Friday, September 10, 2010

LUCID DREAMING


I am not much of a dreamer.
I'm sure that I have them, but its been a long time since I regularly dreamed any that I recall
upon awakening.

Lucid dreaming is a big topic right now.
Sure, I have had them.
I did not know what they were at the time and frankly, they have been too brief for me to take control and direct where I want my dreams to go.
But they do have a quality that stays with you... a feeling or sense that makes them memorable.

Once, when I still shared a bed with the dreaded Medusa, I was falling asleep and felt something on my cheek.
I let my eyes open in a lazy way, feeling good and secure, snug in my warm bed... I could even feel the warm breeze blowing in my open window and smell the spring air as it fluttered my white linen curtains.
As my eyes focused, I was slammed into reality by the body of a spider the size of a large man's hand on my face.
I cannot recall crossing the room or even if I took a swipe at the monster, but surly I did that by reflex.
I must have screamed out loud because the Medusa scrambled after me like the house was on fire and in moments, my father and brother were searching the room for the hairy beast.
Oh say... 45 minutes or so later, they finally convinced me that no such spider existed and I had been dreaming.
That was a lucid dream.
The land of half awake, half asleep.
FREAKED ME OUT.
But that was a long, long time ago.

This morning I was laying in bed, in and out of sleep... again all warm and fuzzy.  I'd been roaming around the sheets, had played with the hair on Randy's chest.  I like the way I can curl them around my finger and they stay that way.
The idea of Shirley Temple chest curls cracks me up.
I smiled and rolled over to lay on my stomach and smell how nice my sheets smell, preparing to doze off again.

Outside the sounds of suburban life on trash and recycle day... that guy who forgot to put his out making the mad dash down the drive way with his containers bumping along and grinding.
Neighbor voices that you can't quite hear and who wants to?
Comforting sounds of life as usual.
Randy has not forgotten to do his containers since I have known him.  I get confused and have to ask if tomorrow is the day, or I catch on when he starts gathering stuff together for it.
I have a messy mind.  He doesn't.
It works.

These little thoughts and sounds were flitting past my receptors.
I'm a sprawler... I manage to take most of the space that he leaves vacant and stick some portion on my body into it.
A living rag doll.

Maybe I heard the chickens next door.
Maybe that was the trip wire.
I was transported to the street in front of our house... "the middle of the road, yeah".
Down a house two neighbors were talking and between us, my friend, the chicken.
I wasted no time wondering what it was doing in the road or even why I was in the road.


My only thought was... damn, I have to get my  camera!
I woke near the bedroom door... which is around the bed and through a little foyer sort of place, still naked, reaching for the knob... on a mission to get my camera and snap a picture of the chicken crossing the road... for the blog.

I did two things.  I laughed.
Then I was grateful that I had not made it outside
before reality and dream land separated.
Reminds me of that Bonnie Raitt song...
"Let's give them something to talk about."

Yep, I'm awake now.
It occurs to me that its a good thing I don't lucid dream very much, because in dream land, like in reality, I stay true to myself and act before I think.

This will be a working weekend for us.
Going up to Mom's to help trim the new siding they just put on their house.
Randy says we might have to sleep over.
I pointed out that they don't have a guest bed.
(Can you feel the beetled brows?)
Sigh.

What sort of things are you all getting up to this weekend?
How about lucid dreams... do you have them?
Can you direct them?

Oh... here's a gift!
Spam is Delicious
 
If several things here do not make you laugh out loud,
there is something wrong with you.
So go and enjoy Mr. Shife like I do...
and hey, have a wonderful weekend!  

10 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness! You know, I don't recall ever having a lucid dream like that! I can't even imagine what it must feel like to wake up "living the dream". But it is like you almost uncovered the answer to that perenial question about the chicken crossing the road....

    Thanks for that link, too...very funny!

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  2. laura b.-- I don't have many of them, which is a good thing. I do have the answer to that age old question with this particular chicken... who obviously fascinates me. My chicken crosses the road because it's between the yards she searches for bugs. She clearly believes that she is a free range kind of chick!

    I'm so glad you enjoyed Shife. He cracks me up... a lovable rogue!

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  3. When I had a sleep study done they called that a "prolonged confusional state upon awakening."

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  4. secret agent woman-- That would aptly describe it. Ha.

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  5. i rarely remember my dreams and never have been able to control them.

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  6. I like shirly temple chest hairs..

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  7. I don't think I have lucid dreams and, after hearing about yours, I'm glad I don't.

    I do have very strange and vivid dreams that I often remember in incredible detail.

    Other times I have a vivid dream that fades as soon as I wake up. The memory of the dream is gone, but I'm left with a vague feeling that I had had a really good dream.

    The brain can produce some very weird effects.

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  8. BTW I love the chicken! I wish we had chickens running around here.

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  9. it depends how much I sleep. If I'm getting a decent amount, I can have some fuuuuunky dreams.

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