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    JoannaB

    Trying on Names Like Hats (Dream Fragments)

    2 Comments
    by
    JoannaB
    , 03-11-2013 at 07:12 AM (649 Views)
    In this dream I was alternating names, sort of trying them on for size, like hats (I thought in hindsight, though sadly, no actual hats in this dream before waking up, which is a shame). They were mostly old family names, like my relatives maiden names, or names of close friends of the family.

    This dream was all about self-identity, and I just know that part of why I dreamed it was because before going to sleep I tried to respond toa thread on dreamviews about changing gender in dreams. I say tried because I had server failed errors, so I do not know whether I actually did respond to that thread or not.

    I also had some difficulty breathing in this dream, probably due to having a lot of congestion in real life, and hat raised the anxiety level in this dream.

    Of course, given my struggles with myself lately and throughout life, anxiety about self-identity is not an unusual theme for me. Who am I? I am the one who is full of contradictions, and that's ok.

    I think the fact that these were old family names is significant: I am aware that part of what makes me me is my family history, the women who came before me, who changed their names in marriage to redefine ourselves.
    CanisLucidus likes this.

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    Updated 03-11-2013 at 07:14 AM by 61501

    Categories
    non-lucid , dream fragment , side notes

    Comments

    1. Darkmatters's Avatar
      Interesting - and I just saw a post on the board where you said waking was difficult - was that fom this dream? It sounds like it was an NREM dream - what kind of visuals were there? Was it like a typical REM dream, you know - like a movie, or was it just a stream of thoughts with maybe some visual pattern or image? When you wake from NREM it's difficult and you're dazed and confused. I've sometimes had NREM dreams where I'm just reciting a song or part of a song or thinking in words alone, with maybe a still image or series of still images like a slideshow.
    2. JoannaB's Avatar
      Darkmatters, no this was not the dream where I had difficulty waking up, that came later. This trying on names dream was in my first sleep cycle in the night. It was a REM dream for sure: I remember there were visuals and there may have even been a bit of a story line. By the time I wrote it down though I had forgotten most details.

      I find that most of my dreams in my dream journal nowadays are from first sleep cycle. It's like I go to bed determined to remember a dream, and so I do, but then my mind decides that it has delivered me what I wanted and does not need to do it again that night. My first dream cycle dreams tend to be very short. I call them dream fragments, but it is as if there are two types and I conflate them: (1) some dream fragments I know there was more to them but all that I remember is snippets, like this one, and those tend to be REM I think; but (2) I also have a lot of dreamlets that are maybe just a question and a response (Is seasonal hunting cruel? No.) and those I think are complete memories but I tend to call them dream fragments because there is so little to them, and those I think are usually NREM dreams.

      My trouble waking up today was from the last sleep cycle. I did not remember any dream then, and I was so groggy that I bet My alarm clock must have woken me up from deep sleep phase of my dream cycle. No fun.

      I have been really enjoying my dreams, the ones I remember. They tend to have a lot of meaning for me in them, and it's as if my mind is really taking full advantage of dreams nowadays to work out issues and give me a crash course into the inner working of my psyche - not that I understand it yet and I doubt i ever fully will, but I am enjoying what I am discovering.