Dream, Dream, Dream

Okay, so I saw "Inception" last week (which is about entering dreams)and that might contribute slightly to the strange dreams I have been having lately, but they started before that.

I believe I wrote a post about a dream where I had to climb up a steep embankment and then try to squeeze through a tiny space to enter then place I was going. I have been having dreams like that regularly for the last month or so...last night, I not only had a dream about having to crawl through these tiny, dank, dark tunnels to get anywhere, but I also had a dream where I had to walk on these wooden plank-like structures everywhere. It was like two pieces of narrow wood made up all the floors and walkways and if you didn't keep your balance, you would fall down into the unknown.

These dreams are really disturbing and when I wake up, I feel distressed. I know they are processing my stress load - I have always had dreams that are pretty clear about that.

When I was in high school, I had two major stress dreams - one was of all my term papers and English papers. I used to type them and leave them on our dining room table for my mother to proofread. The dream would be like a video camera coming out of my bedroom, walking down the hall, focusing on the paper and a GIGANTIC BIC pen (black ink) was scribbling out all the pages. I mean a human-sized GIGANTIC BIC pen. The other dream was of a big monster dog with red eyes chasing me.  As my stress level increased, the dog got bigger and bigger until the last time I had the dream...

The last big dog dream, I was still driving my little yellow VW Dasher.  My friends and I were over on 185th (near the high school) and Jason of "Friday the 13th" fame was chasing us.  We jumped into the car and tried to start it. It wouldn't start and wouldn't start. Finally, as Jason was upon us, the car started and we pulled out onto 185th headed towards the high school.  Just as we were almost free and clear, the GIGANTIC black dog with RED GLOWING devil eyes jumped in front of my car and bent its head down to look into my windshield and growl.  Then I woke up.

So, I know I have a pattern of dealing with stress through my dreams, but I have to say that these constricting dreams are NOT GOOD.  They really make my heart pound and I can see in some of my real life that I am having some difficulty with crowds and crowded places. I hope I can deal with this and get rid of the darn dreams.