Have you ever noticed whether or not you dream in color? I am wondering. It seems as though my dreams are like versions of old black and white movies. They move slow, are kind of disjointed and unsequential, and they keep going backwards as if being replayed, over and over. Actually, I suppose that is the definition of a nightmare. One feels trapped in a situation and can’t get out. The only way to do so is to wake up.

Sometimes, I have dreams for which I am embarrassed. They are bizarre, outlandish, and portray my doing things that I would never consider doing in real life. Sometimes my dreams are amusing, and I wake up laughing at the absurdity of them. Other times, dreams can be frightening, as in being on a train and being unable to get off; or feeling the threat of an impending disaster and being helpless, in its wake.

Each of us has our own “night life,” so to speak, one in which the subconscious plays out all the conflicts of the day, and does so without our permission or knowledge, until we awake, stirred by the inner workings of our own mind.

Whether or not we remember our dreams at all depends on the part of the sleep cycle in which they occur. Some people make a career of interpreting the meaning of dreams, and there has been a book or two written about that topic.

I have to smile when I remember my mother recounting her dreams. Clear as a bell, I recall my father saying, “Betty, just keep me out of your darned dreams!” Only, I believe he used slightly stronger language. Bad enough that he caught the devil for things he actually did, or more often, forgot to do, in real life, but to be part of a dream sequence in which he had no input … well, that was just too weighty a concept for him.

Some nights, I seem to have no dreams and when that is the case, I consider myself lucky. If I were to dream, I would choose to dream of pleasant things, like the art work of Spain, or the castles of Germany, or the green, green meadows and azure blue seas of Ireland. I’d prefer to dream of places. One person says, “I dream of Africa.” What a pleasant thought!

My new goal is to dream of places, not people, and to try to dream in color!

Patricia Cummings

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 7th, 2007 at 2:01 pm and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.