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Electric Dreams Volume 10 Issue 03
E.l.e.c.t.r.i.c D.r.e.a.m.s
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E.l.e.c.t.r.i.c D.r.e.a.m.s
Volume #10 Issue #3
March 2003
ISSN# 1089 4284
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http://www.dreamgate.com/electric-dreams
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Download a cover for this issue!
http://dreamgate.hypermart.net/ed-covers/ed10-3cov.jpg
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C O N T E N T S
++ Editor's Notes
++ The Global Dreaming News
Events - Updates - Reviews - More
From Peggy Coats - www.DreamTree.com
++ Column: An Excerpt From the Lucid Dream Exchange
By Lucy Gillis
++ Article: The Dream Journal
By Linda Lane Magallón
++ Column: A View from the Bridge
Report on the World Dreams Peace Bridge
By Jean Campbell
++ Dream: The Impact of a Man's Life
By Stan Kulikowski II
++ Article: New Trends in Dream Brain Research
By Richard Wilkerson
D R E A M S S E C T I O N : Volume #616 - #632
With Editors Elizabeth Westlake and Harry Bosma
D E A D L I N E :
March 19 deadline for April 2003 submissions
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Post Dreams and Comments on Dreams to:
http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/temple
Send Dreaming News and Calendar Events to:
Peggy Coats <web@dreamtree.com>
Send Articles and Subscription concerns to:
Richard Wilkerson: <rcwilk@dreamgate.com>
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Editor's Notes
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Welcome to the March 2003 issue of Electric Dreams, your portal to dreams and dreaming online.
If you are new to dreams and dreaming, please join us on dreamchatters@yahoogroups.com and we will guide you to the resources you need. To join send an e to
dreamchatters-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
We have quite a mix of items for you this month.
Lucy Gillis offers a selection from the Lucid Dream Exchange. This month includes tips for lucid dreamers. The tips are for beginners as well as advanced lucid dreamers.
Linda Magallón continues her excerpts from "How to Fly." Last month she looked into the importance of recording dreams. This month she delves more deeply into a dreamer's most important tool, a dream journal.
Jean Campbell continues to be a key player in 21st Century dream activism and this month has an update from the most active online project, the World Dreams Peace Bridge. In "A View from the Bridge" Jean describes current projects and how you can participate. There is also information about the website worlddreamspeacebridge.org
By popular demand, Stan Kulikowski's dream journal is back with a special selection called "The Impact of a Man's Life"
In honor of the 50th Anniversary of REM dreaming, I am including my notes on the dreaming brain research that is in process of going through a new revolution. The two camps: One side sees dreaming as something initiated by the lower brain and the higher brain is seen as a sleepy partner that does its best to handle the noise from the lower brain. The other camp sees the higher brain as having the ability to dream on its own with or without the influences of the lower brain. Now, the two camps are starting to come together and build a complex model that is sure to influence the research in dreams for another 50 years.
I have named my notes-collection "New Trends in Dream Brain Research" and will have updates as the year goes on.
Do you want a cover for your copy of Electric Dreams? We produce a cover every month. This month, I'm contributing the cover, taken from an anxiety dream I had about war. In the dream my dad lands an old WWII plane on the deck of an aircraft carrier and we all run out to greet him. He tells us that our weapons are "too archaic" and we are really taking a beating. End dream.
I'm not sure what he meant, but I took this to mean that we definitely need a new approach.
http://dreamgate.hypermart.net/ed-covers/ed10-3cov.jpg
The Dream Section, beautifully edited by Elizabeth Westlake [with the help of Harry Bosma's editor program], is full of dreams sent in to us over the last month. Re-dreaming, kidnapping, jails and sweet kisses ... be sure to read the dream section!
If you have dreams you want published, don't send them to Elizabeth directly, but rather enter them in the form at
http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/temple
Or you can put them in the dream flow directly by subscribing to: dream-flow-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
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For those of you who are new to dreams and dreaming, be sure to stop by one of the many resources:
http://www.dreamtree.com
http://www.dreamgate.com/electric-dreams
http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/library
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Planning to join the 2003 ASD International Dream Conference in Berkeley? Be sure to register early! http://www.asdreams.org/2003
-Richard Wilkerson
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G L O B A L D R E A M I N G N E W S
February 2003
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If you have news you'd like to share, contact Peggy Coats, web@dreamtree.com. Visit Global Dreaming News online at http://www.dreamtree.com/
This Month's Features:
NEWS
- Lucidity Conference in Hawaii
- ASD 2003 International Dream Conference
- ASD Dream Auction Online
- "Dream Wisdom" Readings by Alan Siegel
- Volunteer Positions at ASD
- How to get ASD News
WEBSITE & ONLINE UPDATES
- Dream Wisdom site offers articles
- Scott McLoud Dream Page
- Change in Behavioral and Brain Science Articles
- Electric Dreams articles moving
- ASD 2003 Conference Abstracts
DREAM CALENDAR for February 2003
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N E W S
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>>>>> Lucid Dreaming in Hawaii
DREAMING AND AWAKENING, KALANI, HAWAII,
MAY 9-18, 2003
A 10-day Residential Training Program
in Lucid Dreaming and Tibetan Dream Yoga
with Stephen LaBerge and Friends
Kalani, Hawaii, May 9-18, 2003
Awareness enhancement and fun at the beautiful Kalani Retreat Center on the Big Island of Hawaii, with Stephen LaBerge and friends. See website for pictures and details: http://lucidity.com/daa/
>>>>> 20th Annual International Conference of the Association for the Study of Dreams
June 27 - July 1, 2003
Berkeley, California
Dreaming by the Bay - Over 100 events over five days, including workshops, papers, panels, symposia, art, and multimedia shows!
DREAM FILM FESTIVAL: At this year's conference, ASD will offer an expanded dream film festival ( we supply the popcorn!) with nearly continuous showings of feature and documentary films. With the help of dream film gurus, Drs. Bernard Welt, Deirdre Barrett, Jim Pagel, and Kelly Bulkeley, ASD will offer commentaries, symposia, and even repeat showings of popular dream-oriented films ranging from Le Guin's, The Lathe of Heaven, to Bunuel, Hitchcock, Sayles, Dr. Suess, the Rugrats, Star Trek episodes and much more. Highly requested documentaries such as the Wise Old Dog, The Power of Dreams, and Goodnight Moon will also be included.
SUNSET DREAM CRUISE ON THE BAY: As a special treat at this year's conference, ASD will offer a cruise on the San Francisco Bay. From a dock, right at the hotel, you will set sail into the sunset to savor the spectacular views, and the sights and sounds of the bay. This is a rare opportunity to share an evening with friends and colleagues from the conference.
CE PROGRAM: ASD will be offering 30 Continuing Education (CE) Credits from the ASD Dream Studies Continuing Education Program which will include in-depth clinical and interpretive workshops with Deirdre Barrett, Ph.D.; Kelly Bulkeley, Ph.D.; Ernest Hartmann, M.D. Alan Siegel, Ph.D.; Roger Knudson, Ph.D., Paul Lippman, Ph.D. ; Rev. Jeremy Taylor, D. Min.
BOOK SALES AND AUTHOR SIGNINGS: Browse through dream-related books and
obtained personalized signed copies from world-famous authors.
JURIED ART EXHIBIT: The deadline for submitting work to the 2003 Dream Art Show is March 1, 2003. Artists may submit up to ten slides of their work. For more information check the ASD web site, E-mail Richard Russo, M.A. at RR@Well.Com or send a SASE to Richard Russo, 835 Peralta St. Berkeley, CA 94707.
HOT OFF THE PRESS RESEARCH: The conference will include one or more "Hot-off-the-Press" sessions, during which individuals will be given five minutes to present recent research findings.
2003 CONFERENCE COMPUTER CAFE
The online 2003 Computer Cafe will offer quick access to many conference events and presentations, including the 2003 Dream Art Exhibit, Presentation Abstracts, Conference Program Schedules and the Annual Dream Telepathy Contest. You can access the cafe via the 2003 Conference website at http://www.asdreams.org/2003
>>>> Online Dream Auction at ASD
The Association for the Study of Dreams offers and online auction for those who want to donate and purchase items, the benefits going to ASD programs and the international dream movement. Here is you chance to pick up autographed books by famous dream researchers and pioneers, pictures by dream artists and various ASD items from past conferences.
Stop by
http://www.asdreams.org/auction
>>>>> Dream Wisdom reading by Alan Siegel, Ph.D.
Alan Siegel will be presenting on dreams in March at:
Tuesday, March 4, 2003
Alan Siegel will present a parent education seminar at Marin Country Day School on Tuesday morning, March 4
Sunday, March 9, 2003 at 2 PM in Corte Madera CA
Alan Siegel will read from Dream Wisdom and sign books at:
Book Passage in Corte Madera, CA on Sunday afternoon March 9, 2003
51 Tamal Vista Blvd Corte Madera, CA
(415) 927 0960 (800) 999 7909.
This event is free and open to the public.
http://www.bookpassage.com/bookstore/
>>>>> Volunteer Positions at the Assoc. for the Study of Dreams
Help out the Dream Movement by volunteering at the Association for the Study of Dreams!
The Association for the Study of Dreams is a non-profit, international, multidisciplinary organization dedicated to the pure and applied investigation of dreams and dreaming.
Their purposes include promoting awareness and appreciation of dreams in both professional and public arenas; encouraging research into the nature, function, and significance of dreaming; advancing the application of the study of dreams; and providing a forum for the eclectic and interdisciplinary exchange of ideas and information.
If you can help this organization in any way, you will also be helping the Dream Movement get the message out about dreams and dreaming.
Included below are volunteer positions and tasks at ASD, mostly online.
For many of the positions, you do not have to be an ASD member.
(You can be come a member for $100 at http://www.asdreams.org )
If you are interested in one of the volunteer positions or willing to take on one of the tasks, please contact Richard Wilkerson, rcwilk@dreamgate.com
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Code Keyword from ASD Journal issues into the HTML of the Abstract Pages.
Code Keyword from ASD Journal issues into the HTML of the Abstract Pages.
Description: The ASD journal Dreaming posts its abstracts online each quarter and these can be located by various search engines. However, these engines could locate the material more efficiently if the keywords provided by the journal were collected together and coded in the META statements.
Task: For each issue of the journal Dreaming, collect the keywords listed at the bottom of each abstract. Eliminate duplicate keywords. Code these into that issue's HTML Meta statement in the following format:
<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT=".,.,.">
EXAMPLE:
<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="ASD Journal Dreaming, dream, dreams, dreaming, intuition, research">
Please include for the first keyword "ASD Journal Dreaming"
Send the finished HTML in ascii format to Richard Wilkerson, rcwilk@dreamgate.com
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Search Engine Expert or Apprentice
Search Engine Expert or Apprentice
Description: The Internet search engines is the primary way people find the ASD site, yet the rules for each one are different and changing. The ASD site needs someone interested in keeping up with these rules and developing reports for the electronic communications committee that will advise on compliance with the rules.
Task: The search engine volunteer (SEV) will need to have access to the WWW. The SEV will research the main search engines and become familiar with the rules for each engine. (apprentice SEV will get training from the ASD web manager, Richard Wilkerson) The SEV will also develop two kind of reports, at least quarterly: The first will be a report to the ASD Electronic Communications Committee with suggestions about how to improve the ranking of the ASD site with the major search engines. These reports may be more frequent. The second report will made in cooperation with the ASD Web Manager, summarizing the changes made that quarter to the ASD website regarding search engines. This second report will be included in the quarterly ASD Online Report made by the ASD Web Manager to the ASD executive board.
This position may also coincide with the ASD Online Ambassador position.
We recommend that the SEV join the following e-list:
searchengineguide@yahoogroups.com
searchengineguide-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
We recommend that the SEV becomes familiar with websites related to search engines, such as
http://www.searchengineguide.com/
http://www.searchenginewatch.com/
http://www.rankpilot.com/cgi-bin/seranker/seranker.cgi?submit
other helpful sites:
http://www.northernwebs.com/set/
Apprentice SEVs will be instructed on all points, including:
1. What are search engines and portals and how to register with them?
2. How to increase a site's ranking on a search engine?
3. What meta statments are and why they are important to search engines.
4. How to read the site statistics and search engine rankings.
5. Why links from other sites are so important.
6. How a websites keywords and key phrases are important.
If interested, please contact Richard Wilkerson, rcwilk@dreamgate.com
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>>>>> How to get ASD News
Although the Global Dreaming News tries to bring you all the information we can on dreams and dreaming, we don't always have the room for all the projects at the Association for the Study of Dreams. You can get all the details, new each month, at
http://www.asdreams.org/enews/index.htm
or you can subscribe to the ASD eNews and get the monthly news via email. Subscribe by sending an email to
asd-enews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
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W E B S I T E & O N L I N E U P D A T E S
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Do you know of interesting new websites you'd like to share with others? Or do you have updates to existing pages? Help spread the word by using the Electric Dreams DREAM-LINK page
www.dreamgate.com/dream/resources/online97.htm. This is really a public projects board and requires that everyone keep up his or her own link URLs and information. Make a point to send changes to the links page to us
>>>>>New Articles on Dream Wisdom
Alan Siegel's "Dream Wisdom" explains how dreams can be a source of special insight and healing during life's transitions. Using more that 140 actual "turning point" dreams as examples, Siegel helps the reader to use dreams as a window into hidden needs, unconscious feelings and unexplored wisdom, which can enhance the ability to understand and resolve life's major challenges.
Many of the techniques are available online
http://www.dreamwisdom.info
>>>>>Scott McLoud Dream Page
http://www.dreamscott.com
"Welcome to my brain. Please enjoy the movies of my mind in text and illustrations that date all the way back to childhood (online since '99). I love sharing dreams with good folk."
>>>>> Change in Behavioral and Brain Science Articles
The special issue on dreams and dreaming has been moved.
Behavioral and Brain Sciences journal #23. Dreaming and the Brain: Towards a Cognitive Neuroscience of Conscious States.
http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/OldArchive/sleep.html
>>>>> Electric Dreams articles moving
Although the main index for the Electric Dreams articles will remain the same, the articles are moving from telocity.com to improverse.com If you just link to the index at http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/ed-articles
then you will have no problem with the transition. But if you have linked to individual articles at telocity.com you will need to find these articles again through the index.
>>>>> ASD 2003 Conference Abstracts
The abstracts are now online for the 100 plus presentations of the 2003 international Association for the Study of Dreams. This is a fabulous resource for students and researchers, as well as the rest of us who would like to see what is going to happen at the Berkeley conference.
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D R E A M C A L E N D A R
March 2003
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***** JURIED ART EXHIBIT: The deadline for submitting work to the 2003 Dream Art Show is March 1, 2003. Artists may submit up to ten slides of their work. For more information check the ASD web site, E-mail Richard Russo, M.A. at RR@Well.Com or send a SASE to Richard Russo, 835 Peralta St. Berkeley, CA 94707.
***** Alan Siegel will be presenting on dreams in March at:
Tuesday, March 4, 2003
Alan Siegel will present a parent education seminar at Marin Country Day School on Tuesday morning, March 4
Sunday, March 9, 2003 at 2 PM in Corte Madera CA
Alan Siegel will read from Dream Wisdom and sign books at:
Book Passage in Corte Madera, CA on Sunday afternoon March 9, 2003
51 Tamal Vista Blvd Corte Madera, CA
(415) 927 0960 (800) 999 7909.
This event is free and open to the public.
http://www.bookpassage.com/bookstore/
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An Excerpt From the Lucid Dream Exchange
By Lucy Gillis
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The Lucid Dream Exchange is pleased to announce a new reader-supported feature called "Tips and Techniques" where readers can help fellow lucid dreamers by sharing their tips and advice; from how to induce lucid dreams, to how to achieve specific goals in lucid dreams. Below is a "sneak preview" of this feature in the up coming issue, LDE number 26.
TIPS AND TECHNIQUES
Beginner Lucid Dreamers
1) Near Misses. If you are trying to have a lucid dream, make note of your lucid dream "near misses." What's a lucid dream near miss? These are the dreams in which you speak or think about lucid dreaming to yourself or other dream characters. For example, you may have a dream in which you are reading a book on lucid dreams, or talking to a friend about lucid dreams. You may even say to yourself in the dream, "This reminds me of a dream" without becoming lucid and aware! Whatever the case, don't despair! These "near misses" suggest that you are making real progress in achieving lucidity. It indicates that your inner self has picked up on your waking interest in lucid dreaming. So keep trying! And pay attention to those near misses. They can show you where you need greater critical awareness.
Intermediate Lucid Dreamers
1) Lucid Trifecta. So, you wake up at 5 am, and can recall a lucid dream, and make notes in your dream journal - great! But don't stop there --- in my experience, once you have had one lucid dream in a night, the conditions are right to have two or three lucid dreams that same night. So write down your lucid dream, and think about a goal that you could have achieved with a little bit more awareness in that lucid dream, and then intend to have another lucid dream! Experience has taught me that when the conditions are right, keep going -- the probability of success is high.
Advanced Lucid Dreamers
1) Next Level. So, you are once again lucid. That's great. But this time, instead of flying, having an intimate rendezvous, or interacting with dream characters, announce to the dream that you want to go to "The Next Level." See what happens.
In my experience, the lucid dream makes a complete shift on a number of levels. But, see for yourself. And, if you would, send your experiences to the Lucid Dream Exchange.
The above Tips and Techniques are courtesy of Robert Waggoner.
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Paying attention to, and taking advantage of "dream signals" is another way to trigger lucid dreaming. With practice you can learn to easily recognize your own personal dream signs, as C.S. does:
Excerpted from C.S.'s dream:
C.S.
"I woke up twice previously but was too tired to recall my dreams. . . I suggested "I want to have a lucid dream, and will have a lucid dream." Immediately:
Energy flowed around me (my lucid sign), mostly at my sides, down around my feet and around my head. The noise associated with it, at this time, was low. I felt really happy so I sang a fast, joyous song."
*```*```*```*```*```*```*```*```*
Some lucid dreamers have their own "tricks of the trade" when it comes to maneuvering within a lucid dream. For example, if you experience difficulty in flying to distant locations you may want to try what Katie does:
Excerpted from Katie's dream:
". . . I spy a cluster of buildings, dominated by a pointy one, both off in the distance and higher up in the air. I do my trick where I determine a spot and arrive at it rather than physically fly (as I'd been doing earlier, flap flap like a bird straight up). I do this in short increments rather than all at once."
If you have any tips, tricks, techniques, or suggestions you'd like to share we'd love to hear from you!
********
The Lucid Dream Exchange is a quarterly newsletter featuring lucid dreams and lucid dream related articles, poetry, interviews, and book reviews. To subscribe to The Lucid Dream Exchange send a blank email to:
TheLucidDreamExchange-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
or join through the Yahoo Groups website at http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/TheLucidDreamExchange
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The Dream Journal
(c) 2003 Linda Lane Magallón
(Excerpted from "How To Fly")
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The Dream Journal
(c) 2003 Linda Lane Magallón
(Excerpted from "How To Fly")
A dreamer who had kept dream journals for many years decided she wanted to give them to posterity. So she offered to donate them to a dream library. I had a chance to look at her journals before the library directory declined them and I could quickly see why they were refused.
The dreams were all in cramped handwriting that was very difficult to read. There were no dates. There were no titles. The dreams were unnumbered and there was no index or table of contents. There were no comments about what had been happening in the waking life of the dreamer. Not even an indication of the gender or age of the dreamer. Just dream after dream after dream.
Record keeping is usually set up to suit your own purposes. That's fine, as long as you play hermit. For example, one dreamer of my acquaintance uses a "dream drawer." She simply writes down her dream on any old piece of paper and flings it into the drawer. However, your purposes might not suit anyone else. The director had her library patrons in mind. When dreams are made available to other people, there are very good reasons to keep a well-organized journal. So you can share and compare with a dream group. So you can be of real use to a dream researcher. So someone else can actually read them! Hey, how is your penmanship at 3:00 in the morning?
There are also important reasons why you would want to keep a written dream log for yourself. They might include:
-- Ease of finding a favorite dream
-- Aid in dream analysis
-- Ability to track down a precognitive dream
-- Inspiration for dream creativity
-- Pump priming for further flying dreams
Gabriele Rico, author of *Writing The Natural Way,* advises, "Find the pattern in your life - and celebrate it!" But it's impossible to find the pattern of your dream life unless you have your dreams gathered in one place. While you might discover what circumstances favor flying today, you may not know the best option from the sweep of the past. And while you can take the temperature of any single dream on a separate sheet of paper, to feel the steady pulse of your dream health requires records that help track your dreaming life over the span of time.
Dream Log IQ
With a well-kept dream log, you can answer questions like these:
-- How often do I have flying dreams?
-- What was the content of my last birthday dream?
-- Have I ever mapped my route through the dreamscape?
-- What's my funniest dream title?
-- What's the best month for recalling dreams? Time of the week?
-- How many mythic creatures have I dreamt about?
-- What was the most helpful dream character? Can I locate that dream?
-- When was the last time my dreaming self sobbed or laughed out loud in a dream?
-- What's average weather in my dreamland?
Other Than Dreams
My first dream journal was comparatively small and spiral bound. The thick wire dissuaded me from free form dream recording, except on the right. Thus, I wound up with journal entries on only one side of each page. This turned out to be fortuitous. Unwittingly, I had allowed space for things other than dreams to be added to my journal. They included:
-- Doodles of dream objects difficult to describe in words
-- Quick notes when I recognized a symbol or theme that corresponded to what had been happening the previous day
-- My first stumbling attempts at symbol interpretation
Unlike a bound book, I didn't feel that I was desecrating my journal when I ripped a page out of the spiral notebook, after I made a mistake or created a "rough draft" of dream fragments out of order.
Nowadays, I use a binder. To help clear the way for new dreams, I grab my notepad, tear out the perforated sheets of paper and place them in my binder (I've also invested in a 3-hole punch in case it's needed).
The Table Of Contents And Classification Codes
Each of my binders contain hundreds of dreams. Sometimes people number their dreams, but it's much easier to remember one with a title than to picture what #124 was about. And even though I title each of them, it still can be difficult to locate any particular dream after the fact.
So, in the front of each binder, I keep blank, lined pages. About once a month, I bring my dream report binder into the family room to work on while I'm watching TV. During a dull program or commercial, I list the dates and titles for the dreams on one of the blank pages. Suddenly, I've got a Table of Contents. I list my dreams and number them only when there is more than one dream in a single night. For instance, on December 8th I had only one dream; during the previous days I had two each. But which of them were flying dreams? From the title, I'd be able to tell that the first dream on December 6th was a flying dream.
12/2 #1-Me, The Blonde Man And A Toddler In The Water
12/2 #2-Stuff On Fire
12/6 #1-After A Sky Banner, I Fly A Boy On My Back
12/6 #2-Slipping Down The Mattress To The Dresser
12/8 Nuclear Explosion Near L. A.
The second of December 6th was a flying dream, too. How do I know that? It's because I added something extra. Alphabetic notations and abbreviations appear on both my dream report first page and in margin of the Table of Contents. They are part of a code I developed to help me locate a dream quickly. Much of the code is simple initials, but I also use short words or abbreviations. In addition, a musical note stands for the fact that the content contains music, perhaps a song, perhaps a melody. An orange dot from a felt tip pen means that the color orange was a prominent feature in the dream.
Here's some samples of my classification codes:
A-Astral/Out-of-Body
C-Conversation
F-Flying
Fr-Contains fear
H-Hypnogogia
Inc-An incubated dream
Interp-An interpreted dream
Jan-A dream with Jan in it
L-Lucid
N-Nightmare
Pun-Contains a dream pun
Read-Printed words were read in dream
T-Telepathy (this is added after I discover a correspondence)
(Willie)-I talked about Willie, but she didn't appear in the dream (She's hidden in parenthesis)
When it was easy to locate all the examples of a particular type of dream, I could quickly make graphs and charts. For instance, I charted both lucid and flying dreams across several years, to see if there was any relationship between them. There was: flying often preceded the onset of lucidity. Noticing when my nightmares appeared helped me track down the causes.
When I was having a series of blue-green dreams, I used a turquoise dot from a felt-tip pen as my classification code. I wanted to know how often I dreamt of that color and when. Was there a particular time of the month? Or season of the year? I could find no correspondence to calendar time. Then the turquoise dreams stopped and I switched to other dream themes. Eventually I realized that the abundance of blue hues ended just about the time when I began having dreams with tints of red. So what had happened? Without a journal I might have speculated wildly. Chakra trouble? A shift from tranquility to anger? Or spiritual to earthly? No, no and no.
Because I had dated my dreams, I was able to put stimulus and response together. The switch occurred when I bought a new burgundy Honda and sold my old light-blue Mustang. Now that I've identified the color source of the dreams, is that the end of my interpretation? Of course not. Physical life is full of metaphor! The Mustang was frisky and fun for a single gal and I'd kept it long after I was married. But the Honda had a stick shift instead of an automatic transmission; more sporty in that sense, but more mature, like fine red wine. These are my living associations, not the inert entries of some insensible symbol system. But I'd not have been able to make the connection unless I was aware of my waking and dreaming life over the long run.
Uses For Your Dream Log
When I taught creative writing in elementary school, I would suggest topics like these:
-- My Funniest Dream
-- My Craziest Dream
-- A Dream That Came True
-- When I Awoke in My Dream
-- An Adventurous Dream
Now, if I had a perfect memory, I could write such stories without backup material. But since memory fades with the passage of time, I'd rather seek and find such dreams in my dream log. What else can you do with a dream log besides have it serve as source material for stories? Here's some ideas:
1. Write down old dreams
-- Remember a dream from childhood. Re-dream it in your mind and write it down. You might not have specific dates for such dreams, but do the best you can. For example, you might note the general period in your life: Age 12-13. Create a special place in your journal for such dreams.
2. Do dream analysis
-- Mark significant content with colored pens.
-- Underline or highlight elements in the dream.
-- Connect your dream with a past waking event.
-- Review old dreams to see if they have been precognitive of a recent event.
3. Prime the pump for new dreams.
-- Reread favorite old dreams.
-- Do something quick and creative, like a doodle of yourself flying.
-- Think up a way to congratulate you and your dreaming self for jobs well done. (Make sure you follow through!)
4. Look for the big picture.
-- Go through your journal and link dreams with one another.
-- Find repeating themes and places and dream characters.
-- Track improvement over time.
-- Annual review: Do an analysis of content to find patterns; discover the frequency of certain types of dreams.
-- Study your dream log as if it were a photo album filled with snapshots of the dream world.
Advantages Of A Dream Log
Journal keeping is a tool for self-awareness. Because it provides opportunity for reflection, recognition and contemplation, it's an essential tool for most dreamwork. It aids memory, making the dream both visual and tactile. With a dream log by your bed, you have a way to immediately record your dreams when you wake up. And it converts dream recall into a creative product. Your dream journal can be an artistic visual symbol of your sleeping life.
Since the dream journal is a permanent record of dreams, you are sending a message to your psyche that you want to remember dreams, not just for today, but for the future. You want to develop a long-term relationship with your dreaming self. Journal keeping allows you to see a single dream in the context of other dreams and of your daily life. This larger perspective gains more information for more accurate interpretation of dreams. You don't have to resort to random guesses. Dream interpretation expands from "What does this symbol mean?" to "What does this entire dream signify? to "What are my dreams saying overall?" This new perspective helps you answer the wider question, "What *is* a dream, anyway?" It's a practical tool in the study of consciousness.
Observing a series of dreams on the same theme enables you to track improvement in flying skills over time or to determine if you are stuck in a rut or even backsliding. It's invaluable to determine the multiple sources of nightmare. Since you may be too emotionally close to the situation at the time of the dream, it may require some distancing to gain a perspective useful to nightmare resolution. Accurate interpretation of a dream can be delayed because not all the information is currently available. For example, precognitive dreams may only be determined in fifty-fifty hindsight.
Through journal keeping, you come to appreciate of the richness of dreams. You gain a better understanding of yourself as dreamer. The types of dreams you have, the variety or lack of it can serve as a clue to your multiple personality traits. It also serves as a source of information when you become a sociable dreamer. It provides you with dreams to share with partners or your dream group, to compare and contrast with other dreamers.
The Dream Index
Some of my dreams reports are files on my computer. If I'm looking for a special dream record or particular type of dream, I can use the "search" feature to find it. But not all of my dreams have made the leap to cyberspace. How can I track down specific sorts if they are handwritten?
For many years, I have kept a dream index. This special binder lists dreams by type. Not all my dreams. Just the ones I've found most intriguing or most useful. I've got clairvoyant dreams and probable selves and specific symbols. Favorite types and frustrating types. Dream nonsense and dream skills.
Some Index Types:
Correspondence (Precognitive, Mutual, Telepathic)
Extraordinary strength
False awakenings
Geometric figures
Humor
Hypnogogic voices
Lucid conversations
Music
Myth and story material (like dragons)
People growing and shrinking
Planets and aliens
Re-entry (re-entering the dream after waking)
Super Heroes
Tactile dreams
Whirlwinds
I've flown in every one of these types except for the false awakenings, when I had sleep paralysis. And the hypnogogic conversations are strictly audio dreams. How did I get such a rich variety of fruit? I did not lay waiting for them to fall out of my head like an apple from the dream tree. Instead, I nurtured my dreams. And afterwards, I celebrated the harvest.
Dee, N. The Dreamer's Workbook. (NY: Sterling Publishing Co., 1990)
Gregory, J. Dream Tips. (Novato, CA: The Novato Center for Dreams, 1988).
Magallón, L. L. "Long Term Journaling/I Am a Sociable Dreamer." Paper presented at 15th Annual ASD Conference, Hawaii (1998). On Cynthia Pearson's Dream Journalist web site. http://www.nauticom.net/www/netcadet/linda.htm
Magallón, L. L. Psychic-Creative Dreaming. Internet course (1997).
Magallón, L. L. "Why I Title My Lucid Dreams," The Lucid Dream Exchange, 17 (2000), 2.
http://members.aol.com/caseyflyer/flying/dreams.html (Dream Flights)
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A View from the Bridge
Report on the World Dreams Peace Bridge
A Peaceful Solutions Dream In/ February 2003 Update
Jean Campbell
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Although it is an awesome experience to be part of not thousands but millions of people around the globe connected in an overwhelming request to world leaders for peace, the members of The World Dreams Peace Bridge feel that they played an important part in this worldwide effort in February by conducting a "Peaceful Solutions" Dream In between February 8 and 15, 2003.
Who can know the power of a dream? Prior to the beginning of the Dream In, there were two or three quite believable predictions from reliable precognitive dreamers, that the hostilities between the United States and Iraq would result in bombings on February 16. Were these predictions wrong, or did the sheer intensity of peoples' desires and hopes for peace change the future?
In the sense of ordinary politics, such questions have little meaning. There is still plenty of jockeying for power going on within the United Nations and the NATO Alliance. The threat of war still exists. And yet, for dreamers, the question asked above may be the deepest question of all.
During the week of the Peaceful Solutions Dream In and even earlier, starting with the Candlemas celebration on February 2nd suggested by Australia's Victoria Quinton, members of the Peace Bridge and those from other groups including dreamchatters, the Association for the Study of Dreams' Dream Activism Group, and many from the ASD Online Bulletin Board and other places, turned their attention toward dreaming for peace.
Many people chose to submit their dreams to the World Dreams Peace Bridge web site at http://www.worlddreamspeacebridge.org , where the dreams were collected by web master Liz Diaz, to be examined with the aid of Harry Bosma's Alchera Dream Journaling software.
There were peaceful solutions dreams too numerous to recount, many indicating strong elements of mutual or group dreaming; some indicating fear of terrorism, war, or violence; but all indicating a willingness from the dreamers to listen to the voice of the dream. To those who have asked me (and others on the Bridge) if any peaceful solutions were found, let me respond with only two of the many examples presented by Dream In dreams.
The first dream comes from Kathy in Australia:
I'm driving (n an anticlockwise direction) along a narrow road winding around the base of a mountain. Some roadwork is being done, but all traffic (including me) is moving very quickly. I see a large white truck and am afraid. Surely there'll be an accident. But we both seem to pass each other with no problem. Next a white four wheel vehicle is coming. Oh no. At the same time a construction worker throws a twisted steel rod across the road. I know it is hopeless now as either the four wheel drive or I will drive over one end of the bar and the other end will crash onto the other vehicle. There seems nothing we can do. Then both I and the other vehicle STOP. Now we move the bar. That was the solution. I was surprised how simple and obvious it was.
The second dream comes from Stephen in the U.S.:
I had this dream the night President Bush made his State of the Union speech. I'm lucid. I see a panorama of war, fire chaos, blood, savage energy unleashed. The panorama shrinks to the size and shape of a human face, with the images of war moving over it, as though projected on skin.
The face literally devolves into progressively earlier stages of man, ending in a Neanderthal shape whose mouth is open wide in a primal scream.
I think, "This is the face of war." Immediately I am asked, "What is the face of peace?"
I realize I have no vision of peace except as an absence of war. I can't name any actions that fill the face of peace. I am clear the face of war is a man. I wonder if the face of peace is a woman.
As a result of his dream, Stephen said to the others in the World Dreams Peace Bridge group: "What actions create Peace? Thic Nhat Hanh has suggested deep listening, which seems a nice start, I think. The dream invites us to come up with activities that manifest peace and to create a 'face of Peace."' Stephen invited the group to make contributions to this list, which will be posted on the World Dreams web site.
One immediate response to Stephen's request came from Kotaro in Japan. His "Basic Declaration," a powerful piece of art work, can be viewed in the new Art Gallery section of the World Dreams site.
One of the most enjoyable aspects of the February Dream In, one which has been seen and noted in all phases of the recent outpouring of sentiment against aggression, was the connectedness engendered through the Internet. The Peace Bridge began receiving communications from many other peace-oriented groups. Once such communication came from a leader of a fairly conservative Christian group, which asks teens around the world to act for peace. The individual praised the Peace Bridge approach because, he said, dreams are "universal." And so they are.
As we move into March, members of the World Dreams Peace Bridge will be asking other dreamers to join us in a Gratefulness Dream In, giving thanks for all of the wonderful things that have happened to date. The Bridge discussion group is open to all dreamers. Simply send a post to
worlddreams-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
http://www.worlddreamspeacebridge.org/monthyupdates.htm
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The World Dreams Peace Bridge is a group that uses personal dreams for public world peace. You can find out more about the WDPB at
http://www.worlddreamspeacebridge.org/
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Stan Kulikowski II
<stankuli@etherways.com>
Dream: The Impact of a Man's Life
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DATE : 12 feb 2003 07:55
DREAM : the impact of a man's life
=( i have been rather depressed by changes in my work at the university and
yesterday, a tuesday, is at least a ten hour day teaching three courses.
the first starts at 11:00 and the last ends around 21:00. i did not even get breakfast since my morning was sluggish with too much depressed sleep. after my evening class, april phillips, a really bright student from a few semesters ago, stopped in to ask some questions about PERL and CGI. it is a little frightening how easily she picks up on minor suggestions in a programming language that even skilled programmers find difficult to learn. even though i had nothing to eat all day, i stayed an extra hour to help her get the scripts she needed for a survey in a statistical project she has for another course. i got home close 23:00, my mother worried about my lateness, but i felt rather good that i was able to assist that charming student get her project together because what she wanted was not trivial but i was able to do it straight forward. made me feel a little useful to the students even if the faculty seem unaware. i fixed myself a meal around midnight while my mother watched a video. got to bed around 01:30 but could not sleep, so played the song 'the lowlands' from the nitty gritty dirt band, vol 3 of _will the circle be unbroken_ so i could transcribe the words. the song caught my attention recently and just feels good when i hear it. got to sleep near 02:30. )=
i am one of the first teachers to arrive at the annual school christmas party. we hold this every year in a local restaurant, this year an italian place downtown. a few other teachers arrive before susan does. i almost did not come because i knew she would be here, but in the end i could not let myself miss a chance to see her again. she hardly acknowledges my presence here with a brief nod. but i know she registers my presence here more deeply than that. she is pregnant with our fourth child now, just starting to show.
the party proceeds as more and more colleagues come in. susan is animated and relaxed, friendly in every manner with most of the people here. i, on the otherhand, am quiet and patient, sitting at the back of the room watching, hoping that she will let her heart melt a little and remember how much we once cared for each other not so long ago. everyone moves around me like i wasn't there. a fitting situation for me. ghost in my own life.
but as i sit there, near the restroom doors where patrons of the restaurant come and go, i notice a short man stop and look at me. at first i do not think i know him, but then real old memory kicks in with recognition. "john gunning." i say in startled reaction. "is that you?"
"yes, stan. it is me." he says. his once white hair is tinged with yellow and his skin has a sallow color to it. i suppose that is how someone with natural white hair ages: yellow instead of gray.
"well, what have you been doing all these years?" i ask him. we knew each other in high school.
nothing much it seems. we step outside the building through the back entrance and walk around the patches of crusted snow. john is not very forthcoming with descriptions of his life, so i fill in about mine as much as i can. i am not a very skilled conversationalist under most circumstances, but i manage to tell him about my life with susan, how i loved her then lost her recently against my desires. of course he knew her as she was a cheer leader in the high school we went to so long ago. everyone knew susan and i suppose everyone loved her but not as i did.
i think i probably bored john with my ramblings about my life and problems, but i kept trying to get him to come forward with some of his. perhaps we just did not know each other for this level of intimacy so quickly. it was just my sense of loss and desperation that was driving me. when we get back to the restaurant from our meandering walk, we separate with a handshake and good wishes.
i can see the staff party going on inside in full swing now, but i am not part of this. i stayed long enough for the others to know i was here and that is enough. i see susan through the frosted glass windows and realize i am no longer part of her. how does one loose the most valuable person you have ever known and not be able to get her back? some say love is like a wheel, once its bended can't be mended.
i turn to leave this place, free of the obligation to attend but not free of the loss.
several years seem to pass in the blink of an eye. i have another job now in another school somewhere not so far away. i was never able to get susan back but i still long for the sight and feel of her. but just now i am coming into a room where a young woman lies sick on a bed. i had stopped by to leave something for her, only to find her laid up with no one around.
"here, let me help." i tell her. she can hardly look up but acknowledges that someone is here. she has lovely frosted blonde hair, but that is about all i can see of her as i tuck up the thick comforter around her face. i seem to know her name as harriet manet.
in her kitchen i manage to find enough things to squeeze some lemons to
make fresh lemonade and put together a chicken soup from broth and a few
vegetables. i suppose it is a little presumptuous of me to just move into
a strange kitchen and start cooking soup, but i have always been handy with food and no one else seems to be around to clean up and fix things.
since i can not stay for long, i wake harriet and insist that she eat and drink a little while i am here. no matter how sick she is feeling, it does not help her body to get too dehydrated when healing. i notice how bone thin her hands are when trembling with the soup spoon.
when she is finished with the soup, she tumbles back into the pillow and back to sleep. i leave the large pitcher of lemonade with the glass on the nightstand next to her bed and take the tray with the soup things back to the kitchen. after i wash up, i let myself quietly out the door, promising myself to come back in the morning to check in with her.
time telescopes again. harriet gets better and is grateful that i came so regularly to take care of things while she slowly got well. we seem to skip the phase of friendship and just get to a relationship of trusted affection, but never touching each other. it is almost as if some taboo were involved and yet we flirt and entice each other with nearness and almosts. even after these years, my heart is too deeply involved with the loss of susan to even consider another woman. yet here i am not pulling away like a creature stung whenever harriet winks at me or leans over to say something in mock secret, her mouth so close to my ear that i can feel her warm sweet breath on my cheek.
this goes on for several months, the tension building up in us like a coiling spring. i barely get a glimpse of the night it breaks loose.
we are both dressed in heavy victorian clothing. we are alone together in her house, as we usually are and i think my stiff paper collar tears away from its dull steel button when i have a burst of tense laughter over something she has said. i rarely laugh out loud. this odd sound coming out of my mouth manages to attract her hand over as if to somehow mend the collar as it tears open.
that gentle touch of her white gloved hand on the base of my throat. she does pull away from the shock it sends through my body, but she leaves it there slightly caressing the skin just above the torn collar stud with her thumb. her fingers curl slowly around to the back of my neck as i lose balance and slip into her eyes. my soul is sucked into her as my heart silently cries out for susan but finds only harriet. my torn and wounded places discover nourishment there. i can not escape.
she folds into my arms, or perhaps they move on their own around her body wrapped layers of stiff lace and satin. i can hardly feel her underneath all that clothing, but when i kiss her the heat is like a furnace stoked too full. the tense spring in my chest snaps open with painful twinge. i can feel it in her too. she cries out once in wordless agony, in final victory and wilts back almost fainting.
my hands tear at her rows of small buttons and laces underneath, but they pull away as if eager to get loose.
her stark white naked body emerges from the peeled away clothing like a goddess arising from the sea. if i thought the heat of our first kiss was like a furnace, the heat radiating out from her bare skin is unquenchable like the heart of a forge. she shows a total confidence that i lack completely as i gently lay her down upon the rag pile of her ruined clothing, a discarded husk like a chrysalis. harriet opens to me, pulls all of me onto her body just as she has already captured my reluctant soul. she is free now.
i am still fully clothed except for the torn paper collar.
time slips again, it is perhaps a year later. harriet sits beside me in a open automobile, still victorian motif. we are driving somewhere in the country when a hay wagon backs out of a farm lane directly into the side of our car. although we were not travelling fast, it is enough to deflect us off road into a steep ditch, almost a ravine. i feel the car turning over and over before it stops in the bottom of the ditch.
finding myself thrown clear of the car, i look about for harriet. there she is. on the side of the ditch, lying still on her side looking away from me. she does not move as i scramble desperately over to her side.
rolling her over brings only heartache. she does not move, even to breathe. she has never managed to replace or dispel susan from my heart, but she had taken a new space for herself and seemed satisfied with what she could have of me. the spring in my chest which had released with our first kiss now clamps back down with the force of a steel bear trap. like her, i can't breathe as i hold her lifeless body. she is free now, i think again.
my life is just not capable of happiness for any length of time.
time moves on as it does. it is several years later. i am pushing a kind of dolly or two wheel cart down a city street. it is still the victorian age. i have a map of the street i am supposed to be on, looking for the gropius institute. the map is made of gray felt with just a crooked line of red stitching on it to indicate the street. the problem is that none of the side streets are marked so i can not get a grid reference to the town. i am trying the figure out my location by matching turns in the real street with the turns on the single line of stitches.
i have tried to stop several pedestrians to help me find myself on the map, but they hurry on without pausing. finally a young boy on a motorbike stops to assist me.
he looks at the map. "oh yes, we are just about here." he points to a place on the stitching which is still opaque to me.
"do you know where the gropius institute is?"
"oh yes. it is just up ahead." he starts to push his motorbike along side my dolly. "we can have you there in half an hour."
we come to a downhill section of street. i manage to get the dolly rolling of its own momentum and am able to leap onto the axle housing for a ride. it takes off a little faster than i expected, but i can manage to steer it by leaning one way or the other. the street is brickwork, not cobblestone, so the wheels vibrate on the pavement.
the motorbike boy laughs as he watched me glide away down the street quickly. he starts up his bike and pursues after me.
just before i get to the bottom of the hill, the motorbike pulls up alongside of me. the boy reaches over to grab onto the frame of my dolly and indicates that i should get a hold of his bike. in this manner he is able to accelerate us both up the incline of the bridge that is crossing the river.
thus joined, we manage the traffic and proceed toward my destination ahead. but before we get there, we must come to stop where a policeman is directing traffic through an intersection. when it is our time to come up to the stop line, the traffic cop comes over to us.
"you have broken at least two town ordinances by travelling like that." he tells us, waving over two other constables from nearby. "you will have to see the judge."
they confiscate my cart and his motorbike. we are taken down several side streets. when the constables pound on the massive wooden door of the judge's home, a servant from inside tells us that the judge is out of town for the day.
"we will have to be keeping you then until the judge returns." the policeman nearest to me tells us. "we don't have room down at the station house for a proper lockup, but we have a place nearby that will do."
they take us down to the riverbank where there is an abandoned park. we
are locked into a display room and are left on our own. the motorbike boy and myself try to make ourselves comfortable for the night.
when the sun goes down it gets somewhat cold. there is a nice stone fireplace at one end, with some firewood logs laying about, but no kindling.
"if we had some matches, this could be quite a nice place to spend the night." i tell him. "at least the view is spectacular."
the room is triangular at this end with two large, heavy glass picture windows. one faces out into the darkening park and the other onto the river which is alight with golden red colors reflected from the sunset.
now i recognize this place. "see that small building just over there?" i point it out to the boy. "there is a small apartment on the other side. susan and i lived in there for several years. this place was ours."
now that it is fully dark, several opossums come out of holes in the back of the room. they are not at all timid and come right up to both of us, nosing our hands for petting or foodstuffs. i stroke the course white gray fur above the narrow nose of the one which came to me.
"sure now, i raised these opossums from pups. see how they remember me? it is strange the impact that a man's life may have on the world around him." i am satisfied that at least these primitive creatures remember me with kindness.
=( i wake at 07:40, feeling alert and rather refreshed. the depression of last week or so seems to have lifted at least for a while. i suspect it will be back once i start thinking of regular routines. susan dick mentioned here is a long term resident in my dreams. we lived together for about three years, but we were not careful enough about how we started or ended together. i have missed her just about all my adult life. john gunning was from my high school, someone i hardly knew. he did have shocking white hair and pale reddish skin, but he was not an albino. it seemed to be his natural coloration. harriet manet is not known to me in waking life. i wish she were, though. the setting of this dream switches from modern to victorian once harriet gets well. the unnamed motorbike boy is also unique to this dream. i did raise opossums in undergrad college for research animals in biology laboratories. the name 'gropius' comes from walter gropius in a thick book i am reading, a history of the bauhaus. i figure even webmasters should study design and there seems no better way than the rise of modernism and rational form within the bauhaus. )=
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New Trends in Dream Brain Research
-Richard Catlett Wilkerson
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The following article is really a collection of notes, re-written in a kind of summary format so that I can get a sense of the major changes occurring in the field of dream science related to the dreaming brain. I have decided to put these out on Electric Dreams as I get so many questions about the brain in sleep and this is, after all, the 50th anniversary of the discovery of REM. As the year goes on, I will organize these notes a little more coherently. If you have forgotten your sleep stages science and what happens, or are not familiar with this information, there are two appendices with summaries and detailed summaries. I haven't gone deeply into the neurochemistry of REM in the brain stem in this article and am focusing more on the general shifts in neuromodulation. However, many new changes in the neuro-circuitry of REM have occurred in the last few years and if you have in mind the older models given by Hobson, note that these are basically intact, but highly modified and expanded.
In general, this is a summary of the two articles that came out in the 2000 Behavioral and Brain Sciences journal #23. Dreaming and the Brain: Towards a Cognitive Neuroscience of Conscious States. One article by Allan Hobson, the other by Mark Solms. The drafts for these articles are available online.
http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/OldArchive/sleep.html
Does and understanding of the mechanisms of the brain really make any difference to a dreamworker? After all, what difference does it make to me if the dream comes from the amygdala or a pre-frontal lobe? Probably none. But I would like to make the case, [without developing it very far in this article] that dreams are events made up of multiple forces. Understanding where these forces come from and where we can go with them has always been part of the dreamwork tradition.
In this article, I will look at a model in dream brain research called A.I.M. and interweave this model with radically new discoveries from brain imagining and brain lesion studies. The two major points I would like readers to get are:
1. The contributions of the higher and lower brain in dreaming.
2. There is more to the dreaming brain than just activation of areas, there is also information gating and neurmodulatory control.
*** Three major areas that change in the dreaming brain ***
The human brain (and mammal brain) can be seen as changing in three general ways as we move from wake to sleep to dream.
First, the general (A)ctivation of brain is at its highest during waking and lowest during non-dream sleep. In dream sleep, the brain is almost as active as when awake, but not quite the same way, with a shift from brain centers associated with linear thinking and calculating to areas that are connected with feeling and imagining.
Second, the gates for sensing the outer world (5 senses) and the gates that allow messages for the body to move (motor movements) from the brain to the body are the most open during wake and the most closed during dream sleep. In fact, during normal dream sleep, the only easily observable movement are (R)rapid (E)ye (M)ovements (REM) that can be seen behind a dreamer's closed eyelids. Almost all other messages from the brain to the body to move are stopped before they leave the brain, which of course protects us from moving around too much during dream sleep. In (N)on-dream sleep (NREM), we adopt sleep-postures, we can make slight shifts in our body position, and our ability to block out unnecessary noise and disturbances is less than when we are in dream-sleep. But since our brain is less activated in NREM sleep than REM dreaming
sleep, the noises and lights don't disturb and wake us very easily. (note this difference again, in REM dream sleep we are less aware of the outside due to the input/output gates being shut down, but in deep sleep we are not aware due to our brain being less activated.)
Finally, the third change, the neuro-chemistry of the brain at the level of our nervous system changes from wake to sleep to dream-sleep. These neurochemical states involve the way the brain communicates with itself and our nervous system. Since they modulate various brain behaviors, they are often discussed as neuromodulators. As mentioned, these impact the overall way the brain functions, but the mind in sleep as well, just as when we take various medicines or drugs that may alter our consciousness.
*** Picking a model for viewing the dreaming brain ***
The modern science of REM based dreaming is just about fifty years old, and is already quite complex and full of controversy. After all, dream science includes the study of consciousness and unconsciousness, brain and body, sleep and wake, fantasy and reality. To grasp this complexity, scientists propose models that generalize how dreaming works. These models are then tested and revised as new data and research emerges. In this report on the dreaming brain, we will be looking at the Activation/Synthesis model developed by the Hobson group and how it has been revised in early 21st Century to include new brain studies and research made possible by brain imaging techniques, new brain function studies and new brain chemistry. The Activation/Synthesis model looks at how the lower, subcortical brain activates the higher cortical brain in REM sleep which allow the cortical brain to synthesize dreams.
I will also be toning down the causal and isomorphic parts of the Activation/Synthesis hypothesis which have caused so much controversy and are as yet highly speculative. That is, I will not be emphasizing the several hypothesis that try to such things as flying in dreams being the result of intense bursts of brainstem neurons, or paralyzed feet in the dream being the direct result of de-activated cortical areas. Other research, such as how aphasia or damage to higher visual centers that ruins a person's ability to recognize faces, will be included. Also, I will be emphasizing the Synthesis over the Activation part of the theory. Finally, I will not be giving the psi dream factor the credit it is due for the sake of brevity. Dream psi research explores alternative ways to the 5 senses that we may be in contact with others and the outer world. When I say the brain is cut-off from the outer world, I mean that we are cut off from our five senses.
*** REM Sleep Summary ***
If you are not familiar with REM and Sleep Stages, see that section below. As a quick reminder, sleep stages range from light to deep sleep. As we go to sleep, we slowly sink down into deeper stages of sleep (meaning here that the brain less activated), then periodically come up via REM (Rapid Eye Movement) dream sleep (brain more activated but cut off from outer world), then descend again. Over the course of a usual eight hour night, we will rise into REM dream sleep about 6 times, each period averaging 20 minutes of REM dream sleep, though more accurately we have longer REM periods towards the end of the night, sometimes lasting over an hour. Dreaming can occur in both REM and NREM(Non-REM sleep, stages I-IV) though traditionally we talk about REM dreaming as being longer, more vivid, and more story-like, while NREM dreams are traditionally described as being more thought-like and shorter. There is constant controversy over just how much difference there really is between REM and NREM dreams. Reports vary from 5% to 30% of the NREM dreams being indistinguishable from REM dreams. This issue will become important again as we look at the work Mark Solms and his view that REM is only one of the keys to turning on dreams. For now, I will refer to REM dreaming as a state separate from dreaming in general.
*** The Activation/Synthesis Hypothesis ***
The Activation/Synthesis Hypothesis is a fairly easy way to understand the dynamics of the dreaming brain, though it misses the richness and depth of the dream experience itself. Hobson's group proposed that during REM sleep the lower brain provides enough (A)ctivation for the upper brain to (S)ynthesize information into a dream. Further, there are 3 independent ways the brain changes that contribute to its unique states of waking, sleeping and dreaming. They are (A)ctivation of the brain sites, (I)nformation or input/output gating and (M)odulation of neurotransmitter systems.
A.I.M. Model of 3 Areas of change in sleep and dreams
[chart only works in Courier New or even spaced fonts]
------------ (A)ctivation ------ (I)nput -------- (M)odulating
Level Output Neurochemicals
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Waking ------- High Open Aminergic
Sleep ------- Low dampened Aminergic-Cholinergic
REM ---------- High Closed Choinergic
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*** Activation in the Upper Brain vs Lower Brain ***
We aren't conscious in sleep when our brain is not activated. Researchers used to believe that when we weren't getting enough sensory stimulation in waking life we would fall asleep. But then the reticular activating system (RAS) was found and we now know that brain is kept awake not by direct input from sensory pathways, but by tonic (longer lasting activation modulated by neurochemicals) activity in pathways from the reticular formation. This means that sleep comes from the reduction in activity from the reticular formation and wakefulness by the return of activity in the reticular formation. This system seems to be regulated by an internal clock in the hypothalamus.
Humans and other mammals are tied to the outer daily or circadian clock, the sun and to this internal circadian clock located in the hypothalamus. The suprachiasmatic nucleus of the anterior hypothalamus is the best candidate as any damage to this area change the sleep cycle dramatically and repair causes the return of normal cycles. This circadian pacemaker is also sensitive to light-dark cycles of the day but can be set or re-set to different rhythms with some discomfort, as those who get the night-shift or experience jet-lag know.
Changes to the reticular activating system that runs up though our brainstem causes changes in activation of higher brain functions. Damage or dampening of activation to a variety of particular brain areas will cause dampening of conscious activity.
In addition to the hypothalamus and the activation levels of the reticular system, another regular system engages during sleep, the REM-NREM cycle. Sleep is not single process, but rather has these two distinct phases that alternate cyclically in a very organized way through the night.
The lower brain & forebrain seems to play a critical role in the activation of REM-NREM cycle, while the forebrain and higher brain centers play a role in the formation of dreaming. REM sleep is generated by a region in the brainstem, called the pons, and adjacent portions of the midbrain. More will be said of these later.
The early presentations of the Activation/Synthesis hypothesis ran into great resistance as the Hobson group focused mostly on the Activation side of the equation. That is, they focused on the lower brain stem mechanisms that were involved in the REM state. This seemed a reasonable approach. Since the activation of the upper brain by the lower brain stem seemed to happen after cyclical phases of random nerve firings (PGO waves in cat studies), the theory was often characterized as dreams being the results of a sleepy (upper) brain doing its best it could to handle random signals from the lower brain. Allan Hobson admits that the many years of focus on the Activation side of the research led to, what he feels, this misperception of the Activation/Synthesis hypothesis. Now, new brain research on the involvement of upper brain structures in dreaming have helped to fill in the Synthesis side of the equation and allow for theories that emphasize the upper brain as more autonomous in synthesizing its own information in dream formation.
*** A.I.M. Activation, Information input/output and Modulation of Neurochemicals. ***
With the general two-part notion of lower brain activation and upper brain synthesis in dream creation, we can now look at the three major areas that change between waking, sleeping and REM dreaming through Hobson's A.I.M. model. This model tracks three general areas of brain, its 'A'ctivation levels, the 'I'nformation input/ouput gates and the neurochemical 'M'odulations that change over these states of waking, sleeping and REM dreaming.
Generally speaking, when we go to sleep the brain becomes deactivated, desensitized to outer sounds and sensations and switches over from an aminergic neurochemical system that keeps us alert and focused on the outer world to a cholinergic system that allows for relaxation. We are sleeping. Then something strange occurs, the aminergic system stops almost completely and the cholinergic system becomes hyperactive.
(To see the brain parts impacted by sleep and dreams, see):
http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/OldArchive/Figures/hobson.fig2.jpg
During this time, many parts of the brain become active, the body becomes rigid, and we begin to dream (or more accurately, dreamers that are awakened from this state are more likely to report dreams and longer, richer dreams, than most other dream states.) It is as though the brain were like a computer that has been taken offline but kept running. While dreaming, it is functioning much in the same way as waking, but the inputs and outputs and connections to normal feedback from the environment are missing or dampened.
(A) Activation.
Activation includes the electrical output of the brain's surface as measured by EEG Electroencephalograms and micro-flows of blood into active areas of the brain as measured by imaging machines such as PET and MRI. This allows us to determine what areas of the brain are in operation and active. Unfortunately, EEGs only show general surface areas and only a handful of brain imaging studies have been done on dream sleep, and all of these (as of 2003) within REM. (As mentioned above, dreaming can occur outside of REM sleep and we are waiting for brain imaging studies with NREM focus as well as in dreaming, lucid dream focus.).
See "Sleep Stages: A More Detailed Summary" in the appendix for descriptions of EEG in sleep and dreams and details on what brain parts are active.
In general, when awake, our brain shows low-voltage(how high) fast pattern, which print out like the line of an eyebrow. During REM, the brain will show waves similar to waking; low-voltage, fast pattern. Specific brain areas that have been shown to be active from brain imaging studies are discussed below in the Specific Forebrain Structures Activated in Dreaming, however a general description might be as follows: The main areas activated in the upper brain during dreaming are 1. the hunting, seeking, desiring system, the 2. heteromodal 3-D imaging system and the 3. higher visual cortex. There is some evidence that these areas are activated without the regular arousal of REM, but it is clear that these areas are always activated by the lower brain in REM. Thus we might say that that REM is the main key to the driving our dream car, though there are other ways to start the car.
(I) Information input/output
Sensory input and motor output are dampened during REM, open or high I/O during waking and slightly dampened during NREM sleep. This means signals from the brain to the body are pretty much cut off and we are paralyzed during REM (some theorize so that we don't act out our dreams) with some exceptions, such as eye movement, flow of blood to the genital regions increases, and a few other minor movements.
"I" is measured by EMG postural muscle tone (how relaxed our body is) and EOG, eye-movement activity.
Sensory isolation during REM comes from the inhibition of the Ia afferent terminals (endings of the sensory nerves that form synapse with neurons in the brain itself). The source seems to be in the brain stem, the pontomedullary reticular formation that hyperpolarizes the motoneurons (makes them less responsive to commands from the brain to act, ie, motor commands). Loss of muscle control is from tonic postsynaptic inhibition of spinal anterior horn cells by the pontomedullary reticular formation.
In general, most of the outgoing motor messages from the brain are cut off to the body at the medulla and incoming sensory data from the five senses are inhibited. This is not a black and white situation. Alan Worsely, for example, reports that during the first lucid dream signaling experiments, he was able to vibrate his hands from dream lucid dream sleep. This indicates that the outgoing motor-muscle messages are dampened rather than being fully shut off.
Of course, the eyes move rapidly during REM dreaming and many structures and neural routes have been suggested between the lower brain and eye movement.
In REM Behavior Disorder (RBD) people act out there dreams. This is not sleepwalking, which occurs in NREM. "The inhibition of movement or motor output, which normally quells the movement commands of dreams, is only quantitatively greater than the excitation of neurons that is the embodiment of these commands. If either inhibition declines or excitation increases, or both, movement will result." (p96 Dreaming Brain, Hobson)
In other words, when there is an imbalance in the brain stem (due to neurological problems or perhaps in lucid dreaming to active pre-frontal lobe commands) one can break the REM-barrier! Hobson reports in the Dream Drugstore (2001) one patients flailing arms, hitting his bed partner, only to wake up and recall having to turn the wheel on his car to avoid a cliff. Another patient dreams of swimming and crawls right off the bed.
The suspected cause is an imbalance in dopamine, a neurotransmitter involved in one brain system with the condition of parkinsonism, and in another part of the brain with the activation of the hunting, seeking, desiring system. (Solms 2000) Hobson reports that sometimes the prolonged use of anti-depressants corresponds to the RBD condition.
As mentioned above, sleepwalking occurs in NREM, as well as sleep-talking and tooth-grinding. People awakened from these activities don't recall dreaming. They are automatic behaviors coming from the lower brain areas called motor pattern generators. Hobson says its fine to wake these people up without psychological damage, if you can. They are usually in stage IV deep sleep and very difficult to arouse.
(M) Modulation
This is the strength of chemical systems modulating the brain. For Hobson, this is measured in the ratio of cholinergic to aminergic neruomodulator release. In the Reciprocal Interaction Model of REM, these two systems switch in waking and dreaming, with aminergic systems dominant in waking and the cholinergic system dominant in dreaming. In NREM, all three tend to be de-activated.
More accurately, in waking, the aminergic system is at its height of influence and inhibits the cholinergic system. As we go to sleep, the aminergic inhibition loosens it control slowly and the cholinergic system slowly gains in strength. In REM the aminergic inhibition is shut off and the cholinergic system is at its peak of influence.
Other researchers, like Mark Solms, feel that neuromodulation of dopamine to be more important to upper brain structures involved in dreaming (the synthesis part of the model), while cholinergic systems have more to do with only one of many activation systems.
Very little research with humans have been done in this area, but Hobson feels quite confident that this physiology that is common to all other mammals will be also be at work in humans.
*** Specific Forebrain Structures Activated in Dreaming ***
http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/OldArchive/Figures/hobson.fig7.jpg
To summarize before looking into the specific brain areas involved in dreaming, the dreaming brain appears to have its own (M) neuromodulatory system that involves [at the level of the brainstem/Pons] a shutting down of the aminergic system and activation of the cholinergic system. The thalamus (basal forebrain) and amygdala are cholinergically modulated. The cortex is aminergically demodulated, especially in terms of dampening recent memory and orientation.
Activated Upper Brain Areas in Dreaming
The dreaming brain shows (A)ctivation of many areas as in waking, with the major exceptions of the prefrontal cortex (linear thinking, calculating) and the primary (V1 and some of V2) visual centers, though higher visual centers are activated. This makes sense as V1 is where information from an eye would first go if one were awake. At the level of the brainstem, the pontine tegmentum is active, involving reticular information (general arousal) the PGO system (may initiate REM) and activation of cholinergic centers (sleep and dream neuromodulators). There is particularly high activation of the amygdala and paralimbic cortex (Emotion and Recent Memory). The parietal operculum (visual-spacial imagery) is activated.
Input-Output Gating
(I)nput-output gating is in effect in the dreaming brain. At the level of the lower brain stem motor output is blocked, leaving the body paralyzed. Sensory input is blocked, making the outer world unavailable through the five senses. Hobson theorizes from cat studies and newer evidence that the PGO system is turned-on, producing input of fictive visual and motor data from the geniculate bodies to the occipital cortex. That is, as the parts of the brain that deal with motor movements and sense data are turned on, we begin to be able to dream about movement and sensorial scenes.
Upper Brain Activation and Synthesis
This may be a good place to give a summary of the areas in the dreaming brain that Mark Solms research has revealed. Solms feels that the upper brain can synthesize dreams without the help of the lower brain stem REM system.
http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/OldArchive/Figures/hobson.fig6.jpg
The paradigmatic assumption that REM sleep is the physiological equivalent of dreaming is in need of fundamental revision. A mounting body of evidence suggests that dreaming and REM sleep are dissociable states, and that dreaming is controlled by forebrain mechanisms.
Solms combined recent neuropsychological, radiological and pharmacological findings with his own brain damaged patients and other extensive neurological research in the past to suggest that the cholinergic brainstem mechanisms which Hobson's group shows control the REM state can only create dreams with the help of a second, probably dopaminergic, forebrain mechanism that activates a series of higher brain systems. Hence, Solms proposes a Dream-on instead of the Hobson group's REM-on theory of dreaming. In the Dream-on theory, dreaming can be initiated by many influences outside of REM activation.
In Solms theory, dreaming begins in the higher brain when a particular area of the forebrain is activated, the mediobasal frontal cortex. Here the hunting, seeking, desiring, wanting system is deeply networked with the limbic system (emotions, sensory info) and mesocortical dopamine systems. There are deep connections of dopanminergic cells from this ventral tegmental area to the hypothalamus, the septal area, the cingulated gyrus and the frontal cortex, and amygdala. In other words, this frontal cortex area of motivation connects with many other parts of the higher brain, the sensory brain and the emotional brain.
When activated in sleep (by REM, drugs, seizures and perhaps other systems) the extensive connections begin a sequence of activation that includes the (I) input/output gating of the motor cortices (M) a dopamine modulation of brain in general and (A) and activation of the emotional systems, the limbic system (sensory, emotions), the PTO junction or inferior parietal cortex (heteromodal imagination and 3-D space), and the medial-occipital temporal cortex (higher visual centers).
Interestingly, the higher visual centers can be destroyed and we can still dream, through with noticeable differences (such as missing faces in aphasia). But other areas seem essential to dreaming. Lesions in the PTO junction where we create or have heteromodal, 3-D space sense is essential to dreaming and no dreams are reported from patients with lesions in this area, even after many years follow up. Also, extreme damage to the above mentioned ventral mesial quadrant of the frontal lobes removes any dreaming (or reports of dreaming) from the patients. Solms theorizes that just like the patients of old who have had leucotomies (lobotomy of this area), they just can't reach the arousal level needed for dreaming. Patients can still perform acts in waking with lesions in this area, but only upon request, as they lose all initiative to act on their own volition. I asked Solms if this couldn't just be lack of motivation to remember, and he didn't feel it was a memory issue as all the memory systems are intact and the patient's memories function perfectly well in other situation. Still, I wonder how many dreams I would recall in the morning if I lacked the motivation to do so.
Recent brain imaging supports this theory that dreaming involves very specific brain structures. These *activated* structures include anterior and lateral hypothalamic areas, amygdaloid complex, septal-ventral striatal areas, as well as the infralimbic, prelimbic, orbitofrontal, anterior cingulate, entorhinal, insular and occipitotemporal cortical areas. *Deactivated* structures include the primary visual cortex (where waking eye information would go, not the same as the activated higher visual centers) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (the calculating part of the brain).
Hobson has accepted much of Solms research, particularly on the specific higher brain areas that are activated during dreaming sleep. But Hobson doesn't feel that REM activation can ever be separated from other aspects of dreaming and is still holding out on whether or not upper brain functioning during dreaming is modulated by dopaminergic systems. (A separate dopamine system from the one often related to Parkinsons).
Solms feel a variety of research lines are converging on this same issue of the dopaninergic system in the forebrain. see:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/8.30/helthrpt/stories/s44369.htm
http://www.psychoanalysis.org.uk/solms2.htm
http://www.psychoanalysis.org.uk/solms.htm
*** Summaries of specific brain areas activated and deactivated during dream sleep. ***]
Please use figure 7 from the online Hobson article to locate the following brain structures. This section is unlikely to make any sense without the picture.
http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/OldArchive/Figures/hobson.fig7.jpg
++++ Zones 1 & 2, figure 7. (Subcortical) Ascending arousal systems : 1. Pons and midbrain RAS and nuclei. PGO source. Arouses and activates brain, allowing for consciousness and eye movements. 2. Diencephalic structures (hypothalamus, basal forebrain). Autonomic and instinctual function, consciousness modulation.
++++ Zone 6, figure 7. (Subcortical) Thalamaocortical relay centers and thalamic subcortical circuitry. Thalamic nuclei (e.g. lateral geniculate body). Relays sensory and pseudosensory information to cortex.
In NREM sleep, corticothalamic waves suppress perception and mentation, but this process is reversed in REM. In REM, the thalamic nuclei activate sensorimotor parts of the brain and fill these parts of the brain with general activation. Hobson feels this may present basic elements of dream scenes in the form of pseudosensory information.
++++ Zone 3, figure 7.(Cortical and subcortical) Limbic and paralimbic structures.
Anterior limbic structures (amygdala, anterior cingulate, parahippocampal cortex, medial frontal areas). Emotional aspects of dreaming, emotional coding, goal directed behavior, movement,. For example, the amygdala when activated is correlated with anxiety and high emotions, and the amygdala activates the anterior cingulate, right parietal operculum. Deactivated are the prefrontal cortex, parietal cortex and precuneus.
the anterior cingulate if related to emotional features in waking and dreaming in integrating emotion with fictive actions.
As mentioned before in the section on Mark Solms research, this area also includes motivational centers without which we would not have access to the hunting, seeking, desiring, wanting part of ourselves.
Hobson feels this points to the notion that emotions are more the shaper of dream plots than reaction to events in dreams being the primary force driving emotions as in waking life.
++++ Zone 5 in figure 7. (Subcortical) Basil Ganglia. Motor initiation and control centers. Hobson feels this lower brain area is responsible for the modulation of movement in dreams and even adds specific features as vestibular sensations. That is, the sensation of fictive dream movement in our dreams.
++++ Zone 11 in figure 7. (Neocortical) visual association cortex. Higher visual processing centers that contribute visual information to dreams. We can dream even when this area is damaged, but our dreams will be impacted, as in the loss of face recognition in aphasia when the fusiform gyrus is damaged. At the same time, the primary visual centers (V1 and part of V2) are deactivated. This makes sense as the eyes are closed.
++++ Zone 9 in figure 7. (Neocortical). Inferior parietal lobe. Brodmann's Area 40. Spatial integration of heteromodal input. Solms refers to this area as the PTO junction (Parietal-Temporal-Occipital) and has shown that it is essential for dreaming, allowing us to imagine inner space and without it, all dreaming ceases. Also, it coordinates heteromodal information of all types. As Hobson writes, it "may generate the perception of a fictive dream space necessary for the global experience of dreaming."
Of interest to left-brain/right-brain theorists, PET studies of this area during REM show that much of the parietal lobe is deactivated, and just this right parietal operculum activated. That is, in some studies, the right is more important than the left in this area during dreaming.
++++ Zone 4 in figure 7. (Neocortical- deactivated) Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, or the executive association cortex. Prominent deactivation in the frontal cortex. This is the executive or reasoning part of the brain and the part that we use to do math, think linearly and calculate. Hobson feels this may contribute to many of the "dream deficiencies" such as memory loss, shifts in scenes, disorientation. It will be interesting to see if this area of the brain is more activated in lucid dreaming or not. Having this part of the brain offline may contribute to better facilitation of emotional and memory consolidation processes.
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*** Final Summary - How the brain works during dreaming ***
In terms of the process of dreaming at the level of the brain/body, we have learned quite a bit since the discovery of REM 50 years ago by Aserinsky and Kleitmann in the Chicago University sleep labs. REM or Rapid Eye Movement sleep occurs on a regular cycle about 20 minutes every 90 minutes of sleep. (More accurately, we have shorter REM the first part of the night, and longer REM periods, up to two hours, towards the end of the night). People often report dreams if awakened from REM.
Now we look at three different levels brain dreaming, the activation of various sites in the brain, the gating or input/output during Wake/Sleep/ REM stages and the different neurotransmitters that are impacting these stages.
In brief, when the sleeping person enters REM sleep, much of the mind that was quiet "wakes up", the dominate neurotransmitter changes from aminergic to cholinergic washes, and the output from the brain is cut off at the level of the lower brain stem. That is, messages from the activated brain go out to the body as in waking, but never make it there and so we get a kind of REM paralysis. Two areas of the brain that don't wake up are the parts of the pre-frontal cortex that one usually uses to calculate the lunch bill, and the primary visual centers used during waking site. (Higher visual centers are still activated. Its unclear still what brain parts are activated during lucid dreaming).
According to Hobson, this whole cycle is started by the changes occurring regularly in sleep in the brain stem. Mark Solms sees this brain stem activation as only one of the ways the brain starts its dreaming cycle. Solms focuses on the higher brain in dreaming and sees the beginning occurring in the frontal part of the brain that is our hunting, seeking, goal oriented center. Without it, (in damaged brain patients) there just isn't the motivation to dream or recall dreaming. From there, the activation crosses over to the very important PTO junction between our Occipital, Parietal, Temporal lobes, a place that might be described as necessary for a human to have any kind of spacio-temporal imagination. Without it, (in damaged brain victims) there is no dreaming reported. Finally the activation occurs in the higher visual centers. We can dream even without activation of these visual centers, but its unclear just what kinds of dreams one can really have. Patients with partial damage, causing for example aphasia, can't recall faces in people in their dreams.
Spontaneous or General?
Hobson sees this whole process modulated by the lower brain stem and cholinergic neurotransmitters. Solms sees the brain stem as peripheral to dreaming, as epilepsy and other events in NREM or Non-REM sleep can stimulate dreaming as well. Solms hypothesizes that the main neurotransmitter is serotonin. Either way, it is REM sleep from brain stem which seems to operate as a regular starting mechanism for the activation of the higher brain, though other spontaneous dreaming may occur outside of REM.
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APPENDIX 1 *** REM and Sleep Stages ***
We live on a planet that is light half the day and dark the other half. Creatures adapt to this two-part cycle, active and competitive in one, resting and asleep in the other. But the night is not as inactive as one might predict for some of its sleeping creatures. Almost all mammals experience in sleep complex changes in brain activation levels, sensory input, motor output and brain chemistry. In humans these changes often set the brain-body conditions in which we experience dreams.
Beginning of Contemporary Dream Science in REM (Rapid Eye Movement Sleep)
In 1953 at the University of Chicago, Nathaniel Kleitman and his student Eugene Aserinsky connected eye activity in sleep to dreams. (Aserinsky & Kleitman, 1953) Dr. Kleitman had been studying sleep difficulties in infants and wanted to explore the slow rolling eye movements that babies have at sleep onset. He had his student Eugene Aserinsky watch these movements of sleepy infants. What surprised Aserinsky and changed the notion of sleep forever, was the occasional occurrence of very rapid movements of the eyes at various times during the sleep cycle. Though the eyes remained closed, they moved just as if the child was awake and outside playing games. Aserinsky and Kleitman then monitored adults and found the same thing, and that these eye movements lasted anywhere from three to fifty-five minutes (Van De Castle, 1994).
Since the movements appeared as if the sleepers were scanning a scene, they decided to awaken them and ask what they were looking at. They were, more often than not, dreaming. When they woke sleepers up when there was no eye movement, they rarely reported dreams. These discoveries were reported in _Science_ on September 4th, 1953 and again in an expanded article in 1955. It was the beginning of what is now 40 years of contemporary dream research in the sciences.
While Aserinsky finished his medical program and left the labs, William C. Dement (1976) filled his place and soon was able to characterize sleep in stages. The REM state is different physiologically than waking or other kinds of sleep. During REM sleep, there are irregular patterns in breathing, heart rate and blood pressure. Our muscles are tense, though they can twitch and jerk. Most of the motor commands from the brain to the muscles are cut off during REM above the neck.
Stages of Sleep
Although sleep stages are different in every individual and vary from night to night and differ widely from childhood to late adulthood, some generalizations have been observed.
After a few minutes of drifting we slide into deeper and deeper levels of what is called NREM or Non-REM sleep. The brain's waves get wider and slower. After an hour or two the first REM period begins and lasts a few minutes. Then we sink back into deeper and deeper sleep. This cycle occurs about every 90 minutes. Towards the end of the night or sleep period, the REM periods get longer and we don't sink into quite as deep of sleep.
Traditionally, three kinds of measurement used to determine the stage and level of sleep are:
1. EEG: The electroencephalogram to determine electrical activity on the surface of the brain. Short dense fast desynchronized waves during waking and dreaming, tall, wide synchronized waves during NREM sleep.
2. EOG: The electrooculogram. To measure eye movements which produce REM.
3. EMG: The electromyogram. To measure muscle tone.
Now other measurements include the brain chemistry, EKG or heart rate, respiration and PHG or genital arousal. Newer recording equipment such as the MRI, PET and other digital imaging equipment are slowly being used in dream research. These techniques take advantage of the fact that when a particular area of the brain is active, there are micro-fluctuations of blood flow in that area.
Sleep Stage Summary:
Comparing REM with waking we find many similarities. About an hour or two into sleep, people move back up through states three, two and one, and often enter the first REM stage of the night. REM sleep is sometimes called "paradoxical sleep" because it has characteristics of both light and deep sleep. The first REM period of the night usually lasts only a few minutes. Then people sink into the deeper stages of sleep again. As the night progresses, more REM periods occur and become longer and longer. Near the end of a sleep period, they can last for an hour or more. The NREM or non-REM sleep times are shortened as the night goes on.
By the end of the night, we usually have stopped having state 4 sleep. Near the end of the night (or sleep period) we rotate between stage two at bottom and up to REM.
It is easy to get dream reports from people awakened from REM, but people can dream in any stage. Sawtooth waves occur in the EEG (electroencephalogram, a surface brain activity measurement) and eyes move rapidly back and forth. Messages from brain are cut off at the brain stem and never reach the body. The body's heating system is regulated more like a reptile and cannot heat or cool itself. It assumes the temperature of the surrounding room. Part of understanding that the REM state is different is that it is a *physiologically* different state than waking or other kinds of sleep. During REM sleep, there are irregular patterns in breathing, heart rate and blood pressure.
APPENDIX 2 *** Sleep Stages: A More Detailed Summary ***
NREM Sleep Stage 1.
Wake-Sleep Transition: As we lie down and close our eyes, (if we are tired) we begin to de-activate and move into low voltage, mixed-frequency EEG brain activity.
People awakened from this sleep stage often report just barely being asleep, or just about to fall asleep. Short dreams, or dreamlets may be reported. Body jerks and wandering thoughts can occur. This sleep stage usually lasts 3- 12 minutes.
(A)ctivation:
EEG: tight, fast Beta waves are replaced by looser, slower Alpha waves characteristic of a meditating mind. Soon Theta waves [4-8 Hz, (Frequency or how fast) 50-100 µV (Amplitude or how tall the waves peak)] begin to appear.
(I)information input/output:
Reactions to outside stimulus diminish. We stop noticing a lot of the noise and lights.
(M)odulation of neurochemical systems
The daytime aminergic system begins to wane and slowly stops inhibiting the cholinergic system which slowly starts coming online.
NREM Sleep Stage 2.
Not to hard to wake people here, but they usually report being really asleep. Lasts 10-20 minutes
(A) EEG: Sleep spindles appear. That is, twice as slow Theta waves. Occasional spikes called K-complexes and the beginning of large slow delta waves.
[4-15 Hz , 50-150 µV ]
(I) EMG: Muscles have tone or tension. Reactions to outside stimulus diminish. Unlikely to notice noise and lights unless unexpectedly strong
(M) Aminergic neuromodulation system continues to loose control and cholinergic system gains more control.
NREM Sleep Stage 3.
Lasts about 10 minutes
(A) EEG: Slow waves [ 2-4 Hz, 100-150 µV
] and Delta Waves. A little less than half the waves are large, slow delta waves. Spikes and K-complexes occur, but not as much. Slow waves + spindles + K complexes
(I) EMG: Muscles have tone. Reactions to outside stimulus unlikely unless strong or salient (mother hearing child's call or we hear our name). Unlikely to notice noise and lights unless unexpectedly strong
(M) Aminergic neuromodulation system continues to loose control and cholinergic system gains more control.
NREM Sleep Stage 4
More slow-wave activity in the EEG readings and overall neuronal activity at it lowest. Brain temperatures lowest and sympathetic outflow, heart rate and blood pressure down. Stages 3 and 4 in humans are sometimes called slow-wave sleep.
Sleepers hard to awaken. Children my take several minutes to awaken. Combined with stage 3, Lasts 40-90 minutes.
(A) EEG: Delta Sleep. More than half the waves are large, slow delta waves [0.5-2 Hz,
100-200 µV]
(I) . EMG: Muscles have tone. Sleepwalking, sleeptalking, night-terrors, bedwetting in children.
(M) Aminergic neuromodulation system continues to loose control and cholinergic system gains more control.
REM Sleep Stage:
Just exactly what starts REM sleep is complex and partially still being investigated.
A system of neurons generating the EEG, eye movement, twitches and underlying muscle atonia of REM sleep have been identified in the brainstem . This system utilizes adrenergic (noradrenergic and serotonergic) REM sleep-off neurons, GABAergic, cholinergic, glycinergic and glutamatergic REM sleep-on cells as well as other neurons.
In REM or Rapid Eye Movement sleep, the EEG looks similar to stage 1 NREM and waking. Because it resembles waking, REM is often called "paradoxical" sleep.
In REM there are bursts of neural activity, expecially in the Pons. These bursts generate high-voltage spike potentials, the ponto-geniculo-occipital or PGO spikes. The PGO spikes are named after structures in which these spikes are most detected (the pons, lateral geniculate nucleus, and occipital cortex). PGO spikes are one of the phasic or short-lasting events of REM sleep, including eye movements and cardio-respiratory irregularity.
The overall activity of the brain increases, and so the brain temperature and metabolic rate are high, equal to or greater than during the waking state. Atonia occurs (loss of muscle tone or outgoing motor commands to muscles) though small, phasic twitches occur and the skeletal muscles controlling the movements of the eyes, middle ear ossicles, and diaphragm are not atonic. The pupils are constricted (miosis), reflecting the high ratio of parasympathetic to sympathetic output to the pupil. Genital arousal regularly occur during REM sleep. There is a reduction in homeostatic mechanisms. Respiration is relatively unresponsive to changes in blood CO2, and response to heat and cold are absent or greatly reduced. Thus the body temperature drifts toward room temperature as with reptiles.
(A) EEG much like waking [15-50 Hz < 50 µV ] and stage 1
EEG gamma frequency 30-80 cycles per second "that has been touted as denoting sufficient temporal coherence among the widespread neuronal circuits of the context to permit the binding necessary for the unification of conscious experience. "
Pontine tegmentum: activated retircular formation, PGO system and cholinergic system.
Amygdala & paralimbic cortex : activation of emotional (quantity) and remote memory.
Parietal operculum (PTO junction) : activated visuospatial imagery
Prefontal cortex deactivated: volition, insight & judgement and working memory all deactivated.
EKG: Irregular heatbeat compared to NREM
(I) EOG: Rapid Eye Movements back and forth rapidly. Sometimes measured by strain gauges as well. EMG: muscles loose and relaxed. Active suppression of senory input and motor output. That is, stimuli from the outer world is dampened and messages from the brain to move are cut off at the brain stem. (Eyes are an example of the few outgoing nerves not dampened, and hence REM)
Motor output blocked: real action dampened
Sensory input blocked: outer world data unavailable
PGO system turned on: fictive visual & motor data generated
Respiration is less regular than NREM
(M) Aminergic demodulation, Cholinergic control. (suppression of firing by locus coeruleus and raphe neurons). " REM-on cells are postulated to occur via disinhibition (resulting from the marked reduction in firing rate by aminergic neurons at REM sleep onselt) and through excitation (resulting from mutually excitatory cholinergic-noncholinergic cell interactions within the pontine tegmentum" 138
Aminergic demodulation (loss of waking mental tone) may be a more or less direct cause of the difficulty in moving dreams from short to long term memory, as the attention needed to code memory is difficult with aminergic demodulation.
Thalamus basal forebrain & amygdale cholinergically modulated.
Cortex aminergically demodulated: recent memory and orientation down.
Pons: switch from aminergic (now off) to Cholinergic neurons (now on)
Schematic summary of REM:
"EEG dysychronization results from a net tonic increase in reticular, thalamocortical, and cortical neuronal firing rates. PGO waves are the result of tonic disinhibition and phasic excitation of burst cells in the lateral pontomesencephalic tementum. Rapid eye movements are the consequence of phasic firing by reticular and vestivular cells; the latter directly excite oculomotor neurons. Muscular atonia is the consequence of tonic postsynaptic inhibition of spinal anterior horn cells by the pontomedullary reticular formation. " From Hobson et al., 2000 Behavioral and Brain Sciences 23
PGO waves:
In cat studies, oncoming REM seems to come from the lateral geniculate bodies of the thalamus, corresponding to the depolarization of the geniculate neurons by excitatory impulses arising in the pontine brain stem, and depolarization of neurons of the reticular formation and the PPT pedunculopontine region. The PPT, a cholinergically modulated area, is thought to be the origin of the process that initiates REM in the brain stem. signals originate in the pons (P) and radiate to the geniculate bodies (G) and the occipital cortex (O).
REM begins when PGO waves become cholenergically hyperexcitable, a condition that is regulated by the inner circadian clock in the thalamus.
More specifically, the " of serotonergic inhibition and neuromodulation that results from the "Don't Act Now" signals sent down into the pons from the hypothalamic circadian clock. "
This mode of active signals without input/output gating means we have a lot of "fictive movement" or movement hat is centrally commanded but peripherally inhibited.
====================================================
REFERENCES
Hobson, Allan J. (2001). The Dream Drugstore: Chemically Altered States of Consciousness. MIT Press: Cambridge, MA
Hobson, J. Allen, Pace-Schott, E. and Stickgold, R. (2000)
Dreaming and the Brain: Towards a Cognitive Neuroscience of Conscious States
Behavioral and Brain Sciences 23 (6): 793-842
Available online:
http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/OldArchive/bbs.hobson.html
Hobson, Allan J. (1995). Sleep. New York, Scientific American Library.
Hobson, Allan J. (1988). The Dreaming Brain. New York: Basic Books, Inc.
Kryger, M., T. Roth, et al. (1994). Principles and Practice of Sleep Medicine. Philadelphia, W.B. Saunders Company.
Rechtschaffen, A. and A. Kales (1968). A Manual of Standardized Terminology, Techniques and Scoring System for Sleep Stages of Human Subjects. Wasington, D.C., NIH Publication 204.
Sleep and Dreaming Rechtschaffen, A. and Siegel, J.M. Sleep and Dreaming. In: Principles of Neuroscience. Fourth Edition, Edited by E. R. Kandel, J.H. Schwartz and
T.M. Jessel, 936-947, McGraw-Hill, New York, 2000.
Solms, Mark (1997). The Neuropsychology of Dreams: A Clinico-Anatomical Study. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Solms, Mark (2000), Dreaming and REM sleep are controlled by different brain mechanisms, Behavioral and Brain Sciences 23 (6): 843-850.
Available online:
http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/OldArchive/bbs.solms.html
BBS Special Issue: Sleep and Dreaming
http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/OldArchive/sleep.html
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Where is the Global Dreaming News?
Now at the beginning of Electric Dreams!
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** DREAMS ** DREAMS ** DREAMS ** DREAMS ** DREAMS ** DREAMS
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New Series begins with dream-flow@egroup.com Digest #1 09/29/2000
This issue includes volume #616 - #632
Hello and welcome to the DREAM SECTION of Electric Dreams.
This section is edited by Elizabeth Westlake and the DreamEditor, a software creation of Harry Bosma, author of the Dream interpretation and journaling software "Alchera".
(homepage: http://mythwell.com)
Please note that we print these dreams as they come to us and that means we do not correct the spelling. Some dreamworkers find these spelling mistakes a great window on the dream and dreamer.
The Electric Dreams DREAM SECTION includes dreams and comments from the DREAM FLOW, a project to circulate dreams in Cyberspace.
Many mail lists participate, including
dream-flow@lists.best.com
dreamstream@topical.com
DreamsRus@onelist.com
The Dream Sack http//www.deeplistening.org/ione
Usenet groups (too many to name, search DREAM)
If you would like to send in single dreams for the flow, you can leave them at
http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/temple
If you have a mail list or would like to contribute dreams and comments on a regular basis, you can subscribe to the dream-flow by sending an E-mail to
TO:
dream-flow-subscribe@egroups.com
You may get a note back to verify the subscription. Simply hit the return or reply key and send the note back.
If you have any comments or suggestions for the improvement of this section (but not about the content itself), please send it to dream-flow@dreamersoasis.com.
An Archive of dream-flow is available at:
http://www.mail-archive.com/dream-flow@egroups.com/
Pre-November 2000:
http://www.mail-archive.com/dream-flow@lists.best.com/
Pre-November 1998
http://www.mail-archive.com/ed-core@lists.best.com/
Pre-April 1990
Use Electric Dreams Backissues
http://www.dreamgate.com/dream/ed-backissues
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Message: 616-001
Subject: Re: The stripped down computer lab
Dear Snowbirds,
Ihave only signed up to dream-flow recently, and i think you should be
sending your dreams to the message board. My interpretations are based on my own experiences of dreams i had, and they are just simple, un-romantic stuff based on real dreams. Your dream is a typical morning dream. Your subconscious designed it to bring you out of sleep and drowsiness into a fully awake, ready for anything state. The dream asks questions and sets puzzles like: why do i dream such funny dreams. The people and bare computer room is only for surprise, because you are not expecting to see it in that state. If you do not like this sort of interpretation, please disregard it. H
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Message: 617-001
Subject: car accident
I had a dream last nite....i was in a van, with my ex-sister in law
driving, and my ex- hubby who is the father of my child. We were all
talking and driving somewhere. It was really ddark, cold, and wet
outside. We came upon a four way crossing and there was an accident. To the left was 4-5 people in graduation gowns and caps, with 3-4 smashed cars.....and infront of us was a car, that was all smashed up....there was no roof, or the front end of the car. In the middle of the front seat was a girl, dead, but she looked like she had just passed out from drinking and was really pale. Same in the back seat, in the middle was another girl fallenm over, dead, but was also pale and looked like she has just passed out., as we continued to drive around the crash to the right on the ground was about 3-4 dead people lined up on the ground under a tarp, with just their feet out. I remember driving away looking ouut wondering why the police wouldn't have covered them up, or taken them away before the traffic went through. then I answered myself by saying " they must have been teaching us about drinking and driving".
We kept on driving and I woke up. When i woke i was scared and shaken. I woke my husband..told him about it but I could not fall back asleep.
Any ideas............please someone tell me my daughter and I are not
in danger.
Ging
comments: 617-002, 618-001
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Message: 617-002
Subject: Re: car accident
your peace was on the right if you avoided becoming ex
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Message: 618-001
Subject: Re: car accident
Dear Brittanymorgan
This is an upsetting dream, but do not worry too much about it. The aim of this dream is to wake you up and get the brain in good working order. The anticipation of a difficult job or task ahead may bring on a dream like this. My experiences with these types of waking dreams (everybody has them), is when I have a cold, a bad headache or indigestion, or take some medicine for them, I have a vivid dream that is almost real. A small health upset or headache seems to make the dream feel as if it is shouting across a noisy room, shouting loudly from a distance. Although science does not admit it yet, dreams have three very important functions: the first one, on a normal night, is to keep the sleeper from
waking up until the body and brain is recharged and ready for the next day. The second is to wake the sleeper with a nightmare if there is some danger, from vomiting, breathlessness, pins-and-needles, cramps or sudden pains. Nightmares may happen in seconds. The third, and most often remembered dream wakes the sleeper after a good nights sleep with a questioning, puzzling, amusing, contradictory, or sometimes disturbing theme. Perhaps you needed waking up for some reason, if you go through what happened the previous day, how you felt? worries? jobs ahead may explain the reason.
The aim of the waking dream is to concentrate the mind, and bring the sleeper to full consciousness. Unfortunately the subconscious is aiming at this end only regardless of the trouble it causes to the conscious mind. In studying and analysing my own dreams for more than fifty years, I never found any symbolism, hidden meaning, or omens. Dreams are there to do the tasks I mentioned above. However driving on today's roads need full care and attention at all times. Perhaps your dream used some details from the T.V ads. Sorry about the length of this E-mail.
H
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Message: 619-001
Subject: Enslaved in a foreign country
Hello everyone! I'm a new dreamer on the list... I'm trying to find a group of people to help and being helped about dreams in a regular basis.
Here's a recent one - I have no clue about what it means:
BACKGROUND: My parents are soon coming to visit me from Brazil, after 2 years without seeying them. I've never travelled other than to USA.
DREAM: I made a trip to an asian country and I ended up being enslaved. There were no details in the dream, I just woke up in my new room *knowing* that. It was a confortable room, nice bed w/ white clean sheets. (Not like slaves are treated...) My "owners" were a old lady and a thirtish lady, and I was wondering which kind of work I'd have to do daily. The two women weren't mean, somehow I knew, because in that country enslaving people was a natural thing to do. I was not afraid, nor as concerned as I should be; all I worried about was "Damn, my parents are coming soon, what is my husband supposed to do? Just call my mother and tell her that her daughter has been enslaved in a faraway country? She's gonna be soooooo worried!" I didn't want my mom to be worried and all I was trying to figure out a way of protecting her.
Anybody has any imputs?
Sara
comments: 621-001
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Message: 620-001
Subject: Camping with celebrities
That's my last night dream:
I was with my mother in some sort of celebrities party... Every famous actor was there, as if it was the Oscar. It was outdoors, in the woods, and everyone would have to camp, sleep in tents. I don't remember of anyone in particular, until two couples came and started to make conversation with us: Tom Cruise & Nicole Kidman, Brad Pitt & Jennifer Aniston. At first I was very surprised, thinking "Hey, these are celebrities, very interesting people - what can possibly attract them to talk to us? We are just normal, boring people." After a while they invited us over to their tent, and we sat inside and talked for hours. The two men were the center of my attention, I just saw and talked to them - their ladies were there but they were passive, of second matter in the dream. Tom would be talking to my mom, then Brad would ask me questions (or vice-versa) - and I would always be very surprised and intrigued by his genuine interest. I felt good, very special, and even confortable - I thought "Even being who they are, they are so easy to talk to, such nice guys."
(A few days ago I dreamt with my mom and Val Kilmer in a bus... What is it that is connecting my mother, and celebrities and I in my dreams?) In the same dream (another dream?) I went to the bathroom at this place, and I was worried that all the large windows were open and people would see the inside, so I started closing them. When they were all closed, somebody knocked in the glass. I opened, a little annoyed by thinking they would say "Closing the windows is not allowed", and there were three cops (or pest exterminators?). There was a house close by (they pointed it to me) and they were told of problems there, so they went to check and the house was infested by rats. Many, many rats. They came to ask me if I knew something about it, but I didn't. These guys were actually co-workers of mine (not cops though) several years ago, and I was pleased in seeying them again.
Sara
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Message: 620-002
Subject: attack a UFO
note: stan requests that his name and dream be kept together. - rcw
stan kulikowski ii <stankuli@etherways.com>
DATE : 2 feb 2003 10:27
DREAM : attack a UFO
=( last night was saturday. did not get much accomplished during the day with various errands and responsibilities sucking up the entire day. during the evening mother watched the cable remake of _the shining_. it was better than the original, but still rather contrived to be scary. that seems to be fault of the original premise which is to convert troubled father into raving maniac. went to sleep around 01:00 without difficulty. )=
i look at my wristwatch and it says 13:30. i have been talking with my friend too long and have forgotten that i should have taken my class of students down to the lunchroom. damn, maybe it is not too late.
i hurry down the hall to the large cafeteria area. the last few students are finishing up their meals, and the serving ladies are sitting around a table at one end. i come up to them and ask "is it too late to get anything for my students? i lost track of the time and did not bring them down here for lunch."
a couple of the ladies look at each other. "i think we can find something if you hurry."
i thank them and go to get the students. my classroom is the last on the right of a long hall down the building. when i enter the room, half of the students are up milling about, obviously concerned about this unexpected change in their schedule. i teach retarded children, most of whom are unable to speak at all, but they are very sensitive to the sequence of how things are done.
my teaching assistant is a young woman who has been managing things in the room while i was gone. i explain to her that i got held up with the visiting speaker and have arranged for the kids to get a late meal in the lunchroom. she helps to get the students lined up before the door, preparing for the group excursion. there is another teaching assistant that i do not know, but i am newly returned as a teacher in this school this year, so i may have missed some changes in the class management.
when the students are all lined up, my assistant opens the door and leads them out. instead of going down the hall, directly to the lunchroom, she takes them outside the building to lead them along the outer walls. i don't know why she chose this path as it is a little longer, but probably because it will cause less disturbance to other the other classrooms which are back in session after lunch. my class does make a lot noises when going somewhere. not talk, just vocal noises.
we are almost ready to reenter the school building near the lunchroom when a strange object comes flying up, making a loud whining noise. it looks like a small bullet shape fuselage between two larger jet engines. the main body is about as thick as my fist and as long as my forearm while the cowlings of the engines are about twice that thickness. below this shiny metallic framework there is a large gray mass, an irregular lobed shaped sack that wiggles and shakes like it is made of jelly or some material of slight density. the whole apparatus is less than a meter in diameter, most of it the sack which droops below the jet shell. it is obviously manufactured but it reminds me of a cross between a hard shelled crustacean on top and a dark jellyfish on bottom.
the device seems to have been crossing the schoolyard, flying about two or three meters high when it noticed our group outside and came to
investigate. it pauses for a moment then makes a lunge movement with a
change of pitch in its engine whine to make a sound like an angry bee. my students cringe back against the wall as the flying thing backs off, but still sounding distressed.
i am not about to let this thing continue to frighten my class. they are pressed up against the wall, making little yelps of fear as the hovering machine repeats its small lunges if any of them start to move away. since i was further behind, i did not seem to be part of the group and so am able to cross behind the flying machine without being noticed.
the engine exhausts do not seem to be very hot when it is hovering, no more so than a hair dryer. up close i hear some noise like radio chatter of short commands then static. i can not tell what is being said, but it sounds like a network of these things communicating to each other.
i grab the floating device from behind by its central nose cone and discover that the gray mass below just rips away as i try to hold it. i am a little surprised that the gray mass feels dry and textured like a fabric as i was expecting it be gelatinous and moist. when the lower mass tears off and falls to the ground, the engines shut off and whatever lift and control it had stops resisting my grip. it seems to have died in my hands and is now just an inert object.
we get the students calmed down, and the teaching assistants take them inside for their lunch. instead of going with them, i go into the front office. i find the school principal and several senior teachers meeting around the conference table.
"what is this thing?" i say to the faculty group. "it was flying around the school yard and scaring our children."
"the local dry cleaners send them out to collect dirty laundry." one of them replies. "they have been known to stop people and strip their clothes off if they are too dirty. it probably recognized the fabrics on your students as a target sized collection of laundry and was inspecting them for pick up."
i pick at a plastic clip near the nose cone and both of the engines fall off when it separates. inside the fuselage under the engine mounting base, i can see english words with the name of the dry cleaning company.
the principal comes over to me and claps his hand on my shoulder. "i have never known anyone who would attack a UF0 bare handed. lucky for you that this one was not extraterrestrial but merely from the chamber of commerce."
=( i wake at 06:00 but go back to sleep. several times in the morning i reawaken and rehearse this dream memory so i can enter it in my log when i get awake enough. i was hoping the dream would continue when i went back to sleep, but it did not. back in the early 1970s i was a teacher of retarded teenagers, and this dream was in the school where i worked then. the first teaching assistant (but not the second) and the students were familiar faces to me. there was more of this dream at the beginning, but i can not recall that part well enough to include it here. the visiting speaker was someone i knew very slightly in amherst during the later 1970s. i cannot even remember his name, but i know who he was by my association with him: a schlock psychologist from hampshire college, he called himself. we had been discussing the ethics of signing children and mentally
retarded people into organ donation programs and the meaning of informed consent. it was a rather complicated discussion which is why i can not recall it well enough now and it was the reason i neglected the usual lunchtime schedule which begins this part of the dream. perhaps it is a notion of civic pride that would motivate laundromats to send out automatic fabric inspectors of cleanliness. this seems somehow related to the violation of informed consent. )=
comments: 621-002
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Message: 621-001 [619-001]
Subject: Deciphered dream: Enslaved in a foreign country
Good morning dreamers!
I'm very happy that I've finnaly understood the meaning of my dream "Enslaved in a Foreign Country". Thanks to everybody that gave me insights and specially to Katalaya who gave me the ones that made me go to the right direction. I wanna share my conclusion with you. Here's the dream again and below are my interpretation:
[ed.note: see 619-001 for dream text]
That's a dream about my difficult relationship with mother-in-law and sister-in-law. They are the two ladies in the dream (who look totally different). I see them so much older because in reality I perceive them older too - my sis-in-law is my age but she's sooo smarter and more mature in some ways. An "asian country" means to me, in a symbolic way, a totally exotic place, I know nothing about it and have no idea about how things work there and its rules. Something unknown by my culture. A different language and values. That's so much how I feel about my in-laws! I'm Brazilian, they are Mexican, and our culture is so different. We look the same (the ladies in the dream didn't look asian) but we aren't. We do talk different languages, and this goes more than the literal meaning - I don't understand what do they mean and why they behave in certain ways. They are unpredictable to me, and I am for them. I feel in a "foreign soil" because I don't know how to deal with them, how to understand each other. And I feel "enslaved" when I'm close to them because I have to adapt (since I'm minority), I have to follow their rules by the sake of the family (since communication and honesty among us just seem to hurt their feelings and give them a bad impression of me). So, if I have to tolerate a week visit, I certainly feel enslaved, but it's like "Whatever, I'll stand it, there's nothing I can do about it. I hope it's gonna be as painless as possible." That's why I wasn't scared in the dream - I was putting up with that, thinking that maybe the future would adjust things - maybe I would adapt to them (in as long term) and be happy, or I would find a way of running away and be free again. The women in the dream, as well as my in-laws, are not bad people, weren't mean to me, even treat me in a very considerate way (my mother-in-law makes me very confortable, nice, clean beds with white sheets... like in the dream) and if they are "enslaving" me, that's just their culture, they don't mean bad. We don't love each other, but we don't totally dislike each other either - but we certainly look suspicious at each other (I remember the suspicious look of the ladies in the dream towards their "new slave"). I hope that at some point we'll start speaking the same language and liking each other...
Sara
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Message: 621-002 [620-002]
Subject: Re: attack a UFO
Hi Stan,
You have posted a very interesting and well-presented dream. I will
try to have a go at interpreting it.
Perhaps the key phrase in the dream is: "I did not get much
accomplished during the day". Did the film, which you may have
already seen finished too late? Is 01:00 a bit late for going to bed?
13:30 in the dream reminds you about mealtime, perhaps hungry? The
dinner ladies find something for you and the class. Children with
learning difficulties find it hard to adjust to different routines.
The reason for being late is accepted by the teaching assistants, but you find it a bit strange that she leads the children the wrong way.
Outside the strange object enters the dream. May be from out of
space, but it is about the size of a child. The irregular shaped sack which droops bellow the belly is interesting!
The flying object becomes threatening, noisy and irritating. Would
grabbing the device and feeling the grey mass correspond to changing the clothes of one of the children in the period you were a teacher?
Were you irritated by having to clean some of the kids? Perhaps the soiled clothes had to be sent to the cleaning company that was written under the engine-mounting base.
>From the script of the dream it seems you might have had words with the principal about these tasks.
Were the words: like "somebody out of space" mentioned at the talk
with the principal?
This is a dream that conveys some impatience, and irritation.
Teaching and looking after children with learning difficulties is an extremely challenging job. Very few people are cut out to deal with it. The subconscious used the frustration you felt in this job to mask the annoyance caused by someone or something in the present dream.
Just for curiosity: is there a noisy appliance, like air conditioner, freezer, or something that makes a buzzing noise starting up between 05:00 and 06:00 in the house? Does a noisy road sweeper or a refuse collector come your way, and at what time? This would tell us how long the dream lasted.
Cheers H
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Message: 622-001
[ed.note: post deleted - non-dream post]
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Message: 623-001
Subject: Hi everyone
Iwould just like to say a big hello to all members and would like to know if anyone could tell me what my dream means as I have searched the net but have found nothing....
Ok..I was walking with my mother & aunty across a small lake (which had dried up)as we got to the end we all looked down and there were hundreds of chrystals lying on the ground. My mum and aunt both picked up green chrystals and I picked up a normal diamond shaped one (I don't no what names for chrystals are). When I looked at it closely there was a heart shape in the middle. We continued on our way and as we were walking I looked towards these stair and there were more chrystals at the top of these stairs but they were all glowing.
Thanks alot
Still
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Message: 623-002
Subject: (no subject)
just to say hiya to all of the members of this group
and to ask if and of you have had dreams that you have linked with pople you know and all so i am having trouble remembering any details of these dreams most of the time can any one help
dave
comments: 624-001, 624-002
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Message: 624-001 [623-002]
Subject: Re: (no subject)
Hi Dave,
I definately have people in my dreams, like friends, family, past and
present. Do not worry too much about not remembering dreams. Most of the dreams i remember are cased by unusual circumstances, like a cold, slight fever or indigestion. Normally dreams are unnoticed although we are always dreaming. It is nightmares and morning dreams that are remembered most often. Cheers, H
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Message: 624-002 [623-002]
Subject: Re: (no subject)
hi h
its not that i am worred its that i have linked dreams with a girl from the usa and we link 2 or 3 times a week when we chat about it on the net or phone we have the same memerys
been looking for books on the subgect but cant find any and i would just like to remember more
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Message: 625-001
[ed.note: post deleted - non-dream post]
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Message: 625-002
[ed.note: post deleted - multiple post]
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Message: 625-003
[ed.note: post deleted - multiple post]
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Message: 625-004
Subject: continuing dreams...birth
Hello Everyone!!!
First night I had a dream I was standing on the ground watching
myself give birth to a baby boy. He was healthy. And I was with my
husband.....through the whole thing.
Next night......I had a dream I was holding him and crying because he wasn't hungy and I was lactating, and my white t-shirt was wet. this really seemed to upset me.
The next dream....my husband wasn't there.....but my son was 5 and I was sending him off to his first day of school, with his lunch
box.....and I was soooooo proud....but crying.
Any insights?
Ging
comments: 626-002, 626-003
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Message: 626-001
[ed.note: post deleted - multiple post]
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Message: 626-002 [625-004]
Subject: Re: continuing dreams...birth
Hello
I have no idea if you responded.....or tried to give me insight....but there was no text in my email. I just want to know if it means my husband and I are going to have bad or good luck... or is major decision coming up.......or just a way of my mind working at night? Thanks Ginger
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Message: 626-003 [625-004]
Subject: Re: continuing dreams...birth
Hi,
Sorry i was thinking of repliing, but i would have liked to know the time these dreams wake you up. In my long study of my own dreams i never had any indications that my dreams predicted anything. Your dreams are trying to wake you up for some reason. If they are near morning it may be that you just had enough sleep. The different emotions are the sign of a morning dream. H
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Message: 627-001
Subject: Brother mad at me
Hello dreamers! Please help me with this one:
I have had one dream quite often that's bothering me. My brother (19) is always fighting me, mad at me, against me somehow. Even running after me with knifes sometimes. I don't know why I dream that; it's disturbing. My brother and I have a great relationship, we love each other. When I lived in Brazil, my mother often reported that I talked in my sleep, cursing my brother or fighting him aloud. I never remembered dreaming that. Again, we got along very well. Any ideas???
Sara
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Message: 627-002
Subject: Being a cop
This was an interesting one. Help, please! :-)
December 20th, 2002
REAL LIFE: "Beth" is a online friend o'mine; we've never met but we chat everyday. I consider her a good friend. She's a cop and loves adventures.
DREAM: Finally Beth came to visit me in California, and somehow she convinced my husband and I to become some sort of police. So the three of us would work together, spying bad guys and send other cops to get them. So there was our first mission (very vivid): We were running and hiding in long, dark corridors of a building (OK, the feeling of adventure I liked!), careful not to be seen, until we reached the room where out "target" was. The man was well dressed (like an executive) and doing something ilegal (I don't know what it was, but for us it was obvious.) So we were like "Ha! We've got you!" aloud. The man said "You can not arrest me... you guys are unarmed!" (That's right, stupid us, chasing somebody without a gun!) I stepped towards him and said, defiantly: "But we will testify against you." (It surprises me to have done that, since in real life I'm so passive... There I felt so confident.) The man told me "Oh no, you won't." So he grabbed his knife and grabbed the closest person... myself. So there I was, with a big shiny knife in my throat, not very happy. That was so scary! My husband and friend didn't do or say anything. The guy was laughing, making suspense, playing with the knife on my throat and face to scare me more, getting amused. I thought I would die. After a lot of teasing, he kissed my forehead (?) and let me go. Relieved, I even turned around to say "Thank you." And the three of us left.
FEELINGS AFTERWARDS: I woke up happy. It was a scary situation (the knife threat) but still it was a good dream. Don't ask me why. I also loved being a cop and sneaking around after bad guys - real life doesn't allow me that. Great to meet my friend, too.
Sara
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Message: 627-003
Subject: Re-dreaming of places
Do any of you experience this:
I re-dream of places. For instance, I dream of a building (that does NOT exist). Next morning I don't remember the dream. Two years later I dream of the same building again - and it looks familiar because I remember of dreaming it before! Then I forget about it again and months later... ha! That happens quite often to me. It buggs me the fact that these places don't exist and I don't even remember the dream - so how can my mind store the information and pull the file back long after?
Anyone knows about it?
Sara
comments: 628-002
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Message: 627-004
Subject: Sara's daydreams
I know this is a list about normal night dreams... but I'm sure that one's mind builds similar methafors and reveals us through both sleep and awake dreams. I need your help with it, guys. I'm a huge, serious daydreamer, and I still didn't start having a clue about why the heck I like so much picturing certain things.
My most commom daydream - same content, different packages - is putting myself in danger. It can be being kidnapped, attacked by a vampire, put in jail, being chased, falling on the hands of a bad guy/people. There's NO sexual content in these dreams, they are pretty innocent. I usually make "mental fanfictions", I use characters from movies or cartoons and I create stories that can be huge and last for days... even weeks... as if it was a TV serie. Some of them I re-dream again and again over the years. I'm always the "sensitive girl", the "damsil in distress". Sometimes the evil people pretend they are nice and friendly to have my trust and intend to use me to get an eventual hero... or just to kill me. Sometimes they just kidnap me and show they are bad right away. But never, or rarely, something bad happens, I don't get hurt - on the last second I manage to scape, or - more often - the bad guy sympathizes with me and let me go. Usually I imagine that I'm sooo sweet that I make the bad guy become good. So it's basically situations of enormous stress with a happy ending. In real life now: I'm really the sensitive type, that enjoys being at home, reading a good book or using the computer - NO adventures and NO dangerous situations at all! I'm NOT a masochist, in case someone thought of that, not at all. And I would NEVER EVER enjoy similar situations in real life.
I'd greatly apreciate any imputs.
Sara
comments: 628-001, 629-002, 629-003
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 628-001 [627-004]
Subject: Re: Sara's daydreams
Not knowing you at all, you really sound like you just need to take a vacation, but NO ordinary vacation. Plan to do "something" completely NOT YOU! Don't tell any of your friends or family about this plan or they will talk you OUT of it! It doesn't have to be too wild or dangerous, just something "adventureous" and NOT the normal YOU! You need a break from your routine, whatever that is....and it should be several days and well planned so that you actually ENJOY IT. I can't give you any more specifics as I don't know you well enough...but that is what I think. ________________________________________________________________________
Message: 628-002 [627-003]
Subject: Re: Re-dreaming of places
Hi Sara,
This dream is quite a common morning teaser! The building in your dream does exist, however you forgotten where, and your dream will not tell you. The reason for the dream is exactly what you are doing now: which is trying to find out why? The dream sets a chain of thoughts in the brain to start the day with. Very often it is this sort of puzzle, other mornings it might be something humorous, sad, a feeling of anger, or irony. Occasionally there is a very distressing inverted nightmare,
the aim of which is to stop one brooding on a difficult problem. It is to create a diversion. Some day you will find out where the building is situated If you do please write and tell us!
Cheers H
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 629-001
Subject: Beth's recurring dream
My friend Beth is being bugged by this recurring dream and I asked her permission to post her dream in here. She's all excited now with the possibility of finding its meaning! :-)
Background: Beth's 27, lives by herself, single. She's been having one bad relationship after another and she's seeking for a serious one.
Dream: "Basically what happens is that me and this guy (in the dream I feel like I know him, sometimes I can recognize him as someone I know, or a celebrity bit other times he's a stranger to me (in awake life). We are usually in a big house (even tho a couple of times it was like outside in a cave or other strange place). There are tons of rooms and usually a bunch of other people. We have a thing for each other and are trying to hook up but just as we start to kiss we get interrupted. So we move to another place, but the same thing happens. It seems our relationship is secret so we don't want anyone to find out. Sometimes I feel like the guy really doesn't want to hook up and I'm sorta forcing him to even tho he does go ahead. I feel frustrated but it seems there is an urgency sometimes, sorta like we have to (like when you know someone is going to be gone for a long time and you won't see them for awhile)."
comments: 630-001
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 629-002 [627-004]
Subject: Re: Sara's daydreams
Uhhhmmm... What do you have in mind? You can tell me, even if it sounds lame... Sara "JSTFRNZ(Just Friends)" <jst_frnz_99@yahoo.com> wrote: Not knowing you at all, you really sound like you just need to take a vacation, but NO ordinary vacation. Plan to do "something" completely NOT YOU! Don't tell any of your friends or family about this plan or they will talk you OUT of it! It doesn't have to be too wild or dangerous, just something "adventureous" and NOT the normal YOU! You need a break from your routine, whatever that is....and it should be several days and well planned so that you actually ENJOY IT. I can't give you any more specifics as I don't know you well enough...but that is what I think. Sara ZZZ wrote: I know this is a list about normal night dreams... but I'm sure that one's mind builds similar methafors and reveals us through both sleep and awake dreams. I need your help with it, guys. I'm a huge, serious daydreamer, and I still didn't start having a clue about why the heck I like so much picturing certain things.
My most commom daydream - same content, different packages - is putting myself in danger. It can be being kidnapped, attacked by a vampire, put in jail, being chased, falling on the hands of a bad guy/people. There's NO sexual content in these dreams, they are pretty innocent. I usually make "mental fanfictions", I use characters from movies or cartoons and I create stories that can be huge and last for days... even weeks... as if it was a TV serie. Some of them I re-dream again and again over the years. I'm always the "sensitive girl", the "damsil in distress". Sometimes the evil people pretend they are nice and friendly to have my trust and intend to use me to get an eventual hero... or just to kill me. Sometimes they just kidnap me and show they are bad right away. But never, or rarely, something bad happens, I don't get hurt - on the last second I manage to scape, or - more often - the bad guy sympathizes with me and let me go. Usually I imagine that I'm sooo sweet that I make the bad guy become good. So it's basically situations of enormous stress with a happy ending. In real life now: I'm really the sensitive type, that enjoys being at home, reading a good book or using the computer - NO adventures and NO dangerous situations at all! I'm NOT a masochist, in case someone thought of that, not at all. And I would NEVER EVER enjoy similar situations in real life.
I'd greatly apreciate any imputs.
Sara
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 629-003 [627-004]
Subject: Re: Sara's daydreams
there is no specific answer, that is up to you to decide. It could be a cruise; european vacation; trip to the keys or head to new orleans; las vegas, LA;a dude ranch, a nudist resort, hike the appilacian trail, take a hot air ballon ride; go learn to parachute or bungie jump, or it could be just getting dressed up and going to a fabulous restraraunt orcheck into a 5 star hotel somewhere away from where you are..anything different than you would NOT ordinarily do....just somewhere you have thought about going, but your inner voice says NO, you can't do that or can't go there.....Your dream just sounded like you were killing your creative and adventuresome self that seems to be wanting to get out and have some fun. _______________________________________________________________________
Message: 630-001 [629-001]
Subject: More on Beth's dream (please help!)
Hey guys, I asked Beth about who are the people in her dream:
"Most of the time they are strangers. But I have had some where they are people I know like co workers mostly, other times it's been like at a party where the only i seem to know is the guy." Below are my comments about her dream. Please, take a look and add your own comments... or come up with something different...
"A house usually represents your "self", it's like seeying you inside. (A cave can be that, too.) A lot of rooms... maybe it's a lot of possibilities (you expect "a lot of things" when you find a boyfriend, a whole new world), a lot of different talents you have, some maybe undiscovered. It depends on how you feel in the house and about the rooms - do the "many rooms" fact makes you unconfortable (uh-oh, it's like a labirint!) or confortable (good, more places to hide!)? Your seek for a boyfriend and intimacy is obvious, that makes you very anxious. The house is full of people... they make you feel that your "house" (self) is invaded... invasion of privacy. It's none of their businesses, but you feel observed, specially in relationship matters... Maybe it's about those pain-in-the-neck relatives/friends/coworkers that keep asking "No boyfriend yet?" or just, for a reason or another, you feel anxious to show them someday "Here, this is my boyfriend!" I still don't understand the need of hiding though... (I do in the dream, but not in reality). Maybe it's just that same "invasion of privacy" feeling. "SOmetimes I feel like the guy really doesnt want to hook up and i'm sorta forcing him to even tho he does go ahead." Maybe that's because you can't find a boyfriend right now, but you want to, even feeling a little rejected, so in the dream you're trying to force things to happen... you feel the guy in the dream is sorta rejecting you too... "I feel frustrated but it seems there is an urgency sometimes sorta like we have to (like when you kno someone is going to be gone for a long time and you wont see them for awhile)" I think that's the urgency you feel in real life... you need company *right now*, not when the elephants become pink w/ yellow balls... it may be also the urgency that I've mentioned before - we women are very sensitive to time, we are like "OK, time to have a serious relationship!" and we go crazy if time passes and we still don't have one. We even feel like "It's now or never" and it's disturbing. Plus the pressure from family and friends (the people in the house): "So you're not married yet?" (That sucks!)"
Sara
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 631-001
[ed.note: post deleted - non-dream post]
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 631-002
[ed.note: post deleted - non-dream post]
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 632-001
Subject: Iron and Glass Door - My mother's dream
She dreamt she was walking on the street her own mother used to live in (she's dead for years) and she saw her male cousing on the front yard of one neighbour house. He was carrying a huge door. The door was built with iron and glass - the half inferior part was made of a greyish iron, and the half superior part was made of a glass full of colors and flowers. She was all mesmerized, "What a BEAUTIFUL door!!!" She was sad that she didn't pass by that house and bought the door first... It used to be part of a house that is now demolished (she didn't see the house, she just knew it. The house never existed in real life.) She knew that's the kind of door to place indoors, in a very large living room. Then her cousing guessed her thoughts and said "Your husband was the one who made a bid of $65 (she saw the number 65 in a piece of paper) so this door is yours!" Then she got worried, wondering where the heck she would place that door in her new house. She couldn't imagine matching the door anywhere, like it wouldn't belong there. (The "new house" is a project; my parents plan in building it someday, even bought a couple of windows already, but don't have much money to go ahead.)
Sara
________________________________________________________________________
Message: 632-002
Subject: Romance with a Singer - My mother's dream
This is another of her last night dreams. Observe that "glass" is present again... what can so much glass emphasis mean?
She dreamt of this famous brazilian singer she has a thing for. Both were in a very large bedroom (in his house), second or third floor, and a whole wall (one of them)was made of glass - that's supposed to be a huuuuge window. Very clear glass. Both were trully in love. He kissed her neck and she was worried that someone would see, so he closed the door. Then they were kissing and she was thinking "People down there don't even imagine who I am with! They wouldn't believe it!" She could see clearly people "down there" (floor level) but they couldn't see inside the room, she's not sure if they couldn't or just didn't bother to look up. While they were kissing, she was also very worried and insecure because she hasn't brushed her teeth, she was afraid he'd smell her bad breath and not want to kiss her again.
Later, in another place, she met one the women who goes to the same gym. She gave a box to my mother (medium size, about 30cm) to the request of an secret admirer. The guy had this platonic love (or something) for my mom, from a long time, and that box was his way to say "I love you". He spent *a lot* of money on it. (There was nothing inside, the box itself was the present.) My mom thought "Poor guy, he's wasting his money and time... Now I already have someone who likes me!" (refering to the singer). Happiness was clearly stamped on her face, so the woman asked "What happened that you are so happy?" and she said "I'm in love... but now I cannot tell you more, maybe one day people will know."
Sara
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