Where are your legs when you really need them?

In real life I have bad arthritis, especially in my knees. Sleeping is often difficult because of the pain. I have a recurring dream where I unscrew my legs and put them beside the bed before turning in for the night.

One time, though, after dreaming I’d fallen asleep, I was wakened by a fire alarm. There was a raging fire in the house. I went to get up and run for it but...no legs.

~Submitted by Big Blue


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The post you are about to read is based on true events

We were driving down a straight stretch of road lined with farmland. I spotted a runaway horse galloping wildly. It was followed by a police car, which was trying to corral the frightened animal. I woke with a start.

The dream had seemed so real I told my husband and two daughters about it at breakfast (Musing here--I can verify this, because I was daughter number one). We were ending our vacation, and after eating we packed our suitcases and began the long drive home.

As we turned onto a two-lane highway, I said, “I think I’ve been on this road before.”

My husband said, “You couldn’t have, because they just opened it.”

Right after that two police cars zoomed past.

“Look! There’s a horse!” my youngest daughter yelled.

We watched in disbelief as a horse ran down the road and the police cars began corralling it.

~Submitted by Gramma: mom with lots of practice


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"That when I woke, I cried to dream again" ~Caliban, The Tempest

Right after my father died nine years ago I had a dream that I was in a car riding up to the house that I’d lived in until I was 9-yrs-old, a yellow ranch in Missouri.

My father was standing on the front steps and waving at me. I was so frantic to get out of the car that I was opening the door while it was still moving, thinking if I could only get to him and hug him it would all be alright.

But I woke as the door opened and I cried and cried, desperate to get back to the dream to hug him even knowing it wasn't real.

~Submitted by novel


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What Dreams Are Made Of

New technology is helping brain scientists unravel the mysteries of the night. Their work could show us all how to make the most of our time in bed

By Barbara Kantrowitz and Karen Springen
Newsweek Aug. 9 issue

In the middle of the night, we are all Fellini—the creator of a parade of fleeting images intended for an audience of one. At times, it's an action flick, with a chase scene that seems endless ... until it dissolves and we're falling, falling, falling into ... is it a field of flowers? And who is the gardener waving at us over there? Could it be our old high-school English teacher? No, it's Jon Stewart. He wants us to sit on the couch right next to him. Are those TV cameras? And what happened to our clothes? In the morning, when the alarm rudely arouses us, we might remember none of this—or maybe only a fraction, perhaps the feeling of lying naked in a bed of daisies or an inexplicable urge to watch "The Daily Show"…read the rest of the article

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Does this mean I should stop avoiding the dentist?

I was somewhere doing something with someone. All of that’s hazy. What I do remember is that I pushed on one of my molars with my tongue and it moved. I wiggled it with my fingers, pulled, and out it came. Just like that. It didn’t hurt, but I could feel it leaving my gums. Then I took out the next tooth then the next one then the next one.

Then I woke up. Which is a good thing, because if I’d kept going I'd have been one step closer to looking like this.


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A nightmare Hitchcock would be proud of

I was lying in bed, surrounded by darkness. Suddenly, a light shown from under the closed bedroom door. I tentatively got up and slowly opened it. But as soon as I did the light snapped off. I froze, feeling the presence of someone there.

Then I woke up. But, I couldn’t sleep well the rest of the night, because I kept looking for the light to shine under the door.

~Submitted by T

Image: from Christina's crazy cool site

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Study confirms that, surprise, men and women dream differently

According to an August 19, 2006 article in IC Wales, women dream about home, family and work, while men dream about cars, money and sex with new people. And we needed a study to tell us this?

Robin Turner writes:

MEN may be from Mars and women from Venus but when both are in the land of Nod they're still worlds apart.

A Welsh dream expert has confirmed what many already suspected that the differences between the sexes continue even while asleep.

Dr Mark Blagrove, a reader in psychology at Swansea University, has studied 100,000 people's dream experiences as part of a nationwide survey. It showed that a typical married couple sleeping side by side would have completely different types of dream, often at the same time…read the rest of the article.

Other dream differences between the sexes:

• Women have more nightmares than men.
• Men dream more of outdoor settings.
• Women dream more of indoor settings, they also notice more color, facial and clothing details, and have more conversations.
• Deja Vu in dreams occurs more often in females than males.
• Men tend to have sex dreams most frequently between late adolescence and their early twenties.
• Women's sexual dreams tend to increase with age until about age 40, where it plateaus, then starts to decline around age 55.

Thanks to The Dream Zone, Dream Moods and BrilliantDreams

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Don’t mess with the All-Seeing Mama

I was yelling for my son not to cross the street, because a car was coming straight at him!

My son was ok; but the driver got out and shouted at him, though it was clearly the driver's fault (you know how you can see everything in dreams). He had stepped on the gas instead of the break when he saw my son and was about to blame him for it when mama hen read him the riot act instead.

~Submitted by rdl of when i grow up

Obi-wan has dreams, too

Ewan McGregor related some of his bad dreams in a 2003 interview with Adam Higginbotham for The Observer.

He also put to rest false rumors and talked about his past drinking binges, why he did Star Wars and other films, and the worst haircut he ever had. It's a great interview. Here’s an excerpt about his dreams:

Do you ever dream in character?

'No. Ha ha. Never. I dream a lot... Actors - most of them - have work-related dreams. When I've been involved in really hard shoots - six days a week and full-on hours - then very often there's a kind of half-awake, half-asleep thing where the crew are all in your bedroom, standing around, filming you in the bed, asking you to move around. I've experienced this, where I've been moving over in my bed to be in the right position. And you're like, "Wait a minute, I'm in bed, you should all... this is my time, surely? You shouldn't be filming me in my fucking bed!" And then they all disappear.'

McGregor has this dream a lot. It's usually just from fatigue, exhaustion. 'Months of people telling you where to put your fucking arms and legs.' The other one he has is where he's backstage in a theatre, about to go on to perform in a play - only he doesn't know what the play is, or any of the lines. The director of the play changes, depending on who he's working with - when he was making Moulin Rouge, it was Baz Luhrmann; earlier this year, shooting Big Fish in Alabama, it was Tim Burton.

But, often, it's about the play his uncle Denis directed him in, back in 1998: Little Malcolm and his Struggle Against the Eunuchs. 'I couldn't remember a line of Little Malcolm now. But I'll dream I've got to go on and do it in, like, 10 minutes. And then it becomes about finding the script. And you know if you find the script, somehow you'll be all right. You'll be able to go on there and pull it off. So you're running round backstage: "Has anyone seen my script?" And somebody maybe saw it over there - and you go there and it's gone... and suddenly you've got to go on. And usually then you wake up in a cold sweat... but it's a real panic. They're horrible dreams.'

Have you ever found the script?

'No. I've never found the script. No.'

Read the whole interview here.


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Gotta dream tip?

If you come across an interesting dream that someone’s related, whether it be Johnny Depp, Benjamin Franklin or your cousin three times removed, drop us an email at sharedream[at]insightbb[dot]com with the link to, or info about, the article or interview. Same goes for interesting dream facts or research.

If we post it on our main page we’ll give you credit and link to your website if you have one (sites that discriminate or are obscene excluded).

Thanks!


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House, Sweet, House

It’s always different yet always the same. I find myself in a house. I look around. There are antique pieces of furniture, stacks of books in the corners, and on the walls--paintings made with actual paint instead of just prints on poster paper.

I begin walking through the rooms, glancing right and left. One leads to another which leads to another. It’s like an endless maze of wonderful rooms. I realize, or am told by someone with me, that the house is mine. I can’t believe it. I'm filled with a sense of happiness and satisfaction.

Then I wake up and it’s all taken away. Well, except the stacks of books in the corners. Those are a reality.


Image: "An Interior of a Sitting Room" by Gustave De Launay
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Dream Interview: K from Kvetch Blog

We’re starting a new feature here at What Did You Dream Last Night. From time to time we’ll interview bloggers (and others) about their dreams. Our very first interviewee is K of Kvetch Blog.

A mom of two, K writes eloquently about family life, single parenthood, her writing endeavors, oh, and also, it seems she wears fantastic shoes.

* * * * *

How often do you remember your dreams?

I remember my dreams a lot --- but not all the time. Sometimes I remember them every day for weeks, but then I remember nothing for a month.

About what percentage of your dreams are nightmares?

I have very few nightmares unless you count the almost-asleep "stepping off the curb" jolt. I hate that.

What’s the strangest dream you've had?

As a child I had a dream that I was at Wednesday Adams' (from the Adams Family) birthday party with an uncle of mine. She got a big doll house as a gift, and invited me to sleep over, which I didn't want to do, but my uncle made me stay. Then I had to go across the street (you know, in a dream-esque way) and go on an elevator up to Wednesday's room. The Adam's family was all in the elevator just like they are at the beginning of the tv show. The elevator went up and down and up and down and up and down and I was hitting the floor and hitting the ceiling and hitting the floor and hitting the ceiling and the Adams family just stayed in one place. I had that dream over and over again as a child.

Do you have recurring dreams as an adult?

I have a recurring dream that there is a trans-Atlantic bridge and I can drive across to visit a friend of mine in Cardiff South Wales (who is real). When I get there we travel together through Europe. You know, Europe that does not resemble reality. That's a dream I like having - I'm always disappointed it isn't true!

Ever dreamed something that came true in real life?

I sure did! When I was a junior in college I woke up on the morning of my cousin's Bar Mitzvah, walked into the hallway near my bedroom in my parents house and said to my dad that I had the strangest dream that my history professor was at the Bar Mitzvah. I was a little bothered to be dreaming about my middle-aged professor, but let it go. I went to the Bar Mitzvah -- and when it was over we were all walking out -- and -- you bet -- I saw my history professor. My dad was with me and I said, That's Dr. X. There was no way in the world I could have known that my history professor was the father of my cousin's cousin's father-in-law. I was the talk of the Bar Mitzvah party to say the least -- and History class was never quite the same!!!

Do you believe dreams have any meaning?

I think that like life, dreams sometimes hold meaning and sometimes they don't. I don't give it a lot of thought - but it fascinates me.

What’s the most recent dream you remember?

I don't remember! Ha!

* * * * *

A big thanks to K for the interview. If you enjoyed it, I recommend a recent post of hers, where she shared a lovely yet bittersweet dream.


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"Last night I dreamt I ate a ten pound marshmallow. When I woke up the pillow was gone."

~Comedian/magician Tommy Cooper

Q at the Grand Canyon

I was standing with a group of people about twenty feet from the edge of a Grand Canyon-like precipice, but we were behind some kind of wall and couldn’t see the cliff. A guy who looked like Q from Star Trek had each of us come to him one by one.

Once at his side, he whispered, “Look over the edge before you die.” If you refused, he pushed you over. If you looked, he let you go free.


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