topic Are dreams affecting you? Does troubled sleep impact on your daily life? How are dreams viewed in your cultural background or your country of origin? in Multicultural experiences

Are dreams affecting you? Does troubled sleep impact on your daily life? How are dreams viewed in your cultural background or your country of origin?

Donte — Thu, 26 Apr 2018 21:39:06 GMT

This morning I woke up from a dream which affected my mood.

Since I was 2yo I’ve had nightmares, talk in my sleep, sleepwalk at times, and experience sleep paralysis and night terrors.

Often it’s the same repetitive dream that many therapists have described as an existential anxiety and reflection of abandonment fears.

What I’d like to discuss in this thread is how dreams and interrupted sleeping or lack of sleep or bad quality sleep, affect our moods and pave the way for mental disturbance that can affect everything else we do throughout the day.

Thoughts, concentration, ability to focus and complete tasks etc could be affected negatively if we haven’t slept well.

My cultural background seems to favor dreams and interpreting them and many people in my country of origin believe that there is some message that dreams bring us or some kind of otherworldly connection or even an engagement with some aspect of the afterlife and/or angels, god and demons and people that have passed on.

Many read their coffee cup or tea leaves and tarot and follow their horoscope together with talking about their dreams, awaiting some message from a dream to be revealed to them etc.

I grew up hearing people around me often telling others the dreams they had. Describing details and wanting others to interpret them.

There are common notions that seem to be acceptable by most in regards to what certain things indicate in your dreams.

For example, most Greek people who believe that dreams are something more than just our brains saving, processing, deleting, uploading and downloading information based on feelings, emotions, thoughts, situations and experiences we have had throughout the day, they’d agree that if you see food in your dream it means unsettlement or issues; if you loose a tooth in your dream, you’ll be faced with illness etc.

Beyond the superstitious nature or these interpretations, many justify their beliefs by bringing examples from the Bible. Many verses talk about god revealing themselves through dreams to announce certain events or warn people about something. Prophecy itself is pretty similar in nature. The person becomes the vessel, the messenger to pass on information about something, given by a higher power.

Despite certain beliefs about dreams and interpretations, the fact remains that dreams often affect us.

I’d like to hear how dreams are viewed in your culture and how they may affect your moods, mental health and your hours you spend while awake.

Are dreams affecting you? Does troubled sleep impact on your daily life? How are dreams viewed in your cultural background or your country of origin?

Guest_1584 — Fri, 27 Apr 2018 15:38:08 GMT

Hiya dont.

TBH , l hate dreams , all except for sexy ones.

l really do and thankfully l don't dream much because the keep me away later, they creep me out, disturb my sleep , and this last few years l've had a hard enough time as it is you know , so l don't need my own mind effg with me the one time l do finally get to switch off you know. l just prefer pure blisses of nothingness when l finally get to sleep, the more of nothing the better haha.

Here as you probably know , many believe in things , many don't. But for myself lc an honestly say l've only ever had one dream my whole life that added up to anything at all and l'm not even sure that one did anyway tbh.

tHE rest haven't ended up meaning one thing , not one iota , or warning , or anything, ever and me l'm sorta really pleased about that myself . l do get premonitions within life and about life and things will happen , but only during awake time thank God.

all the best , rx

Are dreams affecting you? Does troubled sleep impact on your daily life? How are dreams viewed in your cultural background or your country of origin?

Donte — Fri, 27 Apr 2018 22:09:04 GMT

Hello Randomx,

Thank you for sharing your experience in regards to dreams and how they affect/interfere with sleep pattern which then affects mood and our sense of well-being.

I also enjoy those restful nights where there’s no dreams and just a sweet nothing that is undisturbed.

I tend to remember my dreams overall and I dream often.

I don’t believe that dreams mean anything or that are messages or warnings etc even though I find the process of dreaming fascinating. I’m leaning more towards the opinion that our brain processes things when the conscious mind is rested during sleep.

I do get affected though (mood wise) by certain dreams. Sometimes in a good way, other times negatively. Often I’ve been scared and feel panic when I have nightmares or night terrors.

Since childhood I’ve been having one particular, repetitive dream when some tall figure like a shadow just stands bext to my bed looking down at me while I sleep. I always wake up screaming or sweating and suffocating and unable to sleep. Usually happens when I sleep on my back. I have come to understand it’s related to sleep paralysis. I often feel pretty lousy the next day.

Another dream that comforts me and makes feel good and that all will be ok is each time I dream of my grandma. She always made me feel secure while alive and I still get the same feeling when her memory pops up in my sleep.

Maybe one of the disturbing elements in the process of dreaming is the unknown; and a sense of not having control of what we will dream and when; and if we will remember afterwards; and the effects of this. We become sort of like observers in a script that involves us directly and yet, we cannot do much about it apart from going with it until it ends.

I remember years ago, when my daughter was a toddler, and she was holidaying in Greece with her mother while I had stayed home here in Australia. I woke up with the radio alarm and the news about a devastating earthquake that had hit Athens, where they were staying. Prior to that moment, I had a dream that all three of us were in a fishing boat and my daughter fell in the water! I jumped in the sea to get her but couldn’t find her anywhere. I was surrounded with bubbles and was desperately swimming underwater to look for her. That was the moment the news woke me up! I freaked out and panicked. Was trying to get a hold of my wife on the phone but all the lines were down. It took me half a day before making contact.

Interesting how our brains work.

Are dreams affecting you? Does troubled sleep impact on your daily life? How are dreams viewed in your cultural background or your country of origin?

quirkywords — Fri, 27 Apr 2018 22:29:15 GMT

Donate,

Thanks for this thread. I am restless sleeper and I dream a lot.

I think it may be related. I wake up a lot in the night.

I have such vivid dreams that even when I wake up in the morning , I can still feel the emotions and usually they are negative ones. I know it was a dream but the feelings are so strong I can feel quite upset for a while . Maybe a bit like how you feel after your repitive dream.

Dreams are supposed to be our way of processing our subconscious thoughts well my subsconcious must be a tangled mess! I even write down what I remember form dreams and they are fragments and make no sense.

I also have a repetitive dream well a few mainly about going for an exam I have not studied for, or nor handing essays in on time, or similar themes. they are so frustrating and its many many decades since I first studied and had a chaotic time studying due to my bipolar.

Obviously at the back of my mind I still have worries about this experience.

I think I do try to find meaning because in my culture/religion dreams often foretell the future or have some meaning.

I wish i knew a way to stop having such vivid dreams that upsets me the next day? Any ideas?

Quirky

Are dreams affecting you? Does troubled sleep impact on your daily life? How are dreams viewed in your cultural background or your country of origin?

Donte — Sat, 28 Apr 2018 17:14:04 GMT

Hello Quirkywords,

Here I am at 3am reading threads and responding to posts! I totally understand where you are coming from.

I usually wake up around 3.30- 3am and cannot sleep until 6 or 7 which is the time I need to get up for work!

Today I was so ‘hypo’ as I was still affected by last night's dream that even though I was exhausted, I ended up cleaning the whole apartment, washing, changing sheets and turning mattresses around and rearranging wardrobes, washing blankets etc. On top of that I ended up grooming a dog for a few hours. So, my house is all over the place and so is my mind!

I keep super busy and run on adrenaline it seems, in an automatic pilot, if you know what I mean. I’m so tired that I cannot sleep.

That feeling or sense that we are left with after some dreams is like the silage of a perfume in a lift or corridor, or the pupkus on our car’s window after our puppy has licked it. - It follows. It lingers on. It affect us.

The dreams that you often have and make you feel that you’re not good enough or prepared or ready could reflect some self-belief you may have or something others have installed in you.

I’m not sure how you could minimize the impact or stop seeing vivid dreams altogether. Perhaps some psychotherapy or counseling may help.

I know that when I eat late or drink more than usual, I often get unsettling dreams. Writing the dreams down when you first wake up sounds like a good strategy! I might start doing the same.

I try to walk daily, swim a couple of times a week, go to hydrotherapy and enjoy some relaxation and practice mindfulness and meditation. I think anything that works for you as long as your mind can be calm and relaxed and easy for sleep.

Heat in the bedroom is also bad I find. I try to leave the bedroom window a bit open for oxygen.

Wondering if others suffer due to disturbed sleep and dreams.

What do you do? What would be the traditional metgid of dealing with itgis issue that is culturally appropriate?

My eyes are now closing. I might try to get some sleep before the rooster craws! X

Are dreams affecting you? Does troubled sleep impact on your daily life? How are dreams viewed in your cultural background or your country of origin?

Donte — Sun, 26 Aug 2018 08:46:12 GMT

I was in such a deep sleep and saw my late partner crying and I kissed him on the lips so sweetly it felt really real...so many tears wetting me... we were up on a hill and he was wearing his checked purple/blue shirt and a scarf. He was just returning from somewhere and found out news about me moving and was really upset; I should have told him. Then I woke up with the sound of heavy rain coming thoroughly window... Fell asleep with all the windows open .