what dreams are made of

let's just see where this goes . . .

i've been having some really wierd dreams lately. not wierd as in unexpected, in fact they're completely familiar to me. wierd in such a way that i haven't had them in years, and i used to have them all the time. now i know dream studies are all over the interwebz as far as what this means, what is a symbol for that, and all that nonsense, but if any of you have any input, i'd love to hear it, i've always thought dreams were a really interesting dive into the subconscious. i'll start by briefly describing these dreams.

the first one is pretty common and one i used to have all the time. you've all heard of the losing teeth dream where first it's one tooth, then two, and by the end you're spitting out your dental plan into your palm and screaming in otherwise inaudible vowels. this one is like that, only instead of my teeth falling out, they begin cracking. think about an iceberg beginning with one crack that just starts to run throughout the tooth, spreading to other surrounding teeth. before i know it, all i hear is cracking and my teeth begin to shatter something like this.

dream number B. slightly more wierd than the first, but still relatively calm and simple. like i said before, i used to have this one all the time, so for the most part in this dream i'm a little kid running around a fantastically large mansion . . . think beauty in the beast type of mansion. if i were an architect i'm sure i could quote you a decade and name the period, but i'm not, so let's stick with beauty and the beast. the only thing is, i'm not just running around this mansion, i'm being chased . . . by a lion. wtf? i know. anyway, this dream isn't just your average chase dream, i see the entire thing as if it were being watched from the security cameras in the top corners of these 30 foot tall rooms. nothing really happens, and i wake up wondering if there's a lion in my kitchen.

and last but certainly not least my third dream takes place in an old west train with several of my best friends. while the friends at any given time change in the dream, they're always recognizable to me, and there are always 4 or 5 of us. so we're decked out in your favorite jesse james outfit and we're fighting our way to the front of this train with guns-a-blazin. as we near the front of the train, a friend and i duck under a bar table to fire at our opressors. after we take out a few of the baddies, one of them busts through our blockade and shoots my buddy in the back as he lays next to me. the dream goes in to slow motion as i see him lower his gun to me. i see him pull the trigger and as the bullet enters the small of my back, my dream literally explodes into a barrage of colors, as if rainbow brite decided to take the pop rocks and coke challenge.

so those are the three dreams that i've been having recently, and it got me searching. psychologytoday.com had an article in 2007 that basically said dreams are rehearsals your brain puts you through as a sort of practice session for possible encounters. for instance, you're watching a good old fashioned action flick and it gets you thinking what you might do in a similar situation. when you go to sleep, you brain takes that thought and basically builds a situation for you, depicting not necessarily what you would do, but what you might do, allowing you to see a certain outcome. if it's an unfavorable outcome, you see what not to do, and if it's favorable, you see it as practice. that's the general idea of the article anyway, do check it out, it's a good read. while that is a very logical approach to dreams in a general sense, i feel like it leaves out dreams that are so completely fantastic and out of the question that there is no way they could represent or be linked to real-life situations. so with that said, apparently my brain is preparing me to be chased by lions, have my teeth shattered, and be shot up old west style while on a moving train; all amazing considerations, but at least i now know what i think of dreams.