Recurring Dream (whatsit mean?)

In My Humble Opinion
1

A common recurring dream for me is that I am in some situation that requires I dial 911 on the telephone to summon help (fire, police, ambulance…it varies in the dream).
However, for different reasons in different dreams, I’m unable to. For example, I repeatedly push the wrong numbers, or I push the right numbers but different numbers show up on the display on the phone, or I dial correctly but no one ever answers, etc.

Last night in the dream, my gf fell and hit her head and lay on the floor unconscious. We were someplace I don’t recognize, and some sort of meeting was about to begin. I frantically tried dialing 911 over and over…but this time, the phone was capable of dialing only two digits. IOW I dialed 91, but it was impossible to dial the last 1.

To make things worse, as I was trying to summon help, everyone else in the room proceeded with whatever meeting was scheduled…without offering to help.

To me this is obviously anxiety related (I have a lot going on right now that is causing a lot of anxiety), and perhaps also a feeling of a lack of control.

Anyone else care to analyze this?

2

Is it always you trying to help someone else? Or is it sometimes you who needs the emergency assistance? Do you ever find another way to help or does it always end with the dialing?

Is there a major problem in your life that you are trying to get someone else to solve for you? Is there a way you could take charge and solve it yourself? Do you feel inadequate to the task?

3

Let me know what you find out. I have exactly the same dream.

4

Always trying to help someone else, and the dream ends/I wake up before help is ever found.

But…

You nailed it with the last part.

I do have a few major problems in my life. And, I’ve been told by therapists, counselors, friends, pastors, etc…that I’m always trying to get others to resolve my problems for me. I do, and always have, “buried my head in the sand” and hoped the problem would go away on its own, or turned to someone else to handle it. I have never taken responsibility and action to fix things myself.

I know this about myself and am working to change it…but I really never made that connection to this dream.

Thanks.

5

I think it means absolutely nothing. It’s not random in the sense that pieces come from your daily life, but a dream suggest nothing. I have tons of dreams. They are very specific and detailed. Names, numbers, cities and argot of various themes pop up in a routine flow of a dream. I sometimes make a point of remembering stuff and tracing it later. I find nothing. I wish I could say I dreamed a Lotto number and played it for a win, but no.

PS. I have had conversations with Putin, Bush and many world leaders. They all seemed like regular guys. I seriously doubt they dream about me.

6

Dreams are informed by our preoccupations, wishes and fears. I suspect that specific dream motifs become self-reinforcing: the memory of having a repeated scary dream spurs it to come back.

And you’re trying to fight against it, so it manifests in a slightly different form. That’s good, that means you’re thinking creatively, looking for different ways to fail. That means you have the capacity in waking life to find different ways to succeed.

7

+1 for “nothing,” or at least “not much.” You’re probably having a stressful dream because you’re stressed/dealing with “issues” in real life, as you hinted already. But I suspect this isn’t exactly news to you, as you’re already sought other people’s advice to help you work through them. Assigning parallels between dreams and real life beyond the general vibe or theme of the dream (stressful, unable to help others) is fraught with bias, however. Details in dreams are pretty random, and humans are very good at making connections between random things (dreams and real life, in this instance).

I think dreams have very limited potential for self-discovery, i.e. if you’re really happy you might have more “good” dreams, if you’re really anxious/stressed you might have more “bad” dreams, if you’re really horny you’ll probably have more “sexy” dreams, but they won’t really tell you something you don’t already know. Towards the end of grad school I used to have bad dreams due to stress, but I was obviously super stressed out in waking life so it wasn’t a big surprise. The ironic thing is I wrote the thesis, passed my defense, got my degree, got a good fun job in my field, etc. AND I STILL HAVE THE SAME DREAM!!! Doesn’t mean I’m stressed out about my thesis still, it just means that my brain thought “Hey, remember when I was freaking out about that paper a couple years ago? Let’s revisit that one tonight.”

Dreams of feeling powerless in the face of danger are a VERY common motif. It’s also quite common for man-made objects like light switches, watches, computers, phones, etc to malfunction in dreams. A common way to “catch” yourself inside a dream is to get in the habit of looking at your watch twice in a row in real, waking life. This habit will often carry over into your dreams, where the second glance at your watch will often reveal that your watch is behaving erratically. And of course, the tendency to have recurring dreams is also very common, my guess is because you have to dream, and you remember recurring dreams, so your brain gets lazy and plays a rerun instead of going through the hassle of writing and directing a new episode.

What I’m saying is that you’re probably having a stressful dream because you’re stressed. It recurs because you’re still stressed, you still have the same brain, and it’s easy for your brain to revisit a classic. The phone not working is a common feature of your primitive/less intelligent “sleeping brain” not really grasping (or caring) how modern devices are supposed to work.

8

Interesting, I’ve never had this kind of dream. Do you have difficulty asking people for help when you need it?

I have difficulty finishing things once I start them, which I think might be related to my recurring dreams. Mine usually tend to be 1) finding out late in a semester of college that I have a class and am unable to get to the building (sometimes there’s also a huge test I didn’t know I had to study for), or 2) running away from a bad guy but my legs are stuck in metaphorical molasses, so the faster I try to run the slower I go. I wake up as he murders me.

9

I’ve had the number-dialing dream. It’s very frustrating, as no matter how hard you try, you can’t dial the correct number. I constantly dream about driving, for some reason. Usually in poor weather or on iffy roads. I don’t think it’s about anything in particular, just that my brain has decided it likes to go for a drive at night.

10

I too have the frustrating number dialing dream. I try and try and try to dial a number but keep randomly messing it up.

And on a very similar note, I have a recurring dream where I’m playing golf, but cannot tee off. Every time I place my ball there’s something in the way of either my line of sight to the green, or my back swing, or my follow-through. I keep moving the ball, and finding another issue, over and over, while the people I’m playing with become more displeased and impatient at my constant bumbling.

God. I’d rather have the “no pants at work” dream.

11

I think the whole ‘can’t dial the number’ thing is because it’s a dream, your brain is telling you to dial a number, but your fingers can’t physically touch a phone, so you mess up trying to dial. If you’re capable of lucid dreaming that sort of thing can be used as a ‘tell’ that you’re dreaming, and so long as you don’t wake up you can explore the dreamscape

Not that I’m a dream expert or anything.

12

dial 1 for ‘nothing’
dial 2 for 'I always doubt myself and have self esteem issues"
dial 3 for “performance anxiety”
hang up if you would like to speak to a specialist

13

I see I’m not alone in the dialing dream. I feel like those infomercials where people can’t chop a carrot without ending up with food on the ceiling, or whatever. It’s always fun when, occasionally, I actually do mess up dialing the phone and I get a dream flashback and I feel all :eek: :smack: :stuck_out_tongue:

14

I think part of it is just that your brain is aware on some level that you’re not actually dialing a phone, and this manifests as not being able to dial it. Same with running, where you are running in your dream but not getting anywhere.

15

I don’t know about that. It feels very real and very frustrating. If I can fly and visit with dead people, why can’t I dial phone or hit a golf ball? Weird.

Another frustrating one I have had lately is, I’m dead tired (in my dream) and am trying to get to sleep (although I am already asleep, obviously) and people won’t leave me alone. I wander from room to room looking for peace and quiet and as soon as I lay down people come into the room and make noise. So, I drag myself somewhere else and it happens again, and again, and again… I wake up exhausted because it really feels like I wasn’t getting any sleep!

16

Possibly because you can’t fly or speak to the dead in waking life, while you can dial phones and hit golf balls. Your brain and body know what the latter two things feel like and on some level know you’re not doing them, so that manifests in the dream as being unable to dial or golf.

17

Ah. Could be…

18

Just to be clear, I’m not a sleep scientist by any means, so this is largely a WAG. But I swear I saw some old NOVA or other documentary which claimed that there was a part of the brain which released a hormone (or something) which prevents you from doing the things you are dreaming about. In other words, when you dream you are walking, it keeps you from actually moving your legs in front of each other.

19

I think sometimes, my dreams are just my brain entertaining itself at night, but at other times, the stuff going on in my life leaks into my dreams. I think that my dreaming self mines my memories for material, so things I’ve done or places I’ve been show up. I have recurring theme dreams, too, usually of trying to drive a car, but something is always wrong - I’m trying to steer from the passenger seat.

When I self analyse my dreams, I try to think about my emotional state along with what was going on in the dream and with what’s going on in my life. The car dreams are usually because something in my life is making me feel out of control.

The dialling the phone thing sounds like you are trying to do something to help, but are being thwarted or frustrated by something beyond your control. Anything in your life making you feel that way?

20

Pfff. Everthing in my life is making me feel that way! :smiley: