Reoccuring dream elements?

[Stormborn]

What elements reoccur in your dreams? I'm not talking about reocurring dreams as a whole, where you dream the same dream over and over, but just pieces that reoccur.


Off the top of my head some common ones for me are:

*The house I grew up in -almost always 'my house' in a dream, even if within the context its where my wife and I live.
* My brother is always 8 years old, even though he is almost 30 now.
* Malls - my stress dreams frequently involve looking for someone or something in a vast byzantine complex of a mall
* Trying to teach and being unable to control the room
*Comic book stores - many of my 'happy' dreams involve discovering a new comic book store or a new comic.


I used to occasionally dream I was awake and a dark figure of a man would come and sit down on the bed with me. Sometimes it was scary (as I thought the figure was a stranger) and sometimes not (like the figure was my father checking to make sure I had enough blankets or something), but I always knew I was suppose to pretend to be asleep. The only time since I have been married that I have had this dream is when my wife goes out of town to visit her family and I have to stay home to go to work.

Oh, and sometimes I dream that something is entageling my feet or that I am wearing really heavy boots, but upon waking up that is almost always the kitty.

 

[trancejeremy]

That dark figure dream is actually quite common. That's how legends about Night Hags and Succubuses and the like started. And possibly continues today with Alien abductions.

Common elements for me are:

My old Mustang Converitble. Whenever I drive in my dream, it's almost always that (which makes since, since I've had it for almost 20 years. but is a bit out of shape these days, and don't drive it much in real life anymore). And strangely, when it's not that, it's always some sort of big red muscle car. (I guess Freud would say something about that).

A lot of my happy dreams are finding an RPG store. With all sorts of classic RPGs. Sometimes they carry video games as well. My most recent one I remember buying "Adventure II" for the 2600 (Only $20, too).

I frequently have supernatural dreams. Monsters, zombies, vampires, aliens. Usually chasing me, or vice versa. I inevitably always pull out a gun against them and it's almost always my pisol, a .357 magnum revolver. But most the time, it either doesn't fire, or a run out of ammo and have to throw it at them. Though sometimes it does, and sometimes I even have silver bullets.

Whenever I get on an airplane in my dream, it inevitably crashes. I dunno if this intruded into my conciousness or it went the other way, because I rather suddenly developed a fear of when when I was about 20. And shortly afterwards, I was flying back to college and one of the engines blew up mid flight (right outside my window). Thankfully, 2 engine Jetliners can still fly with only 1 engine, but it wasn't much fun.

 

[Ferret]

Aliens/monsters, or computer game characters. I don't remember enough of my dreams to have seen a recent trend...Odd how peoples 'happy' dreams are to do with RPG stores. I don't remember having a happy dream, not in a 'I'm always sad' way, but they seem to either be plain odd or action packed.

 

[Harmon]

Reoccurring themes in my dreams...

My dreams are cold, wet, violent, and lonely. In the worst of them I am usually beat and defeated to the point of total depression.


Some dreams are lost memories- I have lots of repressed memories from my youth that come out in my dreams, most of them involve car accidents I was at, or some other bit of violence after the fact that I saw.


I have very clear dreams and when I wake I remember them like the movie I saw last night.

I don't like to sleep as you can imagine, and usually drive myself to exhaustion just so I can sleep really deep sleep (its the all or nothing approach).

 

[Ferret]

Reoccurring themes in my dreams...

My dreams are cold, wet, violent, and lonely. In the worst of them I am usually beat and defeated to the point of total depression.


Some dreams are lost memories- I have lots of repressed memories from my youth that come out in my dreams, most of them involve car accidents I was at, or some other bit of violence after the fact that I saw.


I have very clear dreams and when I wake I remember them like the movie I saw last night.

I don't like to sleep as you can imagine, and usually drive myself to exhaustion just so I can sleep really deep sleep (its the all or nothing approach).

Ouch that doesn't sound fun, have you considered seeing someone? It sounds like it effects your sleep, so it'll effect you awake too.

Harsh.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

hmmm....

Stress dreams - being in some school situation where I had thought I'd dropped a class and it's the end of the semester past the withdrawl date and I didn't drop it and now I need to take the final and try to catch up on all the homework at once. Or fighting with my father.

Finding extra rooms in my house that I didn't realize were there. Ooooh, space!

Swimming based flying - always starts out as big leaps in a underwater sort of weightlessness and eventually I realize I don't have to quite touch the ground.

 

[Dioltach]

Around the age of 18 or so, as I was about to leave my parents' place and go to uni, I started having a recurring dream of being in an airplane that was about to crash, and I had to try and control it (unsuccessfully). Then it always turned into a lorry racing down a dual carriageway, which I was trying to steer, again without any success).

I had those dreams once every three or four months until I set up my own business and started doing quite well, at the age of 30. Suddenly, I was in control of the plane/lorry. Sometimes I still have them, when I'm under a lot of stress, and it's the out-of-control version.

My wife features in a lot of my other dreams. (Sometimes she looks like Halle Berry, but of course she's still my wife.)

 

[Stormborn]

Swimming based flying - always starts out as big leaps in a underwater sort of weightlessness and eventually I realize I don't have to quite touch the ground.

Now that you mention it, I used to have those dreams all the time, but haven't that I recall in some time.

 

[awayfarer]

1eep water often shows up whenever I'm seriously thinking about something.
2:When I'm sick, I sometimes dream of vermin (rats/bugs) that I need to kill.
3:Strangely, I very, very rarely see anyone I know in my dreams. It's either me and a few strangers to interact with or just me.
4: In the last 5-6 years, I have never lost a confrontation in a bad dream. At the worst I escape without harm but generally I defeat (and often kill) whatever monster my subconscious conjures up. As a kid I had my fair share of bad dreams that didn't go well and I don't know why or how or when exactly the change occurred. I think it suggests that I've gained a measure of confidence over the years.

My S/O, Merkuri, seems to always dream that she's back in high school.

 

[Harmon]

Ouch that doesn't sound fun, have you considered seeing someone? It sounds like it effects your sleep, so it'll effect you awake too.

Harsh.

I did, but insurance would not cover, and money is tight. I have dealt with much of it my whole life, so I know how to deal with it. Sleep as little as possible (4-6 hours a night), sleep only when I have to (could days a month I stay up 24-36 hours). Its exhausting, but it keeps me sane (mostly).


One element I remembered-
- My Mom, brother and I have this thing about bears. Mom and I woke from a dream about bears- her's involved trying to stay ahead of them moving through a lot of room in a large building, and mine was trying to flee from them through the woods. We woke to the phone ringing, both of us answered (different rooms- different phones), we both said the same thing (as a way of answering the phone)- "is he alright?"

The nurse on the other end was shocked. My brother had been in a car accident. He was okay.

Years later I woke from a similar dream, grabbed the phone before it rang, scrambled out of bed- "whats the matter?" my wife asked (she use to me bolting or waking screaming). "Someone is in trouble- I think its grandma, what's mom's number?"

Ten seconds later the phone rang- Mom was crying, my grandma had passed. My cell rang before I hung up, my brother- "are you okay?" "Bears?" I asked him. "Ya- who was it?" "Grandma- she's gone."

Kinda wacky, but my sleeping life is really weird.