2 Known Incidents Of Acting Out In My Dreams

by "Max"
(Near Boston)

When I was perhaps 10, I visited my friend Polly, who was a few years older than me, and spent the night. We used to live next door but I had moved to a nearby state. Polly used to be friends with my older sister (who was a couple years older than her), but had gradually switched to being my friend.

While sleeping in her bed with Polly, I dreamed about my sister, whom I did not like at all, and in my dream I kicked her really hard. It was wonderfully satisfying, I recall being pleased in my dream! At the same time, I was awoken by Polly crying out, OW! I had in fact kicked, but it was my friend, not my sister…

Perhaps 10 years later, I spent some time in Europe, and once again was in a bed-sharing situation. I had been drinking before I went to sleep. When I awoke, my hostess was stepping over me, fully dressed and very unhappy. I asked how long she had been up, and she said she had not slept at all. She would not elaborate. Perhaps her English wasn't good enough. She would only say, "You have a problem." I assume I was thrashing or something.

However, consider the next incident: The following year I was again drinking & brought my date home. When I woke up, he was sleeping on the floor. He claimed he could not sleep in the bed, because I was attacking him.

I have often talked in my sleep, or yelled, but usually wake myself up when I do. Though possibly not always. I am now in my 50s, never married, and sleep alone. For most of my life I just slept alone, though there have been times when I had companions, who were not attacked…. I had insomnia most of my life but overcame it through Buddhist practice. I have moderate sleep apnea, and use a mouth appliance sometimes to help with this.

Today, I can usually guess I had a rough night when the cat is not sleeping on my bed when I wake up…. Hope this is helpful!

Oh & by the way, in terms of dreams, my dreams have memories of other dreams. For instance, when I dream my car is stolen (a recurring dream I have had on a few occasions), the next night my response to the new dream's theft is, "Not again! That is the Nth time!" (I keep count from night to night) I even dream how upset the insurance company is going to be… One night I dreamed I was smoking. The next night, a totally different dream, I opened my purse & found a pack of cigarettes, which I "knew" were from the last dream...