I have always been someone who dreams a lot.
The majority of those dreams are very vivid and detailed, but when I wake up all I’m left with is something vague and hard to grasp, like a colour, or a sense of happy anticipation, or a slight discomfort in my stomach.
The only way I can think of describing them is ‘bubble dreams’. Trying to remember exactly what they are about is like trying to catch a bubble – you watch it falling and you can see slightly distorted reflections that almost look like reality… but not quite.
You reach out and you can almost grasp it in your hand… but then it bursts, and it’s gone.
For as long as I can remember I’ve also gone through spells where I have the same dream over and over again. Not every night, but certainly once or twice a week for a period of months.
When I was a teenager it was always flying. Nothing too dramatic – no soaring into the sky or gliding over canyons – just a wee swoosh around the room and and a shimmy around the cornicing. I was always terribly disappointed to wake up and discover that my new-found skill wasn’t real.
In my early twenties I remember two distinct periods of recurring dreams. They weren’t nightmares, but there was definitely a faint feeling of something menacing in them. In one dream I would always be walking along a hotel corridor looking for my room, and I’d be unable to find it. My room number wouldn’t exist and I’d have to keep walking and walking. Eventually I’d break into a run, but I’d never find the room I was looking for. In the other dream I’d be in a free-falling lift, overwhelmed with dread and fear, but I’d always wake up with a jolt just before impact.
I’m going through another spell of recurring dreams just now. They vary slightly, but the central theme is always that I am inside a house, having to pack in a hurry to get out of there. I have a vague sense of some external threat – sometimes there are helicopters outside, or people shouting – so I hurry to throw things into a bag, and find myself having to choose between possessions that are precious to me. I always seem to wake up before I actually have to leave the house.
I am not heavily into dream analysis, but I’ve always imagined my dreams as being like an internal filing system. It’s my brain’s way of putting people and places and experiences in the right drawers, so that I can pull them out again in future if I need to.
I hope that my subconscious sleeping self hurries up and gets this whole ‘packing in a hurry’ thing shoved away into the appropriate drawer.
It’s not a big deal, but the flying and the bubbles are a lot more fun.
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What are your experiences with dreams? Do you have regular recurring dreams too? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Dorkymum | Stories from Tasmania 
I expect you’re not unwinding enough at the end of the day? I have a recurring dream when I’m stressed about having to pack a suitcase and get to a plane / train / ferry – all versions – and there’s too much stuff and not enough time. Hate it. Bubbles and flying sound much more fun. And I do sometimes get clairvoyant dreams where I see the future – like I’m watching a cinema screen but that’s only a couple of times a year. Now they’re interesting! X
Ooh, I don’t know. I feel fairly unwound… although I’d like to read more and watch less TV. Your clairvoyant dreams sound fascinating – my Mum has spookily predictive ones sometimes too. I should put you in touch, see if you can dream the winning lottery numbers for me… xx
I absolutely love that bubble picture – and that analogy. I’m a fairly, serene contented soul in the day, but have the most hideous, violent dreams often involving my teeth swelling up and tumbling out plus murderers, monsters, airborne pursuits. Never liked to query what this says about my pysche!
Ooh, yikes! We can’t be held responsible for what goes on in our heads at night, thank goodness…
What an amazing picture!
I think you’re right that dreams are your subconscious way of dealing with issues – though these dram analysis websites often seem to make the weakest connections between subject and meaning!
May I say I loved your BritMums Keynote, and I love your accent and the fact that you say “wee” – have you thought about doing podcasts of your blogs?!
Thanks for coming over and commenting! My son went through a phase of being obsessed with bubbles, so I took lots of photos 🙂
Thanks for the BritMums love – it was a lot of fun to do. My accent is a bit bonkers – too many influences – and I always cringe when I hear it, so definitely no podcasts! xx
I have never had a flying dream. I am jealous. Instead mine is that my teeth are falling out. They get more and more wobbly and then just go. But oddly, always regrow, which makes me feel a bit better. Haha.
Oooh, that’s interesting. I’m sure teeth are meant to mean something significant, but I’m buggered if I can remember what it is! I haven’t had a flying one in years 😦
I find my dreams often reflect what I’m going through during my waking hours, so if I’m stressed with work then I’ll dream about that – but magnified so it’s ten times worse. When I was pregnant I used to have REALLY vivid dreams and would often wake myself up shouting or talking. I’ve even had conversations with my husband when I’ve been asleep! The worst ones though, are the ones where I have a row with my husband or he’s done something terrible, like have an affair. It’s so real that I wake up in a terrible mood with him and it tends to last much of the day – he’s now used to it. Poor man.
Oh it’s terrible isn’t it – even though you know they’re only dreams, they can really set the mood for the day, sometimes very unfairly. Did you have really vivid ones just after giving birth too? I used to wake up clutching my pillow in a complete panic that I’d smothered DorkySon, or lost him in the sheets somewhere. Our poor, addled, hormonal minds 😦 xx
Lovely post. Very interesting the theme of your dreams …. As part of my job I sometimes do dream work with clients. Those dreams where we fear there is something threatening us might be a sign that there is an emotion, eg anger, or experience we havent fully let in yet. Nothing to fear with this. It actually implies potential. Carl Jung named those parts of our personality we havent fully acknowledged yet ‘the shadow ‘- and there is great potential in this … so your unconscious is working out ways to let whatever is lurking there in and integrate it into your personality. Dreams do so much fascinating work around this, so much so, that often we can just sit back and let them do much of the emotional work for us. Keep a dream diary, its fun, and jot down signifcant dreams and you may begin to see a story unfold.
Oooh, this is all fascinating. Let’s find a quiet corner with a glass of wine at the next BritMums and talk dreams shall we?! xx
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