[LiteraryLark]

For me it does...for most of my life, I had dreams of people chasing me trying to do bad things to me, and then I got dx with BP and with the meds my dreams changed and I stopped having as many nightmares, or the nightmares have changed.

Last night I babysat two kids for the first time--it was my first time babysitting as well. When I went to bed, I woke up at 2 because I was so excited and was thinking of what I could do with them on Saturday...and then I fell back to sleep and all my fears I had of babysitting were parallel to the nightmare I had: First I dreamt that bad people were trying to break into the house and I was hiding the kids, then I dreamt that I was delusional so I tried to call the parents to tell them I needed to go to the hospital who didn't pick up and then my mom who told me I was making it up. Then I dreamt I was driving the kids to town and was pulled over by the cops because they weren't buckled in and had no carseats, and then I dreamt I was on a motorcycle and was pulled over because the kids had flown off and died and I started screaming because the coroner was showing me all the pictures they took of the dead kids and how I was a horrible babysitter.

It was such a scary dream because that was everything I was afraid of/thinking of when i was babysitting them: I was afraid that someone would try to break in, I was afraid that I would have an episode while babysitting the kids (which is highly unlikely), I was afraid the kids would get severely hurt, and I dreamt that they would get injured when I drive them (I haven't driven them yet but it's come up about taking them to Chuck E. Cheese and I am not a great driver).

Gaaaahhhhh I needed to vent. That's some obvious parallel fears right there. =[

[medkev13]

Honestly, I'd be more scared of being AT Chuck E Cheese's than driving the mthere :P Just saying.

It's perfectly normal for dreams to parallel fears. In fact, that's one of the primary functions of dreams - to allow us to face our fears and life stresses safely without fear of actually being harmed and whatnot.

I recommend you look into lucid dreaming - the conscious act of becoming aware that you're dreaming WHILE the dream is going on. Once you can achieve lucidity without waking yourself up (that's the hard part), you can then control the dream and face the fears head on. The effect of being able to face -and control- your dreams in lucidity is quite empowering and can allow a journey into a deeper sense of self awareness.

[medkev13]

Also, the second saying in your sig line is a Buddhist proverb.

[beauflow]

i agree with medkev13, dreams help us in ways to figure out problems, face fears, etc. theres a lot with dreams that could still be learned about and from.
i have yet to achieve luicid dreaming but i will analyze my dreams, and come to some truth ofmyself if needed.
some things are still a questin, but they (the dreams) do help with perhaps realizing or noting issues, fears, etc. that i may need to work on. i.e. some dreams my S/o turns or morphs to my abuser from childhood, or vies versa, my S/o isn't abussive, but i do realize my own fear of reliving part of abuse, so i take this as a reminder for myself, not a sign that i am reliving abuse... not to say it has not been a been a sign in a way that i need to talk about things with my s/o, which i eventually do if that's the case...
sorry for babbling.

[LiteraryLark]

I can do lucid dreaming but not all the time...and I went to Chuck E. Cheese's for Valentine's day and it was AWESOME.

[medkev13]

Lucid dreaming is something that will get easier and more consistent the more you practice it. To encourage it, try "reality checks" in your waking world. For example, consider that in the dreamscape written words and numbers never -ever- make sense. So find something written on a sign or on a wall...something stationary...and visualize it moving and shifting as if it were in a dream. Or you could preform "am I dreaming?" checks, where you look for similar clues as to whether or not you're asleep. The most popular technique is to wear a wrist band or write on the back of your hand something simple, like "Not Dreaming". Don't make it a whole sentence or ti takes too long to check. If you have the phrase, and you can read it properly, you're awake. If it doesn't look right, you're dreaming. Check it periodically through the day, and tell yourself that when you begin to dream you'll check it as well, and eventually it will become habitual and you'll actually do it in your dream. This gives you a prime opportunity to gain lucidity with a simple trigger.

[dontstopbelieving]

Dreams that parallel real life are unfortunately very common for me. I hate them too! Usually they're work-related and very stressful for me (I think my job is the source of a lot of my sleep problems and depression). I'd much rather have a "crazy" dream that I know isn't real.

[dg1983]

Oh for sure it's terrifying when dreams parallel real life...I find I dream often about things I've thought about or seen during the daytime so it can be pretty scary. A fear of mine is confronting people or some kind of conflict, and I've had tons of dreams about that.