Posts Tagged ‘Dream Theories’

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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…)

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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…)

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Dream Theories: What’s chasing you?

Monday, April 16th, 2012

I haven’t been blogging about dreams lately. Folks have been complaining. A lot. Honestly, I’ve been negligent for a good reason. Promise. I’ve been WRITING about dreams again, instead. And then revising. A lot. Particularly, about  nightmares again, this time of being chased. Bwahahaha… I’ve been digging deeper into all the levels of meaning that dreams like this present, doing my best to capture them for both my heroine and my readers. So, as we snap back to weekly Dream Theories posts, let’s see what I found out as I researched and created my latest novel…

chasing_dream

Remember, dreams are about your subconscious telling you things, and processing things, you don’t typically see in your waking world. DON”T take dream images literally, no matter how disturbing they can be. Look deeper for the what the images could represent (about both others and yourself). Feel the emotions associated with what’s happening, rather than worrying about how even the most disturbing dream situations might actually come to be. Normally, they won’t. But, your mind is trying to tell you something, and our emotions are a direct conduit to what that might be.

Chasing/running dreams, as in my newest, nightmare-based gothic suspense Her Forgotten Betrayal, are about things or issues or people that you’re avoiding. In my Dead Sexy series launch book (from Entangled Publishing), the heroine’s an amnesiac, and the question is, why? Her mind is shutting her memory down completely in order to avoid something. What? Or, in my protagonist’s situation, who is she refusing to remember? Shaw knows it’s a man, or does she? The guy has no face, and she recognizes his voice, but she can’t remember why. In fact, in the dream, everything makes sense. When she wakes, it all goes away. Hmmmm…

chasing dreams legs

In reality, and my heroine Shaw Cassiday’s case, maybe what we’re running from (avoiding) in our chasing dreams is more of an idea. A situation. A long-held belief. (more…)

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I Hear the Craziest Things: Solar Flares, Kenetic Energy, My Dysfunctional Reaction to Stress

Tuesday, March 13th, 2012

This should be a Psychic Realm post. Sadly (comically?), instead it’s my life. On the way to being scanned for possible signs of returning cancer (there were NONE, so YAY!), my reality went haywire, as it often does on already-difficult days. “Solar Flares,” some said. “Your kinetic energy misbehaves when you’re stressed,” my alternative friends remind me. “Karma?” others asked. You be the judge.

solar flare

When I’m stressed, I do tend to have an electric/magnetic effect on the world around me. And I was stressed last Thursday. This was the final ultrasound/biopsy that would tell me (hopefully) that I could stop seeing this particular specialist except for future once-a-year, no-big-deal, you’re-all-clear-but-let’s-just-check followups.

This is the specialist, after a long string of doctors, who 2 1/2 years ago blew my world apart and said, “Your chances of this being cancer are too high NOT to have the surgery.” End my thriving publishing career. End every part of my life since (until recently) that wasn’t about getting healthy again, after surgery destroyed what was until that point my “disgustingly healthy” endocrine system.

stress bang head

So, no, my state of mind each time I visit this particular medical office isn’t at its zen best. (more…)

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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…)

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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…)

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The Psychic Realm: The Subconscious Mind’s Power

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012

Dr. C. will be back in our Dream Theories series next week, giving us more inside skinny on cool sleep know-how. But first–let’s dip into The Psychic Realm and talk about the power of the subconscious in day dreams!Wonder what the Doc will think about my wacky take?…

daydreaming2

This grey area of dreaming became the premise for the fringe science in Dark Legacy for a reason–many believe the “alpha” brain activity we enter during states like meditation, biofeedback and daydreaming is where our subconscious mind is at its most accessible and potentially powerful. Hence, in my first psychic thriller this was the “active” state dream scientists were attempting to trigger behavior in, using a persons “programmed” subconscious connection to what had already happened while they dreamed. In my books, the unconscious/unaware mind was programmed by psychics, so that the sub-conscious mind could be triggered when the brain is at it’s peak “concentration efficiency”–that is, during walking, waking daydreams.

But what does this mean for you and me? A lot of really cool stuff, if you’re looking for ways to plug into your creativity and awareness and the power of the mind-body connection. Our minds move through natural cycles, or at least they try to. Alpha, Beta (full consciousness), Theta/Delta (sleep) rhythms. We need all of them to function well, and factors like stress, nutrition, chemicals, and fitness/exercise can contribute or disrupt the way our minds function in each state. How balanced our brain function is as our thoughts move through these states determines how in touch we are with the worlds both outside and within our own thoughts. And some would say, the reality within our minds is the key to being fully aware and fully engaged in our existence.

75% of our waking minds (in Beta state) are wrapped up in keeping our bodies functioning and moving. That leaves only 25% to deal with conscious thoughts. But in Alpha, when we let our minds wander (even in focused ways such as meditation), the efficiency of our subconscious thoughts peaks at 95 to 100%.Mystics and psychics would say this is the brain rhythm to tap into, to be at your most aware to messages and signs. Parents would say this is when they see the true potential of their children shine through. Writers and other artists would say that this is the world they must “dissociate” into, in order to create. What do they see, these “seers,” when they let their undirected minds wander? What would you see, if you set aside time daily to do the same? (more…)

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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

(more…)

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Dream Theories: Sleep Myths Debunked!

Tuesday, December 6th, 2011

Welcome guest blogger “Dr.  C” to Drem Theories. She has great sleep and dream facts and myths to share and bust for us! A PHD in clinical psychology with a specialization in sleep disorders, she’s giving us awesome insight into what’s happening to our minds and bodies as we dream. She’s also a fantasy author and has been a great “real world” resource for me as I write about dreams and parapsychology and metaphysics and all the other “brain” stuff I use as I create my contemporary fantasy worlds.

Naya,_Carlo_(1816-1882)_-_n._553a_-_Carpaccio_V._1506_-_Dettaglio_del_sogno_di_Santa_Orsola_(La_testa_della_Santa)_-_Academia,_Venezia

Read on for some sleep basics (types and stages and helpful hits about sleeping better yourself). You’re sure to learn something new. Ask questions, get her talking about all that she knows, heckle, or whatever else entertains you ;o) I know I’m going to!

Next week: more of my Dream Theory insights based on the research I’ve done for my Legacy series. Dr. C will be back in two weeks, with all her knowledge and confirmation that I’m a quack and that she’s the sleep expert, and that you should all be listening to her instead of me ;o)

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Thanks, Anna, for inviting me to do this series of guest blog posts! 

People do weird things in their sleep.  It’s one reason I love being a sleep psychologist – I rarely hear the same stories twice.  Also, I feel I can make a huge and almost immediate difference for my patients, and I get to be a “Myth-buster” of sorts.  Yes, there are lots of myths going around about sleep and dreaming, so for my first post, I wanted to take the opportunity to “bust” some common misconceptions. All of these have been said by several of my patients.

Myth #1:  If I don’t remember my dreams, I must not be having any.

To address this one, we need to back up a bit and talk about some sleep basics. We have different stages of sleep from lighter to deeper, and when you go in for a sleep study, the doctors and techs can tell what stage you’re in by the kind of squiggly lines your brain is putting out on the EEG channels.  There are two main types of sleep:  Rapid Eye Movement sleep and non-Rapid Eye Movement sleep.  We progress through non-REM to REM in cycles.  Here’s a hypnogram to illustrate how we do it:

hypnogram

Here are the stages within types.

Non-REM sleep: (more…)

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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…)

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