Are some people more vivid dreamers than others?

amother

Ivory

Fri, Jul 27 2018, 10:34 am

I seem to remember my dreams a lot more often than DH does and can recount them in much more detail than he can with his. I've also seen these differences with the kids (well, the ones who are old enough to know what a dream is and talk about it). One kid is like DH. He will occasionally come to us in the middle of the night after a nightmare. He will occasionally tell me about a cool or interesting dream in the morning, but he doesn't seem to remember them too often. The other has nightmares a lot more often and also remembers his cool/interesting dreams a lot more often (I'm not concerned about the nightmares, he's not having them any more often than the good ones). He is also a lot more descriptive when he talks about his dreams, and he even sleeps with a lightsaber "so I have it with me in case it's a bad dream" LOL

Anyway, seeing how at least in my family, some of us simply seem to dream more vividly and more impressionably than others, it got me thinking about the topic in general. I wonder what makes some people better at remembering dreams than others. Or recalling more detail.

Also, I can occasionally do lucid dreaming (that's where you realize you're in a dream while still dreaming and you can control where it goes next). I wonder if the child that dress like me will also be a lucid dreamer when he gets older. Just interesting thoughts. I'd love to hear more- about what type of dreamer you are, if you have knowledge on the topic, and if you know Jewish sources about dreams.

SnowLeopard

Fri, Jul 27 2018, 11:34 am

I just took a class in the psychology of dreaming. So it seems that women and regular meditators are more easily able to dream lucidly. And yes, everyone's experience in dreaming is very different! More creative people have more color in their dreams, at the age of 5, dream reports double in length, 7 year olds are more active in their dreams etc.. (as you get older, your dreams change) I also have very vivid and complicated dreams, and my husband rarely remembers his. He asked how to start remembering them, and for me, when I started writing them down the first few nights as soon as I woke up, I was able to remember my dream pretty much every night since, even without writing them down... so there's that. Also, some people are more prone to nightmares (If you are either very high or very low in death anxiety...). So yes, everyone has very different dream experiences and it's fascinating!

zaq

Fri, Jul 27 2018, 2:39 pm

To answer your question, which given your story you already knew, “ Why would you think otherwise?” We are not all endowed with equal abilities to sing on key, distinguish colors, learn new languages, or grow hair; why would you expect us all to have equal endowments vis a vis dreaming?

amother

Olive

Fri, Jul 27 2018, 3:56 pm

Me too, when I’m pregnant I have really intense dreams. It’s been strange and I posted about this before: during this pregnancy, most nights, I’ll have a dream about one of my parents. It’s always them doing something to infuriate or hurt me, and in my dreams I’m always confronting them, shouting at them, telling them to stop, and basically being successful. A lot of the things they are doing wrong to me in the dream are not things that happened in real life but are connected to the root of things, I guess. E.g. I’ll dream of my mom reading my diary or staring at me naked - and whether or not she intended this when I was growing up, I did feel her to be intrusive and always wanting to “get inside me”. So in my dream I’ll shout at her and tell her that what she’s doing is not ok. And it feels so good!

amother

Navy

Fri, Jul 27 2018, 6:36 pm

happymom123 wrote:

When I was pregnant, I had the most insane lifelike dreams. It gave me a new understanding of why kids take nightmares so seriously

When I'm pregnant I also have very vivid terrifying dreams. I remember waking up from them and being terrified and not wanting to go back to sleep because I was afraid of dreaming again.

Sandrine

Sat, Jul 28 2018, 10:50 am

yes - I have very vivid dreams and go through periods when I’m dreaming every night and can remember them in detail. Last night I dreamed that my best friend was in the national figure skating championships. The night before I dreamed that we (my DH and me) were on a cruise ship captained by a little chubby cat in a blue guernsey sweater.

Mommastuff

Sun, Jul 29 2018, 12:47 am

I also have vivid dreams! My dh hardly ever remembers his. I am creative and so is my dd and we both have colorful, detailed, exciting dreams that are fun to tell over. I think my daughters dreams are longer, though; her stories go on for a while.

I don't usually have nightmares but I do remember having one where I screamed my self awake. I reluctantly went back to sleep only for it to continue! I didn't go to sleep to quickly after that!!

I notice that when I am not sleep deprived, my dreams are richer, brighter, and more exciting. I would love to go back to sleep to continue those!

I do believe that while much of our dreams are based on the going-ons in our life, there is some prophesy in them as well. I hope the dreams about Moshiach will be fulfilled soon!!