2016.10.15 19:00 - Dreaming

The Guardian for this meeting was stevenaia Michinaga. The comments are by stevenaia Michinaga.

I was joined by Alma di Masala and later by Paradise Tennant

stevenaia Michinaga: evening Alma
Almadi Masala: hi Stevenaia
stevenaia Michinaga: there we go
stevenaia Michinaga: welcome back
Almadi Masala: thank you
stevenaia Michinaga: have you taken any time to peruse our website?
stevenaia Michinaga: paused for 90 seconds now and then?
Almadi Masala: a bit ... I have looked at some of the meeting logs
Almadi Masala: and I found an app for my phone that rings a gong every few minutes
stevenaia Michinaga: :)
Almadi Masala: I have used that sometimes to remind myself to pause and be mindful
stevenaia Michinaga: sometimes all it takes is something to interrupt you for a moment
Almadi Masala: yes
stevenaia Michinaga: I used to focus on what I am doing intently then take a breath like a sigh... and that as enough for a momentary pause
stevenaia Michinaga: after coming here I began to use those second for something different
stevenaia Michinaga: in the begining we were taking 9 seond pauses
Almadi Masala: I did some hiking this week, and the beauty of the outdoors is sometimes enough to make me stop and be present
stevenaia Michinaga: that was a bit more intense
stevenaia Michinaga: one of the exercises we did at the 1st retreat taking a more graphical approach was to do a drawing for a time... them pass it off to the person to your right, then someone said let's make that a 9 second sketch, what resulted was not quite mindful, but interesting to look at , the drawings are on the wiki under early retreats

--BELL--

stevenaia Michinaga: 12 or so graphical streams, I think 90 seconds is a much better time to take
Almadi Masala: interesting ... I will have to look at those
stevenaia Michinaga: I will find the link for you
Almadi Masala: kind of like a visual version of collaborative story telling?
stevenaia Michinaga: yes, seeing what appears in a very sort time
stevenaia Michinaga: https://wiki.playasbeing.org/Retreats/Past_retreats/2008/2008-10_Princeton%2c_NJ%2c_USA
stevenaia Michinaga: no two alike, they are on the bottom of the page
Almadi Masala: very interesting!
stevenaia Michinaga: :)
Almadi Masala: a way of tapping into spontaneous imagination
stevenaia Michinaga: one of the original members of this group just published a book Anderson, M (2016) "The Wisdom of Lived Experience: Views from Psychoanalysis, Neuroscience, Philosophy and Metaphysics"

http://us.karnacbooks.com/product/the-wisdom-of-lived-experience-views-from-psychoanalysis-neuroscience-philosophy-and-metaphysics/36140/
stevenaia Michinaga: She was at that retreat too
stevenaia Michinaga: I just found out about it but it sounds interesting
Almadi Masala: yes
stevenaia Michinaga: I believe the forward is by the group's originator
Almadi Masala: ooh, I'm looking at the book's web page, and it does look very good
stevenaia Michinaga: I'm hoping it isn't to esoteric but some of the comments on the publisher's website make it sound readable
stevenaia Michinaga: yes
Almadi Masala: *sigh* I have so many books on my list to read, and so little time to spend with them
stevenaia Michinaga: nods
Almadi Masala: does this group ever do anything about dreams and dreaming?

--BELL--

stevenaia Michinaga: Yes, there used to be a dedicated dream session on thursday mornings, but the facilitator got to busy in RL, sometime Maxine, the books author lead sessions as well
stevenaia Michinaga: one of the group's member from Canada is an academic dream researcher, nightmares actually, had the chance to meet her when I was in montreal
Almadi Masala: dreams fascinate me
stevenaia Michinaga: works at a nightmare lab, which sounds like a plot of a scary movie
stevenaia Michinaga: I'm sure of you seached our wiki for "DREAM" you will get many hits
Almadi Masala: ok
stevenaia Michinaga: so interpretations, other some very interesting dreams
Almadi Masala: I dreamed the other night of a blue dog ... a friendly little dog with bright blue hair
Almadi Masala: I wonder, where did that come from? lol
stevenaia Michinaga: doyou belove there is meaning from dreams, or jsut the inner workings of your sleeping mind?
stevenaia Michinaga: :)
stevenaia Michinaga: sometimes I feel a connection to somewhere else whiledreaming, and wonder why I cannot stay there
Almadi Masala: I believe at least some dreams are meaningful. I have had some that had very powerful meanings, but others that I cannot figure out at all
stevenaia Michinaga: or were the other place exists
Almadi Masala: yes, dreams as an other world
Almadi Masala: that is a strong theme in myth and literature
Almadi Masala: I like to think of dreams as another world too
stevenaia Michinaga: years ago when I first moved out alone to a new job and new place to live, I began keeping a dream journal where I would wake myself up somewhat lucidly and write about my dreams while they were still fresh, pages and pages of almost illegable scribbling
stevenaia Michinaga: I wish I could remember to do that now
Almadi Masala nods
Almadi Masala: I have trouble remembering my dreams. it takes an effort
stevenaia Michinaga: now my dreams are like smoke, one moment they are a story to see, the next forgotten
Almadi Masala: sometimes I keep a voice recorder next to my bed to catch the memory as soon as I wake up
Almadi Masala: otherwise they are usually forgotten within minutes
stevenaia Michinaga: nice
Almadi Masala: like smoke ... yes that is a good way to describe it
stevenaia Michinaga: Hi Paradise, we were jsut talking about Dreams and dreaming
Almadi Masala: hi Paradise
stevenaia Michinaga: how have you been?
Paradise Tennant: hiya stev, alma :)
stevenaia Michinaga: Alma is a recent arrival to PaB
Almadi Masala smiles
Paradise Tennant: welcome :))
Almadi Masala: thank you
stevenaia Michinaga: you always have interesting dreams Para, remember any recent ones?
Paradise Tennant: hmm yes
stevenaia Michinaga: ...listens
Paradise Tennant: I have been reading on lucid dreaming ... and I think I had my first lucid dream

--BELL--

Almadi Masala: oh, nice
stevenaia Michinaga: how did it go?
Paradise Tennant: I was with a client at their office .. which was attached to their house .. both were really very interesting designs and I was able to move myself from the office to the house .. because I wanted to see it .. a small movement but I have never consciously been able to relocate myself in a dream
Almadi Masala: I had quite a few lucid dreams earlier in my life, but sadly I seem to have lost that ability
Almadi Masala: being able to consciously move around in a dream is very exciting
Paradise Tennant: yes I have a friend who can fly .. around at will .... like going on mini vacations :)
Paradise Tennant: No airfare required
stevenaia Michinaga: :)
stevenaia Michinaga: how do you remember so much about your dream, other than the they are unforgetable?
Paradise Tennant: I seem to remember only the good ones :))
Almadi Masala: to remember a dream I have to go over it in my mind just after I wake up
stevenaia Michinaga: a good place to start, you you ahve bad dreams?
Paradise Tennant: yes helps to write it down
Almadi Masala: they fade so quickly
Paradise Tennant: I think we all have dreams that are not fun ..
stevenaia Michinaga: yes, I think I've jsut gotten lazy
Almadi Masala: but then sometimes something will trigger my memory of a dream in the middle of the day
Paradise Tennant: do you ever have waking moments that feel dream like
stevenaia Michinaga: or your dreams triggered your reality ahead of time
Almadi Masala: hmmm
Almadi Masala: one of the strangest things is that sometimes I will suddenly seem to remember a dream that must have taken place many years ago
stevenaia Michinaga: I remember once drifiting from awake to dream and not really knowing which was which
Paradise Tennant: I think they have meaning for our waking lives .. our path so to speak
stevenaia Michinaga: before or after
stevenaia Michinaga: do dreams inform past reality or future reality
Paradise Tennant: Oh I think both .. if you believe in past lives maybe even those
stevenaia Michinaga: I remember Lucid saying she had a tramatic dream the day before 9/11
Almadi Masala: a few times I have had experiences in waking life that seemed to echo images from dreams I had the night before
Paradise Tennant: Yes .. a very real advance premonition that proved really accurate
Paradise Tennant: kind a funny feeling .. you feel like you have done it before ..
Almadi Masala: I dreamed of the space shuttle crashing, but that was several months before the actual disaster

--BELL--

Paradise Tennant: makes you rethink time doesn't it .. if those images can exist in your head .. so far in advance of reality
stevenaia Michinaga: interesting searching the groups wiki for things like 9/11 (54 mentions found ) and dreams (3550 mentions)
Paradise Tennant: yes there were a lot of portent dreams about it .. and some of them well documented before hand ...
Almadi Masala: we take reality for granted, but it is much more mysterious than we realize
Paradise Tennant: yes we try to make the incredible mundane and normal :))
stevenaia Michinaga: living in a mystery is very exciting
Almadi Masala: yes!
Almadi Masala: without a sense of mystery, life is flat and tedious
Paradise Tennant: I drove down to bloomington illinois a couple of weeks ago .. I got lost in the middle of the night in a little town called normal. It was not in my garmin nor was there a map .. made me laugh to say I had not map of normal :)
stevenaia Michinaga: dreaming reality is even more mysterious
stevenaia Michinaga: lol, did you meet your pup there?
Paradise Tennant: yes .. she is doing very well too.. given her background :)
Almadi Masala: hehe, I know of Normal, IL (used to live in Chicago)
stevenaia Michinaga: I used to live there too
Paradise Tennant: I use to travel there for business remember the river city scape being beautiful
Paradise Tennant: you know I had a dream about my dad not long ago .. he always made sure I had a crisp $50 bill in my wallet for emergency cab fare when I was growing up..
stevenaia Michinaga: in the dream or reality
Paradise Tennant: The next day I was walking out of my office and found a crisp $50 bill in the gutter ..
stevenaia Michinaga: wow
stevenaia Michinaga: both
Paradise Tennant: I know funny eh
Almadi Masala: amazing
stevenaia Michinaga: which came first the d ream or the reality created by the dream, waiting for you
stevenaia Michinaga: It's getting late for me, I must go, hopefully to dream and remember
Paradise Tennant: the dream .... he was checking to make sure I had one in my wallet . .it made him anxious if I did not carry cash
Paradise Tennant: nite nite stev :)) thanks for company
stevenaia Michinaga: nice to see the both of you again
Almadi Masala: good night Stev
Almadi Masala: I need to be going too
stevenaia Michinaga: night, and good dreams to you both
Paradise Tennant: sweet dreams to you both
Almadi Masala: thank you, and to you too Paradise