Cauchemar!

[darkemeralds]

Have you ever noticed how the most shocking nightmares, when viewed through the I'm-awake-now-thank-God lens of Jungian-esque analysis, are the most useful? And how the message is often pretty uplifting?

It's been years since I did any particular dreaming. I had a series of terrifying seizures which always came on first thing in the morning, and always in the context of trying vainly to remember a dream, so I became highly averse to remembering dreams. But just the past couple of weeks I seem to have taken it up again.

The one I had this morning between cat-letting-out and actual waking was a humdinger involving ice and high places and someone falling to her death and me hanging on for dear life so I wouldn't do the same thing. A wake-up-screaming nightmare.

And yet as soon as I was fully awake I recognized it as an ego-death kind of dream. I've been releasing lots of things, and ideas, and goals lately. Part of me falling to her icy death is a pretty apt symbol.

Still...rainbows and non-creepy butterflies tonight, please.

Comments

[jumpuphigh]

Come join me in my dreams. Last night, I dreamed about getting chicken salad on a croissant. :D

[darkemeralds]

Ooh. That sounds yum! :D

[kis]

Fascinating. My nightmares usually turn out to be not-so-horrific in terms of content when viewed in the light of day but the fear is very real. Not sure they're helpful ... I can only think of one whose meaning I understood. Possibly in the whole of my life, now I come to think of it.

[darkemeralds]

I'm of two minds about dream interpretation, myself. All in all, I think they mean something--some translation through the sleeping mind of something going on in the body--but as inherently interesting as one's own dreams tend to be, I'm not sure I've ever gotten a lot out trying to interpret them.

You're right, though: a lot of dreams that feel nightmarish don't actually seem that nightmarish on waking examination. Spiders, though...*shudder* I have spider dreams sometimes...

[kis]

**nods** I think they're generally random - maybe synapses firing electrically through something going on the bloodstream. Sometimes they're noticeably more conscious in that I recognize the day's events, even if they've turned into something weird. The dreams I believe actually significant are the recurring ones. I always think they're some deeply wise part of my brain screaming at me something along the lines of "You idiot! Have you not worked this out yet? Here! Have another bloody metaphor and see if you can make sense of it this time!" :)

Eep on the spider dreams. I've had a couple, but not many. Definitely waking up screaming territory, that.

[branchandroot]

Yeah, the ones I dream in the last phase before waking are generally the ones that are most a) coherent and b) alarming, at least if my brain has anything it wants to say to me. And wow do those stick, on waking.

Of course, if I find myself edging into that "almost up, now slipping back down" then I haul out of bed and freaking walk around, because that's a straight slide into sleep paralysis which /terrifies/ me.

[darkemeralds]

By sleep paralysis, do you mean that "I can't wake up" feeling? Or is this a genuine "I can't move" kind of thing?

If the former, I get that sometimes and it's weird and frightening, like no amount of swimming will bring me to the surface, and yet I'm not so asleep that I don't know it.

[branchandroot]

Sleep paralysis is actual "cannot move". The mechanism that keeps you from flailing around while you're deeply asleep doesn't let go or re-engages while you're conscious of not being asleep. It's definitely alarming! And I always get stuck in the shallow breathing stage and panic doesn't help with that. Bleah.

[executrix]

You saved the world! A lot!

[darkemeralds]

LOL! Great image. Thanks!

[karen_jk]

That sounds like a good spin on a scary dream! Hope your unconscious gets the message and calms down.

I have been having repeated dreams where I am choosing my husband, or having a relationship with several people including my husband, dreams which involve a lot of anxiety about what the right choice is, and a lot of guilt as well.

This is probably because I'm inching closer to separation, and it's darned scary.

[darkemeralds]

Recurring dreams like that do seem to be trying to tell us something, don't they? If only we can find the core of meaning in the midst of all sorts of symbolism.

Big changes are hard. I wish you ease with yours.