"pre-dreaming"?

[Tenshi no Ai]

Hmmm not sure HOW to define it, I'm wondering if anyone else gets this :/

Ok, so psychology taught me that the dreaming stage of sleep is in your REM stage, a couple hrs after you've hit a few other stages (which is why I dream the most frequently in the mornign right before I get up). But sometimes, I'll be laying there and trying to think (I make up stories in my head to help me sleep sometimes^^) my busy brain comes up with random images to display, involuntarily, but it's not even quite a dream because I'm still very much conscious :/ These "images" will sometimes go from me playing levels of video games to Sonic, just the whole image running through my head without thinking about it, to a part of a song I've never heard before, complete with tune, vocals, and the different instruments playign (which is werid because I know next to NOTHING about music, nor have the talent to play anything :/)

Yeah, I have odd sleeping/dreaming habits^^ But not sure how this is supposed to work if I'm not even in the Stage 1 stage of sleeping it, it's just that "doozing off" time :/ Hmmm... maybe only special people can REM right off the bat? *shrugs* All I know, is that I dream WAY too much for my own good^^ Every night, several times a night. Rarely do I ever forget my dreams, nor don't dream at all (only on those VERRRRRRY tired nights when I don't even wake up once to lumber over to the bathroom).

[Linksquest]

Ermn, I sort of do that, every now and then. I think it's more just you imagining things than actual dreams though.

[Anna Mae]

But sometimes, I'll be laying there and trying to think (I make up stories in my head to help me sleep sometimes^^) my busy brain comes up with random images to display, involuntarily, but it's not even quite a dream because I'm still very much conscious

I also make up stories to help me go to sleep. I have these random pictures in my head, too. Perhaps it is just the product of my active imagination winding down, as I am a very visual thinker.

to a part of a song I've never heard before, complete with tune, vocals, and the different instruments playign

I experience that as well. I compose whole symphonies in my head sometimes. Perhaps I should write down these gifts from God. . . I would encourage you to write down or record the songs that you get.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

OH MY GOSH! And I thought I was going crazy. I'll think random images and stuff. But I won't be asleep! But i'll loose control of my thoughts and they go on themselves.

Wicked cool

[Tenshi no Ai]

I experience that as well. I compose whole symphonies in my head sometimes. Perhaps I should write down these gifts from God. . . I would encourage you to write down or record the songs that you get.

Thing is, the songs sound great and everything, but once I fall asleep and then awake up, I totally forget them :/ Automatically erased from my mind... I know I've tried to go over the song a couple times to try and remember, but I never do...

[White Raven]

I don’t put much stock into that REM sleep thing.
Mostly because some of my dreams come about 5 to 10 min after I fall asleep.

How do I know?
Because a lot of my dreams are night mares, and they wake me up.

[Radical Dreamer]

Yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about. XD

And the funny part is, sometimes something will happen in the dream that will startle me a little, and I'll jump and wake up again. XD

For instance, once I "dreamt" that I was walking on a balance beam, but I was still really awake, and then I fell off the balance beam. XD Well, that startled me, and I jumped up, only to realize that it wasn't real. After having a good laugh at myself, I went back to sleep. XD Those are kind of fun dreams, though.

[Tenshi no Ai]

And the funny part is, sometimes something will happen in the dream that will startle me a little, and I'll jump and wake up again. XD

For instance, once I "dreamt" that I was walking on a balance beam, but I was still really awake, and then I fell off the balance beam. XD Well, that startled me, and I jumped up, only to realize that it wasn't real. After having a good laugh at myself, I went back to sleep. XD Those are kind of fun dreams, though.

I've had that similar thing. Except for me, I was laying on some sort of board/plank-thing, and then it flipped downwards with me on it and I had that falling sensation... I think stuff like that is totally werid, because everytime I fall in a dream that never happens :/

Another werid thing: ever hear psedo-noises in your head in the "half-awake" stage? Seriously, a random noise will sometimes wake me up, but I know it's non-existing :/ I still remember this one time last year when I was half awake and going to the bathroom, then I flushed and the sound of it was amplified (some noises are when you're half-asleep) and I thought the toilet exploded or something! So I was all disoriented and panicy and ran to my parents room. My mom tried flushing and it was fine... guess it was just my stupid half unconscious brain -_-; (Thanks alot brain!)

[Radical Dreamer]

[quote="Tenshi no Ai"]Another werid thing: ever hear psedo-noises in your head in the "half-awake" stage? Seriously, a random noise will sometimes wake me up, but I know it's non-existing :/ I still remember this one time last year when I was half awake and going to the bathroom, then I flushed and the sound of it was amplified (some noises are when you're half-asleep) and I thought the toilet exploded or something! So I was all disoriented and panicy and ran to my parents room. My mom tried flushing and it was fine... guess it was just my stupid half unconscious brain -_-]

Yeah, all the time! XD Stuff like that is so weird...My brother was sleeping one time, and he heard this whisper-sounding thing saying his name, so he sat up and said, "Yes?" Then he "woke up" and figured out that it was nothing. XD I don't know why our brains do that, it's strange. But, I do think it would be really interesting to study, as far as why that happens, etc.

[Phantom_Sorano]

..well, the mind is a very interesting thing. When we can slow down and relax, our mind begins to wande r into the subconcious....I once was in an accident where I had a concusion, but instead of being unconcious, I was knocked into my subconcious mind.....while in it , I chased by brother for two miles with a butcher knife...but you get mee point.

[Tsukuyomi]

OMG, you musts be my long lost sister or something Tenshi. I'm the same. I have really viivid sometimes lucid dreams that I just love to have. I... I thought I was going crazy about the noises I hear in the morning. I always get barking noise tho. Not and dog's bark tho. More like a seal's bark. I even had people laughing. It's weird, I can only hear it in my left ear when I'm sleeping on my left side. The funny thing is there were no people in the whole house except me. Freaky in a way. I've even tried praying, so I could understand it. Who knows, maybe it's someone or something trying to tell me something. Like from a defferant dimension or something. When I would hear it I would ask it,"What are you trying to tell me?" Then the noises would get stronger and more understandible. Ooh, I just gave myself the chills (hahaha).

About the music thing, I'm home by myself in the mornings so I alway have my J-pop playing in the backround to keep me company. That would always enduce great dreams. Mostly of me or other people I know singing the songs. Sometimes my sister would be singing "Toki ni ai wa... " and she doen't even listen none the less heard any J-pop. One time I had a dream where Hikaru Utada was performing on MTV or one of those music channels. I was so glad to see it. I think she performed "Sakura Drops". She was really tanned in that dream. When I awoke I was so happy. I thought it was so cool to see Hikaru Utada perform. Even if it was just in a dream (smile). Then I realized,"Wait, Hikaru isn't that dark." She's actually pretty light complected. The weird thing isk, a couple of days ago I found one of her new videos called "Easy Breezy" and she was tan like in my dream. I had that dream like a few months ago and saw the video two or three weeks ago.

[Bap]

Ooo, that happens to me. xD; I like to imagine stories in my head right before I sleep, because it's easier for me to imagine 'em when I'm lying down with covers over my head. xD;

But yeh, I'd be imagining one of my characters walking down the street or something, and then like.. something completely random and out of place would happen. xD; And I'd kinda "wake up" and be all, "...Wait, how did that happen?" xD; Or the whole scene would just change completely in general. xD;

And I've also spazzed as well. D: Like, once I was half-asleep, and I was.. dreaming about basketball for some reason. xD; And I was dribbling, and all of a sudden my left hand spazzed out and I woke up. @o@!

[Bunny]

Yep. I slip into my own little storyline before falling asleep. It's the only way I can get my thoughts quiet enough to rest. I don't think I sleep as deeply as I should very often. I have some pretty wild and vivid dreams. I think I was told that means my brain isn't resting like its supposed to.

Sometimes I have really funny dreams and I wake up laughing. I haven't had a nightmare in a long time but sometimes I would wrestle with my comforter.

What I hate is when I wake up in the early hours of the morning in a frenzy of thought that keeps me awake for about an hour. At one point a couple weeks ago it was routine for me to wake up around 3 AM to an anxiety attack that would make my hands kinda tingle and ache. It was very unnerving and I wound up falling asleep in my classes because of it. People thought I was sick.

But about the spazzing thing- Same here. I think that's actually pretty common. A friend of mine once explained that it's the way our bodies keep us alert in places we're not supposed to be sleeping. I don't know how true that is but it makes sense seeing as it only happens to me in cars (not while driving!) and behind school desks.

[Tenshi no Ai]

What I hate is when I wake up in the early hours of the morning in a frenzy of thought that keeps me awake for about an hour.

Likewise. Mine wasn't really anxiety, but more just thinking too much into things and planning what to do/say in the situation I was thinking about (although sometiems I do all this careful planning, but 95% of the time, I never do it :/ Waste of no sleep :/)

[Bap]

But about the spazzing thing- Same here. I think that's actually pretty common. A friend of mine once explained that it's the way our bodies keep us alert in places we're not supposed to be sleeping. I don't know how true that is but it makes sense seeing as it only happens to me in cars (not while driving!) and behind school desks.

Bahaha, that does make sense! xD And me too! My basketball example was when I was sleeping when my dad was driving me to school. 8D

Likewise. Mine wasn't really anxiety, but more just thinking too much into things and planning what to do/say in the situation I was thinking about (although sometiems I do all this careful planning, but 95% of the time, I never do it :/ Waste of no sleep :/)

I do that planning thing too. xD But not when I'm sleeping, more when I'm awake. D: I think of some of the weirdest things too. u_u]

[Uriah]

I usually dream as soon as I get to sleep, but never remember the moment at wich I got to sleep. I become more active in my dreams in the morning, though.

[Syreth]

I find that those pre-dream images are usually things that I've been looking at a lot that day. For example, a classroom, a sheet of paper... or in the case of some of my jobs: cherry trees, boxes, etc. Usually if I work for long enough doing one thing, I start to see them when I close my eyes. What's frustrating is when you're trying to fall asleep, but you're aware of your own thoughts to the point of contemplating instead of relaxing. Like if you're thinking too hard about something to fall asleep.

I remember one time I had a bad flu and had to stay home. I had just been introduced to bleach, so I was watching that to keep myself busy and trying to design a t-shirt for my friend with some gross zombies on them. Bleach + zombies + flu = crazy dreams.

[Tenshi no Ai]

I find that those pre-dream images are usually things that I've been looking at a lot that day. For example, a classroom, a sheet of paper... or in the case of some of my jobs: cherry trees, boxes, etc. Usually if I work for long enough doing one thing, I start to see them when I close my eyes. What's frustrating is when you're trying to fall asleep, but you're aware of your own thoughts to the point of contemplating instead of relaxing. Like if you're thinking too hard about something to fall asleep.

I remember one time I had a bad flu and had to stay home. I had just been introduced to bleach, so I was watching that to keep myself busy and trying to design a t-shirt for my friend with some gross zombies on them. Bleach + zombies + flu = crazy dreams.

Yeah the images usually are things that I've done in the day too. Like as I said with video games (usually Sonic or DDR) they were ones I was recently binging on, so it's no wonder why those came up^^ Repetitive levels/arrows anyhow...

Heh, Bleach, zombies, and flu... yeah a majority things can make up crazy dreams :/ Like the random stuff that went on in last night's dream and Danny DiVido kept popping up (but had to do with stuff that went on last night). ...I'm still REALLY mad at my half-lucid dream last night though >_< Although it was werid, because it was more my UNCONSCIOUS self that choose to lucid it, because my personality was WAY off during the whole thing :/ I won't get into that dream though^^

[Syreth]

I hate it when you have dreams like that where you're in control but sort of not and it produces an unfavorable circumstance. I dunno if that made sense. It just doesn't feel good to wake up after that.

Then again, sometimes it doesn't feel good to wake up out of a good dream either. You just want it to keep going cause you woke up right before something really good was about to happen.

[Tenshi no Ai]

I hate it when you have dreams like that where you're in control but sort of not and it produces an unfavorable circumstance. I dunno if that made sense. It just doesn't feel good to wake up after that.

Then again, sometimes it doesn't feel good to wake up out of a good dream either. You just want it to keep going cause you woke up right before something really good was about to happen.

I totally agree on both! Like last night I was... really not myself^^ Trust me although "I" wished to go lucid I woke up thinking "why the heck did I do THAT?! There could've been OTHER better things I could've done..." Like I remember one time I lucided a little and tried to seek God out in a dream... I wanna try that again^^ Although it's one of those things you have to be carefull about to knew whether it's authentic, or just a play of your mind :/

As for good dreams, I honestly haven't had a real good one in some time :/ Random adventures and antics, yes. Shopping, yes. But nothing overly enjoyable that I wish it wouldn't end :/ Not for a while...

[Pent]

I have like "pre-sleep" dreams. Dreams I have before I'm even asleep, but I'm not entirely awake.

[kyouki]

Me too... I have storyline in mind before falling asleep. I also understand when I'm about to fall asleep because I totally lose the control of the storyline(my characters start to make odd things). I add an odd pre-dreaming 1 year ago, when I almost felt asleep during a lesson: I saw my teacher dancing with shrimps (yes, shrimps)!.
But no music for me(even if music would be good in the shrimps dream...).

[Syreth]

As for good dreams, I honestly haven't had a real good one in some time :/ Random adventures and antics, yes. Shopping, yes. But nothing overly enjoyable that I wish it wouldn't end :/ Not for a while...

Shopping!? Sounds like a nightmare! j/k

Likewise, my dreams like that have been somewhat few and far between. I had dreams like that more often when I was a little kid. Then again, I had nightmares more often then, too.

[Tenshi no Ai]

Shopping!? Sounds like a nightmare! j/k

Likewise, my dreams like that have been somewhat few and far between. I had dreams like that more often when I was a little kid. Then again, I had nightmares more often then, too.

I shop VERY often in dreams! It CAN be a nightmare too, in the ones where I wanna buy something in real life, and find and buy it in a dream... then wake up realizing I don't actually have it v_v Usually it involves anime DVDs, manga, or GBA/DSes :/

For me though, I think I dream ALOT more now than I ever have in my life :/ When I was little yeah I dreamt quite a bit, but not AS much really :/ As for nightmares, it's actually pretty rare when I get those (and usually wake up a little freaked by them) and usually when I do have them, they're more disturbing than scary (although disturbing things scare me^^)

[Syreth]

I shop VERY often in dreams! It CAN be a nightmare too, in the ones where I wanna buy something in real life, and find and buy it in a dream... then wake up realizing I don't actually have it v_v Usually it involves anime DVDs, manga, or GBA/DSes :/

That is SO funny! That reminds me of when I had a dream as a kid that I found a million dollars or something like that. When I woke up, I thought I still had it, but I didn't, unfortunately.

For me though, I think I dream ALOT more now than I ever have in my life :/ When I was little yeah I dreamt quite a bit, but not AS much really :/ As for nightmares, it's actually pretty rare when I get those (and usually wake up a little freaked by them) and usually when I do have them, they're more disturbing than scary (although disturbing things scare me^^)

Yeah, I rarely get nightmares anymore as well. And it's like you said, it's usually more disturbing than scary. I suppose a better word for those dreams for me personally would be "discomforting." When I wake up from those I usually wonder what in the world I just saw and what it means.

[Shao Feng-Li]

! Dang, then I pre dream often. I'll be awake, but dreaming... It's almost creepy.

[Dante]

That is SO funny! That reminds me of when I had a dream as a kid that I found a million dollars or something like that. When I woke up, I thought I still had it, but I didn't, unfortunately.

I have long, long dreams and the subconcious allows me to fast forward over years at a time, so as a consequence I can make friends, get married, you name it... But whats really sad is to fall in love with someone or make a friend in a dream only to wake up to find that they are so much smoke vanishing in the wind, a figment of my imagination...

But on the flip side I also get really cool dreams, I have experienced the REM wierdness to... I would describe myself as conscious, but not unconcious, more along the lines of subconcious... The music is cool, but creeps me out when I finally realize that I'm not actively controlling it... The imagery, well thats just wierd.

By the way, had a cool dream the other night, I woke up mid dream after the dogs barked downstairs so I got up and walked around, but still semi-unconcious. Then I went back to sleep and returned to the same dream again, and woke up once again (this time far more lightly) only to fall back into yet again the same dream... I love it when I can return back to my dreams. They are normally fairly cool, and I have alot of fun... Only problem was that I was shooting the bad guy in the dream with a tranquilizer gun, and he wouldn't pass out. I must of hit him with five shots and he just ignored them... But then there was the really wierd guy who was aiming a vacuum cleaner/ metal detector at me... yeah I don't know how he intended on stopping me with that thing... But he didn't flinch much from the single tranquilizer I hit him with either... Yeah, uber cool, you would have had to have been there...

Pascal

[Mithrandir]

One thing I hate is whem I'm alllllmost asleep, then something I 'dreamed' wakes me up. Violently. It's tough to get back to sleep from that.

I hate it even more when my wife does that. THAT makes me sit bolt upright.

[Anna Mae]

Thing is, the songs sound great and everything, but once I fall asleep and then awake up, I totally forget them :/ Automatically erased from my mind... I know I've tried to go over the song a couple times to try and remember, but I never do...

I would suggest keeping a notebook or tape recorder by your bed for such times.

One thing I hate is whem I'm alllllmost asleep, then something I 'dreamed' wakes me up. Violently. It's tough to get back to sleep from that.

Indeed. That happens to me often as well.

[kryptech]

I've also had it before where I was just falling asleep only to be yanked violently back into wakefulness by a real motion from my dream. Like when I was beginning to drift off and dreamt that my little cousin was falling and I shot out my right arm to catch her. Instantly I jolted awake and realized my arm had jerked. The old heart was going pretty quick for a bit... Whew - not a nice way to wake.

Sometimes I've had it where I've been in a vehicle and dozed off only to wake after several kilometers. Strange thing is that I could experience a number of minute’s worth of dream during that time, so I actually dreamed at a faster rate than real-time. (That could have interesting applications if we could control dreams - think Trinity learning to fly that helicopter in the Matrix...)

If I have dreams that are particularly interesting or make a strong impact on me I try to write them down. So I have a log file that is quite an intriguing read!