Thursday, March 26, 2009

Dreams

For the past couple of weeks, I've been having vivid, sometimes strange dreams. They play out in my mind almost like a movie. One "scene" seems to flow into the next. The "characters" in my dreams are sort of undefined, but familiar. Some of my dreams have been more like nightmares, but there is a kind of storyline playing out during the dream. It's funny that I would have any scary images because I try to shelter myself from anything scary during my waking hours. You won't catch me at a horror movie!

I have always had dreams. Now my dreams are more focused and longer. This period of dreaming seems different to me. I'm wondering if it is somehow tied in to my desire to be more creative. Can my subconscious be "feeding" me raw material for me to work out in my writing?

I'm curious if any of you have similar experiences with your dreams. Do you have periods of time when your dreams take a different direction? Have you found inspiration from your dreams? When I wake up, the images stay with me for a little while. Then I go off to run around the house and forget about them. I think I better keep a pad of paper next to the bed so I can jot down what I remember.

Of course, my techie husband doesn't dream, so he declares that I "think too much" even in my dreams. Considering how tired I am each night, I kind of agree with him. Even in my dream world, my mind is running all over the place :)

16 comments:

H.K. said...

I have very vivid dreams! My one regret is that I don't write them down. Stephenie Meyer the author of "Twilight" wrote her book based on a dream. And other best selling authors have written stories based on dreams as well.

Definitely have a pen and paper handy, you never know...you may be dreaming of a plot that will make a best selling novel!

Teri said...

I used to have a recurring dream that someone was chasing me through my house. I would run out the back door or jump out a window and run to the neighbor. Then I would make my way through their basement and keep running until I got away. Weird.

Penny said...

My dreams work like that, too...or if I'm really engrossed in a book and I read it before bed. I LOVE those dreams. They just increase my creativity.

T Rex Mom said...

I dream so much - and they change all the time. I even have the "scary" recurring nightmare from my childhood - vacuum chasing me! I once dreamed what I thought would have made an excellent science fiction novel but I've had the hardest time putting it to words. I'm not sure what dreams mean - and I do have a degree in psychology but generally it means you're having good REM sleep - probably because you're so tired!

Joanne said...

I don't remember too many of my dreams. The ones I do remember generally have something to do with the concept of home. I'd definitely keep a pad and pencil on your nightstand. Inspiration comes from many places!

Kim said...

I remember dreams as well. I like the idea of using them to inspire creativity. I think that sometimes people take their dreams too seriously and make up meanings for them. Recently I read something that made sense to me. Our dreams are an extension of our subconscious or conscious yearnings.

Unknown said...

Sadly, most of my dreams are about food....

Michelle said...

Ohhh I have very vivid dreams. I just don't remember them all the time! I know I had an interesting one last night, but I can't remember it anymore.

But your husband doesn't dream at all? That's just weird. :)

LuAnn said...

I have dreams of people chasing me- hate it!!!
And do you ever feel like you are falling? That is wierd too.

The Write Girl said...

Wow, dreams can be interesting. You should definitely write them down especially if they have wacky endings : )

shabby girl said...

I think we dream to work things out in our waking life, but also they could reveal what our intuition is trying to tell us. Get your pen & paper!
Once I had a dream of this beautiful painting; so beautiful that I was standing there crying over it. The next day on my way to work, I stopped at an art exhibit in a grocery parking lot. Yep, I found that picture, but it wasn't nearly as beautiful as in my dream. Weird.

Judith Ellis said...

Definitely do write them down. I could never remember them until a waking moment brought them back. Sometimes I could not recapture them, while the sense of them remained. I used to have dreams as I slept. I have more waking dreams now, vision-like. Thanks for sharing.

2 Brits, 2 Yanks, 2 Dogs said...

I have vivid dreams and sometimes nightmares and like you I don't watch horror movies at all. I think sometimes my dreams just relate to my state of mind. At the moment I feel like I need change in my life and my dreams have been very long and very vivid lately.

Is something happening in your life? I do try to examine dreams and realize that often the dream means something totally different.

Anonymous said...

OK...you need to head over to Jay's blog...he is amazing in the whole dream analysis "thing." Here is a link to a great post... http://jayfrawley.com/2009/03/09/inner-noodles-guide-to-dream-analysis-step-4/

Tell him Caroline sent you!

Unknown said...

@zen-thanks for the link.

@Kelly- The fact that the dreams keep coming is because your Inner Noodle (subconscious) is trying to get your attention. You are not over thinking in your dreams. Your subconscious thinks perfectly and dreams are pictures of that perfection. If you have time read my post, and please email me with any questions you might have- I am always happy to help facilitate dream meanings. jay frawley @ gmail dot com. Talk to you soon, and remember dreams are always only trying to help.

Jenners said...

I have very vivid dreams sometimes too ... I used to have them a lot more before I was a mom and just fell asleep exhausted every night! I like tracking the contents of my dreams to what I saw or did before bed ... sometimes you can pick up why certain things appeared.