Had a dream this morning. I was in a shop trying on a dress. Black with red edging, collar, wider at the top than the bottom, which reached the knees. Very Audrey Hepburn-ish in my memory.
I went out of the cubicle to ask my daughter what she thought. – As you do -, but once back in the cubicle with me, she shook her head saying she wasn’t sure.
Not that she didn’t like it, but just that she wasn’t sure. Very disappointing.
Then I woke up. And now I’m wondering, why? Why dream about Audrey anyway? I hadn’t seen or heard anything mentioned about her anywhere. I’m certainly not in the market for new clothes. So – big question mark.
Been dreaming lots of fragments lately that I can’t remember for longer than it takes to wake up. Why is that?
So, naturally enough, I hit Google.
Wow!!! Information overload!! Most of it way beyond me, but a couple of things stuck out.
- It is thought that each dream lasts between 5 to 20 minutes
- Possibly represents unconscious desires and wishes.
- consolidating and processing information gathered during the day
- Dreaming could be a story-telling instinct
- Dreams create new stories out of nothing. Although dreams contain themes, concerns, dream figures, objects, etc. that correspond closely to waking life, these are only story elements. The story itself weaves these mnemonic items together in a manner far more novel than a simple assemblage or collage, producing an experience having a life-like timeframe and life-like (if often bizarre and impossible) causality (Pace-Schott, 2007; Hobson, 2009). It is as if one is immersed in another “reality” entirely of one’s own non-volitional, making (see Rechtschaffen, 1978). Given this phenomenology, it’s not difficult to see why some indigenous animist societies believe dreams represent a separate world parallel with waking life (Nielsen, 1991). But neuroscience offers some other explanations.
This suggests that dreams participate in the development of the cognitive capabilities.
Because dream consciousness is not determined by sensory stimuli, a flexible integration of past experiences and the forging of novel connections are possible.
And really, I’m none (or maybe a little) the wiser.
And I still haven’t figured out why this dream? Why now? And was it prophetic? threatening? wishful thinking?
Would really appreciate it if someone could give me a clue on this one.