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[NF] Two Questions about your Nightmares

carcrater

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I've got two questions for you awesome NF's? One: Have you ever had a recurring nightmare about something before? Two is what do you think seeing a person you love and care for in your nightmares symbolizes?
 

31january

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I haven't had recurring nightmares exactly, as in the actual situations hardly recur, but i have recurring THEMES in my nightmares i would think, usually about social stuff o_O I find that in my dreams, anticipation usually becomes reality, so i get more nightmares when i'm feeling anxious in the first place. and my nightmare would probably be ABOUT the person i care for, to be honest, if i was feeling insecure about them in real life haha! if they are there as a comforting presence however, maybe it shows that you see them as a source of support in times of trouble, and that they are part of how you cope emotionally with troubles? :)
 

chickpea

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when I was a kid, I had this recurring dream that I'd be in the car wih my mother and she'd park to go in somewhere and leave me in the car, and then the car would start driving itself. it always scared me. apart from that I never really had nightmares.
 

Inverness

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I don't find myself having recurring nightmares, maybe a handful of times ever. Usually in 'tense' dreams...not exactly nightmares, more like a thriller movie...I'm usually the one trying to protect family that happens to be around. The theme of 'hostage escape' happens every once in a while, but that's as close to nightmare as it gets for me.
 

King sns

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The worst was a series of dreams where I was losing people, (one way tickets across the world, etc.) And during the same period of time I was put in all these really dangerous dream situations where I had to save my grandmother. It's a symbol of whatever is going on in your life. I think at the time, for me, it was a symbol of abandonment or focus on abandonment/loss/ people leaving. I think this thread should be open to all types, btw :). Doesn't seem type related and if it is, you can see the others perspectives.
 

bluestripes

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yes. i've had recurring nightmares for over ten years. the worst occurred during the period when i was 16-17 to 23-24 years old, but i still have them once in a while.

the most common themes were these (in an order of decreasing frequency):

- i find myself beside a body of water (such as a sea, lake or stream) which seems to be quite tranquil at first. as soon as i approach it, the water starts to swell; huge waves whose size corresponds to a storm of 9 or higher on the beaufort scale develop in a matter of seconds, threatening to engulf and drown me, and i have to run as fast as i can to escape them.

- there are ominous storm clouds in the sky, dark gray to black. lightning flashes from time to time and i am afraid that i might be struck down. i desperately seek cover, though a shelter is usually difficult to find.

- i am in a forest. a strong gale starts blowing, the trees begin to bend and i feel that one of the trees may fall at any moment and kill me. typically, a tree does fall just a few inches short of where i am standing.

- there are high-voltage wires over my head which start to sag or break as i watch. i can almost sense the electric charge in them and have to duck and/or crawl to avoid being electrocuted.

- violence: murder, mutilations, airplane crashes, explosions that result in blood and gore.

the worst nightmare i ever had to be the nuclear explosion i saw when i was eighteen. that is, it didn't feel that bad at the time, but became much worse once i woke up and began to reflect on the dream. thankfully, this one never recurred.

i think most of it has been connected to emotional tension, suppressed feelings threatening to burst out and inundate me. sexual tension could have played a part as well, as the only partner i have had was at age 21, and that was for a brief time only (ten days or so).
 
S

SingSmileShine

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I have actually never had a recurring nightmare. Most of my dreams are pretty neutral - I rarely have wonderful dreams, but I also rarely have bad ones. They're always very vivid, though.

And I would suppose that seeing a loved one in a nightmare is related to your love and concern for them?
 

FunnyDigestion

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omfg, I just came here to make a thread about disturbing dreams. I haven't had any in a while but I started thinking earlier tonight about some of my old ones.

upsetting dreams I've had, on semi-recurring basis (& ages I had them):

- sliding down wet grassy hills into pits of snakes (various ages, particularly frequently last year when I was feeling a lot of guilt about something)
- my parents decapitating me (pre-adolescence, 10-12 yrs)
- screaming matches w/ my father (all the time, esp. in past 3/4 years)
- being lost in intricate castle-like structures (since college)
- being chased around the circular hallway of my elementary school by a knife-wielding madman, wearing only socks, unable to run fast enough, other kids watching w/o concern (mainly childhood, some pre-adolescence)
- being chased by snipers / govt agents (adolescence, some early twenties, occasionally later)
- watching kids I'm supposed to be supervising accidentally shoot themselves in the face/head (past few years)
- escaping from school / work / society, fleeing to weird barren wilderness, unable to get back (since late teenagerdom)

Lots of stuff about running & not being able to speed up, being inhibited by something outside the body-- being limited.
 

FunnyDigestion

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& I guess this reflects on my selfishness, but I rarely see people I know, much less love in dreams. Except parents I guess, but then again it's simplistic to say I "love" my parents.

Except I had a dream of this girl I was "involved" with last year (really fucked-up situation, it made me think I'd lost my mind & was one of the things that made me feel the guilt mentioned above)-- she was leaving this outdoor auditorium-type nighttime movie viewing with her friend, everyone was going in a big crowd toward a parking lot & I was by myself, I caught up w/ them & asked if she was leaving for New York (since she'd said she was), & if she wanted to talk to me & she said no with this glowering expression, not looking at me. So then some other stuff happened, I think I got bored w/ that & changed the dreamscape into something different. Basically, it meant I knew she was pissed off w/ me & didn't want to see me.

I think you just dream about the people you're thinking about. You have to approach the interpretation with an open, ritualistic mind. It's best to take it as revelation, like a work of art. The more confusing it is the more potential meaning it holds.
 

iwakar

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1). Yes, several recurring nightmares throughout my life.

2) That they are on my conscious mind a lot.
 

Qlip

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I used to have several recurring nightmares. They weren't really terror inducing, just negative with maybe a little panic involved. The one involving a person I knew always involved a scenario where I needed to call my then SO and no matter how many times I tried to dial my home phone number I would get it wrong. The meaning was alway obvious to me, it symbolized my lack of feeling of connection to my now ex.

I find that dreams always have meanings to be taken from them. Tht doesn't mean that I necessarily think that your subconscious is trying to tell you something in them. It is trying to build a narrative and will grab at the most convenient symbols depending on the scenarios and other symbols involved. The associations in my dreams are usually very revealing.
 

stalemate

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When I was little I had 2 recurring nightmares that I can remember....

1) all vegetation in the world was burning and fiery hands were coming out of it grabbing at people. in my dream this all seemed "normal" until a big flaming hand came out of my fan and grabbed me.

2) a witch turned me into a tadpole and I would swim around in a well with other former kids that were now tadpoles.
 

FunnyDigestion

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Another dream I'd have was of things turning into fire ants. Everything actually. It would start with small objects morphing into balls of fire ants, then people (pillars of fire ants), then the ground (sea of fire ants), & soon everything would just be fire ants. A man jumps into a swimming pool, but the water turns into ants. I pick up a gun to shoot myself but, spoler alert, the gun turns into ants. So then it's me, the air, & the ants-- we walk into a bar.

Stupid dream
 

bluestripes

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I think you just dream about the people you're thinking about.

true. it's been over six years since my grandfather passed away, but i still see him in my dreams regularly (it was particularly noticeable during the first year or two, but the dreams haven't stopped since then). when i do, i "discover" that he is alive and am surprised why i had ever thought that he was gone. i may even remember his actual death - he passed away right in front of me - but i assume it was a bad mistake, a false memory of sorts. after i wake up, i feel bewildered for a few moments and it takes me a while to realize the real state of affairs. then i am upset that what i saw was not true. it happens again and again.

the oddest thing is, i wouldn't say i consciously think about him much. i miss him, and wish i could see him and speak to him again, but i don't focus on this. and when he died, i could not experience the loss in the same way that the other members of our family seemed to - i think it was so immense and incomprehensible that it was just beyond me. i couldn't understand what happened, could not even cry. but my mother (his daughter), who grieved openly and severely, has never seen him in her dreams except one night right after his passing. she wants it to take place, but it never does.

- my parents decapitating me (pre-adolescence, 10-12 yrs)

sounds dreadful - and i think i know where such dreams come from.

- screaming matches w/ my father (all the time, esp. in past 3/4 years)

i've had similar dreams, now much less often than in the past. i scream at my mother (typically over one of the issues we disagree over) at the top of my lungs while sobbing at the same time, she screams back at me. i have never really thought of them as "nightmares", perhaps because they are too mundane and reminiscent of waking reality, but i could see how they could be much more nightmare-like to some.

one of those dreams stood out in that we were having a calm conversation for once, but it was insane - the train of thought was untraceable and what we were telling each other made zero sense. it was something one would expect to hear from two patients with acute disorganized schizophrenia. part of me realized this, and i kept thinking, "why am i saying any of this? why is she saying any of this? it makes no sense whatsoever". but there also seemed to be some inner logic to the illogic, which is why the conversation continued. this is what made the dream so disturbing.
 

Skip Foreplay

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My girlfriend has recurring nightmares about her mother, who died when she was sixteen. She is somehow sinister - somehow not the same. My girlfriend (and her sister) have almost *perfect* memories, so I don't think its a basic misrepresentation of this type. She is the sweetest (and one of the most guilt-ridden (unreasonably so)) people I have ever met. I don't know what they mean
 

skylights

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1. yes, i have a few locations i tend to return to in nightmares, unfortunately. and i have had a very, very similar haunted-earthquake nightmare twice.

2. that you are feeling turmoil about something and that it links to them in some way.
 
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