No biggie - just a lil chat about dreams and such -
 

For the past 3 nights, I've been having some horrible nightmares. No monsters or death or anything, but me getting hurt / fucked over by men. Yes, I'm going through a break up right now which is why these thoughts are fresh. Well actually, the break up's done. But these nightmares are ruining my days. They're consuming me. They're so vivid. Like they really happened. I'm fucking miserable. I'm not quite sure how to just shake them off and just tell myself they were just dreams. It's not working, anyways.

Anyone else plagued with bad dreams atm? Were you ever during a stressful time in your life? Did you have a grip on it or did you struggle a bit?

I've been having bad dreams lately but not every night. Usually I dream I am being chased and I can't get away. Sometimes I'll dream that I have to call 911 but my phone won't dial the right numbers. I'll dial 911 but the wrong numbers will show and when it does show 911 it will be busy or not go through.

My daughter who is 3 woke up this morning and told me she dreamed a man with a ripped face carried her away out of bed.

There was an interesting show on NOVA last night about dreams. It wouldn't offer much insight into your situations, but one thing about it did suggest is that bad dreams/nightmares are the brain forcing us to rehearse our reaction to a threatening situation. Children have bad dreams that are more "primitive"... being attacked by animals, being taken from their parents, etc. These derive from our evolutionary heritage where these were real threats in prehistoric times. Adult bad dreams show that the brain is plastic, and the instinctive, primitive dreams become more sophisticated and often represent threatening or unpleasant modern situations (job, relationships), or actual trauma (car accidents, burglaries, rape). The result of these bad dreams is that the sufferers are actually better equipped to deal with these and similar situations. It's a rehearsal for the real thing.

Woods subconscious would seem to be forcing her to face the emotional impact of her recent breakup in an effort to lessen the effect (not much insight there, sorry). As for LBC, one could read a lot into her fear of being chased and unable to call for support, but if you look at as just an attempt to prepare her to deal with such an eventuality, then it loses some of the threat.

hmph. Interesting.

It's like getting up on the wrong side of the bed every morning. /whine

I see my bad dreams as sort of a psychological challenge to overcome. Never had a bad dream more than twice since I've started thinking this way. Do the equivalent of looking your bad dreams right in the eyes and saying "Fuck you."

That struck a chord.

When I read that post, I immediately tensed up with anger. Gots some pent up dirty energy that I need to lose I guess. Interesting. I'll need to set aside some time later.

tyvm

I seldom have dreams of any kind. Or at least, I have no recall of them. If dreaming is a rehearsal for the real thing, I'll be woefully unprepared.

No bad dreams last night, that I remember. Just a very restless sleep but it's my bed I'm sure.

Thank you for this. You may not have intended for your comment to be so powerful or what not, but it was for me. Happy T-Day :o.