Optimus2g

I haven't been able to have the kind of dreams that I'd like lately because of the stress that I a experiencing at school and work. This might be due to the fact that I don't sleep comfortably--that is to say that I get home late and collapse on my bed out of sheer exhaustion. I would experience dreams much more often when I was more at ease before sleeping, rather than just losing consciousness due to a long & stressful day. I have seen images that are related to my achieving my goals (of becoming an English Teacher and other things) though intermittently--this might be a form lucid dreaming I suppose. It's interesting though that when I am at peace before I go to sleep (which is not very often) that I can see things much more clearly while asleep, rather than having trouble that I am right now when I'm so stressed out. It's all in my head I guess.

When I was little I had nightmares about being stung by bees. This stems from an incident that occurred when I was asleep as a child of about 10 years old. There were bees that built up a hive in the AC unit in my parents room, where I fell asleep one time. I woke up to the worst pain I ever felt in my life---I got stung by a bee and FREAKED out! This shock always stayed with me, even until now. I would sometimes be asleep and when I heard something outside the window I would think it would be a bee! This even carried over into my dreams--or nightmares rather. Everything would be fine and then all of a sudden I'd be running from a swarm of bees. I'd often wake up just before they stung me, but it felt SO REAL! To this day I can't seem to shake this fear of bees that I have. I guess the fact that I got stung by one after I ran over a bunch of its buddies, while I was mowing the lawn 2 years ago, didn't help things for me that time either. I doubt that it'll ever go away. Isn't it strange how things that happen in our youth seem to resonate within us well into adulthood, oftentimes never ever really to leave us?

Anyone ever take a mid-day nap during the hot summer months? I recall doing so many a time and remember some dreams from the hour or two siesta that I took, specifically when I was overseas with my cousins and at my grandma's apartment. When I was little I would eat and then go to sleep after eating lunch. I'd often dream about what I wanted to do later on that evening---such as ringing the doorbells of the people in the neighborhood and running away, being chased by dogs & sometimes even shop keepers looking for blood sfter throwing pebbles at their stores and messing up their inventory by going in their and thrning their shops upside down---all that good stuff---so I guess this could be considered a form of lucid dreaming. I was pretty mischievious as a kid--and still am today in many ways---but I would actually imagine & dream about all the stuff I did before I actually did it. These activities were all the more fun after having dreamed about them beforehand, giving me a great sense of satisfaction. In my juvenile mind nothing beat dreaming about messing with people & getting away with it only a few short hours later only to tell the story (which I still do today) !

Many people found Hobson to be snobbish and Hartmann to be more of the everyman type, due in part to Hobson's assuming that people had a familiarty with the language and subject matter he was using and referencing, respectively. We have to remember that not every author writes for the same audience.
Due to my backgorund as a science major, from the past, I found Hobson's language and addressing of the subject matter to be quite informative---and yes, interesting---since it seemed to me that this was primarily his intended audience; It just happened to be that way for me, even though I'm aware that I'm in the minority in our class. I might even reference him because I'm thinking about writing my paper on the affect of drugs on dreams as evidenced in literature.
Now, I am NOT indicting Hartmann as being a simlpeton in any way shape or form. He wasn't as didactic in his writing style as Hobson was, but we must remember that people coming from Hobson's background as a Neurobiologist tend to be determinists, as Prof Croll pointed out to the class, during her visit (things are "cut and dry" to them). Hartmann was not as preachy and was able to appeal to many more people because of his approach to his audience. He also made the general point that dreaming is more focused, as evidenced by the idea of "the nets of the mind" at the beginning of the book on pages 3-4, & spoke less about facts and more about his theories based on his clinical experience in the field of Medicine/Psychiatry.

The first student essay on Jane Eyre had a focused thesis regarding how Jane's dreams functioned as a barometer of her emotions during the course of the story. The point was also made that an attempt was made by Jane to separate her dream life from her waking life, which was also a theme concurrent with the post-colonial prequel to Jane Eyre, WSS (Wide Sargasso Sea).
As far as the difference between these two novels is concerend, the biggest one was the post-colonial setting in which WSS was set. The issue of race was hinted at minimally in Jane Eyre with the description of the mad woman, Bertha, who is Antoinette in WSS. It is this racial issue that is at the heart of the difference between these two main characters in these two novels, respectively.
While Jane can deal with the inequities that have put her down her entire life, she could deal with things on more of a level playing field than Antoinette could. Antoinette was forced to serve a system that, even if she had a good station in life, she wouldn't be content serving the world as run by white men. The post-colonial world was not one in which the Antoinettes of the world were very welcome. She was ostracized both by White and Black people in the Carribbean because of her Creole background---never being able to fit in completely with either group, something which certainly would not have applied to "Plain Jane."

The following painting is titled "The Nightmare," by Henry Fuseli. It was completed in 1781, and is thought to be one of the classic depictions of sleep paralysis. The figure sitting atop the woman depicted in this work is that of a demon, which many people who have interpreted to be the cause of this nightmare.

Personally, I can relate to this painting because I've experienced this sensation and literally could not move, although I felt fully awake. I can recall the experience as being terrifying because I tried screaming out for help but could not physically open my mouth. Add to this that I was crashing on my friend's couch for the night and felt as if I was sinking deeper and deeper into it, as I attempted to call for help. My mind and body simply were not in sync, which is actually typical of this condition.

Some have also seen halluciantions while in this state, although I was not one of them. I suppose that this explains the image of the donkey in the shadowy background of this painting, giving it an interesting place in this work; It's depiction is symbolic with respect to the direct correlation this is implied between the shadowy background in which it is set and the ambiguous state between waking life and the dream realm that is implied.

I had one of those "space-out" moments while at work, this past Saturday afternoon. I put my head back to relax for a couple of minutes after things settled down in the office I work in. I work part-time as a dispatcher---often-times solitarily---which is why I could afford to lean back and rest for a few minutes. I closed my eyes and drifted off for a few moments. What I saw was actually pretty interesting: I imagined driving home on the Highway (Sunrise Highway in Long Island) and saw a car with 3 cheerleaders in it that got hit from the backside, by a car that was merging off of the highway and onto the service road. I saw a pile-up of 3 or 4 vehicles after that, with myself being close by in my own car. I immediately opened my eyes and recalled this, right after I imagined seeing this scene in my head. I guess it could be related to my own fears of idiotic drivers and the fact that I was going to get ready to drive home on that very stretch of raod, on my home from work. It also may be my fear of crazy things happening this time of year because of the approaching holiday season. Or am I just paranoid? I'm still trying to figure this one out...

In the film Waking Life, R. Linklater does a fine job of blending the surrealisitic aspect of dreaming with the concept of consciously controlling the content of our dreams discussed in S. La Berge's two chapters that we read on the subject of Lucid dreaming. It was interesting how Linklater had the main character of his film discuss consciously topics related to dreaming and waking life, while in the dream state, over the course of the film. This was reminiscent of the montage of dreams mentioned in Ch.1 of La Berge's The World Of Lucid Dreaming. The idea of "people being in control of their own universe," mentioned in Ch. 1 (p.2) is at the very essence of consciously contoling one's own dreams. In short, both La Berge and Linklater hit upon how Lucid dreaming can help people to control their own imaginations by consciously being able to transform objects and people (p. 2) in what would be considered as being impossible during waking life, but perfectly normal during the dream state. Linklater does a superb job at blending aspects of the surrealism and realism with consciousness within the dream state, so much so that, the viewers of his film can "get lost" in the film itself, if they're pondering over the idea of conscious control of their own dreams---I know it had that affect on me.

When I was in the third grade, I had a dream about being torn between the friends I made in my old neighborhood and my new neighborhood. My parents had just moved from Flushing to Valley Stream, Long Island during the first month of the school year and I was adjusting to my new nrighborhood (one that I was to live in for 16 years). I dreamt one night that I was in the school yard of my new neighborhood with my new set of friends and then my old friends from Flushing came by. What hapened was funny: my old friends and new friends were fighting over me and played a game of kickball over who would get to "keep" me! Each group of friends were fighting with each each other how I was "one of them" and not part of the other group. It felt like a good old, fashioned tug of war, but an awkward and surrealisitic one at that. I knew that I was dreaming, but I don't know if it was lucid or not, even though I was adjusting to my new neighborhood and friends at the time. Is this lucid, or just the result of my preoccupied psyche at that time?

When I was in the second grade, I liked this girl in my class named Martha. It felt weird for me to "like" a girl, because I used to think that they all had the "cooties" and were no good. As things would have it, we always smiled at each other and she would blush at me when we were at lunch and in class. It was shortly after one of these "baby crush" episodes of mine that I remember dreaming about being her "hero" and saving her from an unnamed bad guy in a a dream that seemed incredibly real. I was swinging around liek Tarzan on rope/vines in the concrete jungle and it felt great!! I then remember waking up and feeling like my dream was real and the wakining world felt like an illusion to me. It wasn't until a few minutes had passed, after I had passed out of my stupor, until I realized what had happened was just a dream---much to my sadness and surprise. The whole experience felt like it was real enough for me to not wake up. I know it wasn't a lucid dream, but it felt as if my psyche's emotions were letting loose on the dream plane. Strange enough, I didn't remember much about this 2nd grade crush after I had this dream, other than the fact that I was her hero in my dream. Something which I thought, at the time, most cookie crunching, fruit roll-up eating second graders, couldn't all claim...(too bad I was wrong).

I often feel during waking life, although I don't really display it, that I'm not fulfilling my full potential. I know for example, that had I trruly wanted to, I would have been an excellent doctor or RN, due to the fact that I care for others. I wouldn't be one of those people in the medical profession that treats patients as numbers. I'd actually say kind things to them to get their spirits up. My problem ws I was lazy and lacked that extra motivational drive, even though I knew I could handle it academically. Things changed once my mom was diagnosed with diabetes. I wanted to work to make things better for diabetics, but felt it was too late because of the track that I've pursued academically (teaching). My dreams would echoe the sentiment that I mentioned above: I'd dream about being a failure and only wanting to take the "easy way out" of things, rather than wanting to work hard. I had friends growing up--2 actually--who I knew I was at least as as smart as, if not smarter. I even helped to tutor one of these friends one time, even though I was 2 years older. They became doctors, with one of my friends doing so, ironicaly enough, because his father was a diabetic---just ike my mother. These thoughts would haunt my dreams often---even today.