So WEIRD LW mentioned lucid dreaming. I've done this since childhood but didn't realize it actually was common enough to be named.

As a child I learned to control my dreams...in them I can do ANYTHING I want because I am dreaming and I know it.

When I sleep on my right side, on a certain pillow in my bed, my dreaming will always start out as a nightmare....so I don't think you are crazy. If I want to have a bad dream, meaning it starts as a bad one and I can let it ride or change it, then I grab that pillow and sleep on it.

I am no Dr but I think it might have to do with pressure on your head, angle of your neck, and then maybe laying a certain way put more blood or more weight on a section of your brain that influences dreaming.

I really dunno...but I wouldn't freak out about it. Next time, let the bat connect. Look up at the intruder and say "Bring it!"

After that I don't think it will plague you again.

That's my opinion....uh, er, weird as it sounds.

Maybe rev yourself up to change the outcome of the dream before you nap on your right side? Hmmm...I guess it sounds easier than it is, huh.

Anywho, really hope my sweetie stops having nightmares.

Weird indeed.... Maybe before he hits you when you feel his presence you should already start to think it's a dream and i can make this stop.
Because it seems to me the fear builds up until the crucial moment where you open your eyes and see him. So instead of leaving the fear build up contorl it and then kick the shit outta that idiot

---You might try to develop some skills in lucid dreaming, then you can change the way it ends, like...you get up and beat the crap out of the dude with the bat and forever banish him from your home.---

That would be so damn cool, and thanks for the link. It was very interesting.

---My favorite technique involves a detailed visualization of bouncing on a trampoline as I drift off to sleep. (the repetitive rhythm of it is akin to 'counting sheep') As I become more deeply relaxed, I slowly begin to bounce higher and higher, and in the moment I begin to fly I am immediately aware that I have begun to dream.---

I have had only one dream where it actually felt like I was really flying. I still swear to this day that I was flying. I been wanting so bad to experience it again but it hasn't happen. The trampoline technique is a very good idea.

---Personally, I enjoy nightmares, they're like mini horror flicks made just for you, based on your own deepest fears, doubts, and phobias.---

I enjoy my dreams that one would call scary, and though I'm experiencing my fears I never really been scared. And even when I have been I never woken up fearing for my life. Which makes me wonder about the dream I been having since it all reality it's not as scary as most dreams could be, yet I'm more afraid than ever in it.

---As a child I learned to control my dreams...in them I can do ANYTHING I want because I am dreaming and I know it.---

I need to learn how to control my dreams. Friends of mine have told me about being able to do it also, but when I dream it seems my memory stops working and I forget I can do ANYTHING.

---When I sleep on my right side, on a certain pillow in my bed, my dreaming will always start out as a nightmare....so I don't think you are crazy. If I want to have a bad dream, meaning it starts as a bad one and I can let it ride or change it, then I grab that pillow and sleep on it.

I am no Dr but I think it might have to do with pressure on your head, angle of your neck, and then maybe laying a certain way put more blood or more weight on a section of your brain that influences dreaming.

I really dunno...but I wouldn't freak out about it. Next time, let the bat connect. Look up at the intruder and say "Bring it!---

You may not be a Dr but I do like your idea on what it might be.

One of the things I'm so curious about is why I'm so afraid when I have dreamt far worse things. I really do need to NOT wake up and see what happens next time.

---Maybe rev yourself up to change the outcome of the dream before you nap on your right side? Hmmm...I guess it sounds easier than it is, huh.---

Let's see rev myself up before falling asleep. I like that. I like that a lot. Any suggestions?

---Weird indeed.... Maybe before he hits you when you feel his presence you should already start to think it's a dream and i can make this stop.
Because it seems to me the fear builds up until the crucial moment where you open your eyes and see him. So instead of leaving the fear build up contorl it and then kick the shit outta that idiot---

It's what I'm hoping to do. I just need to stop waking up at the same moment all the time.

Ok this is how I learned to control my dreams as a child...maybe it will help you.

I had one dream about an out of control school bus. I was riding on it and it started speeding, going up and down steep hills and just being out of control. No one was driving and I didn't know how! (Of course this was a time in my life when my parents were fist fighting and threatening to kill each other and divorce loomed ahead...so it accurately reflected my life ).

I would wake up just as the bus crashed or went over a cliff. So, as soon as my eyes would open I'd say the word "shit." I chose shit because I thought the word HIGHLY funny (I was a kid) and it was a no-no word for me. So saying it outloud was funny, scary, taboo..things that brought me into the moment and out of the dream's residue. (I can imagine as an adult you can find a word that you find hilarious and ridiculous at the same time.)

After some time I didn't wake up fully from the dream, but I still muttered the word shit when I did.

Eventually I was saying the word 'shit' IN MY DREAM. And once I did say it, I knew I was dreaming. And then I could do whatever I wanted. IT took a couple months I think for the whole thing to work out. Ever since then, when I feel the inclination I can control my dreams.

BUT (isn't there always one) I find it easiest to control my dreams when I am getting regular sleep. Meaning I am not so sleep deprived I fall in to a deep sleep seconds after putting my head down.

And sometimes the effort to control the dream makes me mentally tired the next day...like my brain didn't rest well enough...if that makes sense.

The weirdest flying dream I ever had was once when I chose to fly around Cincinnati's skyline at night. The details of the architecture of each building was so vivid in my mind....so vivid in fact the next day I was looking up articles trying to see if the architectural details I saw at 30 stories high were accurate.

They were for the most part! Except I probably had seen them in newspaper articles or something before since I lived in the area. But it was cool that my brain contained the information!

Good luck...it can be done...but it takes several weeks of regular and plenty sleep!

One more thing...you say you've had scarier dreams....but to me the scariest dreams aren't usually about monsters and horror, but the ones when we have no control over anything happening....

Maybe its the same for you....because in your dream you can't move, can't fight back..you are just a victim waiting to be consumed.

That's scary imo. Because it CAN happen in real life...

---Good luck...it can be done...but it takes several weeks of regular and plenty sleep!---

You are right that it's going to take time. I tried last night, but I remember nothing about what I dreamt.

---That's scary imo. Because it CAN happen in real life..---

Maybe it is the reason I'm scared, but I'm not scared to have the dream again. I do want to have it again I want to react different in the dream.

---#12 by little-whip
Fri, May 26, 2006 2:25 PM ---

Here is something weird that happened to me yesterday. I laid on the couch and took a nap hoping to have the same dream I been having. Instead I had a dream I didn't remember, but I did wake up saying, "I need to call my brother". I looked at the clock and it was 3:18 pm. So I went to go get my cell phone to call him. I left it in my bedroom. When I picked it up I saw I missed a call, and when I saw who called it was - you guessed it - my brother. He had tried calling me at 3:15 pm.

Now to the good part. I called him and asked what was going on and he said nothing he just called to see how I was doing. Being a trucker driver he was on the road. We bullsh*tted some and he was telling me about his Sirius satellite radio. How I need to get rid of XM and get Sirius. Then he turned up the radio and said, "Hey listen to this song. Remember how we used to sing it all the time." And you know what the song was - yep you guessed it again - And She Was by the Talking Heads.

Then I come in here and I see you left the lyrics to the song in my blog. I like when weird things like that happen.

Pretty freaky!

At our house as we put the kids down we say, "Night. night. See you in sleepy town."

And even my husband and I say it to each other right before drifting off....ok, so its corny I know...but it would be so cool if we all met up there wouldn't it?

Of course I know why we don't....my version of sleepy town is an old west town, with tumbleweed, dry dusty streets, and a saloon with swinging louvered doors.

My oldest's idea is Charlie's chocolate factory...and my husband's, well he won't tell me....maybe he's afraid I'll find it! hehehe.

Good advice above.  As for the meaning, that you will find out when you stop trying to figure it out, and let it sink in (kind of like walking away from a problem only to have the answer hit you afterwards).

I will tell you that I do not control all of my dreams, but then I know how to get out of them when I cannot control them.  It is something learned over time.  But the bad ones are the most thrilling - after I wake up and am in control again.

---LoL, now how cool is that? ---

---My oldest's idea is Charlie's chocolate factory...and my husband's, well he won't tell me....maybe he's afraid I'll find it! hehehe.---

Just don't steal the Fizzy Lifting drinks cause dream or not they will still have to sterilize all you touch. Oh and don't forget to burp to get back down.