Opening a can of dreams!
I recently heard that nightmares may not be so scary but more like a warning. It is like a shouting episode because something needs urgent attention. The key is to identify each aspect of the nightmare like it is a dream.
If your child is having nightmares or bad dreams try to get them to talk about the dream. Natural impulses that are banished from our consciousness will be felt in dreams. When my step-daughter was about 2 and 3 years old she would have what is described as night terrors. Young children wake up hysterically and it is best just to calm them to sleep. There is a bit of research on this, but when I was looking I couldn’t find too much. It is nothing to worry about and it doesn’t affect them during the day and they can’t remember the event.
Speaking of children..our dreams are often interrupted by a waking child! If this happens and you feel curious about its conclusion, use waking fantasy to carry it on in your imagination, trusting your first thoughts and allowing the images that present themselves to follow through to an ending. (The Dream Catchers Handbook, H McLean and A Cole, 2001).
So next time someone says ‘Sleep on it’ you might literally do this…it is clear to dream researchers that a great deal of creativity has been inspired by dreams. Scientific research suggests we only use 20 per cent of our brain…so it is nice to know we are using more grey matter when we are sleeping!
Lucid dreaming is very interesting to me. Recently this happened to me and I was pleasantly intrigued. A lucid dream is when the dreamer is actually dreaming of dreaming! Apparently lucid dreaming can help one to take control of disturbing dreams.
And does anyone one have recurring dreams? Well this is means a vital message is in this dream which must be listened to and actioned.
If you are saying to yourself: “I don’t dream ever”. According to the Dream Catchers Handbook everyone dreams and the dreams reflect the world as their senses perceive it.
Dreams can be anything you want…we have the power to choose..a bit like life I guess..so when dreaming tonight..move mountains!!!!
Francine Rothhammer says
I have a lot of bad dreams , some of them I will wake up crying, I not going to really going to get into details about all of my dreams that I have had. Sometimes I keep having the same visions in my dreams telling me maybe something has happen to me about being drugged and being raped. I keep asking myself did this really happen and why am I keep having the visions for? Will I ever know the truth? Can this be delusional kinda thing or what? Waiting to hear comments .Thanks
Shaz says
Thanks for sharing Francine..I have some good dream books…i will research some more dream mysteries.
Doc says
Bravo Shaz! terrific post. That is the cleverest headline and accompanying image I have noted on a blog in some considerable time. I am very much enjoying watching you rapidly transform into a blogger of note and slowly getting to know you, if only a virtual person to me, by the attractive way you arrange meaningful letters and characters into very readable matter. From the time you first dipped your big toe into the blogosphere with an apprehension apparent, to the present, where you are now beginning to write with great passion and vigour – me thinks you have an obvious talent for this contemporary communicative art form – remember that true creativity is impossible without some measure of passion and a tincture of talent. You have found a subject that makes your heart sing and are now creating your own music to accompany your feelings and emotions.
Write about what you love and hence you will love what you write. You may not consider yourself, as yet, to be a master of blogging but that is to your distinct advantage – as I always say – “naivety is the breeding ground of creativity”. As a blogger you are not shackled by the burdens, expectations and pressures of a commercial writer or indeed society – be whimsical, be frivolous, be analytical, be cheeky, be norty, be weird, be responsible, be lost, be spacey, be provocative, be informative, be friendly, be quirky, be serious, be a mother, be a lover, be in your own space, be hilarious, be compassionate, be emotive, be sexy, be a best friend, be sad, be wary, be intellectual, BE SHAZ!………. You are Shaz! – you are all those “be’s”, we all are and, for all I don’t know, you are probably well over 99 more! for most of us the struggle is to first want to be all those things and second to prove we can be all those things, to express ourselves with our actions and our words. I hang on every one of yours.
Oh yes, I suppose I should offer my esteemed opinions on dreaming. One of the most important forms of dreaming is that of REVERIE or “daydreaming”. Sadly, daydreaming for our children has become automated through TV and video games. However, if no-one took advantage their daydreams for good, where would we be today. As you point out in one of your first articles: one could argue the best decisions have been made whilst people have been half-asleep or daydreaming. Even the great man Albert Einstein wrote about how critical his daydreams were. He once said: “I live my daydreams in music”, “thought is the labor of the intellect, reverie is its pleasure”
I have heard it said that “one man’s daydream is another man’s day” or “one man’s daydream is another man’s novel”. Unfortunately some uncouth wit has modified that to “one man’s daydream is another man’s wife”.
Hitherto, I held considerable disdain for daydreams and for those who waste their valuable time in them. Alas, of late, I have unfortunately succumbed to their power. Unfortunate only in that they are a distraction from my important medical profession, albeit a pleasant one. The cause? I only recently was overwhelmed with pleasure in meeting the love of my life and care not much for sleep anymore as for the first time in my long life my day to day reality is oh so much more pleasant than my dreams. I now while away countless hours postulating her awesomeness and gorgeousness, rewinding and replaying my minds video recorder, reliving the wonderful times we have had together, considering and magnifying all of the wonderful little things that make her so special. Then, if I still have the glorious opportunity I cast my thoughts to the future, where we all must spend the rest of our lives, and its potential, its endless possibility, it is somewhat exhilarating. I am no longer scared of tomorrow, for I have already seen yesterday and my daydreams help me love today. The wonderful thing about the future is that it only happens one day at a time and each of those days can be conjured in my daydreams, and modified on a whim, whether they come to fruition or not is unimportant for i can try again the next day. My future once seemed destined to be one of discussions of antiques apreciation and endless tea and scones – now I am making scones!!!!
‘Til recently I had not even appreciated the significance of my night dreams nor cared to remember them. However, when I first cast eyes upon her and gently hugged her, the little black box in my mind spewed forth every subconsciously stored pleasant vision from every single dream that I had ever dreamt. For I realised that already I knew her very well – I had painstakingly, but subconsciously, created her in my dreams! I had constructed her carefully from the inside to the out with a million little pieces of all things beautiful and perfect, glued together with love and goodness. Then either God or the Universe tempted me with a brief profile then delivered her to me, still very well preserved, only when I was ready. I must say ’tis quite a complex creature I have created but that makes everyday one of joyous discovery. I think that when one is an open book it doesn’t leave a lot to the wonder of fantasy and imagination. But like you cannot unteach a person to read you cannot unthink these things, you cannot supress these feelings and their manifestations or bringing to life the person of your nightdreams in your daydreams. Nor would you want to!
Sadly, due to my important life saving work and other commitments, I am unable to physically devote myself to her as often as I desire. But she will regularly text me little things like “you make me smile all over” and “I miss you, I wish I was there, I am in spirit” or “I love our cuddles”. Of course there are “other” texts, which I daren’t repeat here, but which make the entire earth move for me, not just the mere mountains of which you speak in your blog. These subtle comments and my own subjective thoughts are like nuclear fuel for my daydreams, like the sun is to our world, a long term source of unimaginable energy and warmth. My daydreams are now a critical part of my life, they put a spring in my step, they inspire my writing, make me strive to be better in all things, they are like a chariot that carries me swiftly through the tempest and battle with my periodic bouts of feeling lost, lonely and lovesick.
Forgive me Shaz – I got a little carried away, you may edit as you please. DREAM ON!
PS: Only last night I heard it said that “one man’s daydream is another mans blog comment” (hahahahahaha).
Shaz says
Ohhh Doc..thanks for such a deep and personal post. You writings are encouraging. You say such lovely things about a special person…that person is very, very lucky. You are inspiring and sound wonderful :-).
Stevo says
Unfortunately my wife’s name is Jeannie so I guess you know what I dream about all the time………………..fishing!!!!! hahahaha
Night mares no probs for me – I take hay to bed with me to keep them well fed!!!! hahahahaha
Caz says
Nightmares would be scary!