As Above, So Below

If you've been reading my Twitter posts recently, you may have seen me occasionally use the tag #LastNightIDreamt from time to time. There's actually a Last Night I Dreamt account on Twitter which tracks and then re-tweets anything it finds with that tag, and sometimes it's interesting to see what people dream about. I've had a strange sleeping pattern for two decades now - I tend to have two periods of sleep a day, usually about three hours in the daytime and five at night, so I've got twice as many opportunities as most people have to dream, and maybe I'll post a few more to Twitter - or maybe here if they can't be described in 140 or less.

One of the earliest blog posts I wrote here - back in October 2008 - was about some of my recurring dreams, and I've noticed two particular things which tend to happen there, both of which came up in the dreams I've had this week.

The first one is the "underground" theme - in this one, I was at what I presume was the house I lived in as a teenager (I tend to be about 19 or so in my dreams, even today) and I had "discovered" some rooms underground which I was turning into a secret little "house" for myself. I was only found out when my dad went exploring underground himself and saw me!! We decided we would split the rooms between us, and I would have a couple of them as my underground "home".

I've always been interested in living underground - or up in the air, like the 58th floor or something - I suppose it's the love of "unusual" things which is coming through there. I remember Wired magazine writing a piece on this subject a few years ago which interested me.

I have big blackout curtains on my windows, and I tend to keep them closed all the time: partially due to my strange working and sleeping hours, partially due to just feeling fragile and not wanting to face the world, and partially due to the view outside - what we call a "housing scheme", and what an American would probably call the "projects" is not exactly the best of views to look out on. Obviously I open them when people come to visit, but usually they stay closed all the time, so it's almost like I'm living "underground" as it is. And I like it that way. (In case you're wondering, yes I do have the lights on a lot, but they're energy saving ones and they actually cost even less to run if you have them on all the time - and I have a lightbox too)

The second recurring motif is "floating" or hovering in the air. I've mentioned this before in passing on these pages - it's a common thing in my dreams to be able to float about in mid-air, something I would love to do in reality sometimes when I come home from work with aching legs! It's not flying - I'm only a metre or two off the ground usually. The method to get airborne varies - sometimes it's a mental wish alone, sometimes I have to climb onto a wall and jump off it. Usually I have to slowly pedal like I was on a bicycle to keep airborne, although sometimes I don't have to do anything, and just naturally slowly return to earth.

Sometimes I try to float in my dreams, and can't do so, which is usually a sad feeling, but when I can do it, I feel really happy, and that feeling can come with me into the "real world" when I wake up. Anyway, last night I was dreaming I could float, and I was hearing this song in my dream as I was doing so... which happens to be from one of my dad's favourite bands. I quite like them too :)

THE SHADOWS - ATLANTIS
(single released 1963)