lucidity

today i watched this, all about dreams.

some interesting things i learned:
* we dream in rem and non-rem sleep, but in rem sleep, we are totally physically paralyzed
* rem dreams tend to be negative, or induce negative feelings and thoughts -- and people who only dream in rem sleep are typically depressed people
* the same area of our brain associated with rem sleep is the area responsible for managing strong feelings, such as extreme anger and sadness (see above)

sooo interesting. science-psychologist-geniuses exploring why we dream.

i was hoping they'd talk about lucid dreaming, because i sometimes dream lucidly? lucid dream?

it's funny; sometimes, while i dream, i also rationalize with myself: i didn't drive to the mountains, how am i in a car, driving, in the mountains? and who is this person next to me? wait. i must be dreaming. or, i graduated high school. why am i in this classroom, behaving, for this teacher who i have never met, and worried that my homework is late when i don't have homework anymore because i'm not in high school, and haven't been, and even when i did, this wasn't the school i went to. and, after said rationalizing, i tell myself - you're dreaming. and so i drive off the side of the mountain, because - why not? - i'm dreaming, or i scream profanities to the classroom because, hey, i'm not in this classroom; this is a dream.

i've read, if you pay very close attention to what you're dreaming, and the transition to lucidity, you can train yourself to do it more often. i'm not really that passionate about it, but it's wildly fun. and i wonder what it means.

also, i wonder what all the dreams mean about water. i dream several times a week of water, typically still, tropical water - and sometimes boats and ships - it's always always happy.