Is it possible to 'think' a dream?

[Santo 10]

I do quite a bit of lucid dreaming, usually in the early morning hours when i'm due to wake up anyway..

 

What i dream about the most is being somewhere really high and daring myself to jump, or i'll be on a ledge and then i'm onb my stomach crawling because i'm too scared to look over the edge! I hate them dreams but i'd love to know what they mean..

 

Oh and i dream A LOT about losing my two front teeth! Someone once told me that's vanity but i'm really not a vain person, i do clench my teeth sometimes during sleep so i think it's that..

 

Teeth falling out is a very common dream. Though Freud didn't think it was due to vanity....

[Berberis 10]

So are we saying it's possible to actively 'choose' what we dream about?

 

 

In my experience yes. But it's not easy and it only works from time to time. Most dreams can be attributed to what has happened in the day, be it places, people or feelings.

[Alcoblog 10]

Dreams are mainly bought on by the brain's dendrites, axons and neurons squabbling over left over bits of food, under the watchful eye of the referee (or hypothalamus as most of us would know it) whilst it too isn't that busy doing it's hypophysis stuff due to the brain's owner being asleep.

 

Marmite sandwiches (brain food) are best for dreams as, contrary to popular conception, all rational and sentient lifeforms love it.

As such, based upon this fact, it is possible, using the Marmite scenario, to 'think' of what you want to dream about, simply by bribing the above with a tasty tablespoon of the exotic brown delicacy shortly before retiring to bedfordshire.

 

Foods such as squid, muesli, caviar, pac choi and cabbage will produce the exact opposite in as much as the brain hates this sort of poisonous rubbish and will repay in nightmares.

 

Anything in between is hit and miss really … cat's been eaten by an aeroplane, exploding bicycles, new world order based upon whelk mythology, tele-kinetic loft insulation … mundane sorta stuff along those lines.

 

Personally, I don't dream, probably due to being on a diet.

[joojoo 13]

Some years after my father died I dreamt that I had parked in Atkinson's car park and was walking down the steps to the shop and my father was walking up.

 

He deliberately ignored me. I was shocked to the core and ran after him. I caught up with and said "Dad, Dad what are you doing here?" he said "Oh hello babe, can't stop I'm in a rush," and he hurried away. I woke up immediately

 

I was shaken, but, oh it was so lovely to "see" him again.

[Anna B 1,401]

I do quite a bit of lucid dreaming, usually in the early morning hours when i'm due to wake up anyway..

 

What i dream about the most is being somewhere really high and daring myself to jump, or i'll be on a ledge and then i'm on my stomach crawling because i'm too scared to look over the edge! I hate them dreams but i'd love to know what they mean (IF they mean anything)

 

Oh and i dream A LOT about losing my two front teeth! Someone once told me that's vanity but i'm really not a vain person, i do clench my teeth sometimes during sleep so i think it's that..

 

If it's a lucid dream you'd be able to tell yourself to jump off and fly, and you'd really enjoy it.

 

I often dream I'm flying, but the funny thing is I can only fly about 6 feet off the ground.

 

---------- Post added 31-08-2016 at 19:54 ----------

 

I sometimes fall asleep while watching TV, and whatever's on TV is incorporated into a dream, but never in a normal/obvious way. Had some very odd ones in the early hours of the morning, during the Olympics.

[GLASGOWOODS 10]

Yes I know I have some random thoughts.

 

But is it possible to 'think' about something when drifting off to sleep, which subsequently 'prompts' a dream on that subject?

 

I all honesty, I rarely remember the subject of my dreams, or they fade quickly after waking. But as I've got a little older, my dreams seem to get more intense, and I remember a bit more of them. I certainly know if they've been 'nice' dreams or 'awful' ones.

 

Anyone any thoughts?

 

Always been able to do this.

 

If I wanna fly in my dreams, I will. I can wake up from a dream to use the bog, then return to bed and carry on the dream where I left off.

 

It's all good fun.

 

---------- Post added 01-09-2016 at 01:42 ----------

 

Whilst we are speaking of dreams, the one that wakes me up, every time I get it which is fortunately rare, is the 'falling' dream. It literally makes you feel like you are falling and in my case it is usually related to heights in urban areas (like the top of a roof). I believe this is due to being on top of an apartment building that my grandparents lived in in Amsterdam and peaking over the edge and nearly losing my footing and toppling forward.

 

An interpretation that makes sense is the sense of losing control is taking over. I frequently had that sense whilst doing my PhD and haven't had a falling dream since I submitted.

 

The more interesting aspect of that is that I do actually believe in dream interpretation (to a degree). A week before taking my dog to the vet, because I discovered a small tumour I dreamed I lost my front tooth. Go to the vet, the dog is indeed dying (but still here the tough bugger!).

 

---------- Post added 31-08-2016 at 14:05 ----------

 

 

Yep, to an extend. I once had a really vivid one where I designed a house in my dream. The following morning I drew it out on paper and it was pretty much spot on.

 

This is quite a common one for me. Also being chased by demons I seem to be running on the same spot and not going anywhere.

[Chelle-82 10]

If it's a lucid dream you'd be able to tell yourself to jump off and fly, and you'd really enjoy it.

 

I often dream I'm flying, but the funny thing is I can only fly about 6 feet off the ground.

 

---------- Post added 31-08-2016 at 19:54 ----------

 

I sometimes fall asleep while watching TV, and whatever's on TV is incorporated into a dream, but never in a normal/obvious way. Had some very odd ones in the early hours of the morning, during the Olympics.

 

I dont tell myself to jump!!! i tell myself to wake up and i do... i dont want to jump

[spilldig 188]

So are we saying it's possible to actively 'choose' what we dream about?

 

---------- Post added 31-08-2016 at 13:56 ----------

 

 

I think a lot of people might prefer 'not' to have that option. Could get people into all sorts of 'bother'.

 

---------- Post added 31-08-2016 at 13:58 ----------

 

 

Hmmmm...I think I'm too much of a deep sleeper to even contemplate doing that. Either that or I've got a lousy memory.

 

Yes it would probably be advisable to view the video yourself if it were possible to do it. Lol. The trouble is I can't really remember the dreams for long after.

[cressida 1,553]

I have dreamt many times that I was flying, not lately though.

 

I dreamt I saw an old tramp on a bridge, then I saw him in the flesh a few weeks later, not seen him since.

 

I can wake myself up if I don't like the dream, and have once gone back to a dream.

[Anna B 1,401]

I dont tell myself to jump!!! i tell myself to wake up and i do... i dont want to jump

 

Oh dear It sounds as if I'm urging you to throw yourself off... I didn't want you to jump per se, I wanted you to be able to fly! You can think yourself into it with Lucid dreaming.

 

Flying is quite a common dream I believe.... but now I think about it, so is falling. Oh dear....

[Bob Arctor 11]

I'd be interested to know the reason for dreams. Do they have a biological purpose?

 

In studies they have repeatedly woken people before they enter dream sleep and then monitored them following night, when those people have entered dream sleep significantly more often than average, so it seems the brain needs to dream and will compensate if prevented from doing so.

[Futures Red 11]

Yes I know I have some random thoughts.

 

But is it possible to 'think' about something when drifting off to sleep, which subsequently 'prompts' a dream on that subject?

 

I all honesty, I rarely remember the subject of my dreams, or they fade quickly after waking. But as I've got a little older, my dreams seem to get more intense, and I remember a bit more of them. I certainly know if they've been 'nice' dreams or 'awful' ones.

 

Anyone any thoughts?

 

Firstly, you can't think without thinking.

 

Thinking is either conscious or unconscious. In terms of dreams, it's your unconscious mind giving you symbolic gestures as to what's possibly going on in your life, whether this is in your awareness or out of your awareness.

 

Certainly it's possible to programme your dreams because this is being able to use your conscious mind to make positive suggestions to your unconscious mind, therefore you dream about it... this is a great sign you can work really well with your mind to make positive change.

 

The fact you find your dreams get more intense as you get older really signifies the strengthening of your ability to use your mind and conscious and unconscious alignment.