Monday, January 27, 2014

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Not All Nightmares Are Bad

When I was a kid I was afraid to sleep because i always had terrrible nightmares. There were vivid dreams I can still remember until now. It started when I was 6 and lasted until I reached my adolescence. Every night I was dreaming about horrible images, death and vampires most of the time. The weirdest thing was, I always wake up at 3 am (witching hour). It took a while before I learned to handle these nightmares. It even came to a point that i felt like I would go mad because I had them each night. (If people only knew the trouble with Little Miss Mount Carmel LOL. They think she was so adorable. She was a freak haha)
I tried to tell my parents but I decided to be tough about it and tried to deal it on my own. After a few weeks of continuous sleeping problems, I started to have Lucid Dreams. A lucid dream is a dream in which you know you are dreaming. Typically this happens when the dreamer experiences something strange, and when they stop to question their reality, they realize they are in a dream. In other words, I was able to learn how to play abit in the horror movies running in my head when I sleep. Those dreams somewhat stopped when I turned 13. I was still dreaming but not as often as before. I still dreamed about vampires...Sometimes I dreamed about running around the streets naked. I dreamed about crying too. It's kinda weird in the morning that you cannot open your eyes because the tears had crusted between your lids. Right now dreaming for me is a blessing. It is an indication that I am still sane. I am no psychologist but I love to do small researches like this. One of the latest dreams I had was so clear that I was able to write it down in complete details.. After then, I decided to study further what dreams are all about. There was an employee from my previous job who got a family history of schcizoprenia. I offered to help her because I often see her isolated and crying all by herself. her boss seemed to be giving up on her. i found out that her sleeps were dreamless since she had her problems at work. Luckily, after some few sessions, she reported to me that she finally had a dream. I guess she is still sane and I was so happy to see her following my advises. Dreaming is healthy. There are many theories that will support that statement. A contemporary model of dreaming combines some elements of various theories about dreaming. The activation of the brain creates loose conn ections between thoughts and ideas, which are then guided by the emotions of the dreamer .Dreams can function as a form of psychotherapy. In this theory, the dreamer is able to make connections between different thoughts and emotions in a safe environment. Dreams also serve to 'clean up' clutter from the mind, refreshing the mind to prepare for the next day. One example is what they call “yoga dreams” because you tend to have them after doing intensive meditation practices. Based on experience this is incredibly true. The dreams I am having recently are vivid, filled with strong emotions, and with concepts and issues that had surfaced from deep in my subconscious mind.
According to scientists, J. Allan Hobson and Robert McClarley in 1977, with their famous "Activation- Synthesis Model of Dreaming theory" that dreams are the result of internally generated signals. However, Hobson does not believe that dreams are meaningless. Instead, he suggests that dreaming is "…our most creative conscious state, one in which the chaotic, spontaneous recombination of cognitive elements produces novel configurations of information: new ideas. While many or even most of these ideas may be nonsensical, if even a few of its fanciful products are truly useful, our dream time will not have been wasted." And ofcouse, I have to mention my favorite Sigmund Freud. He suggested that dreams are the result of our Unconcious psyche. Going back to my childhood stories. On the stage wherein I was having nightmares, a lot of changes occured in my environment, new house, school, and family problems. Prior to those consecutive nightmares, I used to have this impression that we have a perfect family. Those dreams may be the product of intense disappointment as a kid. Although, I would really want to have an exact interpretation of my "Vampire-Lycan" dream I had recently. Here's what I have found out so far: Vampires To see a vampire in your dream symbolizes an aspect of your personality that is parasitic or selfishly feeds off others. A person or situation that drains you of time, energy, or resources. Either your own selfish need to use others or your projection of other people that are feeding off of you. It could represent either material or emotional parasitism. http://www.dreambible.com/search.php?q=Vampires Yeah, I guess this is right. I dreamed about this after I had this huge problem with one person....Interesting.. Dreams can also be the result of our brains trying to interpret external stimuli during sleep. One good example "Have you ever dreamed about peeing endlessly?" Scientifically, here are the theories about dreams though, there are still things about it that science cannot explain. There is one episode in "Imbestigador" about the mother who dreamed about her dead son who was pointing at his head . Later, they found out the funeral services has stolen the corpse's brain and stuffed rags in his skull to fill it in. argh spooky! I know there were stories of dead relatives visiting the living ones whenever they forget things. Have you experienced this? I believe that dreams can somehow connect us to spiritual world, though there are no scientific basis about it. I dont want to talk about astral projection...that's way too far (after watching Insidious 1 and 2... NO WAY!) Well, I guess that's all I can share for those who are so curious about their dreams .Just because you've dreamed about your ex, it doesn't mean he wants you back. C'mon you know it is all in your mind LOL. The most important thing to know is how you will handle reality.We encounter traumatic experiences in life, and they may reflect in our dreams. We should find ways to keep ourselves positive and of course keep our faith with God.