Was that a dream or a memory?
By a_year_older
@a_year_older (636)
Malaysia
September 25, 2011 7:30am CST
I've often been confused when I was younger. It was hard for me to tell whether a memory I had was of an actual event or it's just a memory of a dream.
Once, for example, I told my mum how nice it was to have eaten out in a moving restaurant. She looked at me strangely and asked me when it is I went and with whom. I was shocked because I remember having eaten there with my family. It turns out that we never went there. In fact, we never even went anywhere near the building the restaurant was in.
There have also been instances when my mother woke me up early in the morning to go for school. And I'd get up and gone and showered and dressed. Imagine how surprised I was when a few minutes later I heard her shouting at me and really wake up to find myself still in bed!
Has anything like this ever happened to you?
1 person likes this
5 responses
@allyoftherain (7208)
• United States
28 Sep 11
I don't think I've had any memories that I've later been convinced were merely dreams. I've always been able to sort past dreams and past reality pretty well, even as a kid. I've always been interested in dreams, recalling dreams, and telling dreams to friends and family. I remember some childhood dreams very vividly, but I don't remember ever mistaking them for reality.
Your next dream description is what I call a "false awakening" and they happen to me all the time. Sometimes I stop suddenly and realize that I'm not awake. I had one once where it was the middle of the night and I knew that. I got up to go to the bathroom and I noticed the toilet needed cleaning. Even though it was the middle of the night, I decided to clean it right then. But the more I scrubbed the worst it looked, until finally I realized I wasn't awake at all! I flew away. 
@a_year_older (636)
• Malaysia
7 Oct 11
Thanks for your response!
Well I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who has these "false awakenings" then. :)
I do hope that I'm able to tell the difference between a dream and a memory in the future though!
1 person likes this
@a_year_older (636)
• Malaysia
9 Oct 11
No. When I wake up I usually start to forget the dream in a few minutes. And I'm not really good at keeping journals xP
@allyoftherain (7208)
• United States
7 Oct 11
They're pretty common, and even more common among frequent lucid dreamers. Personally I know I have one false awakening every few months, sometimes more. It's just weird, and a bit disorienting... but it happens lots to lots of people.
I hope you can tell the difference too! Have you ever kept a dream journal or written your dreams down?
@huilichan8 (1378)
• Singapore
25 Sep 11
I had dreams that seemed real too. But when I woke up, I knew that they were just dreams.
@a_year_older (636)
• Malaysia
7 Oct 11
Thanks for your response!
Yeah I had some dreams that were quite clear were just dreams when I woke up... But then some dreams stick in my memory for so long that I began to mistake them for something that really happened I guess.
@Triple0 (1904)
• Australia
26 Sep 11
Don't you just hate it when our dreams tries to play mind games with you. A teacher once told me that dreams are made up of your memories, such as things you've seen, heard and experienced. Dreams can be anything and they pretty much can be really strange sometimes. I reckon they're there to entertain you while you sleep and pass the time but what surprises me is how a dream may feel very long and then you wake up just to realize that only 5 minutes has passed. Sometimes a dream may seem so real that I feel shocked when I wake up simply to find out I'm still in bed. @a_year_older (636)
• Malaysia
7 Oct 11
Thanks for your response!
Yeah I also heard that dreams help you relive or purge your memories. And they can feel very real when you're in the middle of the dream.
I do hope that I get better at differentiating a memory from a dream in the future though!
@asasikumar05 (318)
•
25 Sep 11
dreams are the reflection of our thoughts in our mind. if there is bad dream that means you have negative thoughts in your mind and the same way for the positive. our life entirely depends on our thoughts. it is important for us to have positive thoughts to achieve success in our life.
@a_year_older (636)
• Malaysia
7 Oct 11
Thank you for your response!
Hmm I suppose you could be right. A bad dream probably means you're stressed out or have some other negative emotions when you went to sleep. But I wonder why I found it difficult to differentiate a dream from a memory.
@writersolutions10 (497)
• India
25 Sep 11
Memories can also come in dreams. But to me dreams and memories are different. we can feel our memories everyday if we think, but dreams will without our thinking or whatever. So, we need to think on it. LOL!!!
@a_year_older (636)
• Malaysia
7 Oct 11
Thanks for your response!
Sorry but I'm not sure I understand what you mean. You can tell memories are memories because you can think about them and you can't think about dreams?
I know some people who actually do remember their dreams. But they are quite sure those were just dreams and not an actual event. I think I'm just mixing up the two.
