In Your Dreams -- scenes and themes from your dreams

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Inspired by the ‘weird book settings’ thread in IMHO…

Here is what I started to say there:

"Just about all of my dreams take place either at my mom’s house, my old elementary school, or my high school, regardless of the actual setting. Mall? Hospital? Offices? doesn’t matter. They are at my elementary school. Chase scenes? Dodging playground equipment. Often, I find that I’m being pursued across the roof of my high school… "

In reality I’ve never been on the roof of my high school, but in my dreams I often hide there or am chased across it. Or I lose things there. Or I leave an animal there and need to go back and rescue it.

I once dreamed that I was in a refugee camp type place, but it was Freshman Hall at my high school, lockers and everything, with tents and stuff set up.

I also often dream of flying, which usually involves swimming motions, but invariably I can never quite get high enough that the people chasing me can’t still grab my feet. This often occurs at my elementary school.

Other things frequently seen in my dreams, but that have no relevance to my life at all:
• dinosaurs
• sharks
• trains

So what about you? Are your dreams “set” in the same places all the time? What common themes occur in your dreams?

2

I have a cemetery (an incredible, huge, gothic one) that seems to pop up in my dreams now and again. It looks like it’s set somewhere in the Deep South, as there are huge trees full of Spanish Moss. Set far back into the cemetery, there’s a big, beautiful library that’s built in the Georgian style, and looks very similar to a church that is in Pasadena, California. I like the dreams that are set there–it’s a very comfortable, beautiful place.

There is a place called the Green Hotel in Pasadena, California (note the pattern?). It was built around the turn of the century, and it has this small bridge that comes out from the front, and it ends in a small observation tower. The place has a very Arts & Crafts look to it, and I have dreamt being in the observation tower, and in the gardens surrounding the building.

I often have dreams where animals speak to me, also.

3

I used to have a dream, as an adult, of my childhood family, moving into a four or five story mansion. The first floor was sunny and well lit, and beautifully decorated, as was the second floor. The bedrooms were all on the upper floors. As I walked up the stairs to any floor higher than the second floor, there were drafts on the (enclosed) stairways, and the higher I went, the scarier the floors got. The third floor was dark and creepy, and decorated in some gothic sort of theme, and sunlight never came in those windows; it was always dark outside. That’s the floor where all of us kids had our bedrooms (in the dream).

The floors higher than that did not have all the floorboards, and I almost never went up there. Whenever I did, I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck rising, and an uncontrollable feeling of dread would come over me. Then I would wake up.

I had this dream several times during the almost eight years of my last marriage. After we divorced, I never had that dream again.

4

I rarely remember my dreams. When I do, though, they’re pretty literal, rehashing an event or set in a particular place I’ve been recently. Either that or they’ll address a creative issue I’ve been mulling over. I get some of my best ideas when I’m straddling sleeping and waking.

Mrs. Dave-Guy frequently dreams about her father, who passed away nearly 18 years ago.

5

In the house where I grew up, there was a closet that a small child could crawl into, and then get behind the walls (if you could maneuver around the heating ducts).

Sooo many dreams that I had involved going into that closet, crawling to the end, and opening a secret door to a hidden room where a pretty, magical girl stayed.

6

A common theme in my dreams is school. Keep in mind that I’ve been out of college for 5 1/2 years. And i did very well in school. BUT my recurring nightmare involves me having a test in a class, and I forgot to go to that class all semester.

Another recurring dream is being in a tornado, or seeing a tornado coming, and me trying to rescue my cats, or a bunch of kittens in a field.

7

All of my dreams end up in a strange place with me searching futilely for a bathroom.

Then I wake up, having to go really bad.

8

That was YOU??? Stay out of my hidden room !!! :wink:

I have some recurring images in my dreams, but they are almost all nightmare-related.

9

I dream about my aunt’s house. Not the one she lives in now, or the one she lived in before that, but the one she moved out of when I was 3 or 4. In my dreams it has trap doors, passageways, and room too small for furniture and too huge to see the other side. I’ve only had one nightmare in my life, and it was a pregnancy dream. No matter where I am in my dreams, I’m comfortable, perfectly at ease.

10

I have a recurring theme, but not a setting.

I’ll occasionally have a dream, once or twice a year, in which I spontaneously start being affectionate with an acquaintance and they accept it like it’s no big deal.

Place is always different. People are always different (including the object of my affections). But it’s always the same course of events. We’re getting intimate, usually in a semi-public place, and not only is my acquaintance accepting and into it, but nobody around us seems to mind and even occasionally get involved themselves.

Then I wake up and realize that I’m still living in the world where I’m invisible and unwanted and alone. The dream’s nice…I just hate waking up from it.

Sorry…that was bitter.

jayjay

11

I have this dream about twice a month. Usually it’s history that I forgot to go to, but usually it’s gym. I did well in both these classes, so I don’t understand what the issue is.

12

A few I forgot:

I often dream that I’m moving into a really big house, and I just explore how cool it is.

I also often dream that I’m shopping, and I find really cool electronic gizmos that upon waking I’m heartbroken to discover I don’t really own/don’t really exist.

And school. I will be 30 in February, yet I often dream that I’m in high school. Then something unpleasant will come up, like a test, or a conflict, and I’ll realize the situation and stand up and say “hey, I graduated from high school over 10 years ago! I don’t even have to be here!” and I’ll walk out.

13

Chasing

All the dreams I had from the earliest I can remember until my early twenties involved being chased by some sort of evil. I remember I would get tired of running, and decide to just let evil catch up with me, but then I would get surprised and start running out of shock. I hated these dreams so much that I developed insomnia at an early age. The dreams finally quit when I started finishing them in a good way after I woke up.

Forgetting

Usually it has to do with my kids, but it can be anything. I’ll be 3/4 of the way through a dream, and I’ll suddenly remember that I left my kids at the mall or somewhere at the beginning of the dream. Then comes the opposite of the chasing dream - me trying to get TO my kids, and of course, there are always numerous obstacles. Or sometimes I’ll be making out with a really cute guy, and suddenly remember that I’m married, and then I have to quickly get myself out of the situation and cover-up my inadvertant actions. Oh, or I’ll be at a party, and everyone will be talking way over my head, and then I’ll remember that I have a PhD in Physics. Because you know, I forgot. But nowadays, it’s really not a dream until I realize I’ve forgotten something vital.

The Evil Within

Another recurring theme is being surrounded by some sort of evil entity. The type of evil varies, but what doesn’t vary is that the evil beings always blend in with everyone else, and I’m the only who notices. I somehow know that they’ll kill me if they find out that I know about them, so I have to figure out a way of saving the day without them realizing I know who they are. The weird thing is that I’m never upset or panicked in these dreams - it’s more like a puzzle I have to solve. Even when faced with almost certain death situations, I remain calm and manage to dodge the bullet due to quick thinking and good reactions. And of course, there’s always a moment when I’m in a crowded room, and an evil being looks at me, and knows that I know. Quite creepy. Sometimes the evil inhabits the body of someone close to me, almost like pod people.

The repeating dream

Usually combined with both of the above. I get through the dream, I save the day, and then I get reset back to the beginning of the dream, and I have to remember how to do the whole thing again. I keep forgetting steps (did I go left or right here? Who did I talk to?) and I know that I solved the dream before, and I have to solve it again, depending only on my memory. That’s when I start to lose my calm a little. Sometimes I’ll have to repeat the same dream three or four times in a night.

Analysis anyone?

14

Hehehe!!! I have you beat. I once dreampt that I was in bed with a really pretty woman, and she got up to go to the bathroom or something, which was when I suddenly remembered that I wasn’t a guy, and how on earth was I going to explain to her why I didn’t have a penis??

15

Opal
I have that dream a lot. I’m late for school or there’s a class I keep forgetting to go to so I’m rushing around like mad when I suddenly realize, hey, I’ve been out of school a long time, I don’t have to go anymore. For the record I graduated college (the last time) eleven years ago.

Many of my dreams are set in my childhood home even though it’s been over fifteen years since I lived there and about four since my Mom sold it. Most of the action takes place in the attic, where my bedroom was and it’s usually quite dark and covered with spiderwebs. Interestingly enough, in the last few years, as my mood has improved somewhat, the room in my dreams has become cleaner and lighter. Go figure.

Quite a few of my nightmares involve this huge, old Gothic-type house with dozens of rooms. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this house in real life but it is pretty much the same in several of my dreams. I had one just a few nights ago in fact. I was at a big party in this house along with my family and some acquaintances from the waking world. I left the room which they were all in to look for something and when I returned they had all gone. I could just hear their voices in the distance but I couldn’t tell where they had gone. I searched the house but I couldn’t find them or find my way out. This is a very common theme for me, being abandoned. But the weird thing about this dream was that at the end my Mom came back for me. For the first time ever in my life in one of my dreams she came back for me. I still don’t know what to make of it.

Hope I haven’t bored anyone. :slight_smile:

16

Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve dreamed about tsunamis about once a month on average. It’s strange–I’ve never been frightened of the water. I love going to the beach, and I’ve always loved it. But when I have my dream, I’m always trapped in a hotel with my family, and we have a beach view room. We’re talking, and I look out the window, and all I can see is this huge wave coming toward us. It’s too late to run; I know that we’re all going to die, and all I can do is watch it. I never warn anyone in my dream, either; I always seem to see it as a natural occurrence, and be resigned to the fact that I’m going to die from this gigantic wave.

17

I’ve had dreams in the past too about forgetting to attend some classes I registered for. But a recurring theme for dreams I’ve had (one I had last week, as a matter of fact) is getting on some public transporation (either a bus, an “el” or subway) or trying to get a bus to get home, but I can’t find one that goes to my home. I think this is based either upon an experience I had in Seoul or regarding the “Owl service” in Chgo, which did not extend out to where I lived.

Last week there was a new twist. I got on an “el” but it didn’t go all the way to my house. A guy got off and said he’ll give me a ride home. I go down the stairs and look at the street signs, and the name of the street was “Same.” There was another street sign too but I either cannot remember that name or paid no attention to it. We go over to his car, which is in a parking space all by itself, and surrounded by construction. Nothing else around except his car and construction. End of dream.

18

Awww… you were always so happy to see me before :frowning:

We had such cool adventures together. In a way I still have this fear in the back of my head, that she will come back and take my kids away when I have them.

Similar to the original Peter Pan, I suppose. Just a different gender. And instead of flying out the nursery window, we crept into the secret catacombs…

So, is Cartooniverse the girl who never grew up?

19

Just since I finished my graduate work last May, I have had a recurring dream that suddenly I remember I’m taking a grad class, but I haven’t been for weeks. I’ve missed projects, discussions, papers, etc. I’m HORRIFIED.

Just a side effect from being in school from the age of 6 to 24. I’m so used to being n school that I apparently freak out when I’m not.

I have tons of other themes…flying, dying…but that’s the most recent development.

20

My college roommate told me about this dream that really disturbed him long ago. Then I had the chance to steal it… my apologies for a long story:

In his dream, it started that he was in hell, hanging on to the side of a cliff. There were people in a cable-car behind him, with pitchforks and everything. And people falling around him. The cliff was perfectly vertical, and his grip was so slight that he had to be very very still to keep from falling. You know, the paralyzed fear that often accompanies dreams?

So, he decides this is no fun and he should wake up. But then these three huge faces tell him “NO! You must stay here!” and slam a huge wooden door in his face. So he goes back to hell.

Repeat loop, over and over, until finally his sister woke him up because he seemed to be having a nightmare.

Now, flash forward several years.

The night after he told me his dream, by power of suggestion, I have the same dream. (I spooked him out later by recalling details that he had failed to mention… from a scientific standpoint I have no doubt that this was simply fill-in and good guessing)

The difference was, I tend to have lucid dreams now, and can control my actions. Actually, I can control a lot more than my own actions. Hell, it’s MY dream, after all.

So, when the door slammed in my face, I simply decided to use the doorknob and open it. Damn, no doorknobs (curse out roommate for leaving doorknobs off of his dream-doors.)

Next, I tried a chainsaw. It made some marks, and a lot of noise, and the three faces laughed at me. Stumped again.

Explosives. Same effect.

Finally, I took a step back and reassessed the situation. Then decided to just walk around the doors. It’s not like they were in a wall or something. (or the walls were just missing like the doorknobs)

Then, of course, I find myself in hell again. Hanging on for dear life. I notice the cable car isn’t attached to anything specific, how convenient.

I looked for a door in the cliff. No good.

Then in a moment of insight, and record-breaking dream-control, I rotate all of hell by 90[sup]o[/sup] so that instead of vertical, the vertical “cliff” is now a horozontal floor. The people in the cable-car are extremely pissed off. I on the other hand, simply get up and walk away.

End dream, wake up and empty bladder, then go back to sleep and think smugly of the story to tell roommate tomorrow morning…