i havnt had a nightmare for along time. or at least one that i remember.

[Ex Nine]

Wherever they come from, they're very personal, aren't they? I think that's part of what makes them so frightening. Even the nightmares children have only seem silly on the surface. It's very serious to them! I still have a few of them. They almost always have to do with school, feeling that my mind is imprisoned, enslaved to think and be a certain way, very horrible. Along with actually having to get out of bed and write, recording these dreams are the hardest part of learning lucidity. Although, there is usually some dark absurdity to them. Here's a snippet from my dream journal just a couple nights ago: I got back in the line of people to climb up a ladder, over and through to the next classroom. I walked up to the teacher's desk and told him, after hesitating, “can I talk to you after class?” “Sure,” he said, “any particular reason?" “Well," I said, "I think I just don’t like seeing people burned alive.” I don't think you want to hear what I wrote before that! There are hyperactive dreams that I don't classify as nightmares because they are too purely physical and don't contain any dreadful psychological element. For example, last night I dreamt I walked into a fast food restaurant just as it was mowed down by a gang of lunatic asians with machine guns. I mean, they didn't even use the doors. They just fired through the windows and jumped in, shooting people inside, yelling gleefully about how they were going to kill everybody. I was one of the few who managed to run outside. I ran in the opposite direction others were running. They ran after each of us and hunted us down, yelling to me that it wasn't honorable to die this way. ("Yeah, you're tellin' me!"). They never shot me successfully, but they did trap me behind a pair of cars, at which point I was noticing that all of this was suspisciously like a movie and, therefore, like a dream. Just pure survival defense mechanisms. It's hard to say it was a nightmare. But it had to come from somewhere, right? I don't watch a lot of movies, nor do I play a lot of video games. But I used to, like any guy. Maybe my subconscious is telling me I miss it. I hope you find something to laugh at in your nightmares, Irishcream. Even if it's just a little thing. I wouldn't expect you to find the whole thing funny, or else it wouldn't have been a nightmare in the first place.

[irishcream]

I wish there was something to laugh at. The whole thing was so violent, so scary. It's like it's done something to my brain...

[Rapscallion]

Well I love nightmares. In real life I have never felt as scared as I have in nightmares, so fear works as a perfect dream sign for me. Whenever I am scared in a dream I become lucid.

[goku4ever]

I so would love to become Lucid in a nightmare. Just imagine a guy is chasing you down a street and then all of a sudden *bam* you have full lucidity and youre in complete control and you turn around with a smile on your face and kung fu him into next week. That would rule!

[irishcream]

Originally posted by goku4ever I so would love to become Lucid in a nightmare. Just imagine a guy is chasing you down a street and then all of a sudden *bam* you have full lucidity and youre in complete control and you turn around with a smile on your face and kung fu him into next week. That would rule! I was reading something the other day about that, when you are having dreams of being pursued, to turn and face your assailant, and ask them what they want. unfortunately, i'm usually too freaked out by the dream to concentrate...

[Ex Nine]

Originally posted by irishcream I was reading something the other day about that, when you are having dreams of being pursued, to turn and face your assailant, and ask them what they want. *unfortunately, i'm usually too freaked out by the dream to concentrate... They want you! So the real question is why do they want you?

[Wezel]

My very first [EDIT] (a few typo\'s)

[poeticDreamer]

Some of my most horrifying nightmares haven't been violent, they haven't involved weird creatures or being gunned down or run over or anything like that...they're much more psychological. I have plenty of dreams that I guess you could call nightmares, but they aren't, because I'm not afraid in them, nor do they leave any lasting mark besides, "Oi, that was weird." The most recent vivid nightmare I had happened while I was pregnant with my daughter. I have a feeling it had a lot to do with my feelings of inadequacy. I dreamed that something happened to my parents and my brother and I had to leave home. I didn't want him to be handed over to DSS, so he and I ran away. We walked for miles and miles on the sidewalk, and then it started to rain. We didn't have a change of clothes or different shoes, and we got soaking wet, all the way up to our knees, until our jeans and our shoes were falling apart. We walked over highway overpasses and almost got hit by cars, and we were really hungry. We came through this city that wasn't in the least bit familiar, and we stopped into this restaurant to see if we could get some food. (Seriously, this hurts right now just reliving it. I've got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach). No one would really give us anything, so we kept begging until they finally gave us something. The only thing they would give us was a chopped off fish head, still intact and completely raw. My brother started crying and refused to eat it, and I couldn't bring myself to either. I had to stand there and watch my brother go hungry knowing there wasn't anything I could do for him. Just telling that made me almost cry. It was so real and so awful. I woke up crying that morning, it was that bad. I'd say that nightmares definitely contain a message from your unconscious--it's like, "If you won't face your fears in your waking life, you're going to do it in your dreams!" I still have a slight fear everytime I go to sleep that I'm going to have a nightmare.

[irishcream]

Originally posted by poeticDreamer I'd say that nightmares definitely contain a message from your unconscious--it's like, \"If you won't face your fears in your waking life, you're going to do it in your dreams!\" I agree with this...Basically, what i dreamed about was about something that i've just got to do in waking life, like it or not, or i'm never going to be able to move forward. The consequences of my actions are not going to be as bad as the dream. i think it was my mind's way of saying 'get your butt in gear!'

[poeticDreamer]

I've had unconscious warnings, too. I had a nightmare a few months before I found out I was pregnant. I was in the library where I worked at the time, on one of our laptops, and I was talking to my now ex on instant messenger. We had an awful fight, where he basically told me that he just wasn't interested anymore. Several months later we were having a very similar conversation...I even told him that I should have known it was coming.

[irishcream]

Wow... i really hope my dream wasn't a premonition...cos if it was, i'm going to have busted kneecaps...*gulp*

[poeticDreamer]

I doubt it was a literal premonition--we don't want you coming back with busted kneecaps!

[Ev]

A couple weeks ago I listened to the suggestion tape from warpmymind.com and Since then I noticed increased level of violence / freakiness of my dreams. It may also be connected to stress... Pretty much my dreams changed.... Increased level of violence/ gore, it even triggered lucidity a couple times... Few days ago I had my first nightmare in years.... It involved darkness and the girl from "the Ring"... Even tho I decided to fight her, I was pretty shaken.... Yesterday I had a LD, I saw a door and I was compelled to enter. Inside were 2 rooms that turned dark as I approached and tons of monsters spawned and chased me, they also massacred the DC population and each other...Not a pretty sight... So these events made me think about the whole issue. I came up with a few ideas: Nightmares may be caused by changes in your mind (as in this case an intrusion by a hypnotic tape)... Strong emotions stirring up, changes in your way of thinking, disturbance of inner peace/balance... Anxiety and stress in real life may also transmit into the dream world. Last week was crazy and I can see the effects...

[irishcream]

Originally posted by Ev So these events made me think about the whole issue. I came up with a few ideas: Nightmares may be caused by changes in your mind (as in this case an intrusion by a hypnotic tape)... Strong emotions stirring up, changes in your way of thinking, disturbance of inner peace/balance... Anxiety and stress in real life may also transmit into the dream world. Last week was crazy and I can see the effects... This would make sense to me...i've had a few emotional changes going on the last week or so...i think i'm in a period of readjustment, and my brain is having it's own way of a night time. Last night i dreamed i was attacked by a faceless man in black, and he was going to rape me. Thankfully, i woke up!