“Whoa! I do that too!” … As long as I can remember, I have never slept entirely thru the night. I won’t go into details, but the causes of this have not resulted in ill health, just my own version of “normal”. One part of that is a very frequent recognition in the period of “waking up, but not yet willing to get up”, where my creative mind goes about associating the disassociated with the creation of what I call “near-dreams”. In these fantasies, because I am mostly awake, my brain creates story lines which I can manipulate by combining absurd elements together ( such as a horse with wings or speaking multiple languages at the same time) just to see what comes from these absurd combinations. It is like watching your own brain intentionally attempting “mental-gymnastics” in order to both entertain and challenge one’s sense of reality. This goes on (usually for a period of 30 minutes to two hours) until my awake/logical mind has had enough of the silliness and forces me to get up and get on with my new day. I am not a professional writer/ poet so the purpose of recording or adapting these pseudo-dreams has always seemed distant to me. I mostly considered these “near-dreams” to be a necessary part of my own mental health, where the brain needs to escape reality for a short time in order to be able to deal with life’s own version of absurd realities. But I have often thought of “capturing” some of most creative of these near-dream plot lines upon coming out of them into full consciousness. They are more often humorous or intellectually interesting than explicit or disturbing. So, I may take up your suggestions for recording them for development into writing ideas/themes. This could be entertaining, at least to me. Btw… I loved your poem and haiku!
This exposure is the most personally guarded, details are striped bare:
Have you ever been to a jungle that turned temperate because of the elevation? The fauna changes right before your eyes, almost at your hiking pace, and salty sea water turns to fresh flowing waterfalls. Lush canopy gives way to straight needled wood.
I wish I had the capability to do something like this. I have what I call “anxiety dreams” every. single. night. I’m late for somewhere and can’t find what I need. I’m trying to get home from a trip but can’t seem to get suitcases packed. There’s a fire or other emergency and I can’t get my stuff gathered to leave. I’m somewhere familiar but so much has changed that I can’t find what I need.
So frustrating. And draining. Night after night after night.
Holotropic breathwork CAN be amazing and energy can definitely move in extremely positive ways. But, I offer caution. Only do holotropic breathwork with a “guide” (someone who can explain and offer you comfort as well as the promise to “wake” you if the experience is more triggering than wonderful. If you set yourself up for success and prepare, with a professional breathwork practitioner, it may be less triggering. I am not discouraging this at all. I am only offering a gentle warming and suggestions as to how to ensure the most positive experience.
I 100% do this frequently. Although for me it doesn't happen directly before or after sleep. Anymore. Now it happens when I stare out windows or lay on the couch listening to music. The other day it happened after a movie at a theater. It is where a bulk of my creative thoughts sprout. Or where major revelations about life come to me. I don't dream as much anymore, but I used to lucid dream frequently. And I used to have premonition dreams. Now I cling to this awake dreaming.
A place I have gone deep inside my own consciousness where the outside world turns to a blurry haze. It is not gone, but it is not there. I have known that magical place as long as I have had memory.
When I was five years old, my mother crept up behind me and whispered, "do you want some ice cream?"
What 5-year-old doesn't? But I was so deep into my magical place I did not hear. At least I did not differentiate dream from reality. This caused my mother to suspect I had a hearing problem. We spent the following years of my childhood trying to cure the hearing problem that did not exist. Today, I am grateful that the doctors never discovered the real problem. I love my magic place.
TKG!! WOW. I do too!!! Realized in college there was a name for it. My lucid place is a beautiful magical and sometimes scary. It's given me so many great moments. Thank you for sharing!
The only times that I have found myself in that liminal space is when I have been on codeine or morphine. And I love being there. The noise of the world disappears and I am just calm and present. Which is why , since I have mentioned to my doctors how much I like it, when I need it I only am allowed minimal amounts. I know not to abuse it. But, damn, if could reach that state on my own.
I lucidly dream all the time ... maybe I will practice slipping in to the numinous. I'm sure I would love it there. I'll wave when I see you ;-)
Very interesting ability and discussion!! I too, loved the poem. It’s cool there are others here that do that. So I don’t do exactly this, but there have been many times I have dropped into other realms. I guess they call it OBE. Generally preceded by a lucid dream but not always. Full body vibrations and a lifting out. Sometimes rushing through tunnels that all look different. Other times I’m aware I am in the bed but lift up and “over”. It’s felt energetically and is realer than real. I’ve seen sacred geometry in this space. Other times I’ve been spoken to by someone that knows me but he’s not from here. I’ve entered spaces that felt like I’d intruded, over heard conversations and been harshly spoken to in a language we don’t use here. All of these happen as if I’m not in control. I feel floaty and then get pulled out.
I can also close my eyes when awake and if I focus at the center of my forehead, I can bring in deep bluish purple that will open to white and I’ll see highly intricate drawings that play like movies on repeat. If there are people, they are sometimes portrayed a bit like cartoons. They have been symbolic and precognitive and will appear closer or farther to represent time.
I wish I had responded to this one right after I had listened to it originally because I remember that it made me think of a dream that I had just had, but now I forget! (I should write them down!)
I have always had the ability to do this and also to bring myself into this state from a bad dream. I remember even as a kid I could wake myself up from a bad dream and then in a semi conscious state, redirect where I wanted that dream to go instead. I still do it and though it is not something I practice as a skill to control it mostly happens when there is something bad happening in the dream.
Just recently I was having an episode of sleep paralysis, which I also have had since I was a child, and I was able to take control of the situation while I was fully sleeping and well, I think I may have fucked a ghost. Instead of being terrified and frozen, I decided to seduce the being that was in my dream standing over me and it gave me full control of the situation and I was no longer paralyzed in fear. It was different from when I usually wake myself up and redirect the dream to a good place because it was more like a lucid dream as I didn't wake up.
But without the bad dreams, that same in-between sleep and wake land is somewhere I go most mornings before fully waking up and I love it there! I can guide my mind but I am more a spectator. Or perhaps a conductor; moving and shaping the materials that flow before me in my minds eye. I think it is a place of meditation and manifestation too. I can have the most lovely day dreams when fully awake. It's actually one of my favourite pastimes! But these woke dreams that live in the purgatory between slumber and consciousness have their own force behind them. It comes from deeper. From a well of greater knowledge perhaps. Tapping into the parallel worlds of the universe perhaps? Showing us a version of our self we need to see so we can grow in our woken state.
Our brains are amazing aren't they? I am so glad you brought this up because people should talk about these things more! Let's normalize asking 'so what did you dream about last night' as a greeting!
“Whoa! I do that too!” … As long as I can remember, I have never slept entirely thru the night. I won’t go into details, but the causes of this have not resulted in ill health, just my own version of “normal”. One part of that is a very frequent recognition in the period of “waking up, but not yet willing to get up”, where my creative mind goes about associating the disassociated with the creation of what I call “near-dreams”. In these fantasies, because I am mostly awake, my brain creates story lines which I can manipulate by combining absurd elements together ( such as a horse with wings or speaking multiple languages at the same time) just to see what comes from these absurd combinations. It is like watching your own brain intentionally attempting “mental-gymnastics” in order to both entertain and challenge one’s sense of reality. This goes on (usually for a period of 30 minutes to two hours) until my awake/logical mind has had enough of the silliness and forces me to get up and get on with my new day. I am not a professional writer/ poet so the purpose of recording or adapting these pseudo-dreams has always seemed distant to me. I mostly considered these “near-dreams” to be a necessary part of my own mental health, where the brain needs to escape reality for a short time in order to be able to deal with life’s own version of absurd realities. But I have often thought of “capturing” some of most creative of these near-dream plot lines upon coming out of them into full consciousness. They are more often humorous or intellectually interesting than explicit or disturbing. So, I may take up your suggestions for recording them for development into writing ideas/themes. This could be entertaining, at least to me. Btw… I loved your poem and haiku!
I definitely think you should write these down! Seems like a superpower to me
PLEASE WRITE THEM DOWN haha.
Every night I travel to the same place, the setting of a fiction I’ve written countless times but never finished.
I fall asleep before I have a chance to live any reality of my dreams.
Ooooh describe it!
This exposure is the most personally guarded, details are striped bare:
Have you ever been to a jungle that turned temperate because of the elevation? The fauna changes right before your eyes, almost at your hiking pace, and salty sea water turns to fresh flowing waterfalls. Lush canopy gives way to straight needled wood.
Although I’m not the only one to
find a lost lake in a dark forest
I’m always the first one in…
WOW.
I wish I had the capability to do something like this. I have what I call “anxiety dreams” every. single. night. I’m late for somewhere and can’t find what I need. I’m trying to get home from a trip but can’t seem to get suitcases packed. There’s a fire or other emergency and I can’t get my stuff gathered to leave. I’m somewhere familiar but so much has changed that I can’t find what I need.
So frustrating. And draining. Night after night after night.
Sarah has this too! Every single night. I wonder why?!
It’s so frustrating. Many nights it wakes me up every one to two hours.
Have you ever done holotropic breathwork? It helps move energy through the meridians. Maybe you’d find relief! 🤌💚
I have not. Breathwork is typically very triggering for me. But I will look into this. Thank you.
That’s kind of the point. 😉
Holotropic breathwork CAN be amazing and energy can definitely move in extremely positive ways. But, I offer caution. Only do holotropic breathwork with a “guide” (someone who can explain and offer you comfort as well as the promise to “wake” you if the experience is more triggering than wonderful. If you set yourself up for success and prepare, with a professional breathwork practitioner, it may be less triggering. I am not discouraging this at all. I am only offering a gentle warming and suggestions as to how to ensure the most positive experience.
I apologize for the typographical errors. I cannot edit.
I 100% do this frequently. Although for me it doesn't happen directly before or after sleep. Anymore. Now it happens when I stare out windows or lay on the couch listening to music. The other day it happened after a movie at a theater. It is where a bulk of my creative thoughts sprout. Or where major revelations about life come to me. I don't dream as much anymore, but I used to lucid dream frequently. And I used to have premonition dreams. Now I cling to this awake dreaming.
It happens to me too sometimes when I stare off at the valley beyond my house, or at the sea! Yes!
A place I have gone deep inside my own consciousness where the outside world turns to a blurry haze. It is not gone, but it is not there. I have known that magical place as long as I have had memory.
When I was five years old, my mother crept up behind me and whispered, "do you want some ice cream?"
What 5-year-old doesn't? But I was so deep into my magical place I did not hear. At least I did not differentiate dream from reality. This caused my mother to suspect I had a hearing problem. We spent the following years of my childhood trying to cure the hearing problem that did not exist. Today, I am grateful that the doctors never discovered the real problem. I love my magic place.
Oh my gosh this is fantastic. To turn down ice cream you must have been fully into that magic place. I love that you have it.
TKG!! WOW. I do too!!! Realized in college there was a name for it. My lucid place is a beautiful magical and sometimes scary. It's given me so many great moments. Thank you for sharing!
AHH! A FELLOW WAKEDREAMER! Thank goodness :)
The only times that I have found myself in that liminal space is when I have been on codeine or morphine. And I love being there. The noise of the world disappears and I am just calm and present. Which is why , since I have mentioned to my doctors how much I like it, when I need it I only am allowed minimal amounts. I know not to abuse it. But, damn, if could reach that state on my own.
I lucidly dream all the time ... maybe I will practice slipping in to the numinous. I'm sure I would love it there. I'll wave when I see you ;-)
Ooooh, what an interesting element here. I never thought of it that way but that makes TOTAL sense. PLEASE wave, we'll do a little dance.
Very interesting ability and discussion!! I too, loved the poem. It’s cool there are others here that do that. So I don’t do exactly this, but there have been many times I have dropped into other realms. I guess they call it OBE. Generally preceded by a lucid dream but not always. Full body vibrations and a lifting out. Sometimes rushing through tunnels that all look different. Other times I’m aware I am in the bed but lift up and “over”. It’s felt energetically and is realer than real. I’ve seen sacred geometry in this space. Other times I’ve been spoken to by someone that knows me but he’s not from here. I’ve entered spaces that felt like I’d intruded, over heard conversations and been harshly spoken to in a language we don’t use here. All of these happen as if I’m not in control. I feel floaty and then get pulled out.
I can also close my eyes when awake and if I focus at the center of my forehead, I can bring in deep bluish purple that will open to white and I’ll see highly intricate drawings that play like movies on repeat. If there are people, they are sometimes portrayed a bit like cartoons. They have been symbolic and precognitive and will appear closer or farther to represent time.
I wish I had responded to this one right after I had listened to it originally because I remember that it made me think of a dream that I had just had, but now I forget! (I should write them down!)
I have always had the ability to do this and also to bring myself into this state from a bad dream. I remember even as a kid I could wake myself up from a bad dream and then in a semi conscious state, redirect where I wanted that dream to go instead. I still do it and though it is not something I practice as a skill to control it mostly happens when there is something bad happening in the dream.
Just recently I was having an episode of sleep paralysis, which I also have had since I was a child, and I was able to take control of the situation while I was fully sleeping and well, I think I may have fucked a ghost. Instead of being terrified and frozen, I decided to seduce the being that was in my dream standing over me and it gave me full control of the situation and I was no longer paralyzed in fear. It was different from when I usually wake myself up and redirect the dream to a good place because it was more like a lucid dream as I didn't wake up.
But without the bad dreams, that same in-between sleep and wake land is somewhere I go most mornings before fully waking up and I love it there! I can guide my mind but I am more a spectator. Or perhaps a conductor; moving and shaping the materials that flow before me in my minds eye. I think it is a place of meditation and manifestation too. I can have the most lovely day dreams when fully awake. It's actually one of my favourite pastimes! But these woke dreams that live in the purgatory between slumber and consciousness have their own force behind them. It comes from deeper. From a well of greater knowledge perhaps. Tapping into the parallel worlds of the universe perhaps? Showing us a version of our self we need to see so we can grow in our woken state.
Our brains are amazing aren't they? I am so glad you brought this up because people should talk about these things more! Let's normalize asking 'so what did you dream about last night' as a greeting!