I have a thing.

It’s something I’ve always been able to do and I’ve never thought twice about it. Until college, that is.

I was a psych major at a very small women’s college in North Carolina. The head of the psych department was Dr. Linda Dudley. I had her for several classes.

Dr. Dudley’s specialty was dreams. Not so much the interpretation of dreams but the more scientific side. She studied how hormones affected content of dreams. Fascinating stuff, really. You should check out her work.

Back to me, though.

In the Dreams class, Dr. Dudley began explaining about a phenomena called Lucid Dreaming. I was just taking notes when I realized that the definition I was writing down was something that I’ve always been able to do. It kind of struck me as strange that something so normal to me fell in to the “phenomena” category. It was also strange to realize that people studied this phenomena, wrote books on it, devoted their lives to researching it, etc. Then, to make the whole experience even weirder, I heard the word “rare.”

Really?

As much as I like to claim I’m a unique individual, I must admit I’m not really the type of person that frequently falls in to the rare category. Other than having a distinct blond streak of hair under my mane of auburn hair and being able to stick my legs behind my head (lots of fun at parties), I’m relatively normal. Oh yeah – and that whole having a stroke at the age of 32 and not ever really knowing why. But that hadn’t happened yet when I was in college. I digress.

Here’s Wikipedia’s quick take on Lucid Dreaming:

“A lucid dream is a dream in which the sleeper is aware that she or he is dreaming. When the dreamer is lucid, she or he can actively participate in and often manipulate the imaginary experiences in the dream environment.”

And that sums it up.

This weird realization came upon me again today. Train of thought goes something like this:

-had terrifying dreams last night

-was at least able to do the instant replay on parts I didn’t understand at first

-why couldn’t I alter it to make it not as terrifying?

-Wait, I did alter it.

-I altered it and made it equally as terrifying

-I really need to watch fewer crime shows

-Some people cant alter their dreams mid-dream.

-Most people cant alter their dreams.

-It’s rare.

-I do something that’s rare.

-That’s weird.

-[shivers down spine]

-Why cant everyone do it?

-I’ll bet it has something to do with being a perfectionist.

-And a control freak.

-Yep, bet if they did a study on the people who can do it, they’d find them to be perfectionists and control freaks.

-Geez, Missy, you’re just saying that because you’re a perfectionist and a control freak.

And so on.

Anyway, that’s really it on this subject. Just thought I’d share a random memory/realization. And that, actually, isn’t so rare. 🙂