Section 6-3: Fantasy = Reality

While we are talking about sleep and all. I rarely dream.

I actually very much dislike dreaming... as when I do dream it usually interferes with my waking life, the following is an example of what my dreams are usually like.

No. not like this. that would be cool.
-Courtesy theresalwaysroomforonemore.com-

Alarm goes off. I shut off the alarm, complain about how much I don't wanna get up, after fighting with myself to get out of bed I stumble towards the shower. I stay in the shower for an incredibly long length of time enjoying the hot water. Finally having "awoken" I get out and brush my teeth, get dressed in my work clothes, put on some deodorant and cologne and head out for the day of work ahead of me. As I sit at my desk things start to fall apart in my dream... I don't use a Mac at work... I don't own a green dress shirt... I haven't driven a plymouth breeze since I was sixteen... ah. I'm dreaming.

As you can see, the reason that my dreams interfere with my waking life is they mirror each other. Sometimes I will stay dreaming after this revelation, but usually not for long as half of these actions are things that I need to do, and some of them are things I may have already done. I have a terrible habit of shutting off my alarm in my sleep. When I have these dreams it's followed by a full on adrenaline rush because I have come to the realization that I am still in my bed and am probably late for whatever I needed to get done that morning.

To me, this is a dream.
-Courtesy www.guardian.co.uk-

When it comes to dreams I follow the Activation-synthesis model, because as a child I did have very amazing vivid and and colorful dreams, as I grew up though I found my dreams becoming more and more mundane. not that I lacked an imagination but my mind was preoccupied with more realistic issues. You could say that I also follow the problem-solving interpretation of dreams suggested by Cartwright, because I don't think these two areas are incongruent.

To me, dreams are the result of neurons firing while we are unconscious, turned into dreams so the brain has a way to handle these firing neurons. I believe that the neurons firing most during our waking hours (usually associated with issues/concerns most affecting us in that space of time). These neurons have "residual firing" during our sleep which results in these dreams being tied into our waking life.