Dreams

[chadizzy1]

I have been having the weirdest, most VIVID dreams lately.

Does anyone believe your dreams mean something?

[RRK]

I believe they mean your mind is integrating un associated data into you memory. Your brain can only make memories by associating a new experience with something from your past. A lot of the stimulus from your day is pretty random so the brain has to make some leaps to try to organize it. Some of those leaps may turn out to be "intuitive".

[lxskllr]

It means you need to lay off the snus earlier in the night if you don't like the dreams :^P

As for me, I sleep with snus on occasion for the lucid dreams :^)

[Redbeard]

I believe they mean your mind is integrating un associated data into you memory. Your brain can only make memories by associating a new experience with something from your past. A lot of the stimulus from your day is pretty random so the brain has to make some leaps to try to organize it. Some of those leaps may turn out to be "intuitive".

I think I saw an episode of Nova ScienceNOW that dealt with this very topic. I think they were studying what exactly the brain does while you sleep. I'll have to find it.

EDIT: Found it.

[daruckis]

the other night i had a dream that i got into an argument and then shoving match with my 5th grade best friends stepdad.

[sgreger1]

I've had insane dreams my whole life, usually very lucid and usually I am aware I am ina dream and able to manipulate it.

But dreaming imo is just the brain defragging your biological hard drive and taking one last look at all the data from the day so it can decide what to keep, what to throw away, and where to store what is kept. Some memories are stored for short term easy recall, and some are more long term.

[tom502]

One thing I get that's weird, is I can lay in bed, or anywhere I guess, with my eyes closed, and I'll get like a point of light which will show movement, and get bigger, and there will be people and just randon actions from beings I don't know, sorta like peeking in a key hole. It's hard to focus attention and not lose it, and then I usually go to sleep, but it's odd. It's never anything really interesting, apart from the phenomena, and hard to maintain the connection. Not sure what it is.

[daruckis]

One thing I get that's weird, is I can lay in bed, or anywhere I guess, with my eyes closed, and I'll get like a point of light which will show movement, and get bigger, and there will be people and just randon actions from beings I don't know, sorta like peeking in a key hole. It's hard to focus attention and not lose it, and then I usually go to sleep, but it's odd. It's never anything really interesting, apart from the phenomena, and hard to maintain the connection. Not sure what it is.

wow, very interesting that you mention that, because i have a similar experience once in a while, sometimes several nights in a row. only with me, its not images, its just voices. like random voices saying the most random shit, like fragmented sentence pieces of conversations, not with eachother taken from all over the place. like no one answers the one before it, some are just random words. and the truly weird part is im still functionally awake when it happens like im drowsy and soon fall asleep after, but im just laying there hearing it all thinking how bizarre it is and trying to make a mental note to remember the things theyre saying for later, and i always forget. and sometimes instead of falling asleep i just wake myself back up overthinking my mental notes on its bizarre nature. everytime i try to explain this to someone they fail to see the gravity of how odd it really is and they just blow me off.

[sgreger1]

One thing I get that's weird, is I can lay in bed, or anywhere I guess, with my eyes closed, and I'll get like a point of light which will show movement, and get bigger, and there will be people and just randon actions from beings I don't know, sorta like peeking in a key hole. It's hard to focus attention and not lose it, and then I usually go to sleep, but it's odd. It's never anything really interesting, apart from the phenomena, and hard to maintain the connection. Not sure what it is.

I used to get this to!. It looked like a black background with purple shadow sillouettes of people walking aroudn and doing things but it was hard to stay in focus. Very weird.

[Paul]

i've woke up from dreams where i solved statistical equations....and they were right
I studied statistics

[tom502]

I believe it could be past life recall too.

[RRK]

One thing I get that's weird, is I can lay in bed, or anywhere I guess, with my eyes closed, and I'll get like a point of light which will show movement, and get bigger, and there will be people and just randon actions from beings I don't know, sorta like peeking in a key hole. It's hard to focus attention and not lose it, and then I usually go to sleep, but it's odd. It's never anything really interesting, apart from the phenomena, and hard to maintain the connection. Not sure what it is.

I used to get this to!. It looked like a black background with purple shadow sillouettes of people walking aroudn and doing things but it was hard to stay in focus. Very weird.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed-eye_hallucination

This is pretty common and I have noticed it most of my life. In addition to these hallucinations I have woken up to see a color overlaying white walls and I have even seen moving things that have bled through from my dreams. These type of people often talk in their sleep as well. My friends used to say that sometimes I would talk in other languages when I was asleep but I imagine it was just mumbled gibberish. I could imagine this type of thing could be seen as extra sensory since my mother used to wake up and see people walking around but after studying it a bit I believe it has more to do with varying states of brain activity. I remember once waking up in the middle of the night and seeing the frame of the bedroom door morphing into a purple dragon type of thing and I can even do the blink and rub my eyes and sit up kind of thing and still see it until I just go back to sleep. Trippy.

I have also always been aware that I am dreaming to the point that I never have nightmares but I do have nightmare scenarios that always feel more adventurous then scary. Except one time I remember I had a dream were we knew there was a ghost in a certain room and when I went in there and it came out it scared the breath out of me and I couldn't yell. After telling my wife she said I made some weird noise like I described that night in my sleep.

I don't believe in the conclusions that paranormal type thinkers make but I have experienced most of the effects that they interpret as supernatural.

Oh and before anyone asks I have tried various hallucinogens maybe 5 times in my life but I had these hallucinations long before that and the have continued relatively the same until today.

[sgreger1]

I have also always been aware that I am dreaming to the point that I never have nightmares but I do have nightmare scenarios that always feel more adventurous then scary.

OMFG! I have the same thing. i am so lucid that I never have nightmares. but somtimes I have horror type dreams where these weird monster entities try to attack me or something and its like an adventure pushing agains their attack. it's hard to describe but I have the exact same thing as you.

[Ainkor]

the other night i had a dream that i got into an argument and then shoving match with my 5th grade best friends stepdad.

I'm not a psychologist, but it appears that you have some unresolved latent homosexual issues that have yet to be resolved.

I recommend heading down to the nearest gay bar and sorting out those issues. Oh, and take your friend from 5th grade.

On the other hand, it may mean nothing. That's whats wrong with being an amateur shrink.