I don't know abou you, but I very rarely remember details dreams. Last night, however, I had a very vivid dream which I can remember virtually every detail of.Before your imagination runs away with you, let me explain. Fifteen years ago a very dear friend of the family died of cancer. She died only four weeks after being diagnosed with it. Although she wasn't a relation she was one of my mother's best friends and my sisters and I called her Auntie Jean.
In my dream she suddenly reappeared in our lives and told us she had been living in Lincolnshire for the last 15 years and hadn't died of cancer after all. It was a bit like Bobby Ewing reappeaing in Dallas! I won't go into the details of the rest of the dream, but they were so real that when I woke up I really believed it all to be true for a second.
Often when you have a dream there is a reason for it. In this case, there was no reason. Why should Jean suddenly reappear in my thoughts after such a long time? Why can I remember this dream when I can't remember any others? It's a fascinating subject which I suspect there has been a lot of academic research on, but I know nothing about. ANy dream experts out there care to enlighten me?!
30 comments:
Apparently dreams are far shorter in length than we imagine, from a few seconds to a couple of minutes, even when they seem to have lasted for hours.
As the writer Havelock Ellis noted: "Dreams are real while they last -- can we say more of life?"
You have been watching too much of that 'Maddy' coverage if you ask me..
Hmm.. It has been 'cancer week' on the BBC, with some developments about how viruses are being used to target tumours..
Lincolnshire ?? Hmm..it is quite heavenly there, so perhaps we now know where we'll end up, if we've been very good 'down here'..
When I think too much about it, I often realise that my dreams are something I've been dwelling on without actually realising it.
The best old wives tale I've heard is that it's the brain "filing" stuff in the right place.
I'd be really interested to know why we need sleep at all.
My "hobby" is consciousness - so I could tell you alot more. It all depends on whether you found the death traumatic, how much you talked about it and whether you have any recent feelings about things ending [like New Labour].
However for the readers of this blog this is more interesting. Basically conservative people tend to have less positive dreams and are more inhibited about sex.
Incidence of having dreamed and conservative political attitudes.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=16933699&query_hl=26&itool=pubmed_docsum
The association of political attitudes of conservatives and reports of their having had a dream was investigated. 48 female graduate students in counseling psychology were given the KJP Dream Inventory and the Kerlinger Social Attitude Scale II. Scores on conservative political attitudes were positively correlated with having had Dreams of Falling (.40), Dream Discontentedness (.31), Dreams of Being Chased (.40), and Dreams of Being Famous (.30). Negative correlations were observed between scores showing a conservative political tendency and scores on Openness (-.35), and Uninhibitedness (-.50), as well as incidence of Dreams of Sex (-.29). The character of conservative dreaming is discussed along with the study's relevance to past and subsequent issues in research.
Oddly enough I was just looking out of the shed window and wondering about putting together a computer games program that would dream. The aim is to improve the performance of the game - a sort of self programming. (OK I've gone on too long haven't I?) zz ZZZZ z...
In four weeks time you will turn straight, marry a lass called Doris, and move to Cornwall to mastermind a plot which will see Gordon Brown turned into pea soup.
Give me my coloured coat, my amazing coloured coat!
probably you pining for your youth and the security that went with it.
Simpler less stressful times , or maybe Your auntie jean was suggesting that you look for a seat in Lincolnshire
Chuang Tzu said "Was I before a man who dreamt about being a butterfly, or am I now a butterfly who dreams about being a man?"
Often we dream about what might have been and alternative timelines. It's interesting how people who don't remember their dreams apparently are more repressed personalities...
I think you should consult those modern day oracles, Carole Caplin and her Mum.
Strange dream delivers a thoughtful post from The Hitch, his profound comment is probable on the money!
A single dream could mean anything, but it will mean 'something'. From your description it seems like you are focusing on the cancer more than anything. The body is a strange thing, maybe a routine medical examination should be in order ... just to put your mind at rest.
Not that I'm trying to alarm you or anything!
JAVELIN
Basically conservative people tend to have less positive dreams and are more inhibited about sex.
Javelin - This is purest twaddle. Liberals are inhibited about sex quite naturally as they are obliged to have it with short haired harridans in potato sacks and sensible shoes.
Iain , have you ever read the comic classic "Diary of a Nobody". Perhaps before you are tempted to discuss your dreams it might be a good idea ( Pooter). You’ve probably just been stuffing yourself from the fridge at night.
Gosh, you were quite a looker. What happened? (-D
Newmania said "Javelin - This is purest twaddle."
Not my opinion - you should read the peer reviewed research.
A clearly redoubtable lady, with big hair, who, 15 years ago, didn't die, but has been alive in Lincs all the while?
Your dream was about Maggie, Iain, and
old style Conservatism and the warm fuzzy sense of security they gave you.
Next dream...?
Auntie Flo'
newmania said:
Liberals are inhibited about sex
What b*ll*cks. Ok, newmania, I challenge you to a dual to establish which one of us is most inhibited, me the Liberal, or you the Tory.
200 foot high club with you flying the plane?
Muddy bluebell wood in the rain?
Graveyard nettle patch?
In a field in full view of x thousand motorway users?
Over to you.
Auntie Flo'
3:49 is bang on the money!
This is a comparison of notes, by the way, newmania, not an invitation, you'll be relieved to hear :)
Auntie Flo'
Gosh, you were quite a looker. What happened? (-
Not a problem you are going to have Justin :)
Case proven.
Auntie Flo'
Ha ha Flo. Can`t top that. Anytime you want to "Exchange Notes", is fine by me .
I don't think you understand what a peer review paper is. This isn't an article that has been written by a journalist or a blogger. You'll have to criticise the methodology not the results.
mr mania 4:39
I nearly split a gut(its a big one)
Are you still coming out to play on monday?
As to the sex lives of socialists I wouldnt know as to the best of my knowledge I have never f***** one.
And I have to say conservative folk are the filthiest, who ever heard of a lefty enjoying a good spanking from a leather clad tart?
The Hitch has indulged in all sorts of depraved activities without a liberal bone in his body.
I must stop talking about myself in the third person , its the sign of an out of control ego.
told us she had been living in Lincolnshire for the last 15 years and hadn't died of cancer after all.
Strange. Living in Lincolnshire is like being dead
justin hinchcliffe is being unfair. As a fellow mid-ish forties person (who is stepping into a mid-life crisis!) you are, by comparison, looking not 'ave bad.
Interesting that you blog about a dream. The feeling when waking up (been there) can be incredibly profound and unsettling. When dreams are powerful and unexpected it is tempting to look for meaning, but the best advice: reflect, but don't dwell. Most dreams we do not remember - the fact that you do could simply be because your alarm clock went off.
"Often when you have a dream there is a reason for it."
So say those who make money out of 'interpreting' them.
'Living in Lincolnshire' is a well-known medical euphemism for 'dead as a doornail'.
Well, OK, it isn't, but it ought to be.
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