Actually I havn’t had a real dream that I can really remember over the last couple years. Occasionally I’ll wake up with a general feeling that I know came from a dream, possibly fear or general happiness sometimes, but strangely I can never remember scenes or storylines of my dreams… it’s rather odd I think…
The only dream that I can remember isn’t actually a dream. It’s just a recurring event that will happen in my dreams sometimes. I can fly. However, my method of flight is a tad bit bizarre. The way it goes is that I jump off a chair, table, something above the level of the floor. Then I start to dog paddle in the air. While naked. And then I can fly. Or it’s rather more like floating I guess, like a zepplin in a way.
Other than that one thing, I don’t really remember much about my dreams after a day or so. The particular instance of flying has been happening for a long time, though not really recently.
i remember.
fairly often
really… i do
I remember my dreams, but they’re so absolutely off the wall that everyone I tell them to thinks I have a serious drug problem. Like the one I had where I was in a cave and all the American Cheese slices had question marks on them which signaled evil and the green light was flashing which meant the penguins are…
I also fly alot, but it’s more of a hovering thing than a soaring around like superman thing. Always sucks, because I always think “Yes! I’m not dreaming! I can really fly this time!!!” and then wake up and realize I’m 30 minutes late and it’s raining out. 
I also don’t dream in color. Kinda sucks…
Oh, and once, I did hit the ground before waking up. I bounced.
I’ve had two “hit the ground” dreams that I can remember.
In one I’m flying along at cloud level when suddenly the flying ability kicks out. I fall straight through the clouds and hit the ground. I woke up with a violent start instantly.
In the other, after a long chase through a large office building I am trapped in the middle of a high staircase with people waiting to capture me on the top and bottom. Suddenly the staircase begins to crumble, I can either wait for it to collapse and ride it down, or jump. I jump, hit the ground, and lie there unable to move with several broken limbs. As the people chasing me run over to my body, my vision dissolves to black with my eyes open. After several seconds (dream time) of this I woke up.
So one maybe, and one no from personal experience.
When I fall off the cliff and drop half a mile to the valley below…
I bounce:D .
My dream flying has me aware of the mechanics involved.
You know how when you run and jump? Right before you land,
you pull your legs up, and you go maybe a foot farther. So you
pull them up again, and again, and keep them up:this stretches
your hang-time indefinitely…flying!
I hit the ground once.
I’ve had one falling dream where I remember hitting the ground, and I woke up in pain. It turns out I fell off the bed. I’m not making that up. I know I was young, because I was in my old bedroom.
I used to have flying dreams quite often, and like the others said, its more like swimming through the air. I love those dreams, it seems like I’m having a blast flying around like that. I’m always pissed when I wake up and realize I have to walk around like a mere mortal.
The flying dreams I have aren’t exactly flying, it’s more of a hop. I sort of jump and I just keep going up, it can get really scary. As I’m falling down it seem’s like im gonna die or something but I just land softly or bounce back up.
Really weird, especially sometimes when I jump up and fall really fast.
I’ve never had a falling dream that I can remember, but I have had moments of suddenly waking up and feeling as though I’ve just hit the ground in a dream. I believe it’s called ‘hypnogogic shock’ when you suddenly jerk awake as you are nearly asleep and sometimes dreaming. I’ve also been shot in the head several times in dreams – I have the sensation of my brain rushing out of my skull, and I wake up quickly. Usually I get shot when trying to do something stupdily heroic, and I somehow don’t believe that the guy with the gun is really going to do it. It always feels strange, because there is a definite feeling of release but it’s not pleasant.
I’ve also had (or think I’ve had according to descriptions of them) ‘level 4’ dreams, which are not during REM but a deeper stage in which your body is slowed down enough that you could almost be mistaken for dead. Such dreams are usually pursuit dreams/nightmares, involving bright yellows and reds.
clayton_e, if you do want to try and remember your dreams, you can try this for a few dreams – it worked for me and a lot of other people in my class : Keep a dream notebook & writing implement next to your bed. Before you go to sleep, tell yourself that you’re going to wake up during your dreams. You will most likely have to do this for several days in a row, but eventually you might wake up during a dream. Very quickly you should write down a few words - colors, names, things you saw. You shouldn’t need much. It’s important to not disturb your sleep too much so it’s better if you don’t turn on any lights and only write down a little bit. In the morning, read what you’ve written and it’s very likely that you will remember a lot more of the dream. Now write down more of what you can remember.
Doing this for a few days may show some interesting patterns in your dreams. It shouldn’t be something you do on a continous basis since if you don’t dream enough, it’s as bad as no sleep at all. Plus, you end the dream when you wake up, which at times is bothersome. And don’t try too hard if
it’s not working at all, though sometimes just having a notebook can help you remember the last dream you had before waking (using the above described will wake you during the middle of the night in a probably different dream).
Usually I wake up before I hit the ground, but once I didn’t. I hit the ground, and just felt nothing and had what felt like a few moments of just black before I woke up. That freaked me out.
I miss those dreams, though. I prefer the nonsensical to the absolutely creepy ones I have been having instead. For a few years now, I’ve been having short dreams that usually amount to a snapshot of a scene that is in the real world but makes no sense to me and is in an unfamiliar place. Almost invariably, a few months later, in real life, that ‘snapshot’ happens, and I’m amused and creeped, because there’ll be specific details that I don’t think I could have just coincidentally conjured up.
I wouldn’t claim this, except that it’s happened more than once. And what worries me is that about 2 months ago, I had a very clear ‘snapshot’ dream of my current SO saying something awful (maybe dumping me? I dunno) and walking away. I can still see the building behind, what he’s wearing, and remember the tone of voice, although not the words.
I’m not crazy, really I’m not…
When I was about 7 years old, I had a flying dream. I woke up the next morning on the floor. I had fallen asleep in the top bunk bed, about five and a half feet above. I didn’t even wake up, and I didn’t dream about falling, just flying.
I guess you could call me a heavy waker, and a lighter than air sleeper?
AFAIK, I’ve never dreamt of falling, and my flying dreams seem to be different from those that most people have.
When I dream of flying, I dream of doing it in the form of a bird–usually a hawk, but sometimes an owl or a crow. They’re very visceral dreams; I can remember the sensations of feathers ruffled by wind, and the strain in the keel muscles from soaring (the sensation is very different from flapping). When I dream of being a hawk, I can’t smell anything, and the owl-dreams involve really intense sound and visual perceptions. The crow-dreams are much more surreal than the others, and often involve talking animals and writing (that I can’t read) carved into stone.
I occasionally have flying dreams. The last one was about three months ago. I could fly quite well, and my flying action was similar to swimming. I met a man with no legs who could fly extremely well. He showed me a very good flying action, and we flew along a metre above the ground in his bungalow. My shoulders were tired. He had big strong shoulders because he was used to flying with his arms. I was very pleased to learn a new skill from an expert.
I have also had flying dreams using the long-jump method that Enola Straight describes.
This last week, I have been having the most vivid dreams. A list of same:
- The “Parents are living in my house” dream. They were living in my house, because their house was unlivable. They kept trying to rule the roost, and I had to get cross and tell them they were only guests. (No trouble analysing that one at all!)
- The “Alien Attack” dream. We discover a strange device that emits a long plume of light and makes pretty sounds. My mother shines it out of the window. It reflects off something, causing aliens to attack. The alien ship hovers over the house. We escape through the back door. . We climb through a wood to relative safety. USAF fighter planes engage the alien ship. We join with other anti-alien militia. We have handguns and shoot aliens on the ground. They turn to mush and dissolve We need to change disguises frequently, as the aliens are looking for us.
- The “Secret Love-Child of Nikos Dabizas” dream. I am attending a community college. I wake up after a big party and remember nothing. I find I am pregnant. I do not know who the father is - my boyfriend and I were on a break like Ross and Rachel. I can’t decide whether to have the baby or have an abortion. My mother says that it would be unfair to Nikos to pay child support. I suddenly remember. The big party was after a football match beween Arsenal and Newcastle and it seems I must have shagged Greek Newcastle defender Nikos Dabizas. My boyfriend takes me to the doctor in his car. I give him directions. He is OK about the whole Newcastle United love-child thing.
- The "Primary School Reunion Fake Boxing Match " dream. I am participating in a tag team boxing/wrestling match with two people from my primary (elementary) school. One of the opponents a friend, the other a bully. I wuss out completely. Afterwards we all sit watching some really bad porn on TV. The bully and I end up talking and I explain why I wussed out -the cute me turned up in the ring instead of the feisty me, and I coudn’t even manage a fake punch. He turns out to be a nice guy, totally changed. (again, not a hard one to analyse)
- The “I’m an Auntie and my old Neighbourhood is Indoors” dream. I have a sister. She has a baby. I look after the kid while she goes out. We’re in my old neighbourhood. For some readon it’s indoors, corridors are streets.
- The “Holiday split Identity” dream. My SO and I are going on holiday. There are delays and planes are landing on farmers’ fields for some reason. We decide to split ourselves, and one him and me will catch the plane and one him and me will go home. When half of me gets home I instantly regret it.
I would really enjoy a night’s sleep without a long involved, vivid dream that always results in me waking up covered in sweat. I’m sure all this dream symbolism must be intensely hard work for my subconscious, but as far as I can see it is not physical labour and therefore there is no need of sweat. Plus the secret love child dream annoys me. If I were to shag a Greek footballer, it would be Theo Zagorakis. Anyone can see that, even my damn subconscious.
I can remember most of my dreams upon waking, long enough to write them down (which I never manage to do, because I’m a major bed-lingerer).
Most of them involve people in my life - acquaintances, friends, loved ones, people I pass every day, but do not know personally. Some get disturbingly Freudian - I once dreamt of being naked in a car at night on the road with three people I knew, also naked, and joking around about our collective lack of clothing (in a playful manner with mild sexual overtones - at least two of the people there were women, and women I found attractive at that). Most of these people are people I think about a lot, whether it be just noticing them as they pass me or actively thinking about them when they’re not in my presence.
I’ve had a lot of flying dreams, but also a lot of falling dreams. I dreamt I was falling in a spacesuit slowly into the sun. Spooky. My flying dreams usually have me hovering a few inches above the ground, beating my arms wildly - I have control, but it’s not graceful. I’ve never hit the ground or gotten killed in my dreams - I always wake up.
All of my dreams are extremely realistic visually and aurally, but I don’t remember sensations, smells or tastes much. Emotions are rather intense in my dreams - most of the time, they’re very depressing, but sometimes, they’re beautifully light-hearted. Never a dull moment in my psyche. They’re usually located at school or some imaginary, generic city, but sometimes are in the woods or on the road.
We don’t need television. We need more naps.