Second Hand Dreams

Dream:
I kept a piece of paper and a pencil handy last night because almost every time I have a dream that wakes me up I forget it by morning. Last night I had a vivid dream that awoke me in the middle of the night, I was feeling scared. I wrote down key words to trigger my memory, but this morning when I read the notes I wasn't able to recall the details of my dream. This is what I wrote down: "Channeling the dead", "cowboy boots", "Thrift shop" and "stop this isn't right". 
What I do remember about my dream is being in a thrift store that was dim, run down and empty (except for the shop owners). I was walking around and remember seeing one really worn leather cowboy boot, it was red and brown. The shop owners told me that they knew of a way to channel the dead and I was curious about it. Before I knew what was happening they started invoking spirits and they were somehow using me as a medium to do it. I remember getting down on the floor of the store and curling up face down in a protective pose, with my arms over my head. I remember shouting "Stop! This isn't right" once or twice. 
I talked to a friend about my dream. She gave me an interpretation that really resonated with me and included all of the important parts of the dream. 

Interpretation:
The spirits represent my past, or things about me that do not physically manifest themselves in my life anymore. A shoe that is not being worn in a dream can represent leaving your past behind you and that you are open to change. Also, the condition of the shoe represents my feelings. The type of shoe, a boot, symbolizes what I am leaving in my past. The boot was masculine and rustic, traits which also describe the person from my past that this dream is related to. The setting was a second hand store, a place where things get a second chance. 
Overall, my dream was a reflection of my readiness to leave my past and step into the future. More specifically, this dream represents a past relationship, the most recent relationship I was in. This is my inclination because last night I was looking at pictures from his wedding. I didn't feel any animosity or negativity. When I was looking at them I was sincerely hoping for his happiness. It was assuring to receive validation through this dream. I am no longer affected by what happened in the past and am open to the unknown expanse of the future.

Platonic friendships gone awry

Do you ever have dreams where there is a friend involved (someone who in the waking life you only have platonic feelings for) and you wake up questioning your true feelings for that person?
Dreams like this are common, especially when we admire and respect someone. I'll share a dream I recently had where this happened. 

Dream
I dreamed that I was at a friend's (who will remain nameless) house. He invited me and my roommates to come over and have a sleepover. A sleepover with grown adults was a totally normal concept in my dream. His house was huge and very welcoming (the feeling I had in my dream). When it was time for bed he assigned everyone rooms and then he told me that I was sleeping in his bed with him. I felt a little bit awkward about it, but I realized that there were no other open beds and told myself that I needed to be mature. When he threw back the comforter for me to get into bed he was wearing the same underwear my dad wears. Yikes!!! I was suddenly not ok with the situation at all and left the room. The time fast forwarded in my dream and we were all sitting outside in his backyard. I was sitting next to him on the grass. We both had our legs stretched out in front of us. I looked down at his legs and saw that he had cankles. I remember thinking in my dream that I couldn't believe I had never noticed his cankles, but then I justified it because I had never seen him wearing  anything but pants until then. That was the end of my dream. 

Interpretation
I think that I see my friend as a father figure and that was why I didn't want to sleep next to him. This is also why he was wearing fatherly underwear. That being said, I have a very high opinion of my friend and I think that subconsciously I am conflicted about not being attracted to him. The cankles were physical manifestation created by my subconscious to justify these feelings of not being attracted to him. His cankles are a "reason" why I don't like him. 

Famous Dreamers

Did you know that famous historical figures throughout history have credited their dreams with giving them inspiration, guidance and revelation? 

Here are a few names that you might recognize:

Julius Caesar's wife Calpurnia- foresaw his assassination in a dream. 

Genghis Khan- received his battle plans in dreams

Samuel Taylor Coleridge- wrote the poem "Kubla Khan" after waking from a dream.

Abraham Lincoln- Days before he was assassinated he had a dream that he heard cries from the East Wing of the White House. He approached soldiers and asked what had happened and they told him that the president had been killed. Just a few days later his viewing was held in the East Wing of the White House. 

Giuseppe Tartini- composed "The Devils Trill" after a dream. In his dream the devil began "to play with consummate skill a sonata of such exquisite beauty as surpasses the boldest flights of my imagination. I felt enraptured, transported, enchanted; my breath was taken away and I awoke. Seizing my violin I tried to retain the sounds I had heard… The piece I then composed was the best I ever wrote, but how far below the one I heard in my dream."

Paul McCartney- heard the melody to "Yesterday" in a dream. He confirmed with the other members of the Beatles that none of them had heard it before and wrote it down. 

Last night I had a dream that brought me a message of inspiration. I can't remember all of the details of the dream, but I remember that right before the dream ended I saw a greeting card. I opened the card and inside it said "If you cherish the best part of who someone is, its easy to love them." My legacy will most likely never be through music, poetry or powerful influence, but the anecdotal inspiration I received helps me to live in way that makes the world a better place. What is better than that?

Mutual Dreamers...



I've heard of mutual funds... but mutual dreams? I've never heard that term before, until now.  The definition of a mutual dream is "when two people dream the same dream. They can be spontaneous or incubated..." (The Dream Dictionary from A-Z, Cheung) Wellll, a few weeks ago my sister and I were mutual nightmarerers (not an actual word).On the same night we both had nightmares that masked men  (her assailant was wearing a clown mask/mine was a jabbawockeez mask, or maybe it was a Michael Myers mask. Scary either way!) were chasing and trying to hurt us. In both of our dreams we escaped. The dreams were weird, but not as weird as the fact that we were dreaming the same thing at the same time. We still haven't figured out what exactly it meant. The only thing we could think of was that I had just moved to Washington and since I'm here alone maybe it had something to do with that.
There are many different types of dreams,  inspirational dreams, lucid dreams, problem-solving dreams... I'm going to start sharing definitions from my dream books on my blog, things that people commonly experience in dreams, for example you're trying to run away from someone or something but your feet won't move, water, mountains, snakes etc. If there's anything specific that you would like me to look up email me or leave it in a comment. And keep checking my blog for the dictionary of common dream symbols that I will start working on very soon.

The Night Mare

The Dreamer
Last week I wrote about night terrors and asked for people to share personal examples of a nightmare or terror they have experienced. My friend Heather responded and reminded me of one she had when she was nineteen. When she had this nightmare, her and I were freshmen at college. We were also roommates. She is now married and has three adorable little kids.

The Dream... Or nightmare
In my dream we were both freshmen going to  BYU and we were somewhere on campus. Nothing too scary. Well, all of a sudden I see people running frantically. They keep screaming to leave and the end is near. I get scared and stop the people and ask them what is going on. They tell me that the devil has been let loose and we need to get away. To be careful of who we talk to.
Anyway I try to find you to let you know what is going on because while the people were running around we got lost. I find you and I tell you that we need to leave. I tell you what the person told me about Satan. But you just stand there. I'm finally like, "Trish, we have to go." That is when you look me straight in the eyes and say, "I'm not Trish" and you give me this evil smile like you have been possesed or something. Then I wake up.

Aftershock
The night Heather had this dream I remember her crying and wimpering woke me up. I walked over to her bed to wake her up and she was frantic, she didn't want me to touch her. She didn't believe I was who I said I was (her beautiful and charming friend), it was scary. I finally turned on the lights and she calmed down, it took a while for her to stop crying and everytime she remembered the dream, the fear she felt came back.

Interpretation
Uuuummm, the academic transition Heather and I faced from high school to college was enough to give us both nightmares. We were stressed out about our academic success, but also emotionally we were beginning to realize that this was the start of full accountability for our decisions. We no longer had our parents opinions about every choice we made, and it seems like these stressors are what triggered Heathers nightmare. She wanted to make right choices, but for the first time in her life I think she realized that evil and temptation are rampant, and that the right choice isn't always the easy one. I think this dream also represents the way Heather thought the future would be, her being strong and warning her loved ones of the evil that was loose. Its so flattering that in her dream she came to warn and protect me, thanks for loving me Heather. Its sad that I didn't turn out to be who she thought I was. This represents mistrust. In her dream Heather was aware that when it comes to evil we can't let our guard down.

Leftovers
I had another day time paralyzing episode today. I fell asleep on the couch this afternoon. I woke up and then decided to close my eyes and try to fall asleep again. As soon as I closed my eyes I felt a presence in the room, right behind me, at the nape of neck. I recognized what was happening right away and knew I had to open my eyes for it to go away. I could feel the presence right next to me, it literally feels like something is draining every ounce of my bodies energy, like some kind of force field. I kept thinking "please let my cousin get home from work right now", because I knew that would also break the paralyzing grip that comes over me when this happens. I don't know how long I was in this state, I'm guessing less than a minute, but it was a minute too long. It took an extreme amount of focus and energy, but I was finally able to will myself to open my eyes. When I "woke up" my heart was racing, I felt so relieved, but still scared. Has anything like this happened to anyone else during the day? I looked it up online, but didn't have much luck. Let me know your thoughts.

Terror Tales: Pavor Nocturnus

What are night terrors?
Night terrors, also known in latin as pavor nocturnus. Do you know what they are? Do you experience them? One of my close friends wrote to me recently asking me what I knew about them. My friend has experienced night terrors all her life. She wakes up screaming and can see spiders, ghosts or ill-intentioned people in the room with her. I personally have never experienced a night terror, but I know that even just a bad dream can seem so real and evoke very intense emotions. I imagine that they aren't called night terrors for no reason.

From what I read, I gathered that the triggers of night terrors are very diverse and range from eating a big meal late right before bedtime to traumatic life events. Also at nightterrors.org people reported the following about night terrors "Many people who remember the night terror have talked about seeing animals or people. Most people describe the person that they see as dark and shadowy and feel that the person is going to hurt them. Quite a few people see snakes and spiders." The experiences my friend is having coincide with the experiences others report.

How does one cure night terrors? The best way to do this is to eliminate the trigger. However, this can only be done if you have identified what the exact cause of your night terrors is. Until the source is identified the best way to handle a person (adult or child) having night terrors is to reassure them when they wake up (with a hug or soothing words), remove objects that could be potentially harmful to them (glass, sharp objects) and when they verbalize the things that they (hallucinations) see do not argue with them, comfort them until they fall back to sleep. Also, if the person does not want physical contact do not force them to hug you, it will worsten the situation. Often people who experience night terrors will not remember the experience in the morning because they never fully awaken during the night terror. It is ok to ask them about it, but do not be upset with them if they don't remember, an increase in stress in their life could increase the frequency of night terrors for them.

My Personal Tale of Terror

There have been multiple occasions where I have been asleep, I am aware that I am asleep and I am try to make myself wake up, but I can't. One example of this that comes to mind happened a few years ago.
I was house-sitting for a family I would often babysit for. Their house wasn't a mansion, but it was big, and it was also an older home (older for Vegas), about 30 years old. I had two experiences that were very similar while I was at this house. The first happened one night while I was sleeping. I felt like there was someone else in the room with me, a man and I wanted to wake up and to see. I could see him, even though my eyes were closed, I knew him, it was a man from work that I didn't trust. I wanted to wake up but I couldn't and he just kept getting closer until he was right over my bed and he yelled in my ear to wake up. It wasn't until he told me to wake up that I could actually open my eyes. There was no one in the room, but it was so vivid, it really scared me.
The second happened a couple days later. I was upstairs in the loft and I fell asleep on the couch. It was day that time. I knew I was asleep and I wanted to make myself wake up because i thought I heard someone come in the front door. I was paralyzed though, I could not will my eyes to open or even make myself rollover. I could feel their dog breathing on my face and I could hear footsteps, like someone was running around the couch. It was scary, because I didn't know who was in the room with me and I had no control over my body. I finally woke up, sat straight up and there was no one there, the room was empty.
Needless to say I didn't volunteer to house-sit for them anymore. The information I read online said that night terrors are not linked to supernatural events, its easy to believe this, because the unknown is scary. Everyone has different coping mechanisms, and as for me, I ain't afraid of no ghost.

Share Your Story
Do you have an experience with a night terror or very vivid nightmare? E-mail me about it and let me know.

Dream Lover Come Rescue Her!

Symbols in this Dream
Recurring dreams, house, bedroom, kiss

The Dreamer
This dream was submitted by a dreamer who wishes to remain anonymous, we will call her Annie the anonymous dreamer. She has had this recurring dream for the past five to six years. She doesn't know how many times she has had the same dream, but she said she has "had it a ton (of times)". Recently, she turned thirty and has proactively taken on the venture of dating (probably the reason why she recently had this dream again- other men only make her think about her dream man more). By this I mean that she has dated more men in the past 21 days of her life than my two roommates and I have dated in our past 21 years.... combined. The man in her recurring dream is a long time friend and crush of hers, his name for the purposes of this blog is Alejandro (Ale-Ale-jandro, Ale-Ale-jandro). So lets move this thing along and get down to the neety greety....

The Dream
"I walk into my house, which is actually my sisters house but in my dream it's mine, and I see my husband, Alejandro, hanging out around the tv with all of his buddies.  In some of the dreams they are watching football or basketball and other dreams they are playing video games.
 I set the groceries down on the counter and ask Alejandro, in a stern voice, if I can speak with him in the bedroom.  His buddies give him a hard time like "oooo - Alejandro, you're in trouble!"  Then we walk back to our bedroom and Alejandrois about to say something when I just lay one on him.  A really nice, passionate kiss.  The kind that makes your toes curl and makes you have butterflies in your stomach.  Then I say "I just wanted to say hello."  He smiles and kisses me again. 
Then we walk back out to the living room/kitchen area and he sits back down with his buddies and I start putting the groceries away.  I can see that his buddies are confused because Alejandro has a huge smile on his face, so instead of giving them any information I just ask if they want a snack.  Then I wake up."

The Interpretation
Let me just clear something up, actually clear my conscience, before I begin... Yes, I listened to "Dreamlover" by Mariah Carey while working on this entry (you can too! Dreamlover) I can say that I'm eighty-five percent certain that Annie has awoken with these lyrics in her head everytime she has had this dream.
Ok, Annie is obviously really, REALLY into this guy (which is so cool by the way, I wish I had feelings so strong that my subconscious had to unleash in the form of a recurring dream). In an earlier entry which was also about recurring dreams I posted the following definition "Emotions and urges against which we feel powerless, and which may become obsessive." Annie's dream fits this definition like spandex fits on Oprah.
Annie walks into her house, or her territory, and Alejandro is there. He is on her turf, he is hers.
She pretends to be mad at him for something that is common for wives to be upset about, idolness. This shows that Annie knows that something about the way Alejandro acts towards her or towards their relationship (in real life) should not be acceptable, but she chooses to ignore it, which is represented when she calls him into the bedroom, because despite his "unacceptable" behavior she "lets him in". A persons bedroom is a very intimate place, it is the place where we are most vulnerable (when we are asleep).
The other people in her dream are people they know in real life. She makes them think one thing (that she is mad at him), but then behind closed doors in her bedroom she shows him how she really feels, with a kiss, ok not just a kiss, an Oscar winning, breath taking, knee weakening, caress of lips. A kiss, this kiss, Annies kiss, represents her commitment to him, her unconditional acceptance of the person that he is and her desire for him to give the same to her.
Her dream ends with a roomful of people who have been mislead and have inaccurate perceptions about her realationship with Alejandro, which probably parallels her real life. 

Leftovers
I found out that soon after having submitted this dream Annie came clean to Alejandro about her feelings, so maybe this interpretation came too late, but I think that it will really help Annie to see their relationship from a different perspective. Alejandro was not receptive to Annie's confession and expressed to her that his feelings for her are purely platonic. I know that this dream has become an appendage to Annie's life, and now that she has faced her feelings, sadly, she may never have this dream again. True love is a miracle, so Annie you keep workin it girl, thirty and flirty! One of these days (hopefully very soon) your dream lover will be standing in front of you, but he'll be tangible and you'll pinch yourself, but it won't be a dream anymore. Be patient because after five years of dreaming about it, that kiss that you've been waiting for will be worth it.