I can't return to dreams I've had before

glennmagusharvey

Some of them were really interesting, but I just can't return to them, no matter how much I'd like.

In fact, it seems that the more I think about something before I sleep to try to dream about it, the less likely I am to actually dream of it.  This is in direct contrast to how dreams are often portrayed in TV shows and cartoons.  The only time my dream ends up having something to do with real life is when:
* I doze off while doing something I'm not supposed to be asleep for
* I am awakened by something in real life, which appears in my dream (such as a timer or phone ringing), possibly as something else in the dream

See, I'd really like to continue a good number of my dreams.
* Where does that long windowed hallway from the airport concourse to the plane actually lead?
* How exactly did I go from that posh top-floor apartment to the very vast dimly-lit several-story-high storage area above it, in that extremely tall tower?  What's above that area?

This is even more relevant since last night I had a dream within a dream apparently--I was cuddling with that girl who's my semi-girlfriend (long story, don't ask), and we were two of many people sleeping over in the basement of my house due to some sort of reunion, and then I was woken up from it, and felt really really annoyed because of that, and ran down to the basement to see to my dismay that there were no such people in my basement, then I was woken up from THAT, to discover that it was morning and I was in my bedroom.

And both basements (as well as the staircase between them) were notably not my real-life house's basements, though the staircase and light was from the house that I previously lived in, and the second basement was noticeably more like my real-life house's basement.

Central Avenue

I KNOW, RIGHT?

Since I was, like, 5 I've wished I could return to my previous dreams.

There was one I had a few weeks back--I was at this college campus on a snowy winter day. At one end of the campus a street went down to a dead end among some abandoned houses. Another street went off to the right, but the only building off the second street was a huge abandoned concrete building with stairs running all up the front. I tried the doors, but they were locked tight. So I tried to look in through the glass, but I couldn't see much because someone had taped paper over them that said "NO TRESPASSING" in Arial Black.

So I decided that I would wait until later that night and try to break in and explore the place, but guess what? I woke up before I got the chance...but I still really want to see the inside of that building.

IanExMachina

Half and half for me.

I often find that I have a dream once and I remember it.

Then some time later I'll dream and it'll be the same dream... up to a point, in the repeated dreams I always know what I should be doing to 'complete' the dream like last time, but the dream doesn't play out the same so stuff changes but the over all structure is the same.

glennmagusharvey

There's also the time that I actually actively came up with this really interesting thing, this old brick building surrounded by brick wall and metal fencing, at night.  I knew there was something beneath it.  I came up with this while awake (albeit rather sleepy).

I really, really want to explore what's beneath it.

IanExMachina

Lucid dreaming, have you tried it?

glennmagusharvey

It's hard to cause it.  It's easier to cause non-lucid dreaming than to cause lucid dreaming...

IanExMachina

Haha.

However if you do the practices and keep a dream diary you might have a bigger chance of your brain picking up on the fact you remember dreams and desire to relive them.

captainbrass

Is the thread title a song lyric? It sounds like it ought to be one, probably from an 80s ballad covered by someone from the X Factor or Glee.

On topic, I can't say I've ever managed to consciously get my brain to return to the same dream, but then I've never tried very hard to achieve this.

TheMightyAnonym

I have had a couple of very touching dreams, which I am sad I can never return to as I miss the characters in them. A long time ago, I had a dream where I fell in love, but try as I might I cannot remember anything about what she looked like or what her name was. It was a really powerful dream, I feel, and was the first time that I can say that I have ever felt love for someone, although there was never person to love, in this case.

I wish I could go back to dreams like this, in order to better learn about the characters within them, both the good ones and bad. If the can't exist in reality, I would love to at least bring them to life on paper.

Anonus

For some reason I deem some things in my dreams too interesting to just let them pass me by. Like Sunday's evil sketch show produced by Mohawk Productions (don't know why, maybe it's just surreal to me)

Bee

Sometimes if all I'm awake for is to head to the bathroom and pee in the middle of the night I can manage to resume the dream afterward, but it's even more fragmented than usual.

The two I really want to go back to though, I had flight and earth powers respectively.  They were the only times I've ever had powers in a dream.

Counterclock

I went back to a dream before.

It was of course, a Nightmare dream that involved demonic possession XD