I've been keeping a daily dream journal for the last few years, and have written volumes (literally). If I had spent as much time (up to two hours a day) doing creative writing, I'd have several novels written by now!
But the time spent has been well worth it, because my dreams have given me a glimpse into the inner workings of my mind, not to mention all the money I've saved by keeping my nightly entertainment in-house and not having to go out to the movies, buy popcorn, and all that jazz. And fortunately, I've never been one to have nightmares, so my dreams have kept me entertained, not with horror flicks, which I abhor in real life, but with drama, adventure, mystery, intrigue, comedy and sci-fi.
Of course, it's more like turning on a TV with only one channel... I don't have much choice of what I'm going to see on any given night, but that's part of the fun.
The big payoff is at the end of each year, when I type all my dreams into my computer so that I can store them online for safekeeping and refer back to them later, looking for patterns and such. I should do it more than once a year, because it takes weeks to get them all typed in, but I never seem to find the time to do it until I've finished a dream journal, and then it feels urgent.
And then, I get to relive the whole year over again, usually noticing certain themes that crop up again and again. If I get curious enough about a theme, I can do a word search and see where all it crops up. I've discovered some amazing things about myself that way. You'd be surprised at how often I've dreamed about David Spade in recent years, for example!
So, it's the end of the year again, and I should be picking up my dream journal and start typing, but it's a little hard to find inspiration. You see, my dream journal is only half full this year... and it's only half as thick as the journal I was using last year! That means I've only had a quarter of the dreams this year that I had last year!
What's happening? Is my subconscious rebelling? Did it get burned out with all that dreaming? Did it take a holiday and forget to come back?
I swear to god, there have been days when it didn't show up for work and didn't even bother to call in sick. Other times, it did the work, but kept it hidden from the boss (my conscious mind). I'd wake up and know that I had had a whopper of a dream, but rack my brain as I might, I simply couldn't recall it.
They do say that, when you have a lot to deal with in your waking life, your dreaming life tends to slack off a bit... to give you time to process the dramas in that corner of your reality. I certainly have had a lot going on lately... major moves, new jobs, travels, etc. But there have also been long stretches of time where I've had absolutely nothing going on. Wasn't I entitled to some doozies back then?
Anyway, life has gotten pretty full, but I hope it doesn't mean a goodbye to dreams... I miss dreaming already. It was a major part of my life, and sometimes preferable to my waking reality.
I have considered the possibility that the paper in my old journal may have been thicker than the paper in my current journal (and it was), but not four times as thick! So, at best, my dreaming is only down by 50%, but it's still down... I hope none of you invested too much in my dreams this year. :)
Any other dreamers out there? Have you noticed changes in the volumes of your dreams? Are we headed for a collective dream ice age?
kruuyai posted on Dec 28, 2007
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Comments
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Lucytorial said on Dec 28, 2007....
Hi kru... been such a long time... hope you are well... you know what I think!! I think you are living the way you should be so subconciously your dreams don't need to be so potent to remember for you to make a change or realise something??/ maybe I don't know but it would seem as though you are happy with life and the road you have chosen this year so your subconcious might be sitting there saying "well things are quiet here hey joe!, might just take a break until Kru stops listening hey? sure Joe, lets take a break for a bit" you never know.... but its cool you keep a diary... great idea (I usually don't remember my dreams... much at all"
Collective dream ice age??? no way I think we may all be coming in to a collective aware sun age! (sounds good doesn't it)
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kruuyai said on Dec 28, 2007....
Lucy!: Hi girl! It sure has been a long time. I think you're probably right about Joe taking a break. What's his partner's name by the way? A collective aware sun age... I like that. :) -
silverwhisper said on Dec 28, 2007....
kruu, your life's been particularly hectic this past year, hasn't it? all the drama of the pirates, etc.?
that's worth a whole month of not recording your dreams all by itself, i would think!
ed -
queenparanoia said on Dec 28, 2007....
so sorry kruu... i haven't started my dream journal. i'm too lazy to start one. anyway i find your dreams facinating. and david spade? LOL!!! =) maybe you should relax first before going to sleep? maybe you'll dream more... keep on dreaming!!! =) -
kruuyai said on Dec 28, 2007....
ed: Well, my dear, you've only been privy (sp?) to the last year of my life, but I can assure you that 2006 held even less stability.. I slept in 34 different beds, for starters... (alone, lol... well, most of the time, that is... I did have a lover in Thailand... married, ex-drug runner turned temple boy turned monk... see what I mean?). Still, it's been a different kind of change this year... one that's leading me somewhere, I think... and you would think all of that would inspire some pretty serious dreaming.... ah, well, perhaps when the outer turmoil settles down, the inner mind will take time to process all of this. Thanks for stopping by.
queen: You'll do it when and if you feel a need to. David Spade? Well, don't tell ginger about it.. she'll get grossed out... again! I will try to keep on dreaming. Thanks for the encouragement! :)
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the_infernal_optimist said on Dec 28, 2007....
I go through worrisome-at-the-time phases when I dream very little (I'm normally a nightly dreamer), but they always come back eventually. I don't know whether I've dreamed less overall in recent years (but thank you for deciding me re: what to do with the handsome journal I received for Christmas).
~Infernal
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silverwhisper said on Dec 28, 2007....
kruu: ah. OK, maybe you're just emotionally drained, then?
btw: david spade? seriously? well, i shouldn't say anything, i'm sure tons of folks have the same reaction when i talk about rachael ray... :>
ed -
kruuyai said on Dec 28, 2007....
infernal: Cool! It's always nice to have a spiffy journal to write your dreams in... I always do it with a steaming cup of green tea, too. Here's hoping we have some far-out dreams to interpret together in the New Year!
ed: maybe... it sure has been stressful lately... more on that later.
I don't even know who Rachael Ray is, but do you not remember, nearly a year ago, arranging a foursome between me, yourself, David Spade and Johnny Depp? ;-)
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silverwhisper said on Dec 28, 2007....
kruu: heh...if you lived in the US or canada, you would almost certainly know. :> and i believe i can say w/ complete confidence that not only do i not recall such a thing, but that i am shocked that i would have, esp given the way i feel about both spade and depp. :>
ed -
kruuyai said on Dec 28, 2007....
ed: I was just about to direct you to the proof, but then I realized it was secretlife and not silverwhisper who made that comment... bwaaa haaa haaa... and all this time, I've been feeling so superior to all those saps that keep mixing the two of you up! :D -
silverwhisper said on Dec 28, 2007....
you know, it's funny--that used to happen quite a bit but i don't think anyone's done so that i know of in quite a while. :>
look at it this way, kruu: you're once again unique. :>
ed -
kruuyai said on Dec 28, 2007....
ed: I think i just ran across someone doing it recently... you've probably gotten so used to it happening that you don't notice anymore. :) Unique? When did I ever leave off being unique? ;-) -
silverwhisper said on Dec 28, 2007....
[trout-smack!]
just cuz it's been a while. :D
ed -
kruuyai said on Dec 28, 2007....
Tanks, I needed dat! -
wakingharmony said on Dec 28, 2007....
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{kruuyai}}}}}}}}}}}}} Here you are! I haven't had the chance or noticed the part of you that dreams.... Now I am clicking on names as I see them or what ever it is I do!! I have always wanted and thought about a dream journal because I dream a lot in one night and remember them too. I think Id be spending alot of time writting about them..Maybe that is a good plan though after Angela Graduates and leaves home. I am sure I will feel lost with my life suddenly no children! How is teaching going? -
skald said on Dec 28, 2007....
Kruu. It has always been a big part of my life too. I know that most of my folks are like that. When I had my elder son I had to wake up so often that I did not remember my dreams for months. I really did miss them then.
It is a good idea to keep a dream journal.
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crybabylu said on Dec 28, 2007....
I never thought about keeping a dream journal. I know for a fact, that I dream everyday, because a lot of the time, it will peek back into my mind thru out the day. Think I will start keeping a journal because it would be nice to revisit them from time to time. and see what patterns I find. -
wakingharmony said on Dec 28, 2007....
hehe crybaby I do that too Im a big day dreamer too!!!! -
kruuyai said on Dec 28, 2007....
waking: Hi! Nice to see you again. The part of me that dreams has shown itself on this site from time to time. I even sponsored a Soulcast Dream Interpretation workshop once upon a time. My favorite of the ones I've posted was called My Dream About Cancer, and I like it because I really went through the process of dream interpretation with the help of people here at SC. I thought I had a pretty good handle on it at first, but the more we looked at it, the more I discovered about it and about myself. Like you said, it does take a lot of time to write about them. Especially since the mind tends to wander off on tangents while you're doing it, but that's part of the process, too. I kind of miss the days when I didn't have anything else going on and could spend all the time I wanted to on my dreams.
Teaching? Ah, that's a long story.. soon to be a blog, no doubt. In a nutshell, I got a new job starting in January, and I'm still trying to get paid for the old job. I've been on holiday since mid-December and will have to go back on the 7th. I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to it... will let you know. :)
skald: It really is frustrating when waking life commitments interfere with our being able to process our dreams. It's been that way with me and having to get up to teach these last months.
crybaby: If you already have a good memory for your dreams, you'd probably get a lot out of a dream journal. If nothing else, it's a lot of fun.
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harriedpsychmajor said on Dec 28, 2007....
I like your personal take on dream interpretation, noticing running themes and how certain features of the dream pertain to you personally. A lot of people rely on Freud's dream interpretation book, but I don't favor it. Freud assign specific meanings to symbols, even though the meaning of symbols can change between people, especially depending on the culture. It's best to interpret dreams as you see it personally, and try to relate them to what's going on in your life.
As for frequency of dreams, you're less inclined to remember your dreams during times of stress, or under uncomfortable sleeping circumstances. Sometimes dreaming can even coincide with the seasons; I know my dreams are more frequent in the summer than they are in winter.
Whew, long comment. I hope I was of help, kruu!
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secretlife said on Dec 28, 2007....
hey kruu - just stopping by to wish you a happy new year and tons of new dreams! -
Mamie said on Dec 28, 2007....
that is so funny! I think I have had less dreams at night this past year and more dreams during the day when my conscious self could canoodle around with the ideas and begin to manifest some really good stuff! That is what I have been journaling about, the day dreams that I am hoping will come true!Glad to hear form you Kru, hope all is well! -
moonriver said on Dec 29, 2007....
hey kruu, i'm amazed that you could sustain a dream journal for so long. my problem isn't so much that i no longer dream as much as before, but that more and more, it happens when i'm awake! and those that happen when i'm asleep, i mostly forget by the time i awaken.
apart from my werewolf dreams, i think there were only 3 or 4 dreams i've had this year that were so intense they woke me up, and i could replay them in my mind and later write them down. they are so deeply personal and emotional, i can't bring myself to share them with anyone.
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kruuyai said on Dec 29, 2007....
harried: I quite agree. It can be fun and interesting to look at books of dream symbols and play around with them, but ultimately, the interpretation is an inside job. I think Freud's take on symbology is rather base, and I tend to side more with Jung's interpretations... Freud saw our sub-conscious as primitive and animalistic whereas Jung saw it as spiritual (I know you know this stuff already, harried, but it may be new stuff to some of the people reading this comment). I've even thought that our "selves" from past lives may choose our dreams as a way to convey messages to us... or that other sentient beings from our lives may do the same... and we may be sending messages to people we've known in past or future lives through their dreams without even realizing that we're doing it... too far out? I don't know.. this stuff starts making sense after you do it for long enough. Mostly, though, I think it's our way of talking to ourselves. Interesting that you dream more in summer (when, I would think, one would be less inclined to write their dreams down)).
secret: Hi secret! Happy New Year to you, too! Hope 2008 treats you much better than this year has. {{{hug}}}}}}
Mamie: Daydreams.. visualization, whatever you want to call it.. can be powerful ways to bring about change in your life. I hope you make it work for you, Mamie. I've sometimes had a hard time knowing whether a dream of mine was a night dream or a daydream, because some of them come to me while I'm lying in bed, seemingly conscious, but a whole dream story is acted out, not directed by me. I guess that's not the same thing that you're talking about, but it's interesting anyway. Hope your canoodles come true in the new year!
muun: It's addictive! I can't stop myself. I did start dream journaling about 10 years ago, but couldn't sustain it, because I was going about it by setting an alarm to wake myself up during the time when I'd be most likely to be dreaming. It was exhausting... and I was still working at the time. Funny how so many people have talked about having dreams while they're awake. Maybe this is something we should look into more. Sharing your dreams with other people isn't so important, but taking a good look at them yourself can be really helpful. There are reasons those dreams have spoken so loudly to you. One thing that could help is taking a look at them together as parts of a whole and see where that takes you. Good luck with that.
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skald said on Dec 29, 2007....
Kruu. I am sorry because I really understand how frustrating that is. Hope you will gain your dreams and the memories of them soon again. -
wakingharmony said on Dec 29, 2007....
Thanks kruu That is great! I will go read it if you notice I haven't commented on it and you can pm me. I need to comment on a few other post and then I think I am going to do some serious catch up reading on some of the people I have sub'd to. You Have A Wonderful New Year!!
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kruuyai said on Dec 29, 2007....
skald: Thanks... it's already starting to pick up. :)
waking: lol... I'll have to remember to remind you! I'll try, though. I reread the cancer one today, and picked up a lot of details that I had forgotten about. It was pretty cool. I wish I were that successful with all my dreams.
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dailyachesandpains said on Dec 30, 2007....
Hey there!So weird that you posted this...I SWEAR I didn't see it last night when I was reading your other posts. It's weird because I've been thinking A LOT about dreams lately! Especially, when I woke up this morning.I'm sure you recall that I am taken by night terrors CONSTANTLY! Lately, I'm glad to report, they haven't been as paralyzing as usual. The best part, I woke up this morning actually laughing my butt off! I woke myself up laughing! What a huge change!Similar to your David Spade, lol, but my guy was WAY HOTTER (said like Little D. would say it)! I was dreaming about that comedian, Dane Cook. I have no clue why he popped into my head, but I'm glad he had me laughing.I wish I could figure out what the deal is, like you, with dreams and trends. I've been wondering what in the world suddenly, although slowly, had me swaying away from horrid night terrors. It's not like I don't have them, I wish! It started before my new medication, so that can't be it...or can it?You have been going through SO much, and I'm so sorry!{{{HUGS}}}Daily -
kruuyai said on Dec 31, 2007....
Daily: It's so great to have you back around here! I think it's actually the process of writing my dreams down that helps me to see the meaning in them. If I just sit around and think about them, I don't get much out of them. In other words... it's work.
I don't know who Dane Cook is, but if he's way hotter than David Spade (hard to see how that could be), then... you go girl! I'm glad he had you laughing. My dreams about David Spade are usually about unrequited love. Sometimes they're just about flirting, and sometimes I'm actually his girlfriend and can't believe my good luck! lol
It's cool when you wake yourself up laughing. That's only happened to me once in my life. It was in the late 80's... :(
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moonriver said on Jan 01, 2008....
kruu -- the nice thing about a sustained dream journal is that you have a much bigger corpus of personal dream material for self-interpretation. i mean, i think it's much easier and more sensible to interpret dreams in a wider time and space context, instead of singly and insulated from your daily concerns.
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crybabylu said on Jan 01, 2008....
It's 2:35 AM where I am at. What time is it where you are Moon? -
crybabylu said on Jan 01, 2008....
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moonriver said on Jan 01, 2008....
babylu -- it's 5:43 pm as i type these words. still awake in the wee hours of new year's morn, are you? happy new year, my friend ... ;-)
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kruuyai said on Jan 01, 2008....
And it's 10:50 am here.... muun, I didn't realize you were quite so far ahead of my time zone. I guess I could have figured that out on my own, if I'd tried.
muun: That's true, and the word search feature on my word processing program is invaluable when I'm looking for recurring symbols. If I think of a correlation between my dream and waking life, I note it down at the end of the dream.. like what was going on the night before, what's happening in my life in general, or what movie I saw or book I was reading that had an obvious influence. But dreams often tell us about the bigger picture, and it helps to have some dream history to look back on.
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crybabylu said on Jan 01, 2008....
Ok, that means we are 2 hrs apart. Are you on the West Coast? I am Central.
I had a wonderful New Years Eve at the Holiday Inn Inside Swimming Pool with my entire family. Happy New Years to you too!
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crybabylu said on Jan 01, 2008....
The above link will take you to my New Year's Greetings
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kruuyai said on Jan 01, 2008....
crybaby: lol... look again. You got your am's and pm's mixed up. You and moonriver are much further apart than you think. -
moonriver said on Jan 01, 2008....
babylu -- i'm in asia, 8 hrs ahead of GMT (london time). it's now 6:56 in the evening of jan 1 here. i'm glad there was enough room at the inn for your family, and i hope you had fun at the indoor pool. that's an awesome idea... greeting the new year that way. happy new year to you too!
kruu -- you have it down to a near-statistical science. that's good... less mumbo-jumbo from unreliable dream interpreters... :-)
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crybabylu said on Jan 01, 2008....
Kru---that is what i get for trying to read my screen without my glasses, huh? thanks.........dee
moon---we had a blast........hope you had a good new years eve too! You too, Kru.
dee
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hotaka said on Jan 01, 2008....
Hiya, kruu! Wow. I think that's really cool you kept a logue of your dreams. There was an author, Graham Greene (not the actor) who based most of his written works on his dreams and kept pen and paper at his bedside. Singer/song writer Jann Arden wrote a very beautiful and rather abstract song of images based on a dream she had. It's called "Unloved" if you can find it.
As for me, I have been much busier lately and yes, my recallable dreams are down too. I only remember that the last three nights I have had dreams of playing guitar before an audience and improvising greatly but pulling it off for a song and a solo.
Sometimes I have dreams that seem to be really cool until I wake up later and think about them. Last month there was one where I was telling this guy to get in an elevator. The doors opened to another set of doors. This repeated for several sets of doors before he was finally able to enter the compartment. Then the doors closed and he was sealed inside... forever! What was that about?
I used to have dreams of a house that doesn't exist in real life but I would know exactly where to find it if it did. The third floor was always creepy because there was a ladder to an open attic where some creepy old woman or her spirit lived. There was a pipe on the roof leading into that room and even going near that pipe was creepy. I never saw her or her spirit but whenever I was in that house and went to the third floor I got the heeby jeebies. I haven't dreamt of that place since I was a child but I still remember it.
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kruuyai said on Jan 02, 2008....
hotaka: I've read some things by Graham Greene... The Bomb Party comes to mind. Maybe I should start scouring my dream journals for story ideas. I've always wanted to do more writing.
Your dreams are really intriguing.. you should keep a journal, if you can. The one about the guitar solo is similar to one I always have about taking a math exam and not having studied or even gone to class the whole semester. I have to cram everything in a few minutes or overnight... I never actually get to the exam in the dream, but for me, these dreams are about feelings of not being prepared (in other areas of my life).... pretty direct. In your dream, you pull it off... I wonder if this has anything to do with your teaching job?
I'd say the guy in your dream about doors is probably you. The compartments probably represent different compartments or levels of your psyche. It's up to you to figure out what the final compartment is... I'd love to hear what you come up with.
They say that houses and buildings and other spaces in dreams represent different parts of our spirit or psyche... the higher the floor, the higher the spiritual level... so the attic would be a pretty high spiritual level. I'm not sure what the pipe could represent. The creepy old woman might be an aspect of yourself that frightens you, but since she lives at that high spiritual level, maybe you're afraid of pursuing a spiritual path for some reason? Since this is a recurring dream, it's one to pay special attention to. Even if you don't write down your other dreams, try to write this one down in great detail every time you have it. The message it's sending you may be relevant, not just for this lifetime, but for your quest throughout time.
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hotaka said on Jan 02, 2008....
OH, I know the math exam dream. And it's always math, never another subject. I have a similar one where I am back to delivering papers in the morning but I can't remember who my subscribers are and I start guessing which houses to leave papers at.
The house dream is an old one. I haven't had it since I was maybe 12. I just had it so many times that I never forgot it. I often have "nightmares" about the Aliens from the movie series. They are not really nightmares because, even though I get found by a beastie, I am actually enjoying the thrill of action. I love those creatures.
What you said about my dreams sounds pretty cool. I guess pulling off the guitar solo would mean I am not quite prepared but I have enough confidence to get by winging it. Maybe I should start a dream journal. But it's unlikely that I will stick to it unless I have a killer dream. I mean a really exciting or scary one.
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kruuyai said on Jan 02, 2008....
hotaka: Yes, it always is math, isn't it? Never any other subject. I wonder why that is... is math anxiety so very prevalent? Hmmmm, if you're not having the house dream anymore, maybe you've already resolved those issues. Re: the dream journal... oddly enough, it isn't always the most exciting dreams that seem to be the most relevant, at least in my experience.
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