Posts Tagged ‘dream emotion’

Dream Theories–Emotional Touchstones…

Friday, June 22nd, 2012

The emotion in your dreams is the key. Not what you see, or even the specifics you remember after waking, but what you feel. Emotions are the common thread between the waking and the sleeping worlds. When I write about dreams, even in HFB which is for a contemporary romance audience, I keep the dream theory as real life as possible. Which means crafting a story that shows how powerful the mind can be as it leads us through the work we need to do.

Unlike my heroine, your dreams likely won’t safe your life–or possibly get you killed. But they can show you a path you’ve been avoiding, or another you might otherwise stay consciously unaware of until it’s too late. Our dreaming minds are always talking to us about things we need to see. LISTEN to your dreams, folks. Here’s a little bit more about how…

emotion image

Dreams are emotion come to life. Longing and disappointments and fear and hope and anxiety and excitement…and all of that is all of who we are, in our waking an sleeping worlds. 

Think about it–what’s the one dream you can remember most? Why is that dream so easy for you to recall, when others have slipped away?  Was it frightening? Special and supremely happy? Were you seeing someone again for the first time in a long time, or travelling somewhere meaningful, or facing your sworn enemy or struggling through your worst nightmare come true, etc.?

All of that is about the emotion still lingering, and bout how it was  still scaring or thrilling you when you woke.

It’s been largely accepted by scientists that dreams are a method for us to process emotional information (among other things).  Some go so far as to suggest you write a dream report immediately upon waking–and that you focus on feelings and emotions first, before getting to the lingering visible sights and symbols that remain.

The most common emotion experienced during a dream?

Fear.

Does this mean we’re being threatened by either the sleeping or the waking world. Not at all. (more…)

Dream Theories: Embrace what goes bump in your nightmares!

Monday, June 4th, 2012

I’m guest blogging today about the dream theory in Her Forgotten Betrayal. Link over, enjoy, and leave a comment for your chance to win a free digital copy of HFB.

Dreaming blog

The underlying message of Her Forgotten Betrayal is to follow your dreams—even the scarier ones. Because your dreams are just that—yours. They’re your thoughts and your intuition and your memories. And when your dreams go dark, it’s often your mind’s way of focusing you on the tough stuff you’re avoiding in your every day…”

Dream Theories: Midnight Mental Meanderings with Dr. C.

Tuesday, April 24th, 2012

Welcome Dr. C. back to the Dream Theories! I like to think she lends a bit of respectibility to our endeavors, as I obsess about one of my favorite metaphysical subjects: dreams and how our sleeping mind’s work can impact (and improve) the conscious things we do all day. My latest heroine, Shaw Cassidy, is fighting her dreams to the point of putting her life in danger. She either remembers and deciphers her dream imagery, or she’s in a whole passle of trouble. I wonder if Dr. C. knew that, when she sent me her latest guest post?

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Midnight Mental Meanderings

midnight

Several of my patients have been mentioning a recent BBC article, The Myth of Eight-Hour Sleep, about the reality of split sleep: which references historical and scientific research to propose that waking in the middle of the night for a couple of hours is a natural pattern.  The way it works is that a couple of hours after dusk, the “first sleep” period starts, and then the sleeper wakes for two hours and then falls off again to “second sleep.”  During those waking hours in the middle of the night, people in pre-industrial (and therefore pre-artificial light) times talked to their bed mates, made babies, visited neighbors, and pondered their dreams.

It was the pondering of dreams that caught my attention. That they were part of the culture at the time, and the potential advantages of earlier vs. later night dreams.  If we recall the hypnogram (yes, I know I keep referring to it, but it’s important), we could suppose that the middle of the night awakening happened after the first or second sleep cycle, so Rapid Eye Movement, or REM, sleep hadn’t become as prominent.  To that point, the main deep sleep has been stage N-3, or slow wave sleep, with shorter periods of REM.

This is where things get interesting.  Traditionally, we think of REM as being dreaming sleep, but we can actually dream in any stage.  There are differences in the types of dreams we have in REM and non-REM (nREM) stages: the main one being that memories tend to be sources of dream content in nREM sleep, and semantic knowledge, or what’s already in the brain from learning, is the source of dreams in REM sleep.  That’s how you end up with poltergeists in your office, as in some recurrent dreams I had last year.  My brain took work stress and translated it into a haunting.

dream haunting

A 1992 study from Italy* examined dream content during the first half of the night, and had participants describe their dreams after ten minutes of either slow-wave sleep or REM sleep. (more…)

Dream Theories: Dr. C Wades in on Imagery!

Tuesday, February 14th, 2012

Everyone, welcome “Dr. C” back to the Dream Theories club house! You’re gonna like her “real world” take on dream inages, to go along with my more metaphysical ramblings ;o)

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Dream Imagery: “Where did that come from?”

Dream imagery has both straightforward and random aspects to it. I know Anna has covered some of this in earlier posts from a layperson perspective, so I’m here to give you the skinny from a psychological professional who deals with it on a weekly basis. First, I’m going to review some major theories of dream imagery and interpretation using a case study familiar to us all:

Client Name: Ebenezer Scrooge
Age: 70-ish (adjusted for modern life expectancy, etc.)
Occupation: Banker and Curmudgeon
Presenting Problem: Very vivid nightmares, particularly around the holidays.

“You don’t believe in me,” observed the Ghost.
“I don’t,” said Scrooge.
“What evidence would you have of my reality beyond that of your senses?”
“I don’t know,” said Scrooge.
“Why do you doubt your senses?”
“Because,” said Scrooge, “a little thing affects them. A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats. You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato. There’s more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!”

- “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens, 1843

scrooge

When clients tell me about their dreams, a common statement is, “I have no idea where that image came from!” (more…)

Dream Theories: Parasomnia, Brains Gone Wild!

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

Welcome back guest blogger “Dr.  C” to Drem Theories. She’s sharing her in-house know how about the sleeping mind. Today, let’s spook our way through the confused and abnormal disruption (and potential trauma) parasomniacs endure.This is the kind of science I LOVE to play with in my contemporary psychic fantasies. Understanding more about how our brains work in sleep and out, makes me a happy geeky girl ;o) And it opens worlds of plotting happiness for even bigger and more exciting stories about worlds that play out in our minds alone. Bwahahahaha!!!

So read on, then come back to Dream Theories often to hear more of my meanderings about my personal dream research–and more from Dr. C., as she feeds my (and your) imagination about the physiology behind oursleeping brains’ most intriguing, if disturbing, patterns. If you look closely enough, even in today’s post, you’ll see the bones of the “fringe” science on which I crafted the parapsychology of my first two Legacy books. No, NOT Exploding Head Syndrome (though I don’t know HOW I missed that one!).

exploding_head

Don’t forget to ask Dr. C. your strange dream/sleep questions in the comments… She’s SO much fun to talk to ;o)

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Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane every night of our lives.  ~William Dement

Lady Macbeth: Out, damn’d spot! out, I say!—One; two: why, then ’tis time to do’t.—Hell is murky.—Fie, my lord, fie, a soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our pow’r to accompt?—Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him? ~William Shakespeare, Macbeth

What do these two quotes have in common other than being by men named William who like to ponder the weird things people do in their sleep?  It is often assumed that parasomnias, or “…unpleasant or undesirable behavioral or experiential phenomena that occur predominantly or exclusively during the sleep period,” (Mahowald & Bornemann, Principles & Practices of Sleep Medicine, 4th ed.) have their roots in some sort of psychological distress, including guilty consciences.  However, the cause is more physiological than psychological.

If you’ve learned to drive a stick-shift car or been in a car with a failing transmission, you know how it stalls out or moves jerkily from one gear to another if something is off, either with the driver’s clutch timing or in the transmission itself.  Remember that hypnogram from last week showing the different sleep stages?  Sometimes the brain doesn’t shift smoothly from one stage to another, or it gets interrupted, and that’s when parasomnias can occur.

brain (more…)

Dream Theories: The Famous Amongst Us

Thursday, December 15th, 2011

Long silence on blog = Anna’s sick. You know that by now, right? I’ve crawled out of my cave. Let’s talk about what the famous people in our dreams mean, before I collapse again. Flu SUCKS, btw. Whine. But I digress. What does it mean when we dream about famous people and fictional characters?

characters simpsons

Yeah, I’m going to riff on animated and over-the-top, real-life characters throughout this post. And you’re not going to see any of my recurring dream buddies. Not a chance. I believe too strongly in this topic to pull my cyber panties down and give you a microscope into my psyche!

Well, okay. I’ll give you one real dream character of my very own. But I’m not gonna tell you which one. So, enjoy the side show and try to figure out which of these images really has come out to play, during my nocturnal wanderings ;o) All votes are welcome. You won’t guess it. You’re never gonna guess it… And I’m absolutely not including political or religious “greats” in this post. I may be a sick girl, but I’m not stupid.

Okay, back to business. First of all, we can invite anyone we want to our dreams. So you have to ask yourself who you’ve brought along for the party, and why. Do you feel negative or positive about these characters? 

characters pluto

Actually, is there just one famous person and you, or are you in a crowd of those you admire or publicly despise?Are you interacting with them, or standing back to watch. Are we talking  tv/movie/entertainment famous, or dead/living politicians, writers, great thinkers, etc? Oh, and where are you all getting together for this shindig?

As I’ve said, the emotions of your dreams are key. They’ll point you to the better understanding you seek of why the people in your dreams do and say what they do, especially your famous guests. Dream analysis will first tell you that these characters may represent aspects of our own personalities that we either aspire to improve or long to negate.

characters powerpuff

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Dream Theories: Falling and Flying Your Way to Tomorrow

Monday, November 28th, 2011

Do falling dreams predict an incident to come? No. Well, maybe, for some of us who feel the energy of our dreams in our waking worlds. Bwahahaha… For others, you could simply be “falling” into sleep. Or, there might be deeper psychological meanings. Let’s take a look!

falling impressionistic

Do you fall or fly, surrounded by vivid imagery and wrapped up in a story line? Are you feeling anxious or soaring? These are key indicators that you’re mind’s processing how you’re feeling about something that’s happening or about to happen in your life that you’re worried about. And if you’re always falling and never hit bottom? Maybe you’re feeling out of control, with no sense that you can take charge. You’re, quite simply, taking a leap of faith.

falling

Far from crashing into the ground meaning that you’re going to die, it can often mean that you’re ready to make the choice you’ve been avoiding. (more…)

Dream Theories: Retrievers & Wolves & Seals, Oh My!

Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011

Dogs are best friends. Wolves are wisdom. Seals are over-the-top aspirations…Three of the animals readers asked me to share after my last Dream Theory post. But generic symbolism is just the beginning. It’s not you. Do you dream about your dog, friendly or ferel wolves, swimming or land-locked or tame seals?

Ok, some linky links to start the day off right:

That said, let’s talk about you ;o)

Dream Golden Retriever

Depending on the strength of what you’re feeling about those golden retrievers in your dreams, you could be celebrating a growing friendship or mourning a relationship that’s in trouble. (more…)

Dream Theories: Animals. Instinct. Unconscious understanding. YOU!

Tuesday, November 15th, 2011

Animals in dreams are our subconscious, our desires, our fears, our feelings, ourselves. “Uh, yeah.” You’re rolling your eyes, because everyone knows that. “But what does that mean for ME?”  Well, scoot over, hold onto your knickers and give me a minute.

My last Dream theories post introduced the animal theme that’ll take the rest of November to explore.

Animal

That was back at the end of August, then I took a blog sabbatical so I could explore my world and return, recharged and raring to entertain (alliteration is my new zen, BTW). So click back through it and catch up. I wouldn’t want to leave anyone behind, because I let my brain out on holiday…

Our instincts have an animal component to them. You already knew that, too. We possess animal traits and urges and desires. In our dreams, these otherwise unconscious ways of processing and dealing with life bubble a little closer to the surface, showing us facets of ourselves we don’t take time to see when we’re awake.

But can we understand what our minds are showing us through animal imagery? Can we meet these animals in a more literal way and learn from them/ourselves? If we do find a way to be more lucid and interactive about our dreams, starting with remembering them as much as we possibly can, what do our animal inspirations tell us?

Let’s see ;o)

animal kittens

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Dream Theories: Animals show us the way!

Monday, August 29th, 2011

It’s going to take a few Mondays to cover animal themes in dreams. It’s one of the most frequent symbols I’m asked about. There’s so much to study when you try to analyze animal dreams: your age, gender, current life circumstances, as well as the animal content itself. Ready to dive in?

dream dog

Monday Sept 12th (after we break for Labor Day in between), we’ll do specific animals, so come back in two weeks for fun imagery tips and trade secrets. But before we get into categories of animal symbols, let’s talk about you.The dreamer. Who are you, what in your life is calling these animal images out of your subconscious and into your dream states, and how might even your age be shaping what you see when you sleep?

Did you know that research shows children’s dreams are more likely to reference animals than adult’s? Those who follow my Psychic Realm posts have heard me say that in metaphysics many believe animals are the closest beings on this earth to pure spirits, and that children have a closer connection to spiritual realms/dimensions than adults. Could this be playing out in our young one’s dream cycles? Also, we haven’t gotten to “familiars” in my Psychic series (where I’m researching parapsychology, etc. for a future fantasy series), but in general the theory goes that we all have a totem/animal spirit that’s most attached to us. We tend to gravitate toward these creatures as pets. Is it significant, then, that the majority of animal dreams amongst children (dreams being where our spirits often feel most free) tend to be about their pets? Hmmmm…

A less spiritual way to look at animals dreams is to consider that we’ve grown up associating certain traits, behaviors and emotions to the animals we see and read about. You’ve heard the cliches: stubborn as a mule; sly as a fox; sneaky as a snake. (more…)