What does it mean when you see yourself in a mirror in one of your dreams? Strangely I had one just now, and I can't recall many dreams when I undoubtedly saw my reflection; as if I turned and looked at the mirror in real life. Very strange and felt so real. Also I've had a growing number of dreams recently where I can fly. Sometimes I when I realize I'm that I'm dreaming, I even take advantage of it by jumping REALLY high, sorta like flying.. But usually more like gliding~ like an eagle or like I'm on a glider bobbing up and down. Very cool!
I have lucid dreams fairly often -- it is always a bizarre experience to suddenly realize you are wide awake in your dream. I love it when it happens and i'm able to control aspects of the dream itself.
Some people consider them out of body experiences I think. There are also people that work and train to achieve those kind of dreams on a regular basis and take more control. All interesting stuff.
I remember taking a graduate level psychology course in the mid-'70s on altered states of conciousness. Dreaming, of course, is one of them. As an exercise, the prof had us spend some weeks with a pen and paper by our bed, with instructions to write down what we remembered of our dreams immediately on awakening. She said that it had been shown to increase dream memory. (a whole bunch of people remember little of their dreams, or just little bits of them) She also said that as you increased dream memory, you could begin to increase your awareness of being in a dream state while dreaming, and that some people could exercise a degree of control over their dreams. I can tell you that it's true. And it can be a real trip!
I've had a dream where I knew i was in a dream and forced myself to wake up, only to awake in another dream and force myself out of it.
That sorta happened to me. I had a dream within a dream, woke up, and found I was still dreaming, and I knew I was dreaming. Freaky.
SERIOUSLY??? I THOUGHT HE WAS KIDDING!!! ok, i'm in. what do i do??? just take notes when i wake up?? trying to remember?
Yes. Keep a pad and pencil by your bed and upon awakening, write down everything, no matter how trivial, about your dreams. The idea is to train your mind to recall your dreams. We all dream, but many don't remember them, or, as I mentioned (and you know) just bits and pieces. As time goes by, you'll recall more and more of your dreams. As you do, you may find yourself able to become "aware" in your dreams that you are, in fact, dreaming. (not everyone can, but it's more possible than most believe) Try it, Max. Just be sure to give it at least a few weeks.
Actually it wasn't really too cool. Usually when I force myself to wake up is when a dream is really bad. Usually this happens when I know a dream gets unrealistic/bizarre and I go into a panic. The only time this has happened to me consciously was on 9/11. Now lucid dreaming is pretty cool. Unfortunately I don't even remember dreams anymore.
The real question is, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Here's my situation: I'm sleeping. But then I'm awake, still 'in my sleep'. I'm cognizant. But I can't open my eyes, move my body, etc. So on the occassion I'm with my girlfriend, I'll conciously breath very heavily so that my gf will notice, physically shake me, and wake me up. It freaked her out that I was breathing heavily in my sleep and I told her the whole sequence of events and that I was doing it on purpose. I hate that feeling though. Kind of like being trapped in a coffin. It's to the point where sometimes I'm worried about going back to sleep and going through it again. Does anyone else on earth go through this???
Good advice. It's hard for me to remember all the details, as it's been 30 years, but the exercise wasn't that complicated, and it does work. Of course, when you're taking a course, and it's an assignment, you think about it before bed (unless other things crowd it out! ) A reminder would help your subconscious with dream memory retention. Certainly wouldn't hurt. Looking to see that pad and pencil are there for the morning should do the trick.
