Post: #1

I was quite surprised not to find a specific thread on this.

I find recurring nightmares fascinating. For some reason, a problem that never crosses your mind in the day consistently stabs at you in the night. Then you wake up and you think 'why did that happen?' and you can't solve it because you're back in the land of consciousness again.

Currently I have two recurring nightmares:

a) I'm back in Britain. I'm in my parents house and don't have enough money to get a flight back out of the country. The nightmare consists of me trying to scratch around for money/trying extend my overdraft so I can get out of there. I then usually wake up, see Bangkok out my window and breathe a sigh of relief.

b) Exams. I must have had this nightmare literally at least thirty times (easily) in the past year. It's a week before my A-Level/University exams and I haven't been to math class all year. I have to start cram-learning immediately. I always start telling myself 'it's time to start learning NOW, I'm already late'. The visions are usually the same each time bizarrely.

The latter is the one I just really don't understand. I think schooling really played with my mind and has borderline mentally scared me. Years later it looks like I'm still conditioned to believe that I have to cram something for some task in order to be allowed access to the next part of the schooling system. I know it's all long over, so why do I still get this 20 months after finishing my final university exams.

Does anyone here have any recurring nightmares or anything related to the subject? (be it informal or formal)

Post: #2

I once had a recurring nightmare that I had been going to class all semester and realized that I had a fifth class I never knew I had or went to. The rest of my classes had been going perfectly (in real life too), then I see a fifth class I forgot about for the entire semester, thus destroying my GPA and ruining my transcript. It was a very dreadful feeling.

Post: #3

I don't know I'd call them nightmares but they are dreadful occurrences in my dreams that I dream about often. It's been a long time since I woke up as a result of a bad dream. I can't even remember what the dream might have been about as it's been at least 10 years.

My number one recurring dream is seeing aircraft accidents. I fly jets for a living, I perform at airshows in WWII aircraft and spend most of my time at airshows or at an airport. I've seen more airplanes drill themselves into the ground at airshows and airports than I care to remember. It's no wonder I dream about it. The dreams never bother me and unless it's a friend I see get killed it doesn't effect me too much when I see it in person. That's not to say I'm cheery in contrast to the mood that always befalls a group of pilots after such an occurrence.

First runner-up, you guessed it--sex. I dream about banging good looking girls I interact with (and imaginary ones) probably twice a month. I'm happily married to a feminine, loyal wife and I've never cheated on her. That's not to say I haven't been tempted with hot girls throwing themselves at me. In my dream, it's usually a bang of opportunity--a chance meeting that happens very quickly and I'm usually remorseful in my dream but when I wake up I usually laugh about it. By the way, since I've been off the market for a quarter of a century, I now add the ones I turn down and my dream bangs to my notch count--I'm back into double digits.

From time to time I dream that I find my self in the air in the company plane by my self and I realize I'll have to account for the extra flight time on the plane.

Other times I'll dream that I have smoked pot and realize that because I'm subject to drug testing that I stand a chance to loose my job, ratings and everything I own.

Post: #4

Nothing recurring, just general anxiety kinda stuff.

Not having caffeine anytime before sleep is obvious, but also chocolate will bring out bad dreams.
Also melatonin gave me wicked nightmares, even though I took it for sleep.
Weed before bed always helped, though I haven't smoked it in years. Valerian root or St. John's wort might help also.

ymmv

Post: #5

(04-02-2014 02:11 PM)LeightonBlackstock Wrote:  I was quite surprised not to find a specific thread on this.

I find recurring nightmares fascinating. For some reason, a problem that never crosses your mind in the day consistently stabs at you in the night. Then you wake up and you think 'why did that happen?' and you can't solve it because you're back in the land of consciousness again.

Currently I have two recurring nightmares:

a) I'm back in Britain. I'm in my parents house and don't have enough money to get a flight back out of the country. The nightmare consists of me trying to scratch around for money/trying extend my overdraft so I can get out of there. I then usually wake up, see Bangkok out my window and breathe a sigh of relief.

b) Exams. I must have had this nightmare literally at least thirty times (easily) in the past year. It's a week before my A-Level/University exams and I haven't been to math class all year. I have to start cram-learning immediately. I always start telling myself 'it's time to start learning NOW, I'm already late'. The visions are usually the same each time bizarrely.

The latter is the one I just really don't understand. I think schooling really played with my mind and has borderline mentally scared me. Years later it looks like I'm still conditioned to believe that I have to cram something for some task in order to be allowed access to the next part of the schooling system. I know it's all long over, so why do I still get this 20 months after finishing my final university exams.

Does anyone here have any recurring nightmares or anything related to the subject? (be it informal or formal)

Dreams are like a gift. They can be either telling us who we are in a deep way, our present worries and concerns, where we are in life, where we are headed, or even prophetically tellling us what is coming soon.

They use symbolism to tell the story. Events from our waking life, because the symbols in those events are fresh in our mind.

To understand the dream one needs to not only understand what the symbols represent, but also the feeling that are attached to the events in the dream.

Post: #6

Its funny how my nightmares are never fantastical and always super easy to interpret. Its just some stress or fear from real life played out in a dream.

One time i had a nightmare I was back in my old terrible job. Would kinda prefer a monster chasing me honestly.

Post: #7

I once had a nightmare that a deranged killer was chasing me through a large house with a bloody cleaver.

I managed to avoid him for several minutes, running around and throwing things at him, but finally I found myself in a dead end.

Fuck. The room is almost empty, there are no windows, and the bloodthirsty monster stands at the door, drooling.

What do I do? I don't want to end like this! There are some items strewn around the room, but I'm panicking and don't have enough time to think of something. The killer will be upon me within seconds.

Suddenly, a wall of burning red letters floats down from the air in front of me.

I reach for it and grab "Save & Exit".

Feel free to tell this to some girls as a funny routine. Always works for me (and it's very convincing since I really did dream that).

Post: #8

I had a recurring nightmare when I was a kid, many times actually.

I'm in the room I grew up in, which I actually associate many fond memories with (I lost my virginity in that room).

There's a loud booming noise going through the house. It's very dark, lots of shadows. The perspective is distorted. I'm maybe 3-4 years old. The room looks like a cubist painting or something Escher would design, the walls aren't even. The door to the bathroom holds some dark evil behind it, and eventually the loud booming gets louder and louder until the bathroom door blasts open and there's a huge dark shadow, making a deafening noise at me. It's a representation of evil incarnate and I'm terrified for my life. In my dream, even though I can't see the face or any physical qualities of the shadow, I know that it's my dad.

One time I woke up, I must have been 5 or 6, bawling my eyes out, yelling over and over again, "Why is he so mean?? Why does he have to be so mean??" And my dad ran in the room to calm me down. They were already divorced and I was with him for the weekend. He asked me the day after, "Who were you talking about in your dream? Who was being mean to you?" I never had the heart to tell him that it was him. He was never outright mean to me and was a pretty good dad except the fact he wasn't that present. But when I was with him he'd take me hiking, help me with school, read to me. He walloped me once or twice when I was acting up but by no means was he an abusive dad. I never understood where this fear of him came from, unless there are some repressed memories.

My other recurring nightmare is I'm sitting on a cliff ledge that's overlooking the city, and there are meteors falling from the sky, demolishing the city below. I'm terrified in my dream but somehow I'm never killed or I wake up. Once the meteors start impact, I feel calm and in awe of what I'm witnessing.

Post: #9

I had some spectacularly weird recurring nightmares as a kid and eventually broke out of them with a conscious pattern. I knew I would have them and thought during the day about how I would get out of the 'dead end' situation if the dream happened again...and eventually that happened in the dream.

Older though, I've had recurring nightmares that were either two things, recurring/playback trauma that I'd seen of people getting run over by cars or otherwise maimed. Those just went away with time. The others were like a conscience, I would have the nightmare about something that I was doing that I knew in my gut was the wrong choice. That ended when I finally took action on it.

Post: #10

I still dream occasionally about an ex girlfriend #beta #bluepill

Post: #11

Undead dreams, like Walking Dead. I am running away or pumping round after round into their heads. Sometimes they corner me but i always escape. Very scary in the dream, feels so real that when i wake up i grab a knife i always keep next to my bed thinking they are going to get inside my house. Shit, sometimes i wake up covered in sweat and paranoid as a mofo.

Post: #12

I can't count how many times I've had a nightmare with Chucky from Child's Play. When I was 4 or 5 my brothers made me watch it and I don't think I ever got over the scarring emotionally. What's even more messed up is I ended up becoming a devout fan and watching all the movies, several times. I guess it's kind of like girls with daddy issues being attracted to assholes; not good for the person but they do it subconsciously.

Anyways I have had just about every scenario played out you could imagine. One that particularly sticks out and the only one I can fully remember is this:

I woke up in an old, English style house some time in between the 1700-1900's. Run outside into the darkness of the Victorian Era village and find myself face to face with good old Chuck. Basically go through the bullcrap of most nightmares and get chased every where, into a theater and escape through the drapery. I usually lose myself in the dream and the consciousness is regained, either restarting the dream or continuing it from a totally new perspective. The last I remember before waking up is being in an attic hiding, (kind of like the scene from 30 Days of Night) looking out the window and seeing a whole village of people being led by Chucky; guided by torch light and looking for me completely suited up like a bunch of George Washington's.

Weird as hell. I also have nightmares most nights (none that really have any impact on me, I'm not really afraid of anything... or there is very little.) The other one I always have is I am being chased by an unknown assailant and always just getting away.

Post: #13

A few years ago, I had this recurring dream of being surrounded by a huge and devastating tornado or worst, hurricane, destroying everything on its path except the building or place I was. Or I would be out running for my life during a terrible hurricane or earthquake yet I would never be hurt or killed.

Another very frequent recurring dream I'm having is that of seeing commercial airplanes crashing mostly during landing. I would watch them approach the airport and then lose control and slam onto buildings. Yet again, I'm never in these planes crashing but only a spectator.

I also used to dream of dead relatives. Specially after the passing of someone extremely dear to me a few years ago due to cancer, I would usually dream of her being in hospital, very weak and me watching helpless. Those dreams were quite frequent in the first year or so after her passing. They've somehow stopped now. But each time, I was quiet shaken and saddened by reliving those horrible moments again.

Another recurring dream, this time a lot more positive and enjoyable is that of being among celebrities that I love. Usually they would be football players. I've had countless very vivid dreams of playing for example alongside my fav player, Zidane both with the French national team and among friends on a park with him on my team. Or other similar players I like.

Since travelling has been a major part of my life I've had quiet a few dreams being in places I've either been before or places I was about to go or simply looking to go to.

Have you guys had one of those moments where you were somewhere for the first time in real life yet you knew instinctively that you were there before and knew the place very well as you'd been there before but yet, for the life of you, you couldn't remember when or where?

Post: #14

Look into past lives, it usually means you have been there before in a different period of time according to some theories.

Post: #15

I've been tempted to keep a dream journal, but normally when I immediately wake up in the morning I do my best to remember the big themes of the dream. Then I'll go to http://www.dreammoods.com/ and interpret the symbolism. I take it with a grain of salt, but there are a few dreams that I vividly remember the details to unlike other dreams. When I interpreted the symbolism, there were a lot of stuff coinciding with my waking life.

You can learn a lot about what your subconscious is saying by interpreting dreams. Take it with a grain of salt obviously, but it's an interesting experience.

Post: #16

I dream once or twice a year that I'm back in college doing my A-Levels and that I keep missing a particular class and then realize it's too late to catch up.

Probably because IRL I didn't do as well as I should have done and my mind is paying me back as punishment!

Post: #17

I havr had the exact same exams dream for maybe 3 years or more.

From my understanding its due to your subconscious feeling as though you are not ready or prepared for something.

I found I had this dream most before starting a new job and also before I went and travelled the world solo for a year.

It was so strong I would actually wake up and think I better get studying! Then realise I havent been at University for 8 years...

Post: #18

That's odd. I've had the same 2 recurring nightmares my entire life.

1. Burglars are breaking into my house. Always at night. Usually more than one of them. I have no idea who they are. They're always adult males. I am sometimes a child.

2. I'm home alone and my house is haunted. This is much scarier in my dreams, I can't articulate it in words, but it's frightening. I am also an atheist who has no belief in the supernatural, so this is an ironic dream.

Post: #19

Also, I noticed I have crazier dreams after taking a sleeping medication. I am prescribed to several.

Post: #20

Ah crap, I forgot one:

Like thirty times the past year I've had a recurring nightmare that my teeth have fallen out, anyone else get this?

I think "Oh shit, what will I do?" Then I wake up and they're all there still

Apparently this has a deep meaning in Thailand, one of them being that you're impotent

Post: #21

The night mare of teeth falling out means you are concerned about your appearance and the way people view you.


One way to combat nightmares is change the way your head is positioned. So if you sleep with it facing north change your head to to facing south when you sleep.

The best way though is to say a 'prayer' before bed. Something along the lines of 'dear god please surround me with your white light as I sleep tonight giving me only happy and good dreams."

Program your internal dialogue before you go to sleep. Think of good thoughts and say what you are grateful for.

Post: #22

I have dreamed dozens of times that I crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on a flight to America.

Post: #23

My reoccurring nightmare since childhood is that all my teeth have fallen out.

Also, if I have a nightmare it always takes place in my childhood house, which we have moved out more than 10 years ago. Some things you can never leave behind...

I only have nightmares if I ate something heavy, or it is too hot in the bedroom.

Post: #24

(04-02-2014 02:23 PM)Laurifer Wrote:  I once had a recurring nightmare that I had been going to class all semester and realized that I had a fifth class I never knew I had or went to. The rest of my classes had been going perfectly (in real life too), then I see a fifth class I forgot about for the entire semester, thus destroying my GPA and ruining my transcript. It was a very dreadful feeling.

ive had that exact same one since i graduated college in 06. My mom still has that dream, she is 70.

Post: #25

(10-17-2014 11:33 AM)MtnMan Wrote:  

(04-02-2014 02:23 PM)Laurifer Wrote:  I once had a recurring nightmare that I had been going to class all semester and realized that I had a fifth class I never knew I had or went to. The rest of my classes had been going perfectly (in real life too), then I see a fifth class I forgot about for the entire semester, thus destroying my GPA and ruining my transcript. It was a very dreadful feeling.

ive had that exact same one since i graduated college in 06. My mom still has that dream, she is 70.

Wow. I've had that same dream too for a few years now. I get that dream a couple times a year.