Wake Up Call

Richwood is situated on both sides of a valley located in the Appalachian Mountains. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

        Sometimes I wake up from sleep remembering the dream I have been having without that dream seeming to be any reason for my awakening.   However on some occasions a dream will specifically appear to wake me up.   Usually something in the dream has scared me into wakefulness.  There have been times when my awakening is due to something special about the dream such as certain words that have been spoken, a particular idea that has been conveyed, a person who has special significance, or a dream event that stimulates my mind causing me to wake up.

         These dream wake up calls frequently result in an inability to go back to sleep for a period of time. They are dreams that might wake me up and cause me to stay awake thinking about them.  Typically there will be deep significance concerning the dream message that has been delivered in whatever form it has been sent.   Apparently there is a need for my conscious mind to attempt to decipher what the dream mind has told me.  Much of the time I end up staying awake for some period of time and pondering the dream or mind writing a dream ending to the story in order to have resolution in order to peacefully return to sleep or get out of bed to begin functioning in the world of wakefulness.

Here's a recent example of a "wake up call dream":

         There is a long involved sequence of going places and encountering many people in different situations.  Eventually I am in the cab of a sort of truck with my father driving.   We are apparently in Kentucky in a rural Appalachian type area.  My father drives very erratically and I am somewhat nervous about his driving. We seem to be looking for somebody or going to pick someone up.   We reach an interstate that we are supposed to travel north on.   My father enters the cloverleaf ramp onto the freeway at too high a speed.  Our surroundings become a white blur as we round the loop.   We find ourselves on a somewhat narrow country road that becomes more narrow we proceed and then eventually turns to gravel.  We know we've taken a wrong turn and are now on the wrong road.

         Then the truck is gone and we are walking on what is basically a somewhat wide gravel trail.   We turn around to go back to where we had been.  We come to a willy nilly house with various porches and doors.  The house is not particularly old or run down, but it's not overly nice or sophisticated looking.  Country folk live here.  In front of one door I see a malformed youngish dwarflike human writhing on the ground wearing something similar to a Confederate soldier uniform.  A frightening looking middle-aged man dressed in overalls comes out to confront me.  Behind him I see what I take to be other family members--his wife and kids.  They all have a swarthy appearance that suggest to me that they might be of indigenous American ancestry.  They all look mean, angry, and unwelcoming.

          I tell my father to keep walking.  I stay to deal with the man whom I find very threatening.  I am very afraid of what may happen.  In my fear I wake up.

         Once awake I found that I was unable to go back to sleep.  My mind was absorbed by the circumstances of the dream causing me to feel uncomfortable.  As I lay awake I began to imagine the dream scenario as I played out what the outcome of the dream encounter might have been.  In my imagination I began having a conversation with the man.  I asked if the small person in the uniform was his son and he confirmed that it was.  Then I continued to discuss other things that I now don't remember.  Eventually we were having an almost pleasant conversation.  I smiled at the man and a trace of a smile seemed to appear somewhere in his scary countenance.

          As my wakened mind finished out the story to a more amenable conclusion, my mental state became more relaxed to a point that was more conducive to sleep.   A lingering awareness that I had been afraid cast a pall upon my mind, but I was able to go to sleep feeling that the threat of the dream had been diminished and probably dismissed for the most part.

       Various dream events and images can sometimes awaken us to leave us in a state of discomfiture, paranoia, or even terror.   We may lie awake or have to get out of bed to do some activity that will distract us from our thoughts.  The result may often be a restless night of sleeplessness or sleep deprivation.  Perhaps the best thing to do is immediately confront the dream issues and resolve them to the best of our ability in order to remove the distraction from our mind.

         Have you ever been awakened by scary, puzzling, or even good dreams that have caused an inability to go back to sleep?    What dream people have caused you to wake up and think about them for an extended period?    Have there been any ponderables (such as things you are concerned about, forgot to do, or need to plan on doing in the future or anything else that causes enough fretting to interfere with sleep) that have notably awakened you from your dreams?

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Wake Up, Go to Sleep, Wake Up, Go to Sleep...

Insomnia (Photo credit: schnappischnap)

          Do you ever have those crazy nights where sleep is fitful?   I can probably answer with confidence that you have.  I know I have on occasion, but fortunately those restless nights of sleep don't happen too often.

          Usually those sporadic nights of sleep are related to some sort of discomfort such as having to urinate overly frequently, sickness, hunger, or feelings of distress.   For me the wake/sleep cycles may be accompanied by dreams, but this doesn't always seem to be the case.  Or at least there are times when the dreams are not remembered if they are present.

          On the other hand there are some nights when the dreams seem to interrupt the sleep and I return to the same dream after the waking incident.  I will awaken and ponder my dream, wondering about it, trying to work it out in my mind.  I return to sleep and the dream returns.  It may happen several times throughout the night.  Sometimes it's like a vexing annoyance while at others it is a continuing saga of mystery and curiosity.

          Those kinds of nights are usually tiring.  I awaken feeling like sleeping more, but knowing that I must get up.  If there were dreams during the night that I remember they might haunt me through out the day.  These are undoubtedly dreams with messages.  But what are they telling me?

         Then again, maybe there are no messages.  Perhaps the dreams are merely reflections of mental or physical states.    Whatever they are, they can be sometimes extremely annoying.

       What causes you to have nights of fitful sleep?   Do you experience them very often?    What kinds of dreams do you usually have when you have fitful nights of dreams that you remember?

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The Wake Up Code

Coat of arms of Serbia (Photo credit: thivierr)

        In my previous post I described a dreaming incident during which I awoke from a dream and then returned to sleep to continue the same dream scenario.  During this dream situation I was having what was not a particularly unpleasant dream in a setting that brought me a good feeling.  According to my observation of the hours on my alarm clock, the second dream segment lasted about 27 minutes.

        I woke up about a minute prior to when the alarm would be going off.   Interestingly something odd happened in the dream that was almost like a prompt for me to wake up.  Within the dream I heard some words spoken that seemed to be my wake up call.   Let me describe the latter moments of the dream and the words I heard spoken.

       Towards the end of my dream I am in the same theater where I have been throughout the dream sessions.    I go looking around the theater environment to find myself to be in what seems to be a sort of shopping mall.   From the backstage area I look out into this mall-like place to see food establishments and various other businesses that are not necessarily stores, but more like professional offices and service businesses.   There are some people milling about and sitting on benches, but the place is not very crowded.  In fact the place does not look busy at all.
   
     As my eyes scan the scene before me I see uncertain places that somewhat confuse me as to where I am.  I look behind me to see that the theater is still there.   I am apprehensive about venturing out into the alien environment outside of the theater.  I look for a bathroom.  I look for some of my fellow cast members and people I had been with previously.  I look into dressing rooms and other rooms that are in the backstage area.

        Either from someone around me or within my mind I hear a voice say "Hospitality was always the source of the finest days of Serbia."

      Upon hearing this I immediately wake up to see that the alarm is about to go off.  I puzzle over the final declaration I heard in my dream.  What did it mean?   Was is a code designating that it was time for me to wake up?

       Do we have prompts that cue us that it is time to leave a dream and awaken from sleep?   Have you ever received a strange or nonsensical statement in a dream that left you puzzled after you awakened?   Do you think these types of messages are cryptic codes that are saying something to us?   What do you think the message I received meant?  

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Returning to the Scene of the Dream

 "Midsummer Nights Dream Act IV Scene I--A wood - " (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

       Previous posts have discussed topics related to ongoing dream topics throughout a night's sleep and the déjà vu experience in dreams.  But what about a brief jump back into a dream prior to completely waking from a sleep session.  Specifically I would be referring to the short span when we might awaken from a dream to discover that we still have a few more minutes of sleep time that we can resume before we intend to leave the sleep activity and we return to sleep and to the same dream we were previously having.

       An example is a recent dream experience that I had.  I had been dreaming an intricate dream that seemed very long and involved.  As with so many of my dreams I was dreaming about being on the road with a traveling theatrical production.  The principle players in this dream were my brother and his wife and their daughter and her husband.  There were also unremembered/unidentified persons who may have been family members, friends, or people from my past road tours.

       Like in many dreams of this nature I am confused about my job, there are issues about time, I am having certain conflicts with others in the dream, I am uncertain as to where I am or where I am going next, and many other situations which give me a certain amount of consternation.  However, despite all of these elements there is a certain element of pleasure and positive feeling about the dream.   This is possibly due to the dream players on one hand and the dream setting or situation on the other.  I am with people with whom I feel comfortable and in an occupational setting that brings me good memories.  I overlook the turmoil welling within me because I am happy to be there.

         Then I awaken.  I look at the clock to see that it is 5:01--29 minutes before the alarm is to go off.  I get out of bed to go to the bathroom.  I briefly consider staying up and going to my computer.  Instead I decide to go back to bed to see if I can go back to sleep until the alarm goes off.   The clock now reads 5:02.  I close my eyes and immediately return to sleep.   I return to the same dream setting that I was in before I woke up.

       For the next twenty seven minutes I sleep and dream in the same vein of the dream I had been having.  I am in the same settings with the same cast of dream players and experiencing the same sense of uncertainty and consternation.  It's okay and all is well until I awaken once more.  The clock now reads 5:29.  I get out of bed to wake up my wife.

      Since the dream was a relatively good one for me, I wanted to return to the dream to continue being in the experience of it.   Despite an underlying tension in the dream, I felt comfortable being there and was more than willing to return to the dream after the first awakening.  This type of thing has happened to me before, but not with regularity.  And in this particular case the event was more pronounced when I look back upon it.  Though there did not seem to be a conscious effort on my part to make this happen, it all seemed to occur very naturally.

        As an addendum to this, my final awakening was interesting in itself and rather curious.  The way I woke up will be the topic of my next post as I discuss "The Wake Up Code".

        Do you ever return to dreams that have been comfortable or pleasant?   If so is this something you do willfully?   Or often?   Are you able to will lucid dreams?

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Wait Just A Doggone Minute! Huh?

in between wakefulness & sleep (Photo credit: JAZEL KRISTIN)

          In my previous post I discussed how we can sometimes wake up from a dream feeling confused and disoriented.  The dreamer might take some time reentering the waking world not fully understanding surroundings or circumstances.   As the dreamer leaves the subconscious dream state he may cling to the dream as that which is familiar at that moment and be unwilling to accept the world of wakefulness.

          Likewise, someone who may be in the company of the waking dreamer may be equally startled or confused by the waker's behavior.  A sleep partner may be awakened by the waking dreamer's erratic actions or, if awake already, find the waking dreamer to be a curiosity and even at times frightening or amusing.  

         The waking dreamer may also rise in a semi-conscious state and enter into the presence of another or others who are awake.  This can be disconcerting, annoying, or funny depending on the circumstance.  The scream in the night that rouses others to the dreamer's bedside can also occur, especially in the case of children who have had nightmares.

          Stephen T. McCarthy's comment in the previous post sums it up nicely:  "Huh?"  Waking from the dream and taking that experience into the waking world can be very confusing to everyone involved.

           Here's a funny story that my mother used to tell about my father.  This occurred when I was a baby.  I was the first child in my family.   My parents, still in their twenties, were living in an apartment in Cleveland, Ohio.  In the first couple of years my mother's mother would sometimes come to stay with them to help my mother take care of me and to help out with the household chores.

             My mother always laughs when she tells about the night when she and her mother were sitting in the living room and suddenly my father ran out of the bedroom in his pajamas with a startled look on his face as he shouted, "Who poo-pooed in my hair?"

              He stood there in the hallway looking confused for a moment until he apparently came to his senses and turned around and went back to bed, leaving my mother and grandmother laughing until they were in tears.

              Obviously my father had been dreaming, but it was so real to him that he awoke believing the incident was real.   His confusion lasted long enough for him to leave his bed and query those in the living room.  That was a disoriented awakening.

              Have you ever had particularly funny or embarrassing dream disorientation experience?    Have you ever been present when a sleep partner or another sleeper nearby awoke in a confused state?   How long did the disorientation last and what was their reaction and your reaction?

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Disoriented Awakenings

Science Museum of MN - Social Science (Photo credit: massdistraction)

         You've been there I'm sure.  Perhaps it was a vivid dream. Or maybe you don't remember a dream.  Then you open your eyes.

         "Where am I?"  you may wonder.  You might stumble out of bed or the chair or wherever it was you fell asleep, thinking that some confusing activity is still happening or has happened.  You stop and try to remember, to figure out what has happened, decide what to do now.  

          Vaguely you regain your senses, still looking for something that is rapidly fading from your memory.  What was it?  Where is it?   Why are you looking for it?

           Coming back into the waking world you realize you have been dreaming.  The crossover into waking life has been awkward and at times even unwanted.

          "Why did I have to wake up?" you think.  "I want to go back to that dream."

            After you've stumbled across the brink of half-sleep and almost begrudgingly enter into the world of that which is real, you start trying to sort it all out.   Sometimes a song may be sounding its last vestiges in the recesses of your memory or it may be a consuming thought or an idea that had made complete sense a few moments ago and now is making less and less.  

            The dream is leaving.  Or you are leaving the dream.  Like emerging from the most wonderful infinite sea that part of you wants to sink into forever, you crawl onto the sad sandy shore realizing it is not your time yet.  You must come back.  You must awaken and face reality again.

            Have you been there?   Have you awakened from sleep or dreams and been totally confused?   What strange things have you done or experienced in those circumstances?

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