Unwanted Flashing Mental Imagery When Trying to Fall Asleep....

a reply to: GENERAL EYES
I've experienced dream images before, or lucid images. It's different from normal dreaming because I'm more aware of them. It's like look at a picture, except it's like you're there. It can also be in motion, like a movie. It doesn't happen to me very often, so it's always surprising. For example. once I feel asleep on a ouch and almost immediately after dosing I saw a hotel or apartment room in what I perceived to be a skyscraper. It was night outside the window or sliding window. A man was sitting on the edge of a bed and watching the TV in front of him. I woke up after becoming lucid. I usually wake up.

I've never seen anything that especially bothered me. I've had normal dreams which bothered me. Like I might do something I'd never do in real life. After I wake up it bothers me because it doesn't align with who I am. I think some of our mind shuts off when we dream, or is altered.

originally posted by: SolarE-Souljah
Cool thread GE.

I have this every so often, and it is very vivid.

Sometimes I am lying in bed, and I realize my eyes are closed yet I am seeing my room. It is like an ultrasonic view of my room if that makes sense..

I also see mental imagery. Seems random to me, but maybe there are messages hidden within.

I don't know. Just wanted to pitch in my two cents and let you know I experience this as well.

When I was young I used to tell my family I slept with my eyes open. :0 Because I'd have lucid dreams and sleep walk. And sometiems I'll be sleeping and I'll see the roof. After I wake up, I wonder if I opened my eyes.

This doesn't happen very often. Most of my nights are uneventful. But dreams are another matter. I often think about them in the morning. One time I had a dream and it was something about the universe. I felt like it suddenly made sense. Like I was looking at it and ah ha! sort of thing. But after I woke up, the details of the dream blurred and the insight was gone.

Some people have photographic memories and I sometimes wonder if they can see imagery the same way. For them it's not random though.

I still have this kind of thing going on. The difference is, I'm contlstantly on my computer. I happen to see some very disturbing imagery on YouTube, in the form of horror game thumbnails. The most current one is the thumbnail from "I Want to Die.exe" by RiskRim. The fact that my house is over 40 years old and makes tons of creepy noise doesn't help. I lose sleep every night because I'm so scared of closing my eyes for more than a blink. Any help would be much appreciated. Also, on the subject of seeing things with your eyes shut, it happened to me when I was about 5 or 6, whenever I closed my eyes in front of my hallway, it would still be there and move as I moved.
Regards,
~Jack

a reply to: JackB1226

I also experience this, I made a thread about it somewhere on ATS before. But the images I see are generally beautiful - art, sketches, antique furniture, tapestries, mandalas. . & eyes, all in fine detail & bright colours. I suspect it is a form of astral vision. The eyes are often of elephants, or other animals, very beautiful & moving.

originally posted by: micpsi
So many theories.......

Let's get some things straight. Firstly, these images are not visualizations or thoughts. They are spontaneous and uncontrolled, with an energy and quality that is entirely different from imagined or visualized images induced by deliberate mental effort. Secondly, very few of the "slides" in the mental slideshow appear to refer to memories because the experiencer often cannot identify the pictures - or so it has been in my case. It is inaccurate to regard this kind of imagery as referring to personal memories. Their hallucinatory, '___'-like quality often seem bizarre and totally foreign, with faces of complete strangers or unfamiliar scenes one has never visited appearing. Thirdly, they are NOT hypnopopic images, which are either images of things seen during the day or memories of familiar things, all of which are experienced far more slowly than the rapid slideshow reported by the OP. Fourthly, hypothesizing a rush of brain chemicals as causative agents fails to explain why the phenomenon does not happen far more often - especially when it happens out of the blue without anything being so radically different in one's physical or psychological life that it could account for the sudden onset of these uncontrollable images (ignoring, of course, brain pathologies like tumours). Giving an ad hoc medical label to a bizarre perception may explain it away for some people. But it does not cut it for me. Human mental experiences are more diverse than anything neatly catalogued in textbooks on psychology and neurology.

This is rather old topic but fairly new "problem" for me, i dont get these very often but usually when im some kinda special way tired, and also it has been showing up lately while having sex (pretty #ing annoying) the images i get are super high resolution and like some best and thougthful art i have ever seen, the images are almost always drawn or somehow animated.

Just kinda nervous if this is getting worse or what's happening

a reply to: Kemopoika

i wish i could draw them or get printed out, would make some serious money

a reply to: GENERAL EYES

Intrusive thoughts and your mind kind of defragmenting itself before sleep. Most people experience this at different levels but those that bottle up there thoughts instead of dealing with them get it the worse.

I know this is an old thread but I am so surprised to not only hear others experience something similar, but that this many do. For me, it started happening in my teens. I was relaxed, and about to go to sleep but not quite tired enough yet. So I laid there with my eyes closed thinking over random things, and seeing the normal stuff you see when your eyes are closed, like waves of shadows and colors passing over. While in this state, I started to see images that were not clear. I tried to focus on them, and my eyes started flickering of their own accord as I watched what was like a old film roll run. I could see people in a room, possibly a kitchen as there was a table and fireplace, and they moved about doing whatever they were doing. It was the neatest thing but scared the heck out of me because this never happened before. So I didn't know and still do not know if I was seeing a premonition, or images of the past or as many are saying here a result of brain chemicals. All I do know is that I was not on any medication of any kind. I since learned how to bring on an episode, it's surprisingly really easy, but it is really hard to get a good enough focus to know who im seeing or what it is exactly they are doing. I do not hear any sounds when this happens to me, just see people and objects. I also noticed that the scene changes. I find that when im really close to making out what I am seeing, the entire scene/image will change to something completely different. I always wondered if it was because it is something I am not supposed to see as to why this happens. The whole thing is crazy but cool.

A few years ago I experienced these unwanted visualizations for a period of time but it rarely happens anymore unless I want it to. When I was younger I'd actually practice trying to create life-like visualizations with my eyes shut before I went to sleep. It is certainly not a form of vivid dreaming, those who think it is probably don't experience it, not everyone has the same visualization skills. However practice will make you better at it, although I didn't practice very long before stopping altogether. Then as a young adult I suddenly started to get very random and uncontrollable flashes when I'd close my eyes trying to fall asleep. I'm talking extremely disturbing and realistic imagery, like something from a horror movie, just crazy weird images in rapid succession one after another.

Usually I'm pretty good at controlling my thoughts but when this happened there was little I could do except lay there with my eyes open because the moment I shut my eyes I'd see unspeakable horrors. It got so bad at one point I considered the possibility something sinister was projecting those images into my mind but I also wouldn't underestimate how messed up my mind is and what it's capable of generating. It didn't last very long, maybe a couple of weeks at most. I don't recall anything in my life at that time which may have triggered it but my visualization practice as a kid probably intensified the experience. For anyone experiencing a similar thing I would suggest a simple solution: don't sleep in the pitch dark, have some dim light that will allow you to see your environment but not so bright it keeps you awake.

Doesn't happen very often for me. There was a period in my life where I tried to be lucid with limited success. Long story short, it's an interesting phenomena I very much like. I have suspicion the best creatives get inspiration from either dreams or hallucinations to do their best work. For writers, it gives you the opportunity to know what a character might feel in a given scenario. But some extremes causes trouble for the person. Almost anything in extremes is that way. I feel for anybody who has unwanted things.

One possible common trait of lucid dreaming is I rarely come across someone who reads something and it makes any sense. Most of the time, and this includes myself, text in dream images is indecipherable.

EDIT: And yes I've had the sound equivalent. Several times my name is called before waking. And once when falling asleep, I overheard a mundane conversation maybe between some travellers on a highway somewhere.

Also in terms of things unwanted, I did have some dreams after a dog died. He kept appearing and he was skin and bones. He was unhappy. Then after some months he started appearing again, but this time he was healthy looking. From there forward, I see him infrequently and he's normal. At first it was disturbing, or unwanted, but after he became normal again I was relieved and moved on. Something similar happened with another dog, except all he did was lick my foot in dreams and then I saw him less and less. He'd lick my foot for attention. It didn't disturb me though. It was affectionate. I did however hear a whine while awake after he died and it made me cry. I guess I somehow thought I heard his soul passing. Rationally I know that's unlikely.

I made a thread on this a while ago
www.abovetopsecret.com...

I thought they were some kind of unintentional meditation visions. Always happen to me when I'm overly tired or exhausted.

Ive been suffering from mental illness and suicidal thoughts for the past 4 months, even tried it on for size a few days ago... ive been having terrible visions on the edge of sleep.. last night i woke up in the middle of the night, tossed and turned to settle back in and a vision appeared of a particular spot in my lounge room with a big pool of blood on the floor... i cant help but think this is my place of death.. im wondering if something spiritual is trying to warn me or is it my brain creating these visions because im thinking about suicide alot. Im a bit worried about bringing it up with my psychologist.

I've experienced this for as long as I can remember. It happened to me a lot more as a kid though, not quite as much as an adult. Most of the time it was just static images that flashed too quickly for me to process, but some would stay in my mind's eye long enough for me to get a good look at them. Mostly the pictures were kind of like in a red filter lens and revolved a lot around demons. But the one I remember most vividly is one of a crazy looking old woman screaming, but no sound was coming out. It always terrified me as a kid. Thankfully, it doesn't happen to me nearly as much now as it used to.

a reply to: GENERAL EYES>>> I was thinking back to many years ago when I was a child trying to fall asleep. I'd see " the bees" and it became sort of a game. What they were were sort of like floaters except that I'd see a pattern of pixels or dots and they'd move around like a swarm as my eyes tried to follow them. Maybe it was the lighting. I can try to do it now and maybe I see them or not but nowhere near as vividly as what I recall. And I remember often when I was drifting off to sleep I'd be running across a field and step into a hole and I'd be jerked awake with my leg kicking. That's another childhood memory which stopped in adulthood. I have periods once in a while where my mind races and I can't sleep. Once I had West Nile Virus and that had me experiencing extreme waking dream episodes.

a reply to: GENERAL EYES>>>> This is a little off topic, but its a dream experience I had the other day. In the dream I found myself going outside and seeing UFOs. Normally dreams like this fill me with dread. Aliens and UFOs in the sky mean The End in my dreams, they don't end well. It was night and I heard a voice say my name and I turned around and I saw a Grey. Instant dread and fear every time I encounter them in my dreams. But this time I fought the fear and confronted the grey and asked it what it wanted from me. It tried to do something to me, like give me a Vulcan nerve pinch or mind meld. I broke its touch with my hands, forcing it to stop. It then wanted to know why they were picking up such extreme emotion in me, and weren't sure what it was I was upset about. There was no empathy or compassion from the grey, I felt it looked on me as a lab rat or science project it was studying from a distance. I thought maybe they had implanted something in me which let them read my thoughts, which annoyed me. I explained some problems I was having( in real life) not expecting or wanting it to help or care but I wanted to be in a position to show it that I could try to communicate with it, one being to another. I then asked it what it wanted here and it said "to colonize". I said I could understand that but they could be humane and decent about it and not hostile. All this puzzled it and then I left it and went back inside. Then it apparently had a human operative arrive in a car and my mother let it in the house, under the belief it was our neighbor. The person was a black light skinned female, very tall and very good looking but had difficulty speaking English. I explained again what my problems were and it pretended to listen and repeated what I told her, nodding. But I caught on that she was here to wipe our memories. My mother was drugged and I woke up as I was confronting the woman what she had done. Anyway, I did come away feeling somewhat positive that I was able to confront the grey and not be terrified by it as in dreams past.

I found that sort of thing can happen when you lay off weed, as your at the stage of inbetween sleep and awake, the dreams the weed has stopped from naturally iccuring can increase to the point of overload.

a reply to: ManyMasks

I haven't had the phenomena for several years now.

It was during a very active and distressing time in my life.

Symptom of the chaos, so to speak.

"Weed" never played a part.

I just watch, with interest, my internal movie-screen.... all the messages you receive are of some importance to your waking life, you just have to interpret the symbolism properly

just blowing off the visual images is so counter-productive

a reply to: GENERAL EYES


you stated:

*It should be noted I had not been on the computer all weekend, so there is very little likelihood it was a layover from internet browsing....


(I'll do my best to monitor and respond to this thread as time allows, please forgive me if I'm not as attendant as I'd like to be....as my real world schedule is somewhat more demanding than usual these days...)

Oh..... a thread originator is supposed to be like a hen nurturing her egg....Oh My, i never knew that was the protocol



as for a rapid & vivid slide-show in your minds eye

there is a reason for It to happen...instead of the serene setting you desire to visualize, as the better way to relax your body/mind into the sleep mode


too many likely causes for that state of hyper-mind or flight-or-fight state affairs...i guess the disturbing images flashing in your head are as annoying as the restless-leg-syndrome i experience because of the energy bar i (unwisely) ate right before bedding down

a reply to: GENERAL EYES

I had a dream last night, and when i do remember my dream it usually means something, i was getting pulled down through the darkness of an abyss or void, and it gave me butterflys in stomach, then it stopped, i knew it would happen again and i knew it would be stronger this time, but i also knew i was dreaming and could come out at anytime, so it happened again and it was much faster and kept going till i decided I'm coming out butterflys were filtering like mad in my stomach, then i came out the dream and thought i knew i was in the dream i shouldn't have came out, i should have gained control and explored the void, creating whatever i felt like, hopefully i get another shot and take advantage of knowing I'm in a dream