Damn You, Subconscious!

 

An article at Discover.com revealed how scientists found out that when we dream, it is basically our subconscious daydreaming. I found this to be an interesting conclusion because I have been curious about dreams for a very long time.

 

So, basically, when we are dreaming, it’s just our subconscious having daydreams? That is an interesting thought because I have had some unexplained things happen with my dreams. I mean, sometimes, lost loved ones would be in my dreams. And there was one time I dreamed about a place the people there called “up high” and after I told my mom about this dream, she was so convinced that I had visited Heaven.

 

Then there’s the unexplained things that have happened when I was between being awake and being asleep. I have to admit it: I have seen ghosts. And often, I have seen ghosts either right before I am dozing off or right as I am waking up.

 

In fact, there was one time when I was waking up in the morning, and as I was waking up, I saw the figure of someone leaving my room. This happened after I had given birth to my first child and the baby was sleeping in a bassinet at my side of the bed. That was where I saw the figure departing from and right when this visitor got to my open doorway, he turned around and I felt an eerie sensation all around me as I saw his face. That morning, I called my mom and kept asking her questions like “Did Grandpa wear this type of hat?” and “Did Grandpa have this kind of jacket?” She was very curious about my questions and after affirming that my grandfather did indeed have those articles of clothing when he was alive, she wanted to know why I was asking those questions. I told her that I think I just saw my grandfather in my room. When I told her what happened, she thought that perhaps my grandfather had come by in spirit to see his brand new great grandbaby.

 

So after learning that our dreams are just our subconscious tossing around “what if?” ideas, I started to wonder how it could explain the unexplained. How was it I was seeing ghosts during a hypnagogic state? It’s possible that the sleep state activates our subconscious – in a way that makes it stronger and more sensitive to things outside of ourselves – and this is why we are able to experience unexplained events such as that taking place when we are half awake and half asleep. I have had many experiences where it was so hard to pull myself (literally!) out of a dream while I was in the process of waking up, because it was time to be back in the real world!

 

Yet, this does not answer one of the mysteries that I have been dealing with: WHY the heck did I keep dreaming about someone for 15 years?? None of THAT makes sense. And unfortunately, there was no answer to that in the article, either.

 

So there is a chance that maybe that conclusion isn’t true, that dreaming is just our subconscious having daydreams. Sometimes I think dreaming is a state of visiting all of those other worlds people like to imagine exist – you know, alternate universe or parallel universe or whatever term you fancy. There have been many times I dreamed that I was living a different life with my kids, with my husband and kids, or it was just me living in some strange world.

 

But if it is true, then my own subconscious needs to be put into a serious timeout! Because it ended up playing the “what if?” game with the WRONG kind of ideas! I got so caught up with one of the dream experiences that I ended up making a huge fool out of myself on the Internet and on social media. I ended up hurting people, including myself. Seriously, if I could smack my subconscious, I would do it!

 

Even so, I know there are some good things we can gain from our subconscious. Our subconscious DOES have a way of being of benefit to us, and so maybe I just won’t put mine into a timeout for too long. Just long enough to think about what it has done and NOT to get me too involved in anymore of its harebrained schemes ever again. These days, all of my dreams are just story ideas and nothing more!