Dreams entering waking life

[solunamomma]

I have been having the sensation of dreams entering my waking life. I will be lecturing and then all of a sudden it is as if I am dreaming, but the people should be different. I don't know that this makes sense. i feel as if there are two lives happening at once. It sounds crazy I know, but I am a sane person. If someone has any thoughts on this sensation, it would be so appreciated. Thank you

[The Guardians]

Hey bro, welcome to DV...everyone here is really helpfull and whatnot but In think, in all honesty, that this MIGHT be a form of scizophrenia, I'm not 100% sure but it sounds sort of like it...either that or you've been under too much stress.

[panzer]

I've had this happen before, both 'naturally' and as a result of my attempts at lucid dreaming. While attempting to attain lucidity, my dreams would often "fool" me, by having me dream that I was waking up. I would then realize I was dreaming again, only to dream that I was waking up again. I have had this happen up to 5 times in a dream... when I finally woke up, I was highly disoriented for most of the rest of the day. From my experience, events that would tend to give you 'deja vu' (i.e. things that you perform often, or are repetitive in nature) are most likely to create the feeling that you are dreaming, when you are in fact not. This happened to me the most when I was working long hours at a job that bored me to no end... The way I figure it, things that you perform over and over (lecturing in your case) become ingrained in our thoughts. In the same way that muscle memory develops from working out, "mental muscle" develops familiar channels that our thoughts tend towards. This can heavily influence dreaming -- for instance, it can be common to dream about working. Also, if you spend time thinking about what you are going to be doing the next day before you fall asleep (i.e. lecturing) this can influence your dreams. After waking, you may not remember the dreams, but the memories exist on some level. When you perform the familiar action, it triggers memory recall, and you will have a flashback of varying intensity. Knowing that the memory is false makes it confusing to your brain... hence the feeling that you are currently dreaming. Ways that I have found to combat this, include strengthening your dream recall ability, and adding variety in your waking life. Find the most repetitive things in your daily life, and change them up. Besides helping this issue, it will probably add a new level of interest to your day! However, I must note that I have always been able to tell that I am in fact awake - at worst there are moments of extreme confusion, but they have always passed within a few minutes. If your symptoms are worse, examine your personal life. There may be larger issues at work here, although I personally feel that schizophrenia may be a little too extreme of a diagnosis. Hope that helps. -panzer

[ignatz]

Sometimes dreams enter my waking life in the form of memories. I remember clearly things happening or emotions connected to people/places/things/events and sometimes have difficulty in remembering if it is a dream memory or if other people might remember it too. What you may be experiencing could be mental illness but is as likely to be some sort of nutritional deficiency. Or your dreams have become so vivid that you're having difficulty in sorting your memories effectively. Unless it is interfering with your preferred life-style, you could consider just enjoying it.

[Norwatch]

This sort of thing has happend to me also, after a fashion, and IS is very disorienting. I would wake up and go to school, and then remember some realy funny joke one of my friends had said the other day, and go up to them and talk about it. they would give me a strange look and sya that they never made such a joke, or whatever, and I would be forced to admit it never happened, and remeber it happened in a dream the night before last, or whatever. btw, it doesn't sound like schizophrenia, so i wouldnt wory about it so much

[Burns]

I sometimes will remember something and really have to think it myself if it actually happened or if I only dreamed in. I think being conscious of your awareness and everything around you may help the problem of being confused.