We all have recurring dreams/dream themes. I have my own little handful, some common, some unique.

For instance, the classic flying/falling dream-- in my dreams, it's manifested as leaping/bouncing high into the sky, soaring for a moment, and then feeling that sickly drop in the pit of my stomach as I plummet to the ground. You know-- the ticklish sensation brought on by freefall. I wonder if it's because I really loathe that freefalling sensation, probably more so than most people. It is why I won't ride the aptly-named "Freefall" ride at Magic Mountain, and why I won't bungee jump or parachute out of a plane.

Another common recurring dream is a bit more unusual-- I dream that my mouth is stuffed with food or gum. Then a situation arises where I have to spit it out-- either the food is dry and chewy and I don't want to eat anymore, or I need to do something like speak, but can't chew and swallow the food fast enough (or HAVE to spit it out, if it's gum) to empty it. Only problem is, the food refuses to come out of my mouth! I end up having to use my fingers or a spoon to manually scrape the stuff out of my mouth-- but despite my best efforts, it never completely empties! This one is interesting to me-- I can't even begin to fathom what it's supposed to mean.

And then there's the dream where I am driving a car, and the brakes don't work (or if they, do, they're extremely sluggish to respond). Usually I'm in the middle of a turn, or trying to back the car up, and wind up jamming my feet onto the brakes HARD, hoping desparately that I won't hit anything. Eventually I do slow down, probably due more to losing momentum due to friction rather than the brakes working at all. A corollary to this dream is the opposite scenario: my accelerator won't work and I find myself lugging the car up a steep hill, Flintstones-style.

It comes naturally that when your head is deeply mired in something (like school or work or a particularly pressing situation) you'll take it to dreamland with you. More than once have I found myself doing programming or working out formulas in my dreams, during the time when I'm supposed to be RESTING and taking a break from it all! :-P A few times, however, it's served me well in that I've discovered a solution to the problem/task at hand in my dreams :-) Now that's what I call productive sleeping!

Finally, an entertaining note: have you ever been sooo furious or yelled so loud that you could hardly make a sound? I have not, in my waking life. But quite a few times I've dreamed that I've gotten so incensed that I could hardly speak, or yelled so loud I could hardly form sensible noises. Who do you suppose was my chief source of aggravation in such dreams? Why, none other than Allan, of course! ;-)

How about you? What recurring dreams do you have? Are they fairly common or unique to you?