Thursday, December 9, 2010

Dreams, Music, Podcasts

Hi friends and readers,

My dear friend D sent me an email describing a beautiful dream he'd had, and this is the letter I wrote back to him. I did not yet get his permission to post his description of his dream, so I didn't post that, and I didn't really edit up the response letter much. It's not here to be an example of great writing, but rather to create discussion. Please post your thoughts. :)

Hi D!

I wish I had cool dreams like that more often. My dreams are usually just weird. Funny how sometimes you don't remember what happened in a dream, but it leaves you with a very specific feeling when you wake up. I think it goes to show you that at our core, we are emotional creatures.

Any more thoughts on what the dream may mean to you? You might have to sleep on it a bit longer (if you’ll pardon the pun) to get some perspective. K gave me an interesting book about dreams, and each item/thing/idea/concept is explained in both its psychological terms (what Freud or Jung or other psychologists thought it meant) and its mystical terms (what the ancient Greeks or other spiritualists thought it meant). I think it can be interesting to read about, but really I think it's pretty relative to each person. Different things have different significances to different people. I tend to have recurring dreams about elevators, parking garages and escalators. The escalator/elevator dreams are usually about me not being able to get off the escalator, or about the elevator refusing to go to the floor I push the button for. Maybe it’s about feeling out of control of my life? Or like my life is going in a direction I’m not ready for.

Are you able to do lucid dreaming? I used to be able to do it when I was a kid, and then again recently, but only when I try. I can teach you how if you're interested. It's pretty simple – it just takes practice. Oh my gosh, have you seen the film The Waking Life??? It is so amazing! Definitely in my top ten. I don't think you can get it on Netflix, but I have it (borrowed it from a friend). We should watch it sometime. Did I ever tell you about the psychic (precognizant is the technical term, I believe) dream I had when I was in 5th grade?

Funny you should mention that your dream started off with reading The Hobbit, because I was just listening to a podcast yesterday (see more below) wherein one of the hosts was saying that if she falls asleep reading, she sometimes has cool dreams about being in the story.

The podcast I was listening to is called Dial-A-Stranger. The hosts call up strangers and have conversations with them and record them. You can sign up at their website dialastranger.com to submit questions to be asked to the people they call, or to be one of the strangers they call. I love listening to podcasts. I discover most of them through other podcasts! Some of my favorites are: This American Life, Dial-A-Stranger, The New Yorker Fiction Podcast, The Moth, Risk, Snap Judgment (those three are story-telling podcasts), Transom, and some podcasts about sex education stuff. (Did I tell you I’m considering becoming a sex educator once I get my Master’s?)

Wow, this is quite a long email, and I have to finish up some stuff before leaving work today, so I’d better go!!

One more thing: I have the song “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” stuck in my head. J What is/are your favorite Christmas song(s)? You know, I’m not really religious, but during Christmas time I just love all the music – the religious music included! There is something so beautiful about it that unites people and makes us feel light and warm and happy toward humanity in the middle of winter! J Are you attending any Christmas concerts this year? Probably you get to hear and make great music at church all the time!

Have a fabulous evening, and happy dreams to you tonight!

3 comments:

  1. I have lots of dreams about big waves possibly drowning me--also dreams of being forced to encounter my ex-husband. Sometimes dreams about being in a car with no driver or being in a car that's going off the road. Never in my life have I had an elevator dream or escalator dream (that I remember).

    I want to hear about your psychic dream!

    You'd make an awesome sex educator!

    ReplyDelete
  2. 'The Waking Life' is a hell of a trip! You should watch, if not already, other films of that director - you will love it!

    A recurring lucid dream that I used to have as a kid, and also more recently, involved my bed cracking apart, like a crevasse, and me falling within, head first, almost like the initial scene of The Waking Life where the protagonist "falls" into reality. This dream always made me delirious, and still does. A far more powerful lucid dream I had was when intoxicated on Salvia. I never had a more disturbing, heartwrenching, yet colorful and exciting dream yet. It brought back memories from my childhood that I'd long forgotten. Was I imagining or did it really happen? Not sure, but it was a strange and powerful experience yet.

    Talking about Elevators and being scared in one: watch "Elevator to the Gallows" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Mgf8JVAPe8

    I think sex education classes should go hand in hand with media criticism or should atleast adapt with the ever changing nature of sexuality depicted via the many forms of media today. I think that would be the primary challenge towards it being effective.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yeesh, LM! Those sound very unpleasant!!

    My psychic (precognitive?) dream went like this: When I was in 5th grade, we were having an end of the school luau year party, but none of the students knew where the party was going to be. The parents and teacher had arranged a follow-the-clues game, where students went to different areas around campus and collected clues or answered questions to get information to find our party. Well, I dreamed that the party was going to be on the upper basketball court. That's where the party actually was. But here's the weirder part: one of our classmates had been out part of the year because he'd been in an accident and broken his femur. I dreamed that he was going to be there, and that he would be wheeled into the party by Ms. Bressan, our PE teacher, in a wheelchair, and that she would be dressed as a nurse. All of this came true!

    My mom asked me if I had overheard any conversations (she was helping plan the party) but I didn't!

    ReplyDelete