Archive for January, 2006

Mysterious Lucid Dreaming

Monday, January 23rd, 2006

I’ve had a number of lucid dreams lately, which are unusual even by lucid standards.

Saturday night I found myself waking up every two hours, which is unusual. It’s also welcome, since I’ve felt lately that I usually sleep too heavily. This in turn causes me to miss details of my dreams as well as leaving me groggy and tired (paradoxically) at the sound of my alarm clock.

My dreams the last two days have been unusual as well. Friday night, I had my first lucid dream in a long while. Lucid dreaming is the ultimate playground of the mind. A lucid dream allows you take control of your own universe – stepping fully into the play
your mind creates. It is a treasure when it occurs because it takes a very delicate balance to bring the waking mind into the dream world.

What makes this instance maddening for me is my amnesia for the dream content itself. All I remember is that I was in a discussion in a small room with an unknown but friendly individual. In the middle of the discussion, I begin to realize I am dreaming. I raise voice in excitement as my attention is fully drawn into the room. I suddenly wonder if the conversation I’m having with this person could actually be happening. This person reassures me it is. Then the dream fades. The lucidity lasted perhaps five minutes, or so it seems.

I woke up with few if any clues as to who this person is. It seems to be a friend or relative. A male, I believe. Why, though, since (being lucid) I had my waking consciousness with me, couldn’t I remember who it was or what was said!? Why did my mind blank it out?

Saturday night was also a lucid dreamfest, only this time I woke up every two hours. This would normally improve my dream recall, but it didn’t do much for me this time. I may just be out of practice in remembering dreams, which is a shame.

Anyway, I remember beginning to dream around midnight. My dream turned lucid quite easily. Then something interesting happened: I went so deep into the dream world that time stopped for me. It was as if I just put the outside world into “park,” and walked away for a stroll. I was in another world, far away from my normal life.

I must have mentally lived a whole week or more in this dream state! Perhaps much longer even. In the same way that I don’t remember all the details of my life last week, similarly I cannot recall all that went on during that long stretch. All I remember is a process of “disengaging” from the outside world. When the process began, I felt like a barnstorming pilot, landing my biplane in a field in a strange country. It was, to say the least, far different from other dreams I’ve had recently, even my lucid ones.

So what does it all mean? I am not sure. Pondering these dreams on my way to my hotel tonight, the thought popped into my head that my dreams are part in some experiments. I’m not sure what this means, if anything. I can say that I’ve found myself subconsciously wishing to expand my awareness. This has taken the form of me wondering almost out loud what new horizon I could explore.

I’m finding modern day cubicle life more and more constricting.
One gets buried in a box. Why live in one? Perhaps these dreams (and the mystery guest) are the answer to this request.

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Ghostly Thoughts

Monday, January 23rd, 2006

The possible ghost visit of Sunday morning is interesting more for my reaction to it than the event itself. Here was an alleged entity in our locked house, making itself known to my wife and myself while we played with our kids. I should by all rights have been freaked out by it, but I wasn’t and I’m not.

Kelly said herself that if it were a ghost, she thought it was friendly (or at least she hoped it was). She of course is not as accepting of the existence of ghosts as I am, but few are I suppose. Nevertheless I didn’t detect any malice or ill will from our unseen visitor. Indeed, he or she might have had the opposite in mind.

We had returned from the symphony the night before. While I can’t speak for Kelly, I certainly was on a high from the beautiful music. We were both feeling good, my parents had spent the evening playing with the kids. In essence, there was a lot of positive vibes in the house the night before.

Once my parents had gone home I had checked email after Kelly wandered upstairs. As I sat at my desk, I had the peculiar feeling of someone standing behind me though I knew Kelly hadn’t left our bedroom. For that reason I chose not to turn around, though I’ve never seen a ghost (heck, never felt one, either) and don’t think I would have seen anything if I had. Again, it wasn’t a bad feeling at all. It was more of a stillness that had settled behind me.

I did have some interesting dreams this weekend, which I’ll share in a separate post. Did they have something to do with our mystery guest?

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Ghostly Visit?

Sunday, January 22nd, 2006

This morning we had an unusual event at the home this morning: a ghost stopped by! While nothing went flying across the room, nor was anything seen or heard, the evidence seems to point to a ghost.

Kelly was in the playroom with Hallie and Travis while I was cleaning up in the kitchen after breakfast. I had just finished sweeping up the floor when Kelly called over to me.

“You just opened the door, didn’t you?” she said as she played with the kids on the floor.

I looked confused. “Huh?”

“I can tell when you open the door because I felt a blast of cold air.”

“No, I haven’t opened the door,” I said as I looked over at the front door nearest to her, just to be sure.

“Well, I felt cold air blow past me twice,” she said. “Maybe it was the heater turning on.”

Hmm. I felt the vent but no air was blowing. All the doors were closed. The windows in the room were shut. Indeed, the house is only 8 years old and is pretty weathertight. We played a bit more in the playroom, shrugging the whole thing off. Perhaps it was a rogue draft or something.

After another ten minutes, I went to the kitchen to help get things ready for our trip to the art museum. As I walked through the kitchen, I felt a spot of cold air near my head!

The fridge was closed, so it wasn’t from there. All the vents on the first floor are on the floor. The rest of the room was warm. I can’t explain how that cold spot could have been up near my head. Strange to say the least!

I’m wondering if it has to do with the marathon lucid dreams I’ve had the past two nights. I’ll post more about those tonight.

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