In the last of these I was running as fast as I could when saw a rock on the horizon. As I ran toward it I could feel the dinosaur's hot breath on my neck and was terrified he would catch me before I could reach the rock.
When I finally arrived at my destination, I threw myself behind the rock and covered my head with my hands.
I lay there holding my breath for what seemed like forever, just waiting for the dinosaur to leave.
When I thought it had gone I opened my eyes, and he was right there staring at me.
Suddenly, instead of being frightened, I was pissed off. I jumped up and yelled "GO AWAY!" I suddenly found myself sitting up in my bed with my brother looking at me from across the bedroom with wide eyes, and a look of abject terror on his face.
I never had that dream again. And from then on I have always been able to realize when I was in a dream and to take control of them before they could upset, or frighten, me.
That kind of serves as a metaphor for how I have lived my life.
I always know when I am dreaming too Jessie. It is great to be able to control them. Its especially nice when I am dreaming of my mom, who has passed away. I seem to be able to stay longer in the dream, and I feel I am having great conversation with her. I can somehow make my dreams more life like..if that makes sense.
ReplyDeleteI do have something that happens once in a while that I hate. Its when I am dreaming and I realize it is a dream, but for some reason I cannot wake myself. Those times are scary, but it doesnt happen often.
Laurie
The sleeping kid is America. The dragon is Sarah.
ReplyDeleteand Gryphen is the brave bear.
I have always taught my kids and grandkids to do that when they have nightmares. What I find interesting is that even though they ended up doing it and releasing themselves from the fear, some of them didn't even want to try or didn't believe me that the monster would go away if you told it to go away. They hung on to it and suffered through it for way longer than they needed to. As frightening as it was, it was more frightening to let it go. I agree with you, it is a metaphor for how one approaches life.
ReplyDeleteI love this post.
ReplyDeleteMy dad used to tell my little brother to punch his nightmare monsters in the nose. It worked. Of course, said sibling felt no compunction after that about punching his real life monsters in the nose too—with mixed results.
Oh, and Gryphen--I'm with Stephen Colbert about bears--godless killing machines. But maybe that is why you want one,
My dad was a storyteller, and he loved to tell stories about hunting, being out in the north woods (Minnesota), and threw in some ghost stories for good measure. They were things he believed, and as near as I can tell, true. He had a picture of himself with a trio of bears that came at him and he shot.
ReplyDeleteAs a small child, those stories turned into night terrors for me. I would imagine bears and wolverines getting into the house and killing me.
When those night terrors went away, so did my fear of mostly everything; the night terrors dragged the other fears out the door with them.
That’s why you stand up to the Palins and their cronies; you’ve overcome fear.
I could have used one of those bears too. I used to have a recurring dream that I was being chased by either a giant bear (bigger than a building) or a T-rex. In the dream I always had to save puppies and kittens or old people and children. I have never been able to lucid dream (my husband does), but the dreams mostly stopped after somebody told me I have an over-developed sense of responsibility. I had them for over 30 years.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good skill to have, to take control your dreams.
ReplyDeleteHey, Gryphen, totally OT but I've been noticing something that you might want to bring up on your blog. The righties have a new (not sure when this started) strategy concerning the Constitution. They are making distinctions between a republic and a democracy. I can't bring myself to read drivel from right wing sites, so I'm not really sure why they are making this such a big deal, given that a republic is just a representative democracy, not some special entity that doesn't involve "the people." Maybe you can see what they are up to with this. Since I am fully aware of the differences between direct democracy and a representative system like we have, I don't appreciate these nutballs trying to "school" us about our form of government, with some right wing agenda for fucking us over.
ReplyDeleteI used to have occasional night terrors as kid well into my early teens. I'd wake up with no recollection that I had run screaming around the house or had been trying to climb the walls (literally). Apparently these happen to some kids for reasons unknown.
ReplyDeleteWhen i was a child,my recurring nightmare involved falling down an elevator shaft with crocodiles an d other gargantuan monsters grabbing for me at each floor....falling and falling.....
ReplyDeleteLucid dreaming is so good - takes practice, but I love sleeping so it's not a problem. LOL
ReplyDeletewww.themindisaterriblething.com/2012/01/my-mom-is-so-funny-page-10.html
I learned the same thing so now when I have a gooooood dream (you know what I mean) I can somewhat control how it flows.
ReplyDeleteWhen I get scared, I tend to loose my temper. I've used this technique as well with bad dreams and I was just discussing this with my 7 year old recently. So I showed him your post this a.m..
ReplyDeleteHe thought that monster was pretty cool.
But he also thought that the Teddy Bear was pretty brave too!
You're almost there Gryph, but there's one more stage to the dream work. You've achieved the "facing the 'monster'/taking control through force" stage, but REAL enlightenment comes when you can CHANGE the dream by projecting pure love at the thing assailing you and converting it. Don't fear it and don't hate it, accept it and love it unconditionally.
ReplyDeleteThen you'll see what it really means, what it's really trying to tell you, what it really represents rather than merely driving it away.
It's the most valuable dream skill you will ever learn.
Gryphen,
ReplyDeleteHowever, sometimes having a Teddy Bear is very comforting.
This may sound like I'm being facetious, but with Fox channel running a near 24/7 campaign to get people to hate their President, I suspect there are millions who dream at night of a BLACK BOOGEYMAN coming after them.
ReplyDeleteHow sad, huh?
I want to know who drew the wonderful image, please.
ReplyDelete~physicsmom
I've always kept a "dream journal", just a notebook on the nightstand to jot down differnent things upon waking up. Then I'll come back to them before sleeping and have an "aha" moment, where I find a way to resolve something in a way I didn't think of before.
ReplyDeleteI try not to overanalyze them, I just feel they're bridges between our inner and outer lives (if that makes any sense). We all face our deamons in some dreams, some are unfinished business or memories of lost loved ones.
There's an online dictionary that explains what certain symbols mean that I've found interesting, they don't always apply to the symbol or subject matter of the dream.
http://www.thecuriousdreamer.com/
Me too. I still have very scary dreams sometimes, but at some point I say "oh, this is just a dream- it's not real so let it go." Its still disturbing that my brain would put me through all that though. The dreams I really love are the good ones. I’m in grad school and am way too stressed out. Occasionally, I'll have a wonderful dream when I’m especially stressed like before an exam or giving a talk- usually it involves a hot guy -and it's such a great escape... a gift from my brain.
ReplyDeleteHad Sleep and Dreams as an undergrad. lucid dreaming is a technique all should master. I occasionally have flying dreams -my best was flying down from the top of Pike's Peak in Colorado. I have mastered the dream ability to jump as high as tree tops.
ReplyDeleteAnd at age 52 I still treasure my 'Ted". He is a comfort in sickness.
Anyone who has studied sleep knows a lack of proper sleep can lead to Sarah Palin-like psychosis. The Red Bull life style has any pitfalls.
Anon@6:49. I had such severe nightmares between the ages of 17 and 21 that they verged on night terrors. I would wake up from one and find myself at a dead run 10 feet from my bed. My nightmares were so real, so scary, and so overwhelming during that period that sometimes I was afraid to go to sleep. When I was 19, I had my tonsils out, and the general anesthesia set off a recurring nightmare that began happening if I even just closed my eyes. It was about evil legless racoons with glowing eyes, riding on little rolling trays, rolling out of the corners of the room, throwing poison dust on me.
ReplyDelete