Dreams, are they scary, in color, black and white or just insane?

It's definitely cool to let it run its course.

 

In '74 I read "There Is A River" by Thomas Sugrue, a (the best) biography of Edgar Cayce (b. ca. 1870, d. 1945), perhaps the world's most-documented "psychic" (now there's a whole 'nother conversational topic!), and began keeping a dream journal. Or wanting to. If memory serves it was something like 3 months before I woke with a memory of a dream, to wit: "I remember the image of a woman." Because the dreams I did recall were often terribly disturbing, I stuck with the journal and as time passed, I'd recall more and more. About '78 I quit the journal because it took too long to write them all down the next morning; I was logging about 20 dreams each night, then.
In '98 my ex- and I joined the Assn. for Research & Enlightenment (aka: "the Edgar Cayce Foundation") and bought a searchable CD-ROM of all his extant readings, almost 15,000 (a live-in secretary had recorded them as they happened). We also bought a dream dictionary, used to decipher dream symbology, and shared our dreams every morning. Our lives changed radically and here's some of what I've learned.
Everyone dreams every night but not everyone recalls doing so. Because most of us are taught that dreams are just mental ramblings, dreams most often appear surreal or "weird." Once we begin exploring dreams as if they're meaningful, one's dreams become more "real-lifey" — I haven't had a surreal dream in maybe 30 years. The vast majority of dreams pertain to self's health, physical or mental. (I began drinking water after ~40 years of practically nothing but coffee because of a dream, and probably saved my life. For what, I dunno. Yet.) Rarely are dreams prophetic, but those do happen. (Technology changed so I can no longer access the CD-ROM or list the other types of dreams.) All symbology is important: people, places, things, colors, smells…. Counter-intuitive as it may seem, much-if-not-most symbology is universal. (Obviously a gun would mean one thing to a war refugee and another to a gunsmith.)
The best beginning, to me, is to get a blank journal and keep it beside your bed, log every dream or fragment "religiously" as soon as you wake (if not in the middle of the night), get a dream dictionary (Mary Summer Rain's or Kevin Todeschi's are two good ones) and begin acting as if your dreams are meaningful — fake it till you make it, if it comes to that. Oh, and hum a few bars of The Outer Limits theme-song if you must but hang in there: Trust your Self. *he grins*

 

I dream in color, and they are always good.

Back when I was on a prescription, I had dreams so real that I couldn't tell later in the day if I had actually done something or just dreamed I did it. Things like paying bills, going shopping for food, exercising...

 

ive had that before... only mine were pretty strange... i knew they had to be dreams cuz they were so out there, but the memories of the dreams felt very real...

 

What kind of prescription are we talking about? A sleep aid? Interesting...

 

For me it was Zyban, which is pretty much wellbutrin. its a feel-gooder they perscribe to help wiht mood swings form quitting smoking... it makes for some pretty awesome dreams...

 

Did you quit smoking with it, I mean did it work?

 

I have, but not hte first time... wasnt ready... i did it again just 1 month ago, for lent, and have only had maybe 12 cigarettes since. i have had none in about 2 weeks. I honestly don't feel "addicted" anymore. i occasionally want one, but it feels more like a want than a need, and is easily overcome. i used visits with friends, work, and lifesaver mints as "antidrugs". The biggest motivator has been regaining my sense of smell. i can smell smoke on others now, and i don't like it. tha tmakes it easy not to want one. Thanks for asking!

oh, more to the point, i dont credit the zyban. it made it easier to not be crabby, but it did not make it easier to quit. it was more of a service to those around me than to myself, and i still had my moments of "intensified personality"... LOL

 

Effexor was the big one. I was only on Ambien for a few days, but don't remember much about the impact it had.

 

Don't remember the impact, lol. Does that mean you didn't dream or you don't remember what you did after taking Ambien. I have heard some pretty crazy stories with sleep aids.

 

I only took them for a few weeks back in 2003. I should use them to force my body to go to sleep on the Eastern Time Zone, but it is other things like TV, computers, and projects that keep me up later and later.

You do dream on Ambien, but it isn't a very high quality of sleep compared to normal. And if you fight it, strange things happen. Plus, you have to know that you can fall asleep at any time.

 

Try it out and let us know how it works out for you.

 

I have never dreamed in black and white, but I have had some nightmares that have scared me.

I have 3 or 4 re-occuring dreams

1, I dream of finding coins lying about on the floor. I scramble around picking them up, but when I wake up I realise I dont have any extra money after all.

2, I dream of having to take a shit in public and in front of people while everyday conversation is going on. I feel incredibly embarrassed, but everyone else carries on like nothing is wrong.

(I think the above 2 are fairly standard dreams, the 1st just about wishing i had more money, the 2nd about lacking self confidence)

3, I dream that I am at the infant school I went to as a kid (aged 5 to 7/8)... its night and I am running through a part of the school field (between the school building and the gates to get out, with pine tree's on one side and the building on the other). I stop running, look up and am staring at the stars, and I suddenly feel an intense feeling of velocity (not falling or rising, just like I am travelling at huge speed)

(I think people who have been abducted by aliens have dreams like that, but I dont think I have ever been abducted by aliens)

4, I dream about fighting with my father (s0metimes him beating me and I can't fight back, sometimes me attacking and in some cases killing him)

(Its not a dream Ive heard of other people having had, but I guess Freud would have known what to make of it)

_

The other theme I dream about fairly often is this, and of all the dreams I have it probably effects me the most (in the short term obviously)

I have to stress, these are not sexy dreams, but they are for want of a better word, romance dreams. I have had 6 or 7 of these in my life, each time about a different girl. And GENUINELY, these were not girls I had crushes on, or liked, and in some cases even spoke to much... just people in real life I didnt know well or think about much. In each case I dreamed about a female friend or work colleague or acquaintance, and in the dream we are in a relationship. Nothing physically ever really happens, and I only remember snatches... like sitting in a flat (not one Ive ever seen before) having breakfast, walking through a shop together to buy a table and chairs for the dining room, walking on a tow path by a pretty river not talking, sitting watching TV in the dark... just very very every day things you might do...

But when I wake up, in the first seconds it all feels real - like this person is my girlfriend and we've been together a few years and we love each other... And then it slowly hits me that it isnt real, and I feel this indescrible and very powerful sense of loss and lonliness.

Ive had "sexy" dreams about good looking girls I know, or girls I have crushes on, or past girlfriends, etc etc... and these are completely different.

I know one mate who I told about them who said he had the same thing (and he had been with someone about 6 years at the time). I'd be genuinely quite interested if anyone else has ever dreamed like this?

_

The others, just normal nightmares about a devil or ghost pinning me to the ceiling, about seeing the devils face and feeling like all the hate in the world is being concentrated on me, about being attacked by a vicious beast (and sometimes I fight back, sometimes I run).... I have these kinds of things sometimes.

Since my mum died, I have dreams where she is asking for help but everyone in the family is ignoring her... I guess again a standard expression of guilt. Also not a nice feeling when you wake up.

 

It is odd that I can't recall whether the majority dreams are black and white or in color. When I have a really vivid nightmare though it always seems to appear as dark as if I woke up in the middle of the night and with a haze like a fog. Perhaps that is what adds to the scariness of it.

 

I always dream in color. Very often don't remember my dreams when I wake up (none of them), but once a week or so I do. They tend to be fucking Cirque-du-Soleil crazy dreams that make absolutely no sense and are completely incoherent, though.

Reason I'm reviving this thread is because of a dream I had 2 days ago and suddenly remembered.

Only really remember a tiny portion of it, which involves me, my SO and my ex. My ex was (and probably still is) a short and very attractive girl when I was together with her. I broke up with her over her constant lies (no big lies, but not the issue here).

In the dream, my ex had completely changed and was suddenly very fat and ugly (and I think she was balding ). I don't remember the setting at all, but it was my SO and I standing next to each other and the ex was in front of us. I don't remember if there was actually a conversation, but I think she was accusing me of leaving her and that I was the reason for the shape she was in.

And for some reason, I felt guilty. I don't mean the normal "I fucked up" guilty that you can get on any given day... but a really deep-seated guilt that felt all-encompassing and as if it was about to swallow my entire persona. I've never felt guiltier in my entire life (and I've fucked up in big ways many, many times).

No clue what to make of it. SO thinks it has to do with how I'm handling my successes and failures in life.

 

I had this dream where I woke up, lost three hours of time. Lump on my head, someone walking me into a second floor church. A huge window in front of my view in which I could see this huge church, so bright with light, so many seats were empty. My middle son appeared next to me. We were standing in front of a troth of holy water. He stepped in to the water, dripping when he came out. I saw another kid next to him, I could not see his face. This huge Asian man stepped in front of this kid and would not let him in the holy water.
I woke up thinking I was at a cousin's funeral who is still alive today. It was in color, must be the brain cleaning house again. What is weird is how it sticks with you. I dreamed it in some really weird detail. Working on a drawing on what I saw.