I had a dream

[Kreskin]

Almost all day today I was thinking about a very vivid dream from last night. The dream included my wife and our old dog. In it we had bought a new home and a bunch of crazy things were happening. It was as if my dog was there. The strange thing that occured to me today was I occasionally dream about my old dog and my wife but I can't ever remember dreaming about my daughter. She is seven now so it isn't like there hasn't been a chance. I also occasionally dream about my dad, who is deceased. The ones I have that include my dad or dog always seem very vivid.

Why don't I dream about my daughter?

 

[karrie]

Perhaps because dreams are unpredictable and you feel safe allowing the other players into them, regardless of how terrifying, sad, or otherwise, they may get. Your daughter on the other hand, you want to keep safe and in a separate place.

 

[quandary121]

Dreams reflect what is occurring around you emotionally and logically, their involved in the workings out of your life's thinkings and feelings ,it will have to do with the importance this person has, to change things in your life, their power to create other things to think about,their ability to change your surroundings how you work live,then they become part of the equation ,or they will be locked in a safe part of your mind already solved, and categorised ,no need to go there ,for examination.

I owned a horse for 14 years travelled around with the horse daily ,i can only remember dreaming about it twice in 14 years.

 

[Kreskin]

I don't really dream that much anymore, at least the ones I can remember, but when I do they are vivid. And they often have similar themes.

 

[talloola]

Are you upset by some, or all of these dreams, as you didn't say what the mood was,
or if they all have the same mood.

 

[eh1eh]

Almost all day today I was thinking about a very vivid dream from last night. The dream included my wife and our old dog. In it we had bought a new home and a bunch of crazy things were happening. It was as if my dog was there. The strange thing that occured to me today was I occasionally dream about my old dog and my wife but I can't ever remember dreaming about my daughter. She is seven now so it isn't like there hasn't been a chance. I also occasionally dream about my dad, who is deceased. The ones I have that include my dad or dog always seem very vivid.

Why don't I dream about my daughter?

Your daughter is there now and I am sure, gets much of your waking attention. I have a daughter and I think about, deal with and plan for the future with her everyday. Dreams tend to be an outlet for your mind to deal with issues that have not fully been resolved. Hence the ' I better sleep on that decision' saying.

My guess is you don't dream about your daughter because you don't need to.

 

[Kreskin]

They seem pretty intense. I usually wake up drenched in sweat and in awe of the vividness. And they're odd, but I guess most dreams are.

 

[Kreskin]

Your daughter is there now and I am sure, gets much of your waking attention. I have a daughter and I think about, deal with and plan for the future with her everyday. Dreams tend to be an outlet for your mind to deal with issues that have not fully been resolved. Hence the ' I better sleep on that decision' saying.

My guess is you don't dream about your daughter because you don't need to.

Interesting thought.

 

[shadowshiv]

I think eh1eh has made a good point as to why she is not in your dreams, Kreskin.

I remember 99% of my dreams, and I sometimes have dreams more than once(sometimes years apart). I particularly hate the one where it feels like I am awake(but I am not), and something is pulling the blanket towards the bottom of the bed. The blanket moves ever so slowly, and then when it seems like it will get pulled off me I wake up. Usually in a cold sweat. I hate that dream.

 

[Dexter Sinister]

Why don't I dream about my daughter?

Maybe you do, but don't remember them. I don't think anybody really knows what dreams mean generally. Sometimes they have an obvious meaning and a connection to events in your waking life, but most of the time they're pretty obscure, and memories of them usually fade pretty quickly when you wake up. A few times I've had very vivid dreams that were clearly related to events going on in my life, like the one I had when my first marriage was falling apart. I was at a very large movie theatre, big crowd, and I kept seeing my wife far away in the crowd and trying to move toward her, but she was never there when I got to where I'd seen her, then I'd see her somewhere else in the crowd and move toward her again, and again she was gone when I got there. That's pretty obvious, I was trying to reach out to her and be with her but couldn't make the connection, fairly standard kind of anxiety dream. I also have a very vivid memory of a dream I had as a wee lad, about going bird hunting with my dad, that somehow ended up with me freezing my butt off in a tiny log cabin, trying to light a fire in an ashtray to keep warm until my dad came back, while mountain lions were patrolling around outside the cabin wanting to eat me. WTF was that about? I still have no idea.

Frankly, after many years of sleeping and dreaming, I'm inclined to think that most dreams don't mean anything at all, they're just your brain trying to assemble a more or less coherent story out of pretty much random neuron firings as your brain does whatever it does when you're sleeping. And what's it doing? I dunno, and I don't think anyone else does either. Sorting the day's experiences into things worth remembering and discarding things that aren't worth remembering maybe? I don't believe anyone knows, though there's a lot of speculation around. I've awakened from dreams in a state of high anxiety with no memory of what I was dreaming about, just a feeling of being deeply distressed. I've also awakened from dreams feeling hugely satisfied and happy, again with no memory of the dream's contents. I have no idea what's going on, and I think, given the very limited state of our knowledge of brain functions, that trying to find meaning in dreams is usually pointless where the meaning isn't immediately obvious.

 

[talloola]

If you think about it hard enough you can control some parts of your dreams, if you prepare beforehand, because I did that.
for years I used to have a dream that someone was chasing me, and I was 'terrified' and
the terror inside me was awful, seemed so real, but I couldn't shout or call for help, and
I would wake up a total wreck. I got fed up with that, and I told myself that from now on when I have that dream I'm going to make sure I 'really' holler and fight back. From that time on, when I had that dream, which was just as often, (once every 3 mos. or so), I
would get to the intense point, and I opened my mouth and 'hollered', and the next thing I knew my husband was 'saving' me, as he would touch my shoulder and tell me that he was there, and I immediately woke up, and it's over. It worked every single time, and the
dreams got further and further apart, until, now I hardly every have that dream.
When I hollered, I was remembering my promise to myself, and I tried much harder than
I had before, and the holler seemed very loud in my dream, but in actuality it is not very
loud, but loud enough for someone to hear me.
So, if you are having a repeated dream, or a similar dream, and need to get some control
over it, talk yourself into it, and make it work.

 

[Curiosity]

Kreskin

Interesting thoughts here. I have regarded dreams I have as an adult a process for things "to be dealt with later and hopefully filed and forgotten".

I think eh1eh mentioned unresolved issues - these could fall into that category - or some memory items which in the real world of being awake we didn't have time to dredge them up and deal with them. It is pososible you don't have the need of banking memories about your daughter as yet because you are consumed with her 'present and future'.

I can't prove the following but it is commonly discussed among shinkers that dreams are outlets for healthy emotional lives and dreams have an important purpose in maintaining balance when dealing with the minutia of real life.

What we do with our dreams is entirely personal and if dreams can bring solutions in our lives, I prefer to think of
them as useful - not pleasant in some instances - but useful.

 

[jimmoyer]

I've written down many of my dreams over the course of 40 years.

Dreaming useful ?

Physiologically yes. Dreaming is done during REM, rapid eye movement. You've all read the studies when REM is interuppted or interfered with.

Psychologically yes, because the body and mind are so interconnected. eh1eh, nailed it though, that your mind is dealing with matters of concern not yet resolved.

Technique for remembering ? Talloola touched on this point. You can introduce a measure of control to your dreams, especially as Freud noted during the hypnagoic period when your conscious mind is aware of the dreaming unconsicous mind.

When you become aware that you're dreaming, that feeling of observing yourself from the outside while you are also the main actor, what you do as Freud suggested in the book, Interpretation of Dreams, published in 1900, is to REWIND your dream: Start asking yourself what happened before that, then ask what happened before that ?

This way you end up recalling a large portion of your dream. Freud also observed that you inevitably run into a wall as you rewind your dream. Inevitably there is a difficult part that prevents itself from being revealed. This is usually by its nature the most interest crux of the dream.


Patterns ? Yes. Over the course of years or a lifetime you will inevitably see reruns, patterns, similar themes.
One of my recurring dreams for years was exploring different rooms of a church I attended when little.

Flying? That's when the rib cage temporarily loses sensation. My method for years of flying was swimming in the air about telephone pole height over the town I lived in.

 

[Curiosity]

JimMoyer

Dreams are not reliable as replays of actual events - but seen through our emotional reaction and inability to deal with the anxiety or depression as it occurs at that period
of time in real life. We enact them through our dreams and if resolution occurs we
are relieved no matter what matches fact or not.

Dream interpretation gives good insight into ourselves - but for reasons unknown we
choose to replay them magnified, or modified, or without the realities of life as we
actually experience it.

In attempting to dissect their meanings, we try to make them fit into our living world
but emotions seldom have lives expressed in our day to day encounters - they too would
not make sense.

Sleep with dreams may be our only real peace and/or release during our lifetime of constant awake brain activity.

When you were flying over your town - did you have clothing on?

 

[jimmoyer]

Swim suit.

 

[s_lone]

Frankly, after many years of sleeping and dreaming, I'm inclined to think that most dreams don't mean anything at all, they're just your brain trying to assemble a more or less coherent story out of pretty much random neuron firings as your brain does whatever it does when you're sleeping.

I'm a lot younger than you but after a good couple of years of paying close attention to my dreams, i'd be inclined to disagree with the statement that most dreams don't mean anything at all.

But before I explain myself, I'd also say that I agree with your statement in the sense that I think most dreams are out of reach for the conscious rational mind. In other words, the obscure dream is not random at all (at least I don't think it is), but it's so far away from what your conscious mind is used to dealing with that it's really not accessible to our rational 'awake' mind.

I think a good way to understand the dream process is to see it as some form of psychic digestion. In the same way our bodies digest and absorb what goes through it, our minds need to digest and absorb everything that goes on in our psychological lives. In that view, dreams would play an important role in the process of psychic digestion. Physical digestion is absolutely unconscious in the sense that it's a mechanism for which our body doesn't need any conscious input to function. I believe it is the same with dreams. It's a wholly unconscious process and the fact that we so easily forget most of them shows that our waking consciousness doesn't have much to do with the process. We dream whether we remember our dreams or not in the same way our body will keep on digesting whether we think of it or not.

When you've eaten too much or when you've ingested something your body can't handle, your body will send very clear messages to your conscious mind. In the same way, there are some things our mind has a harder time to digest and it is mostly in these cases that our dreams tend to overlap with our waking life. The best example is one of the child who watched a gruesome horror movie before going to bed. The information his brain received is simply too emotionally 'toxic' for the child's mind and so he risks having nightmares because his mind simply can't handle it. Or it's going through the same thing over and over again until it is finally absorbed and the shock has passed. We could say the child is going through some form of psychic indigestion.

In the case of true psychic trauma (like a soldier who's been through hell at war), the mind might never be able to truly absorb what it went through and constantly relive the horror through dreams... In these sad cases, the mind truly is scarred... Healing might be possible but the scar will never disappear...

So... with this view that dreams are some form of psychic digestion, some dreams are truly incomprehensible in the sense that what you're trying to observe and understand is just a big messy mush of ideas mixed up together. It's the equivalent of opening up someone's abdomen and trying to figure out what that person ate for supper AND what they've had for breakfast...

That being said, I believe there's a lot to gain in trying to understand one's own dreams. Some of them do have hidden meanings that are accessible to the conscious mind, it's just not as clear and straightforward as what we're used to dealing with in our daily lives.

 

[dancing-loon]

Almost all day today I was thinking about a very vivid dream from last night.[ The dream included my wife and our old dog. In it we had bought a new home and a bunch of crazy things were happening. It was as if my dog was there. The strange thing that occurred to me today was I occasionally dream about my old dog and my wife but I can't ever remember dreaming about my daughter. She is seven now so it isn't like there hasn't been a chance. I also occasionally dream about my dad, who is deceased. The ones I have that include my dad or dog always seem very vivid.

Why don't I dream about my daughter?

Hi, Kreskin;
I've been a member of a Dream Group for a number of years, and we interpret each other's dreams with the help of various books. Gradually, we acquire an understanding about the very intricate and complex dream matter. It helps knowing the dreamer somewhat, and his own input and feelings are most helpful. We always say the interpretation has to make sense to the dreamer, and often he/she will in astonishment exclaim, "that's it! Now it makes sense!"
In your case too little is known to come up with a good explanation, but I will attempt to point at some ideas that might trigger an awakening in you.

Almost all day today I was thinking about a very vivid dream from last night

The dream seems to try to convey an important message to you!

The dream included my wife and our old dog.

Your wife could either play herself in this dream, or she represents your "other half", your feminine part; your opponent, your mirror, your balancing aspect.
Your old dog could represent partly-trained aspects of yourself. What qualities do you associate with the dog in your dream? Does he represent loyalty, protection, courage, companionship, faithfulness or any other, perhaps negative qualities? Consider the content and action of your dream. Also your feelings are important.

In it we had bought a new home and a bunch of crazy things were happening. It was as if my dog was there.

WOW! That means you have adopted new ideas, reached a new understanding, new concept; a new awareness, or state of consciousness has surfaced. But the old dog is lurking in the background! Old habits, character traits are hard to give up?
Crazy things were happening! Like what?

I occasionally dream about my old dog and my wife.

Hmmm..... if this is about your actual wife... any problems in the relationship? If it is all about you, then there could be a conflict within your conscience, which is also indicated by the new awareness (bought a new house), which caused some turmoil.(crazy things happened).

I can't ever remember dreaming about my daughter.

As someone already mentioned, there is no need. Generally, dreaming about children represents the childish, immature, and undisciplined aspects of yourself.

I also occasionally dream about my dad, who is deceased.

Your father could depict authority, responsibility, discipline, perhaps punishment, leader, man of the house, or whatever you associate him with. He and the old dog together in the same dream seems to me an emphasis on the qualities the two, man and dog, represent and that you have.

The ones I have that include my dad or dog always seem very vivid.

The message they convey is very important to you. Since these dreams recur they have not yet gotten through to you, you have not yet understood and acted upon that dream message.

They seem pretty intense. I usually wake up drenched in sweat and in awe of the vividness. And they're odd, but I guess most dreams are.

Yes, it's true, dreams are odd, but that is because most of us don't understand their language. Waking up drenched in sweat should show you the intensity of your emotions when confronted with the dream! I would take them serious! Their message about your inner life is important. Start digging!:smile:

;-)This was just an attempt, Kreskin, with a minimum of information. Perhaps something will make sense, or lead you to think in the right direction.

 

[talloola]

I was quite amazed that, in my dream, I remembered my promise to myself, for the next
time I had that dream, and never forgot again.

So, there can be a connection from conscious thinking over to dream thinking.
I have no professional knowledge in this field, but through experience, I can verify
this.

 

[jimmoyer]

Frankly, after many years of sleeping and dreaming, I'm inclined to think that most dreams don't mean anything at all, they're just your brain trying to assemble a more or less coherent story out of pretty much random neuron firings as your brain does whatever it does when you're sleeping.
--------------------------------------------Dexter Sinister--------------------------------------------------

Living in the "cone of hard proof", you might be the closest to the truth.
Another poster called it "psychic digestion" or rather "psychic indigestion."

However, I just find it quite interesting all this concocting of story lines and the repeating patterns that emerge. It's quite an entertainment show.

For that reason it would be a shame to miss out on this particular live theatre.

Hell, it's not TV, it's not even HBO, it's better.

 

[Nuggler]

..........Yer probably on to something there, Dexter.

Ever notice it's dang near impossible to dream about things you WANT to dream about.

Like, well, don't tell eh, but, when I was goin to school there was this particular hot blonde I tried and tried to dream about...............thought and thought about her before going to sleep, for many many months..........no ****ing way........nix........blitz........zip......nadda..........

Now this ugly, old, math teacher invaded my dreams for years. ..........8Oand my waking hours too.......:dontknow: totally asexual dream, thank whashisname!!