Recurring Dreams
Think Tank #163
I’m not really prone to nightmares, but if I do have a nightmare, it usually involves being chased. It’s been that way since I was a kid. In dreams, I’ve been chased through dark alleys and public parks, on sunny afternoons and rainy evenings.
I’m always chased by someone new—there’s no familiar boogeyman that’s always out to get me. In one dream I remember from childhood, I was chased by a bald Britney Spears in and out of garages in the neighborhood where I grew up. I’d probably been watching a lot of television at that time.
In one dream which had a huge impact on me, I was running from police through a dark, enclosed, labyrinthine staircase. Sometimes I would be able to run upstairs, sometimes I would be able to run downstairs, and sometimes, at the end of a flight of stairs, I would reach a closed door. This door would be locked half the time and unlocked half the time. The doors didn’t lead to anything new—only more of the same staircase.
After reaching a few doors, I started to realize that I was in control. If I approached a door expecting it to be locked, it would be locked. If I expected it to be unlocked, it would be unlocked.