Living another life in recurring dream place-interpretaion wanted

Originally posted by MissTiger
This is my first thread so please excuse any mistakes I may make but I was hopefully looking for someone to help explain why my boyfriend might dream what he does.

It's not that he has the same dream but that he goes to the same town/city every night when he dreams and he has a totally different life there. In his dreams he actually "lives a life" sometimes quite mundane like going to work, driving around or going shopping etc. He has no idea where this city is or even if it actually exists but he has a house near the coast at the moment(he has moved a couple of times in his dreams) and he lives alone even though he thinks there is a woman involved in the dreams sometimes. Sometimes there are people from his real life there. He can even draw maps of where he lives.

Even if he is woken up mid dream he can go back to sleep straight back to where he left off and each night the dream carries on from the night before.

It's as if he has his awake life and his dream life so to speak. I should point out that he has been living this dream life for over 25 years, long before he met me incase anyone thought he was trying to escape me!

But he does have a stressfull job and I guess he always has had but he has been quite successfull and we are happy with our home life and already live on the coast.

So, is it just pure escapism, a way of his brain digesting the days events or is it something else? Your ideas would be very welcome

I used to have something just like this, but haven't since about 2000, I think.
Vicky

reply to post by Druid42


You can post here or there. I'll check in on both. I don't remember having been back to "that place" lately. I did have another interesting dream that seemed very realistic. Here's the thread I started on it.

"Akashic Records And Antique Shop"? Or Just A Random Dream?
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Haven't been there again. Or previously as far as I can recall, but the depth of realism was akin to the dream place in the first thread I offered up.

I have the same thing happen to me, actually all my life, but there were breaks inbetween when I didn't dream about it and after each couple year long breaks it's a different town (or place) But they are very sequential, and I know what you mean about living a life because it seems to be ongoing, non repeating, and even seems to maybe go on while you are awake and pick back up at the appropriate time in place when you dream, like you are returning to it.

I absolutely love these kind of dreams and wish I'd been keeping a dream dictionary with me... that might be a good idea for you, so you can see if anything is relating to things happening in real life.



The weirdest thing about this "city" is in my dream I know exactly how to get there from here. When I wake up from a particularly intense dream about it, I TRULY am convinced the roads exist to get there. I close my eyes and know the roads are there and exactly how to get there. It takes 3 or 4 solid days for me to realize it's not true. Although now I'm getting curious to check google and see if maybe it does exist and some of the directions are just lengthened or shortened in my dream. See? I love dreams like that.

This is my first post after lurking on ATS for a while now. One of the (many) reasons I really enjoy this site is fordiscussion such as this one that I find difficult to have in real life.

Anyway, I have been thinking about parallel universes, m theory etc for a while now, mainly because I experience the same thing as OP’s boyfriend. I have been visiting the same town, island and a city in my dreams for a few years now; the dreams are always different but the places are the same. I get the feeling they’re quite far apart as I’m often traveling in my dreams, (and it’s the traveling that’s the weirdest part)…

Like a lot of others on some similar threads, there is a mall type place I visit but like someone else mentioned, its not all shops. Downstairs around street level there are multiplexes and bars/nightclubs, the latter of which always seem to be busy. It’s like the lifts don’t work because if I go to higher levels I need to use the fire escape or service lift. Upstairs there are shops selling everything you can think of and I think there’s access to living quarters there as well. I have an apartment further down the road that is looking north and is very high up. It has a balcony that I’d always like to out to but most times I can’t (the door opens to reveal a wall for one example).

Another place seems to be an island. There is water everywhere and some parts are busy but others are wild and overgrown. In the busy areas I seem to know a few people, not usually people that I know from real life. Occasionally, when I do see someone I recognize from this world, I become lucid when I ask myself why they’re in my dream. I’ve just started working on lucidity and usually lose the dream when I become aware of it and get too excited.

The third place I visit frequently, I have a flat there in a small block and I can see into all my neighbors’ flats and I just like to watch what they do (the other night I realized that this meant they could also see into mine, so I’m not sure if I’ll keep doing this!). I ride a pushbike around this area a lot. Sometimes, in what must be a state of semi lucidity, I’ll try and get lost just to see how well I know the area but I can’t remember ever succeeding.

I’ve rambled on a bit here so I’ll finish up with the strangest part. About 12 months ago I was watching the Zeitgeist film with a friend, who is much more into The Future and such than me and it was at his recommendation. Towards the end, when discussing the Venus Project and 'maglev’ trains I completely freaked out. It was so similar to what the transport in my dreams is like that I actually got a bit spooked and have been trying to work it out ever since. The ‘stations’ aren’t at street level and have long escalators/people movers that go further and deeper or higher than anywhere I’ve ever seen and the walls are made of some sort of metal. Once on the ‘train’ you can see whole cities underneath and it moves so fast that you have the stomach drop feeling you get from a rollercoaster. (In fact, before I saw these maglev trains I could only describe it as ‘rollercoaster trains’) It’s sometimes scary but other times it’s just beautiful, the trains always seem to run above the coastline near big cities and there are amazing views. I’m not sure if this is a parallel world or dimension but it seems to be in the future.

Sorry for such a long post; this is a subject that fascinates me and I’ve never heard it happening to anyone else before. I’ve enjoyed reading this thread immensely. I struggle to interpret it OP, so I can’t help you there, but at least your BF now knows he’s not the only one... and so do I and others.. . Peace.

reply to post by MissTiger


I know exactly what he is going through. I have a different life in my dreams. I don't always go to the same place, but I frequent several places on different nights. I have a whole other set of friends there, and my work has nothing to do with what I do in my real life. Sometimes in my waking life I day dream about my dream life. It is really weird! Before you say that my waking life is completely unsatisfactory, let me disagree. I love my life, my work, my boyfriend and family and pets etc, but I also look forward to sleeping because the dreams are fun, exciting and full of beautiful, mysterious places and interesting people--lots of adventure, vacations and resort properties, mystical mountains etc. I live near the ocean and in the redwood forest, so I have beauty in my waking life too. Anyway, I found this to be quite interesting and I am trying to learn more about it! I consider people who do this to be pretty lucky! I used to dream about a really scare house that was part mansion, but had a sinister hallway with doors to rooms I could never enter. I felt terrified. Parts of the building seemed to be hospital rooms or some sort of old folks home. It was really creepy and I am happy that I have these new fun, happy dreams instead. Tell me what ya think!

This, what your boyfriend is going through, is what brought me here. I'm hoping they mean nothing.. But I've been having them for as long as I can remember.. As a child I found it unfathomable that I'd never lived before. My dream world is where the apocalypse takes place. I wake up feeling emotionally drained... I morne the loss of people who are still alive in my awake world. It's quite odd.

The last 4 months or so I go to a 2 story white house that I've never seen before. Sometimes It's just my immediate family there and sometimes it's extended family and people I havent ever seen before but in the dream I know them as friends. I also go to a cloud world frequently. I call it a cloud world even though the ground is solid because the sky is pink and it reminds me of being in the clouds for some reason. In the cloud world I am with people I don't know in real life but I know we are close because we cry and hug whenever we see each other. I have random dreams too but these are the two worlds I go to regularly.

I find that sometimes. dreams feel too real to be dreams. like if i have a dream that feels real they sometimes come back to me. (don't judge) I dreamt I was Ash Ketchum from Pokemon. I traveled around gym to gym town to town like he did accompanied by Misty and Brock. My dreams would continue where I left off the previous night. i went through each adventure he had up until after Brock Misty and I went our separate ways. well when I watch Pokemon I can't help but feel nostalgia. to know how Ash feels at every moment winning a badge or arguing with Misty. it's weird It's like Ash became a part of me. this is when it gets weirder. My relationship with my gf Sam is like Ash and Misty. we denied liking eachother for a while after we met. but we both knew we liked eachother. our friends like everyone Ash and Misty met and Brock knew we liked eachother. Like Ash and Misty we'd argue over stupid things. When i watch Pokemon I'd feel deja vu happy at the good times sad at sad times and not just like normal people cause i feel like i was there like it was personal. when misty would insult Ash I find myself arguing back or in my head yelling at her. Am I crazy? ior was i at one point Ash Ketchum?