I always woke up from the dream in a cold sweat, gasping and clinging to my sheets. It repeated itself at least once a week, more during an especially stressful one. I was fifteen, and my waking hours at high school had me at my wits' end. My dream world seemed determined to mirror that feeling. Through this recurring nightmare, I came face to face with not only my real academic and social fears, but whatever twisted situations my brain could invent in my sleep. The scene began with a thunderstorm ravaging a sprawling field, bullet-like raindrops slicking the dirt path into mud. The road led me to a stone building far too large to be a normal school, with cracks adorning its walls and a medieval looking moat and drawbridge surrounding it. There was a distinct scent of burning wood in the air, and it always gave me the feeling that there were enemy soldiers of some sort hiding out around campfires, waiting to rush me. The school's door was an imposing crimson that seemed to shout at me to turn back. Like the victims in most bad horror films, I ignored the warning and trudged inside, gathering globs of mud on my shoes. Inside was a completely different setting, pulling me out of the gloomy war scene and into total decadence. The walls had a golden hue, and the floors sparkled and shined enough to show me my nervous reflection. Straight ahead of the entryway was a giant, two-floored lobby, with cathedral ceilings and a spiral staircase leading to the upstairs hallway. Finally, I saw some fellow students; they were lounging lazily on the plush couches scattered around a fireplace. This room gave a false sense of security, betrayed by the dungeons I knew had to exist beyond the halls. Despite the room's attempt to relax me, I was... ... middle of paper ... ...ays painted entirely brown, through fading candlelight, through boarded up gymnasiums and cafeterias, and down what must have been hundreds of those rubber-matted stairs. I pushed past sudden throngs of students clogging the narrow paths. By the time I reached the front lobby, its walls and furniture were the same moldy grey stone that made up the outside of the building. I heard whisper-soft scratches from below, and looked down to see the floor covered in a carpet of spiders. The only thing to do was flee outside, into what was now a snowstorm. The gleaming sheets of ice blinded me and sent me skidding downhill. I was supposed to be boarding my school bus, but I fell so many times that I knew I would never make it to the line of buses, barely visible in the heavy fog. I would be trapped in this strange hell forever…or until I woke up, still smelling those campfires.
Webb, W. B., & Cartwright, R. D. (1978). Sleep and Dreams. Annual Review of Psychology, 29(1), 223-252. doi:10.1146/annurev.ps.29.020178.001255
The silence was deafening… with each step, the lump in my throat was expanding, almost ridding me of all oxygen. My heart was pounding erratically and my hand, firmly gripping Scout’s costume was now soaked in perspiration. Amidst the overcast night, a dark shadow consumed Maycomb. The thick air was a blanket of humidity that offered not security, but the assurance of a storm. The pageant was but a distant memory by this point. We had only left a few minutes earlier but my thoughts were congested by an uneasy presence. The warm wind whispered through the rustling leaves. They seemed to dance about my feet, which wouldn’t have been so bad, had the night not been pitch black and unnerving. Instead, it felt as though I could tumble at any moment. I was immensely regretting my decision to reject a ride home when Scout burst,
This book is a collection of information about dreams, ranging from folklore and ancient beliefs to current scientific research. The thoughts of dozens, perhaps even hundreds of philosophers, researchers, and other dreamers are briefly summarized in chronological order, from Plato to Artemidorus, from Erik Erikson to Calvin
All the shiny items to the back of the room caught my eye instantly because they appeared to look rich and prestigious. On the right of the big main entrance door in front, there was a silver tree, and on the opposite side of the room on the left side of the door, there was a gold tree. Money hangs on the tree, and I thought that was an interesting feature to have. As I looked around the room, I noticed the red carpet below me, and everyone was sitting on small rectangular pillows. The main speaker told me that pillows were located in the big container next to me, so I grabbed one and sat down. The...
As I inched my way toward the cliff, my legs were shaking uncontrollably. I could feel the coldness of the rock beneath my feet when my toes curled around the edge in one last futile attempt at survival. My heart was racing like a trapped bird, desperate to escape. Gazing down the sheer drop, I nearly fainted; my entire life flashed before my eyes. I could hear stones breaking free and fiercely tumbling down the hillside, plummeting into the dark abyss of the forbidding black water. The trees began to rapidly close in around me in a suffocating clench, and the piercing screams from my friends did little to ease the pain. The cool breeze felt like needles upon my bare skin, leaving a trail of goose bumps. The threatening mountains surrounding me seemed to grow more sinister with each passing moment, I felt myself fighting for air. The hot summer sun began to blacken while misty clouds loomed overhead. Trembling with anxiety, I shut my eyes, murmuring one last pathetic prayer. I gathered my last breath, hoping it would last a lifetime, took a step back and plun...
Oprah Winfrey once said, “The best thing about dreams is that fleeting moment, when you are between asleep and awake, when you don't know the difference between reality and fantasy, when for just that one moment you feel with your entire soul that the dream is reality, and it really happened.” But, what actually is a dream and what do dreams really have to do with one’s everyday life? In essence, a dream is a series of mental images and emotions occurring during slumber. Dreams can also deal with one’s personal aspirations, goals, ambitions, and even one’s emotions, such as love and hardship. However, dreams can also give rise to uneasy and terrible emotions; these dreams are essentially known as nightmares. In today’s society, the concept of dreaming and dreams, in general, has been featured in a variety of different mediums, such as literature, film and even music. While the mediums of film and music are both prime examples of this concept, the medium of literature, on the other hand, contains a much more diverse set of examples pertaining to dreams and dreaming. One key example is William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. While the portrayal of dreams, in general, plays a prominent role in Shakespeare’s play, the exploration of many aspects of nature, allows readers to believe that dreams are merely connected to somewhat unconventional occurrences.
The rooms looked unreal and every item was extravagant. I slowly took the air tight scene in, moving around myself just to try to get every glimpse of the magnificent room.
DMOZ - Science: Social Sciences: Psychology: Dreams: Theories and Research. (n.d.). DMOZ - Science: Social Sciences: Psychology: Dreams: Theories and Research. Retrieved May 15, 2014, from http://www.dmoz.org/Science/Social_Sciences/Psychology/Dreams/Theories_and_Research/&sa=U&ei=8AttU-6vH7OgsAS93oDYCQ&ved=0CDsQFjAF&usg=AFQjCNEZy9xbRADVBFg-3CdEca4pdO5WtA
Have you ever had a dream and wondered what it meant? While asleep, one tends to have around 3 to 7 dreams a night and dream around 2 to 3 hours in a whole night. The feeling of trying to remember one’s dream when they wake up is the process of interpreting their dream. Sigmund Freud stated, “The dream is the liberation of the spirit from the pressure of external nature, a detachment of the soul from the fetters of matter” (The Interpretation of Dreams). The many unanswered questions behind dreams lay behind the history of dreams, the types of common dreams, and what we may get out of the dreams. Knowing the significance of dreams will give one the potential of revealing unknown characteristics that lie deep within oneself.
Drenched in sweat and jolted to an upright position, a dream has awaken someone in the dead of night. Everyone dreams, whether they remember what they dreamt of or not. A dream is a series of images, thoughts, and sensations occurring in a person’s mind during sleep. Daydreaming is another state in which the mind is elsewhere. The only difference is that daydreaming occurs while awake and dreaming happens during a deep sleep. Surprisingly, dreams were first recorded clear back to the ancient days. From the Romans, to the Greeks, and all the way back to the Egyptians, dreams fascinated many. “They believed that dreams were caused by real things unable to be interpreted or controlled by the conscious mind” (“Dreams in Ancient Culture”). The ancients believed that dreams had a purpose behind them and were a message sent from god.. Behind every dream there is a meaning; philosophers study to find the reasonings as to why humans dream.
Thesis Statement: Understanding how dreams occur, how they affect our lives and what they mean help us grasp what dreams actually are.
Dreams are states of consciousness, known as the stories and mental images our brains create during certain stages of sleep. Even though these are a common feature of humankind, they continue to remain a mystery. For many years, psychologists have come up with different theories as an attempt to explain why this phenomenon, we have not been able to understand, takes place. While some researchers believe dreams have no purpose nor greater meaning, others believe dreams are imperative for mental and emotional health. Nonetheless, although there are numerous theories, these are all primarily based on speculations rather than actual research, which gives anyone the opportunity to form a theory as to why dreams occur. Consequently, since dreams are open to wide arrays of interpretations, individuals can create their own dream theory to understand more about who they are. For me, dreams are reflections of inner problems and fears in our lives, as well as demonstrations of the events that take place in a day and those that are to come.
Fisher, C.J., Byrne, A., Edwards, and Kahn, E. (1970) REM and NREM nightmares. In E. Hartman (ed), Sleep and Dreaming. Boston : Little Brown
Thesis Statement: Dreams can reflect human emotions, and other experiences, like our deepest desires, hopes, fears, and fantasies. Interpertating our dreams may help us understand ourselves better and help us solve our problems.
In this paper I hope to open a window to the vast and mysterious world of dreaming. To most people, information about dreams isn’t common knowledge. In researching this subject though, I found that everybody has and reacts to dreams, which are vital to your mental health. You will also find how you can affect your dreams and how they affect you.