I very occasionally have a dream where I hear a song in great detail, so much so that I wake up and feel sure it must have been playing in real life, because I can never normally hear songs inside my mind - I don't get earworms, for instance.
I had a dream once where I could hear, kind of like a soundtrack in the background, a song sung in a language other than English. (FWIW, it was a Taizé song.) The language was one I had studied decades earlier, and I could have picked out a few words here and there, but there on the whole, I wouldn’t have stood a chance at translating the whole thing. When I listened to the song afterward and then went to find the text, I realized there were even a few words that I’d been consistently mishearing.
When I went to figure out the translation, I was a bit dumbstruck by how apt it was for me at the time; it was sort of like I’d asked, “If I needed to learn one just really important lesson from God, what would it be?,” and the song was the answer to that question.
Still is, if I’m honest.
If you’re comfortable sharing I would love to know what that was…
I very occasionally have a dream where I hear a song in great detail, so much so that I wake up and feel sure it must have been playing in real life, because I can never normally hear songs inside my mind - I don't get earworms, for instance.
I had a dream once where I could hear, kind of like a soundtrack in the background, a song sung in a language other than English. (FWIW, it was a Taizé song.) The language was one I had studied decades earlier, and I could have picked out a few words here and there, but there on the whole, I wouldn’t have stood a chance at translating the whole thing. When I listened to the song afterward and then went to find the text, I realized there were even a few words that I’d been consistently mishearing.
When I went to figure out the translation, I was a bit dumbstruck by how apt it was for me at the time; it was sort of like I’d asked, “If I needed to learn one just really important lesson from God, what would it be?,” and the song was the answer to that question.
Still is, if I’m honest.
If you’re comfortable sharing I would love to know what that was…
Gott ist nur Liebe.
Wagt, für die Liebe alles zu geben.
Gott ist nur Liebe.
Gebt euch ohne Furcht.
“God is only love.
Dare to give everything for love.
God is only love.
Give (or surrender) yourselves without fear.”
Suffice it to say that, particularly in the context of the dream as a whole, it resonated with me, and continues to resonate with me, as the answer I’d get if I were the one asking Jesus “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”
For me, dreams have been a way of working out a problem. I could be looking at a problem all day and not see a solution, but at night my dreams allow me to examine the problem and find alternative solutions.
Lately, though, I often hear music while I am dreaming. Can't really tell the tune, seems much like a hymn. Mrs. Gramps thinks that is odd.
I can remember dreams that served as warnings. I was studying chess too much of the time and had scary dreams of being checkmated. I never did become much of a player.
In one stream, I am back at university, but studying Chemistry. Never any of the study, but the arriving and leaving are often there.
Also work environments often appear. Nothing like my real environments - I WFH - and nothing like any sensible or normal environment to work in.
In truth, I think they reveal our internal models of reality, that we work with all the time. But having them shown without the external stimuli to tweak them can be odd.
Last night I had a long and convoluted dream about being in Norwich, possibly because I had just finished reading Julian of Norwich. This included flocks of waterbirds fighting each other on the River Wensum, and hurtling at great speed through the back alleyways. I ended up in a large Victorian house that had been converted into an arts centre.
I've had the "discovering extra rooms" dream quite often. They always happen at points at which my life has become overwhelmed with children / husband / housework.
I've been having dreams in which I am somewhere I recognise as "home" in my dream, but it isn't home. It's a very nice place, a large house surrounded by at least an acre of garden. Last night the garden included a tree in my late grandparents' garden, which had a rope swing hanging from one branch. Perhaps the big house and big garden are an amalgamation of several places.
Probably as a counterbalance to a quiet life I've been having dreams packed with incident. In one I was given a handwritten note to say Dick Gaughen had died (he hasn't*). I was completely puzzled, as I didn't think I was a friend of his, and it was years since I'd seen him in concert.
I have some really weird dreams. The other night, I dreamed I was the guest of a wealthy Japanese family in Japan. I couldn't understand it, as I have never even thought of visiting that country, so I can't explain it.
The most entertaining dream I have, and it's quite frequent, is that I'm in Richard II's court and I know who everyone is. But my deep iinterest in the era sort of explains that.
Last night I had a couple of dreams—one involved me finding some previously unknown (and which sadly don’t exist in the real world) Japanese Microman action figures at a shop…
Lucky you. I was attending a banquet where at intervals we stood to drink a Loyal Toast - the King appearing from behind a curtain in full dress uniform - except I could never get served a glass of wine, nor indeed much to eat. Then my lift home drove off while I waited at a crossing, leaving me to walk through Norway in the snow.
The day will come when she won't be gone, GG 🕯️ And were you to find someone else before that Day, forgive a spot of proof texting, "God will reconcile all things to Himself".
An interesting dream last night in which I was visiting an old man in a care home in order to sell him some words. Also, the care home had been built so that the entire building could swivel round, though they said they didn't do it very often, because it was so heavy!
With the new term starting in three weeks, I am beginning to have dreams which are anxiety inducing. I wake up not remembering the dream specifics but feeling incredibly anxious
Very odd. Several months ago I had a dream where I was hanging out washing in a garden, and I had a peg bag with "Love" written on it in patchwork letters.
Yesterday someone gave me a peg bag with the word "Love" written on it in patchwork letters.
Very odd. Several months ago I had a dream where I was hanging out washing in a garden, and I had a peg bag with "Love" written on it in patchwork letters.
Yesterday someone gave me a peg bag with the word "Love" written on it in patchwork letters.
Last week I had the "extra room" dream, but the room was diagonal to my house, it touched at one corner, but there was no way of accessing it from within my house. I had to go outside to get to the door into the new room, then once I was in the new room, I had to keep popping back out and into my house to make coffee, use the toilet etc.
Last night I dreamt I was going to stay in an upmarket hotel in a small town I have visited before and love. I had to drag my suitcase up the stairs to reception, only to be told I was in the wrong place and luxury hotel was further up the street. So I dragged my suitcase down the stairs, along the street, up another flight of stairs, only to be told I couldn't check in using my passport as ID, I needed to go to the post office to get an ID card. Much weary dragging ensued, I got to the Post Office and somehow getting the ID card involved going to a farm to find an ostrich named Cynthia...
The whole time I knew the luxurious hotel room, with the excellent shower in the en-suite was waiting for me, and the lovely town and its beach and coffee shops. I just couldn't quite get there. And all the time I was getting more and tired, dragging the heavy suitcase.
My dreams for years have been about being frustratingly lost in various places or unable to find the car etc
Last night I had a beautiful dream. Walking down a glorious autumnal path, a white horse came and walked alongside, then put her head on my shoulder. We stood in contented silence, enjoying the view together,
I've enjoyed this thread; I read it because I had a lousy night's sleep last night and a dream stayed with me. It's not very deep - my second child has recently left for university, and I dreamt of them (both away now) in a kind of dusky, sad and badly-organised setting which was also some kind of bar, where they were sad and regretful. (That's me projecting, as they're both mostly happy and getting on OK with good courses in solid institutions. But oh well).
I was later at home in my dream, and looking at some faults in the plaster walls and ceilings (I tend to be the DIY person here). It rapidly became apparent that there was only a skin of paint holding things together, and that underneath all was floppy and deteriorating like some kind of blancmange (I had to look that spelling up). I didn't know how to make it solid again.
Like I said, not very deep. But thanks for the opportunity to write it down and rationalise it!
How funny. I had a series of similar dreams last night, all having to do with baby birds, art collections, plants, etc. Being in danger of neglect or harm by others, and me trying to gather them up and protect them--of course this it's because of the multiple crises in my life right now that are affecting my husband and son, and the rest of the family.
Amongst my complicated dreams last night, which included the comings and goings of painters and decorators who knew me by my Christian name, I dreamt of a stone with a split in it, and when the stone fell into two pieces, I was pointing out to a child how the staining in the split face showed that the stone had had a crack in it for some time. And as I was explaining this and moving the dirt from the stone, I found instead that I was wiping dirt off the face of an older woman, someone whose face was actually remarkably beautiful. I have no idea what that all meant!
I get the "discovering a new room" dream from time to time.
Last night's was different. I dreamt that my half-brother had bought a house eight miles from mine to make it easier to spend time with the family up here. He gave me a set of keys and told me I had unlimited use of it between his visits. A whole house! It was a very odd house; it was built with a central square courtyard, and had a separate outbuilding. Each of the four sides, and the outbuilding was self contained in that each had it's own toilet and a place to make coffee without going to the main kitchen. Even if my half-brother was living there I could have exclusive use of one of the sides.
Also, in my dream I was pregnant! Not young and pregnant, but my current 61 year old self and pregnant.
I frequently dream about other versions of places I have lived and visited. And what's more, those "other" versions don't change from dream to dream. I navigate around them as easily and familiarly as I would in their waking versions.
Places I go to in dreams
The Other Toronto
The Other Paris
The Other Tours
The Other Charlotte
The Other Moscow
The Other Nerja
Sometimes I look at the waking versions and get a little bit confused, like I'll come down a street and be looking for the side street that exists in the other place, and think "oh yeah, that one doesn't exist here".
I've been having some very complicated dreams lately - in one, I was in a prison that overlooked a river and a Roman fort.
In another, I was back at the house I lived in as a child - this is often the scene for some of my dreams with more complicated plotlines.
When I'm in the dream, there's a more or less logical sequence of events, that sometimes goes off in tangents as I get distracted by the possibilities, but that quickly fades to just one or two vivid scenes when I wake up.
Last night I dreamed that Cubby and I were finally making it back to Disney World and we were going to Epcot, but I couldn’t figure out where I’d parked the car, and I kept walking past parking lots, clicking on the remote control to make the car beep its horn (I find this helpful in parking lots in real life), to no avail, and I couldn’t call him because I had the wrong cell phone. At one point there was a big 1970s car half sunk in something like the La Brea tar pits, just sort of randomly.
My dreams tend to be very vivid and real. I’m often in places I’ve been as well, but like AFF’s, they’re different, but I know them really well. Mine don’t seem to recur like AFF’s, though.
Another on that has occurred again recently - Utterly surreal when I look at it when awake.
I have a ticket to the Proms (massive classical music festival in the UK). Only this is not in the Albert Hall that I know (and have visited). It is some weird place that I have to wander around to find somewhere to sit.
And all the places I can sit are behind screens, so I can only actually see what it happening through holes. But there are lots of seats and quite a few people who are around in these rooms, behind walls or screens or whatever.
Also, this time, my "usual" place was closed, as it is winter (the proms happen over the summer).
Oh, and I met someone I knew from uni - who apparently was playing (he is a musician, but that is not really his style).
I was in the hospital, and they had pumps on my legs so I would not get blood clots. I was dreaming the dog who sleeps at the foot of my bed was on my legs. I keep telling her to move to her spot which of course she did not. I woke up and knew what it was all about.
I was in Leeds to meet up with my late brother. It is, you'll be surprised to,know, a coastal town with cliffs and beautiful vistas, but also a lot of cluttered and dingy backstreets. The usual pub had run out of food, and I couldn't find the entrance to The Canteen recommended instead. We were trying to decipher a dim sum menu as I woke up.
I was in Leeds to meet up with my late brother. It is, you'll be surprised to,know, a coastal town with cliffs and beautiful vistas, but also a lot of cluttered and dingy backstreets. The usual pub had run out of food, and I couldn't find the entrance to The Canteen recommended instead. We were trying to decipher a dim sum menu as I woke up.
That's like my style of dreams. I wake up half way through an "episode".
I was in a car chase across a field - the car behind us was banging into the back of the car.
Then a big green removals lorry came into the field and rescued us! (the lorry, being sentient, that is - not with a driver or anything).
I was in The Other Nerja and was somewhere backstage of a Queen concert (I dream quite frequently of this group, always a Good Dream when I do) when I spotted Jer and Bomi Bulsara looking so proud of their boy. I ran up to them and warmly embraced them and asked them how they were enjoying being on tour with the group. They were so happy to be with their son on tour.
Freddie had a bald spot on the back of his head which nobody could see except us in the back.
Wow, that's specific! I was really into Queen when I was a teenager - perhaps in part because Woolworths (the only record outlet) often had 'Nice Price' reissues of their back catalogue which I could, just about, occasionally afford. In 1985 a Nice Price LP was about 3 quid (an hours work at a good job, which I rarely got, and up to 3 hours work at a crap one, which was often all I could get). A CD (Woolies had a few, which we looked at in awe whilst knowing no-one with a player!) was 15 quid!
(This is prompted by your Queen reference. Older readers will no doubt think a pound an hour to a teenager was *luxury* :-) ).
Wow, that's specific! I was really into Queen when I was a teenager - perhaps in part because Woolworths (the only record outlet) often had 'Nice Price' reissues of their back catalogue which I could, just about, occasionally afford. In 1985 a Nice Price LP was about 3 quid (an hours work at a good job, which I rarely got, and up to 3 hours work at a crap one, which was often all I could get). A CD (Woolies had a few, which we looked at in awe whilst knowing no-one with a player!) was 15 quid!
(This is prompted by your Queen reference. Older readers will no doubt think a pound an hour to a teenager was *luxury* :-) ).
In 1986 I was a seventeen year old working on a YTS (youth training scheme) in a care home and got £26 a week
However, I did have access to a CD player as my older brother had saved up for one with his money from a YTS place in a bakery.
Comments
Likewise, that resonates with me.
Lately, though, I often hear music while I am dreaming. Can't really tell the tune, seems much like a hymn. Mrs. Gramps thinks that is odd.
In one stream, I am back at university, but studying Chemistry. Never any of the study, but the arriving and leaving are often there.
Also work environments often appear. Nothing like my real environments - I WFH - and nothing like any sensible or normal environment to work in.
In truth, I think they reveal our internal models of reality, that we work with all the time. But having them shown without the external stimuli to tweak them can be odd.
I've been having dreams in which I am somewhere I recognise as "home" in my dream, but it isn't home. It's a very nice place, a large house surrounded by at least an acre of garden. Last night the garden included a tree in my late grandparents' garden, which had a rope swing hanging from one branch. Perhaps the big house and big garden are an amalgamation of several places.
*though obviously I'll be checking.
The most entertaining dream I have, and it's quite frequent, is that I'm in Richard II's court and I know who everyone is. But my deep iinterest in the era sort of explains that.
The day will come when she won't be gone, GG 🕯️ And were you to find someone else before that Day, forgive a spot of proof texting, "God will reconcile all things to Himself".
Yesterday someone gave me a peg bag with the word "Love" written on it in patchwork letters.
Cool!!
Last night I dreamt I was going to stay in an upmarket hotel in a small town I have visited before and love. I had to drag my suitcase up the stairs to reception, only to be told I was in the wrong place and luxury hotel was further up the street. So I dragged my suitcase down the stairs, along the street, up another flight of stairs, only to be told I couldn't check in using my passport as ID, I needed to go to the post office to get an ID card. Much weary dragging ensued, I got to the Post Office and somehow getting the ID card involved going to a farm to find an ostrich named Cynthia...
The whole time I knew the luxurious hotel room, with the excellent shower in the en-suite was waiting for me, and the lovely town and its beach and coffee shops. I just couldn't quite get there. And all the time I was getting more and tired, dragging the heavy suitcase.
Now I have to work out what to do about it.
First thing is to get rid of the Ostrich.
Last night I had a beautiful dream. Walking down a glorious autumnal path, a white horse came and walked alongside, then put her head on my shoulder. We stood in contented silence, enjoying the view together,
🤣🤣
AI generated image.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/qABU1s56yT4841rp8
I was later at home in my dream, and looking at some faults in the plaster walls and ceilings (I tend to be the DIY person here). It rapidly became apparent that there was only a skin of paint holding things together, and that underneath all was floppy and deteriorating like some kind of blancmange (I had to look that spelling up). I didn't know how to make it solid again.
Like I said, not very deep. But thanks for the opportunity to write it down and rationalise it!
Last night's was different. I dreamt that my half-brother had bought a house eight miles from mine to make it easier to spend time with the family up here. He gave me a set of keys and told me I had unlimited use of it between his visits. A whole house! It was a very odd house; it was built with a central square courtyard, and had a separate outbuilding. Each of the four sides, and the outbuilding was self contained in that each had it's own toilet and a place to make coffee without going to the main kitchen. Even if my half-brother was living there I could have exclusive use of one of the sides.
Also, in my dream I was pregnant! Not young and pregnant, but my current 61 year old self and pregnant.
Places I go to in dreams
The Other Toronto
The Other Paris
The Other Tours
The Other Charlotte
The Other Moscow
The Other Nerja
Sometimes I look at the waking versions and get a little bit confused, like I'll come down a street and be looking for the side street that exists in the other place, and think "oh yeah, that one doesn't exist here".
AFF
In another, I was back at the house I lived in as a child - this is often the scene for some of my dreams with more complicated plotlines.
When I'm in the dream, there's a more or less logical sequence of events, that sometimes goes off in tangents as I get distracted by the possibilities, but that quickly fades to just one or two vivid scenes when I wake up.
I have a ticket to the Proms (massive classical music festival in the UK). Only this is not in the Albert Hall that I know (and have visited). It is some weird place that I have to wander around to find somewhere to sit.
And all the places I can sit are behind screens, so I can only actually see what it happening through holes. But there are lots of seats and quite a few people who are around in these rooms, behind walls or screens or whatever.
Also, this time, my "usual" place was closed, as it is winter (the proms happen over the summer).
Oh, and I met someone I knew from uni - who apparently was playing (he is a musician, but that is not really his style).
That's like my style of dreams. I wake up half way through an "episode".
Then a big green removals lorry came into the field and rescued us! (the lorry, being sentient, that is - not with a driver or anything).
Freddie had a bald spot on the back of his head which nobody could see except us in the back.
AFF
(This is prompted by your Queen reference. Older readers will no doubt think a pound an hour to a teenager was *luxury* :-) ).
However, I did have access to a CD player as my older brother had saved up for one with his money from a YTS place in a bakery.