Dream a little dream

One of my coworkers and I often share the things we dream about, especially when they are oddly work related. He has dreamt he had two mountain lines perching on his chest. "It was uncomfortable, but not unbearable," he said. I suggested perhaps his two part-time jobs were weighing down on him.

Most of the time, however, our dreams are a lot more obvious. We both work at a newspaper, which is a deadline driven business so maybe it's not unusual that we both have the same recurring dream. In mine, I am back at school, most often at Gilroy High School, and I suddenly realize that I have missed a class all semester and I have a final or major project coming due. The class is almost always a math class, but once in awhile it is a photography class. The dream just kind of goes around in circles with me thinking I need to get the project/final done, but not really doing anything to get it done. A lot of times in my dream I am semi-aware that I am dreaming.


My coworker has the same dream, and yes, his missed class is often math (we are both not very good with numbers.) He said he doesn't think he stresses about deadlines, but maybe he does subconsciously.

Dreams are a weird thing and that was reiterated by an article on nightmares I read in a November issue of the "New Yorker." According to the article, 20 percent of people have lucid dreams, where they are aware that they are dreaming and have some control over their dreams. And through the years people report differently whether they dream in color or black and white. One expert in the article said dreams are probably more like sketches, and when we wake up our brains fill in all the dimension and color details. My own dreams seem to be in color, and sometimes they are lucid - at least I think they are.


The article was interesting because some of the researchers who are treating people who suffer from extreme nightmares are not trying to figure out what triggers them or what might be the root cause - instead they are trying to teach people how to control what they dream about. They have the patients practice visualizing dream scenarios in the day where they change the scary or disturbing elements into more benign imagery. They are having some success.


I can understand that happening since I will often have dreams that are seem to relate to something I watched or read before bed. A few weeks ago, I watched a video of a friend's baby on Facebook before going to bed. That night I dreamt about babysitting him and that he wouldn't stop crying. I couldn't wait for his dad to pick him up. And a few months ago when I chatted with a guy I sort of have a crush on before bed, I dreamt about him that night. The dream basically clarified that I was unsure if he reciprocated the feelings.

When I reconnected with someone I knew in college while I studied in Ireland, I dreamt about him. I tried to get him to eat jelly bellies and let me borrow his car to drive around Ireland. I don't really get the jelly bellies, but maybe borrowing his car just has to do with my desire to take a vacation in Ireland someday.

I try not to analyze my dreams too much, but it is funny to swap stories about the most odd ones with my friends and coworker. And lucky for me, the nightmares are few and far between lately.