# Do You Edit Your Dreams?



## nightdreamer (Apr 14, 2013)

I thought about this in response to another thread, and I'm sure it's because I've been tweaking plots for nearly 50 years, but I find myself tweaking dreams.  It's like sometimes, in addition to being in the dream, I'm also observing it, and if I don't like the way things are working out, I go back and change something.  Sometimes, I've gone back and forth through the dream several times making adjustments.  Anyone else do this, or am I just particularly psychotic?


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## HareBrain (Apr 14, 2013)

I think the only time I've ever had any conscious influence on a dream was when I woke myself up because the dream was so boring! (Hopewrites I'm not.)


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## HoopyFrood (Apr 14, 2013)

Sometimes if I can see a dream heading into unpleasant areas I can divert it (or even just wake myself up).

I've started to notice that I reuse particular locations in my dreams. Not real locations, just ones that have been made up in my dream before.

And sometimes if I'm in an especially rare dream state (like the one I mentioned in the other dream thread, the thought-dream state) I can really prod and push dreams into the direction I want them to go, or change things that I'm not happy with. I think I vaguely recall something last night that I changed so that when it happened again I was Yvonne Craig Batgirl instead.


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## nightdreamer (Apr 14, 2013)

HareBrain said:


> I think the only time I've ever had any  conscious influence on a dream was when I woke myself up because the  dream was so boring! (Hopewrites I'm not.)



I don't know about boring, but there have been times when dreams have gotten uncomfortable or just plain stupid, and I've thought, "Enough of this ****!" and woke myself up.



HoopyFrood said:


> Sometimes if I can see a dream heading into unpleasant areas I can divert it (or even just wake myself up).



Like this!



HoopyFrood said:


> I've started to notice that I reuse particular locations in my dreams. Not real locations, just ones that have been made up in my dream before.



I've dreamed sequels a few times, picking up where another dream -- sometimes years earlier -- left off.


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## TheTomG (Apr 14, 2013)

Allegedly (never tried it) one can practice certain things to enhance the chance of what they call "lucid dreaming" which is where you can control and shape the dream while in it. So certainly a known thing - sounds like you may be a natural!


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## Teresa Edgerton (Apr 14, 2013)

The best I can do with dreams is make myself wake up if it suddenly occurs to me that it might be a dream.

But when I am awake, I edit every thought that passes through my mind.


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## nightdreamer (Apr 14, 2013)

TheTomG said:


> Allegedly (never tried it) one can practice certain things to enhance the chance of what they call "lucid dreaming" which is where you can control and shape the dream while in it. So certainly a known thing - sounds like you may be a natural!



Interestingly, I'm narcoleptic, which condition has somehow been linked to lucid dreaming.  But just about every time I've realized I was dreaming and tried to control it, I proved to be a miserable failure at it.  All of my "dream editing" occurred when I wasn't really aware it was a dream.  Hard to explain, perhaps.


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## hopewrites (Apr 14, 2013)

HareBrain said:


> I think the only time I've ever had any conscious influence on a dream was when I woke myself up because the dream was so boring! (Hopewrites I'm not.)


I'll take that as a complement *foxy grin* it made me guffaw at least.


TheTomG said:


> Allegedly (never tried it) one can practice certain things to enhance the chance of what they call "lucid dreaming" which is where you can control and shape the dream while in it. So certainly a known thing - sounds like you may be a natural!


It is. And speaking as someone who can, its a tricky thing to master. I have more out of survival than curiosity. There are step by step guides out there, but I learned it organically and only honed my skills after I discovered that was what I was doing.


nightdreamer said:


> Interestingly, I'm narcoleptic, which condition has somehow been linked to lucid dreaming.  But just about every time I've realized I was dreaming and tried to control it, I proved to be a miserable failure at it.  All of my "dream editing" occurred when I wasn't really aware it was a dream.  Hard to explain, perhaps.


If you really want to control your dreams, you have to be able to control a few key things while awake that take dedicated discipline to learn. While working on these, keep a dream diary. The more detail you can force your waking mind to recall from a dream the easier it is to do.

Mind the whole thing is like trying to ride a dragon. Sometimes the dragon listens to you and takes you where you think you want to go. Sometimes the dragon punishes you for trying and hits you with harsh realities in nightmarish guise. Sometimes the dragon ignores you completely. Ether way its fun.


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## Boneman (Apr 14, 2013)

Actually, the only editing I can do is when I'm flying, superman-style, because I become aware I'm sleeping and direct my flight over green hills and forests. lately I've been trying to teach people, in my dreams, how to fly - it's all a question of trust, I tell them, and float away. God I hate it if I wake up when I'm flying - I can be grumpy all day long... 

While I'm here I should mention the wierdest thing that happened in a dream: I was on a train , not sure where to, but I fell asleep in the dream and there was a period of absolute blankness and then (in the dream, still) I woke up, and got off the train. Should I be worried?


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## nightdreamer (Apr 14, 2013)

Oh, you want WEIRD stuff???  I have some stories.  These episodes are a consequence of narcolepsy.

1.  I often fell asleep on the couch in the family room.  One night I woke up there, noticing first that the VCR clock was blinking (we never set it) and then checked the book I'd been reading and put face-down on the floor.  It was there, but I decided not to pick it back up.  Suddenly, I saw a light coming from over the back of the couch and looked over it to see that a doorway had opened up in the ceiling of the alcove that held the washer and dryer.  A ladder had extended and aliens were climbing down.  I thought or said, "Wow!  This is a really cool hallucination!  The best one ever!"  The punch line?  I wasn't there.  I was in bed.  But the book was still there and the clock was still blinking when I went there for real in the morning.

2.  I woke up to get ready for work, doing all the usual things.  I think I was getting dressed when I woke up again.  "Wow!  That one was realistic!"  I went to the bathroom and checked medicine bottles and such to see if they said what they were supposed to, to make sure I was really awake.  They did.  Everything was as it should be.  Then I woke up again.  I got ready for work a third time, and only decided at last that it was real because I didn't wake up again a fourth time that morning.

Narcolepsy can be sooooo much fun.


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## Boneman (Apr 14, 2013)

nightdreamer said:


> Oh, you want WEIRD stuff??? I have some stories. These episodes are a consequence of narcolepsy.
> 
> 1. I often fell asleep on the couch in the family room. One night I woke up there, noticing first that the VCR clock was blinking (we never set it) and then checked the book I'd been reading and put face-down on the floor. It was there, but I decided not to pick it back up. Suddenly, I saw a light coming from over the back of the couch and looked over it to see that a doorway had opened up in the ceiling of the alcove that held the washer and dryer. A ladder had extended and aliens were climbing down. I thought or said, "Wow! This is a really cool hallucination! The best one ever!" The punch line? I wasn't there. I was in bed. But the book was still there and the clock was still blinking when I went there for real in the morning.
> 
> ...


 

Are you sure you're awake now? For that matter, am I??


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## HoopyFrood (Apr 14, 2013)

nightdreamer said:


> 2.  I woke up to get ready for work, doing all the usual things.  I think I was getting dressed when I woke up again.  "Wow!  That one was realistic!"  I went to the bathroom and checked medicine bottles and such to see if they said what they were supposed to, to make sure I was really awake.  They did.  Everything was as it should be.  Then I woke up again.  I got ready for work a third time, and only decided at last that it was real because I didn't wake up again a fourth time that morning.



Oh, I hate doing that. I'll end up 'waking up' and doing the same thing two or three times. Or I'll 'wake up' then go 'back to sleep' and then have a dream within a dream.

Boneman, I love flying dreams, but my problem is I always lose the power after a while and then really have to try and keep myself up - as well as avoiding trees and the ground!


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## thaddeus6th (Apr 14, 2013)

I don't dream often. I very rarely get to realise they're dreams whilst I'm having them, or get to fiddle with them like this.

Never had a false awakening either.


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## hopewrites (Apr 15, 2013)

The worst is when you dream you hit snooze and really you didnt so your alarm stops going of and doesnt come back on, and then you are late for work after dreaming that you got all the way through it just fine.


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## clovis-man (Apr 16, 2013)

nightdreamer said:


> I thought about this in response to another thread, and I'm sure it's because I've been tweaking plots for nearly 50 years, but I find myself tweaking dreams.  It's like sometimes, in addition to being in the dream, I'm also observing it, and if I don't like the way things are working out, I go back and change something.  Sometimes, I've gone back and forth through the dream several times making adjustments.  Anyone else do this, or am I just particularly psychotic?


 
It's really quite common and in no way indicative of a mental disorder. It's called confabulation and we all do it to one extent or another. The only way I know of to avoid it (if you really want to) is to have a notepad by your bed and as soon as you half rouse up during a dream, turn on a lamp and write down everything you can remember about the dream. If you don't, your subconscious will fill in the gaps for you and produce your "edited" dream.


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## nightdreamer (Apr 16, 2013)

Confabulation wasn't at all what I was talking about.  What I meant was that in the dream I'll think, "That didn't work out right," and then sort of "replay" some of it and the second time dream it so it works out as I think it should.  I think I'm actually dreaming that I'm plotting a story, except experiencing the story while I'm plotting it.


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## hopewrites (Apr 17, 2013)

Yeah. Like there are quick save spots or a rewind button. and you can back up and change something.

Cognitive dreaming. In a sporadic way.

I personally prefer the rewind button as it leaves more control for dropping things in along my way back. Quick save just jumps back and makes for d-ja-vu-y dreams.


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## Lenny (Apr 17, 2013)

Whilst I don't think I've ever rewound dreams and replayed scenes differently, I do find myself controlling dreams every now and then. The vast majority of my dreams are vivid, everything is in colour (that's always an interesting question to ask people - do you dream in colour or black and white?), and they never seem to be negative, which I get the feeling is weird.

I average lucid dreams a few times a month. I've tried to identify what triggers it, but I've not been particularly disciplined about it. Sometimes I can go for weeks without, and sometimes I lucid dream every night for a week.

It's weird, but my lucid dreams all seem to involve me trying to run but not being able to, or having the ability to fly and finding myself unable to take off (take off tends to be jumping and just continuing, as if I'm pressing a jump button and not letting go).

Locations are often revisited, and sometimes even stories (rarely a re-dream, usually a sequel).

---

Might be strange, but I've always wanted to experience sleep paralysis. I have no recollection of it ever happening, and I think I'd find it quite interesting.


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## hopewrites (Apr 17, 2013)

sleep paralysis?


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## Lenny (Apr 17, 2013)

It's supposed to quite a terrifying experience that occurs as you wake up or fall asleep - you temporarily lose the ability to move, and it's often accompanied by scary visions (intruders in the room, for example).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis


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## hopewrites (Apr 17, 2013)

oh like a murderous someone leering over you with a knife?

because that's hilarious.



then there is the opposite. where the innocent who came in to ask if there would be waffles finds that instead of his mother he's woken a snarling wolf about to devour his soul. 

yes. there were waffles.


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## Lenny (Apr 17, 2013)

hopewrites said:


> oh like a murderous someone leering over you with a knife?
> 
> because that's hilarious.



I did say it might be strange to want to experience it. 

I appreciate that it cannot be a nice thing for people who do get it to go through, but I still think it would be interesting.

As writers, any experience, whether great or terrible, gets filed away in our little toolbox, there to be used at any time in the future if we need to. It's far easier, and more authentic, to write about something we've gone through than to make it up.


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## hopewrites (Apr 17, 2013)

oh i wasnt being facetious. there is no better start to a day then not being murdered. Everything feel brighter, you are glad to be alive.

If you want to trigger one stay up ridiculously late when you know you have to get up early and put your emotions through the most rigorous gambit you can think of. 

Not a guarantee, but it usually works for me.


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## Lenny (Apr 17, 2013)

I guess it saves on coffee!


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## hopewrites (Apr 17, 2013)

yeah i got that backward thing where benidril wakes me up and coffee knocks me out.


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## HareBrain (Apr 17, 2013)

Lenny said:


> (that's always an interesting question to ask people - do you dream in colour or black and white?)



I've never met anyone who claimed/admitted to dreaming in black and white. Apparently it was more common in the days of B&W TV, but now I think it's very rare.


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## Lenny (Apr 17, 2013)

I knew it was rare, but I didn't know it was more common before colour TV. That's pretty cool. I wonder if there are any other subconscious things that have been changed by new technologies.

I've only ever known one person who dreams in black and white. And only one person who experiences sleep paralysis.

He's the same guy.

Doubt it's related...

Nice coincidence, though. Some people get all the luck.


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## HareBrain (Apr 17, 2013)

Lenny said:


> I wonder if there are any other subconscious things that have been changed by new technologies.



I now only have dreams that can be described in fewer than 140 characters.


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## nightdreamer (Apr 17, 2013)

hopewrites said:


> Yeah. Like there are quick save spots or a rewind button. and you can back up and change something.



That's what I wanted to hear!  Someone who unquestionably knows what I'm talking about.



Lenny said:


> It's supposed to quite a terrifying experience that occurs as you wake up or fall asleep - you temporarily lose the ability to move, and it's often accompanied by scary visions (intruders in the room, for example).



The first time it happened to me I thought I was being jumped by demons or something.  It happens less frequently now, and it's mostly annoying, especially when I find I start dreaming that it's over and it isn't.


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## HoopyFrood (Apr 17, 2013)

Lenny, I _hate_ that trying to run and not being able. I do it an awful lot.

Also I do remember one occasion where I dreamt in black and white. It was also the same dream where I remember pausing my dream, looking at a clock (in the dream) and coming to the conclusion that I was dreaming. Because it was horrible, my school was run by some authoritatian group who.were killing off my class for doing the slightest thing wrong. Finally it was me and my friend left. I did something wrong but she bravely took the blame for it. As she was taken to be shot, she handed me a bag of pills, telling me it was the only way out. So I took them, and lay down on the bed to die! Another thing I do in dreams is feel things, especially pain. In this case I could feel the pills making me heavy and lethargic.

Lovely dream.


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## Curt Chiarelli (Apr 17, 2013)

Yes. Whatever or whoever tries to chase/menace/bully/harass or just plain old nibble on me in my dreams has the tables turned on them. I've always had vivid, horrible nightmares and although there's no way to stop them from happening, I learned very early in childhood on how to take charge of their outcomes. I have no doubt that this technique is somehow related to that of creative visualization.


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## hopewrites (Apr 18, 2013)

I agree Curt. Better to take control of the thing than let it run a muck with your unwaking-life.

The other thing I get alot are de-ja-vu dreams. When I dream about work (or school when I was in it) snippets of my dreams would come true, sometimes in, but most often out of context. Which always gave me the oddest feelings of de ja vu.


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## Curt Chiarelli (Apr 18, 2013)

hopewrites said:


> I agree Curt. Better to take control of the thing than let it run a muck with your unwaking-life.
> 
> The other thing I get alot are de-ja-vu dreams. When I dream about work (or school when I was in it) snippets of my dreams would come true, sometimes in, but most often out of context. Which always gave me the oddest feelings of de ja vu.




Yes, I know what you're talking about! It would always happen in those odd, insignificant moments - nothing pivotal, I'm afraid.


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## hopewrites (Apr 18, 2013)

Once I went a week without posting here because I dreamed I'd posted something that offended everyone.

When I got back I had forgotten about it... Until I found myself composing the very post I had dreamed about. Lucky for me the context of my dream was off and (as far as I know) I didnt offend anybody. When I hit [Post] though it showed up just as it had in my dream, with everyone's avatars in order on the page and everything.


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## jastius (Apr 19, 2013)

when children are growing up and have nightterrors as they sleep a new recommendation is for them to try and control the circumstances of the dream... 
so perhaps in twenty years or so everyone will fly in their dreams...


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## Glitch (Apr 19, 2013)

I'm not sure whether I control my dreams, or if it's just that bit between sleep and awake. I often use this to edit or plot a story. Unfortunately I can't choose the story, so I have to go with the one my mind has picked (hence why I have a lot of wip's). It's interesting to play the same segment several times over in my head until it feels right.


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## Connavar (Apr 21, 2013)

I do edit my dreams sometimes to fit more like be better version of what im dreaming of.  Sometimes i feel like im tweaking the dream im happing.   

Most of the times my subconsciousness knows already what kind of topic, kind of dreams i want to have.  I rarely have bad dreams,nightmares i remember because usually my dreams are about things i would like in the near future.  Natural wishing for things if its not some weird dream i can understand or remember.


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## Allegra (Apr 26, 2013)

HoopyFrood said:


> Lenny, I _hate_ that trying to run and not being able. I do it an awful lot.


 
When such desperate emergency arises, I learned (can't remember when) to turn invisible instantly - no Harry Potter's cloak needed. It may not happen instantly every time, then I'd try to concentrate really hard - kinda using brain power.


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## Einstein's left ear (Jun 2, 2013)

I often fall sleep with the radio on, I listen to the BBC World Service which is rebroadcast on the Radio 4 channel when Radio 4 closes down at 01:00. Sometimes whenever I enter what I call shallow sleep, whatever is on the radio can manifest itself into a dream or become part of an existing dream.


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## sooC (Jul 8, 2013)

Not while dreaming, definitely edited if I feel the need to tell someone about it. 3 sentences max.


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## chongjasmine (Aug 12, 2013)

When I am dreaming, sometimes I have conscious control over how my dream turns up to be, while at other times, I have absolute no control at all.
When I wake up, I usually record the dreams that are meaningful, scene for scene, without changing anything.


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## lauren$77 (Aug 17, 2013)

I often think oh damn.. that would make a great novel, but I invariably forget it. 

Except once I had the coolest dream about the fountain of youth, and how I had the legendary healing waters springing in my back garden. People for miles came to avail of the waters, my house was turned into a haven of sorts. I formed a committee to manage the giving of the waters to the sick, until one of my supposed friends on the committee tried to poison me. After that I became distrustful and in the end handed ownership of the spring to the catholic church (not sure why I did this being a non religious person and all) who used it for exorcisms of all things. Anyway the spring dried up. Then when I was older someone I loved fell ill, so I returned to the spring, but there was no water. I started crying and as my tears fell into the fountain the water welled up and I was able to fill a bottle for my dying lover.

Well I woke up crying I'm ashamed to admit. Dreams can be quite powerful.


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## B Bat (Aug 28, 2013)

Yes, you are "lucid dreaming."  There are books on it. Some people want to learn to do it.  To you, it comes naturally.  In your sleep state, your conscious self interjects into your unconscious self.  I do it occasionally.  Conscious control over the unconscious is not necessarily good or bad. It just IS. 

HOWEVER, dreams can be ways that the unconscious manifests into our consciousness and tells us things that IT wants US to know.  I, myself would not like to block the unconscious by bringing too much conscious into the process.  I find myself evaluating my dreams while I am having them - "Oh, THAT'S a good dream symbol!"  I occasionally say.  I have been interpreting dreams for years. It also seems that you have been doing a bit of astral traveling while in your sleep mode. 

Suggestion: If you find yourself conscious while dreaming, try PIVOTING.  Like turning in place but going in another direction.  You may be able to access your other lives.  Not kidding.  Be prepared not to be impressed with yourself.  It feels like one of those Abbot and Costello movies where a pivoting wall takes one of them from one room to a hidden room they never thought was there.  In discussing this with other people who are interested in their own dreams, it was GREAT to find out that they do it the same way.


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## B Bat (Aug 28, 2013)

LAUREN$77:  Do you want an interpretation of your spring dream?  If so, I may be able to give some insight.  I will check back later.


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## lauren$77 (Aug 30, 2013)

B Bat said:


> LAUREN$77:  Do you want an interpretation of your spring dream?  If so, I may be able to give some insight.  I will check back later.



Ok that sounds cool! I've never had anyone offer to interpret my dreams before!

Yes I have lucid dreamed - but only after I'd been drinking (it puts you in a deeper sleep)  Otherwise as soon as I'm aware I'm in a dream I wake up! It is pretty cool to be able to effect your dream, you end up being in awe of the most ridiculous things! Whoa this wall feels soooo real!


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