Quirky Behavior and Gestures

Eiwe (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

   
      A recent dream reminded me of peculiar images that sometimes occur in my sleep life.  These images involve odd mannerisms that certain dream characters may display during the sequences in which I am involved with them.   This can include various ways of walking or moving, facial expressions, or other outward physical manifestations.

       In the specific example that I am thinking of, I have been having a very long complex dream that involves many situations and characters.  I don't remember anything about the dream except for one particular image...

      At one point my wife is talking to me in a very animated fashion.  She seems very happy and is smiling as she is talking.  While she speaks, she has her open hands in front of her face, palms toward her face and backs of hands toward me.  Her hands are moving together in a rapid circular motion as though tracing the the circumference of her facial circle.  She continues to move her hands in such fashion while cheerfully speaking in an ebullient manner...

     Thinking back I can recall having other dreams where characters will make gestures or move in such ways that seem out of character with how they are in waking life or, if they are dream strangers, the movements are comical, puzzling, or just plain weird.  Unfortunately I cannot offhand recall any specific examples from my own dreams, but the dreams are not uncommon for me to have.

        I remember when I was a very young child, my younger sister told me of a dream that she had that in a sense fits in this category...

        There were funny looking men dressed in Scottish-looking outfits.  They have apples on their heads.  One of them is holding another by his arms and spinning around.  Another says, "Don't swing me around, swing me around"...

         My sister says she woke up laughing and was laughing when she told me about the dream.  We were probably about six and five years old at the time.  The oddness of the dream and the way my sister related it to me has caused me to remember the dream to this day.

        I've heard other people relate this type of a dream as well so I think it's probably a fairly common archetypal image.

        Have you ever had a dream where characters act in unusual and unexpected ways?     What quirky dream behavior can you remember?   Did you find the behavior to be funny or frightening?

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