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Old 12-09-2016, 08:06 AM
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Nightmares

Congratulations! For the Holidays you have been awarded a free membership in the Nightmare of the Month Club! Post only amusing (?) nightmares so as not to induce horrible ones in other sufferers.
My entry: Last night I dreamed that I was composing horrible and embarrassing poetry (horribly embarrassing?). I refuse to post my nocturnal work product for fear hoots, jeers and demands that I be expelled from SR.
Possible nightmares that you might enjoy (?). How about one that the late, well known philosopher, Bertrand Russell, suggested in his book "Nightmares of Eminent Personages": The world has been taken over by drones- robots with artificial intelligence who have replaced humans and keep some of them for entertainment and ridicule in zoos. This is interesting and very current. It may well come to pass. I have heard that scientists are working on just such a project right now Of course one can always say that humans could just pull the plug out of the wall or take out the batteries. Not so fast! Robots could be programmed to kill anyone who tries to do that. "Security" robots might call on "undesirable" humans in the middle of the night and export them to horrible places for "extreme rendition". Our local toy store is now selling robots for Christmas giving. Buy one and celebrate the holidays in a drone operated interrogation rendition center.
Special Holiday Bonus: Cure your insomnia! A foolproof method for curing your insomnia is to drift asleep imagining that the world has been taken over and is run by benevolent dogs or horses, kind and understanding the humans whom they own. See a chapter in Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" where the island is owned and run by kindly, wise, benevolent horses. Dog lovers can substitute dogs. Cats? Are all cats trustworthy?

Bill.
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Old 12-09-2016, 08:19 AM
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Cats can not be trusted!
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Old 12-09-2016, 08:23 AM
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Old 12-09-2016, 08:31 AM
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Originally Posted by thomas11 View Post
Cats can not be trusted!
If a cat is not a politician can he/she be more likely to be trusted? Suppose a cat is a member of the clergy.... If all cats are believed to be untrustworthy is this politically incorrect (animal profiling)? Should untrustworthy cats be deported? Denied immigration?

W. (Beavers? Hard workers but benevolent?)
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Old 12-09-2016, 08:56 AM
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Originally Posted by wpainterw View Post
If a cat is not a politician can he/she be more likely to be trusted? Suppose a cat is a member of the clergy.... If all cats are believed to be untrustworthy is this politically incorrect (animal profiling)? Should untrustworthy cats be deported? Denied immigration?

W. (Beavers? Hard workers but benevolent?)
Your pontificating over the trustworthiness of a feline makes you sound like an academic at a university. That's right, you are! Hope you have a great day Bill.
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Old 12-09-2016, 10:25 AM
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Originally Posted by thomas11 View Post
Your pontificating over the trustworthiness of a feline makes you sound like an academic at a university. That's right, you are! Hope you have a great day Bill.
I am not pontificating. And don't insult the Pope.And university professors are paid to pontificate. They have to do something or look like they're doing something. I can debate the trustworthiness of cats, particularly if they are running for office. That's in the Constitution. It says that if cats run for office you can question their credentials, particularly if they have access to nuclear weapons. If a cat punches the wrong button then we could have a cat astrophe. Each cat should be judged on its own merits. And yet, as someone once said, "Trust but verify!"
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Old 12-09-2016, 10:29 AM
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Cats keep all of your secrets though. It's just their nature.
I dreamt the other night that I was travelling in England. No, no, that wasn't the nightmare. I was travelling by car around England and things were beginning to awry. Goofy.
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Old 12-09-2016, 12:03 PM
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Originally Posted by Maudcat View Post
Cats keep all of your secrets though. It's just their nature.
I dreamt the other night that I was travelling in England. No, no, that wasn't the nightmare. I was travelling by car around England and things were beginning to awry. Goofy.
Yes, driving on the left side of the road. Things go pretty well unless you hit a sheep. But when you meet a "roundabout" and have to go around it clockwise that's quite another matter. Then sometimes folks who hit you might say "Sorry!" and go right on like the Toff who pokes you on the Mall with a tightly rolled up umbrella. If you don't apologize for being poked would he poke you again? Watch out for escalators. Are they called that or something else? What about eating "Scotch Eggs" or "Toad in the Hole" in a Pub, or Haggis or Black Pudding in Scotland? It's all in fun. I really like the Brits and the Scots, and the Welsh and the Irish. I remember traveling in the Lake Country, staying at a hotel where, after dinner a pig farmer from Norfolk and his psychiatrist got drunk and the farmer went up to the balcony and sang to everyone assembled that he was "a Little Prairie Flower"! Rule Britannia! That's what won at Blenheim, Trafalgar, Waterloo! ("My Lord! I do believe I've lost my leg!" "Iron Duke" Wellington's Reply: "Have you! Pity!") Stiff upper lip! Don't "blot your copybook!"

Bill
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Old 12-09-2016, 12:35 PM
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How about, "sent to Coventry," "cat amongst the pigeons, "(love that one), "spend a penny" and "going widdershins"' (my father used to say that). Once I was staying at a guest house in Edinburgh, where we ate breakfast family style. We were chatting with a lovely couple, Scots now living in Australia, and their brother or bil. He had a heavy Glaswegian accent, and I just couldn't make out what he was saying. My face must have expressed my puzzlement because when he ended a story with "know what Ah'm sayin? " his bil broke in laughing. "No," he said. "She doesn't understand a word you are saying! And for that matter, neither do I!" We had a good laugh over that. It remains one of my fondest travel memories.
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Old 12-09-2016, 02:08 PM
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How about Sea Lions? They are somewhere between dogs and cats. Closer to dogs in phenotype, behavior and taxonomy but were given a feline name...

Last night I dreamed that there was one in my room. And no, it wasn't a nightmare, it was sweet! Sea lions are one of my long-term obsessions when it comes to animals. I just have been thinking about them a lot again in the last few days because I booked an adventure to swim with sea lions during an upcoming vacation. And now I can't wait and it seems I can't get them out of my mind, they come and haunt me even at night. So I've decided that I indeed won't wait and will go and see the sea lions in the nearby zoo in my city this weekend, need my instant gratification
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Old 12-09-2016, 04:04 PM
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Aellyce: It's quite obvious that you have become emotionally dependent on sea lions, the way alcoholics like the late Caroline Knapp and I became dependent on dogs. Have you ever considered getting your doctor to prescribe for you an Emotional Support Sea Lion that would enable him ( or her!) to sit next to you in a plane when you fly, like dogs can? I know that seals when they come to Chatham on Cape Cod look very much like dogs when they surface, as did our dog when we took her out in a boat and we had to put her on a leash since she wanted to jump overboard to play with them.
A sea lion could be part of your recovery plan. Could be your sponsor or HigherPower if you are in AA. My dog is my Higher Power. You dream about sea lions. Would it help to go to a sea lion psychiatrist? Might it be possible for you to taper off sea lions like one lion at a time, so as to avoid withdrawal. There must be lots of rehabs out in California since they're well known for sea lions, which means many addicts like you.
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Old 12-10-2016, 03:57 AM
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I think George Orwell must have just made a turn in his grave at Animal Farm.

... A wold inhabited by artificial intelligence whose electrical circuits and have become increasingly faulty and error-prone in the absence of human mechanics that refused to cooperate. Meanwhile, humans and animals together have created a resistance movement where animals provide higher power to humans whose batteries are getting weak, dogs run the community, cats serve as keepers of top secrets of the leadership (but only a certain breed is capable of this) and sea lions provide emotional support and addiction counseling.

How about other residents?
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Old 12-10-2016, 07:31 AM
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Would the U.S. be better off to be run by Mr. Toad (of The Wind in the Willows)? We shall soon see....

W.
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Old 12-10-2016, 08:14 AM
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Since I'm so in early in recovery I am remembering my dreams, they are so vivid, so clear, so real.

So anyway, I had a dream a week ago that startled the h*** outta me. I was in an elevator and I would push the button to go up, instead it went down very fast, my feet were no longer on the floor my head was at the top of the elevator. It did this every time I pushed a button, it wouldn't stop, and I couldn't get off the dang thing. I can still feel the butterflies in my stomach

Well, curiosity got the best of me, because that dream somehow still gets to me, so i googled dream meanings. And this is what it said, "Descending in an elevator suggests that you are being grounded or coming back down to reality. It also signifies setbacks and misfortunes.

In general, the up and down action of the elevator represents the ups and downs of your life. It also symbolizes emotions and thoughts that are emerging out of and submerging into your subconscious."

Being sober has brought me back down to reality each and every day. I don't know I just thought it was spot on so early in my recovery. I'm just curious to know if anyone else believes that their dreams have a real meaning to it???
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Old 12-10-2016, 08:37 AM
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Very cool interpretation, Fairyeyes!

Last night (im a week or so sober following relapse after an amazing run in recovery), I dreamed that I was in an arcade, having a great time playing a favorite game and the machine started pouring out quarters. I had won a jackpot! But I quickly found that I couldn't carry all the coins, was struggling to scoop them up, someone next to me was taking them and then my husband was upset that I was dropping them. I woke up hyperventilating, very unusual for me.

My previous stretch of recovery blessed me tremendously with a husband, son, new home, church family, and countless other treasures in the last couple of years. I caved under the pressure of change and insecurity and chose to drink again a few months ago. One night of "girl time" quickly reverted back to a nightly habit. Thankfully, I've pulled myself back out of it before any major consequences. I guess my brain is still processing the fear of losing it all. Addiction stinks. Sobriety is so good.
Keep at it, everyone! Nightmares included, just never give up. Never.
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Old 12-10-2016, 09:12 AM
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Don't know about Mr Toad, Bill... We shall see I guess.

Originally Posted by fairyeyes03 View Post
I'm just curious to know if anyone else believes that their dreams have a real meaning to it???
I like to derive meaning from my dreams but don't do it all the time since I tend to recall way too many vivid, detailed and often bizarre dreams... if I wanted to "solve" all or even most of them, I would probably be sitting preoccupied with the analysis much more than what's healthy for me But I do enjoy pondering the meaning of dreams that particularly stick with me after waking, seem to have interesting connections with something meaningful ongoing in my life, and/or affect me emotionally. I don't care much about looking for general dream symbols and meanings, I like to look at them in the context of my own reality.

The sea lion story I described in the first post, for example. I have loved them for years, but why is it such a preoccupation suddenly now that I invest time, money and energy to "meet" them? I am not going to talk about the symbolism and interpretation as it's far too personal, complex and detailed and does not really have connections to recovery that could be useful to many here, will just say that over the course of a few days I think I've figured out how the dream, my intense attraction to these animals, and some recent events in my life are intertwined... in some very interesting and meaningful, deep ways. It reveals important information about myself and intensifies a decision/dilemma that I am trying to push out of my consciousness in order to get away from it. It makes me question whether I willingly deprive myself of some important form of connection/nurture and seek out distractions once again... I think that my mind is giving these symbolic, seemingly obsessional, highly emotional messages to direct my attention to the real deal. I love sea lions for their own sake but there is more to them here as a personal symbol.

Another way I like to think about my dreams is to assume that all dream characters are projections of myself, they represent me, aspects of myself, in some ways. So what do they mean to me when looking at it from that point of view?
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Old 12-10-2016, 09:33 AM
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Originally Posted by wpainterw View Post
Would the U.S. be better off to be run by Mr. Toad (of The Wind in the Willows)? We shall soon see....

W.






I have interesting dreams. My sister calls it the Zoloft Cinema, as "bizarre or unusual thoughts or dreams" is one of the last listed side effects of Zoloft (sertraline). Sometimes I remember them when I wake up and write them down. Fun reading thru them.
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Old 12-11-2016, 01:42 PM
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My speculation on dreams is that the brain is the end product of a spectacular evolutionary development over millions of years (the Greeks referred to as the "cathartic" function of drama). I understand that an "acting out" program has sometimes been used by psychiatrists to diagnose and treat emotionally disturbed patients. Suppose the brain, then, has in its software an "acting out" program for "in house" nocturnal psychiatry. The program might go something like this. First the brain takes various aspects of things you might have been reading about or watching on TV (very important not to watch horror shows immediately before trying to sleep). These it combines with various long standing anxieties, some of them subconscious, to construct a scenario, also containing anxieties from the past. Since I am a retired professor I often have nightmare about being a student and unprepared or late for an exam, with no knowledge of where the exam is taking place, or as a professor, late for class, having mislaid or forgotten my teaching notes and text from which I taught. Or I am "lost, alone" going down "long, deserted streets,the muttering retreats of restless nights in one night cheap hotels" (If I quote T.S.Eliot correctly) or giant, gray, unpopulated, menacing mansions lined by dark alleyways. Recently I dreamed I revisited my old law firm to find former "partners" or "senior associates" whom I had respected and admired, still there, aged, care laden and "passed over" doing drudgery work in obscure, ill furnished offices,, unhappy and forgotten. My dreams are seldom happy. When they occur I never forget them, as I dreamed long ago of a girl I was in love with who was killed at the age of 19 in a car accident (1946). I dreamed that I had gone to heaven and that she came running to meet me. I would die right now as I write this if I were sure this would happen. I loved the way she talked, loved her as I have never loved anyone.

W.
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Old 12-11-2016, 02:03 PM
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I agree no cats
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