Tag: dreams

Making Sense of Dreams
Art + Stories
Experiences

Making Sense of Dreams

Dreaming is not simply a biological activity that usually takes place during the night—it can play an important role in one’s waking life, too.
Ewa Pluta
Gilgamesh
Art + Stories
Art

Gilgamesh

Grzegorz Uzdański
I must not fall asleep. I must not fall asleep.
Ut-napishtim, the immortal, says that if I do not fall asleep,
I will live forever, I will not die like Enkidu.
I sat by his body until a worm dropped out the nose.
It was repulsive, I leaped up screaming,
the face I was kissing became a nest of worms.
I fled, and I’m fleeing till now. I am really tired,
But I must not fall asleep. I asked them all on the way:
should I also die? Renounce the sun? No, never.
It’s enough that I don’t fall asleep.

I know no nicer feeling, than when lying in bed
and I feel the weight on my eyes, the slight spinning in my head:
sleep is coming. I am very afraid. This weight and darkness, and spinning
are stronger than me, every evening. But not tonight.

There are ways, for example, putting my fingers in my eyes,
but I won’t sit for a week with my fingers in my eyes,
it’s unbearable, besides, I would look stupid,
after all, I am the ruler of Uruk. (Another week. Did I sleep,
sitting next to Enkidu’s body? At the time I was not yet
so terribly tired).

When I was taking the boat through the waters of death,
which must not be touched, an old game proved useful
from childhood, of the monster under the bed. Not even a toe
can poke out from the bed (as from the boat), for the monster will catch me
and drag me into the kingdom of death (super fun, right?).
I’d lie, under the covers, thinking: I’ll stick out my toe, for a moment,
I’ll check if it’s actually there. And if it catches me? Struggling
with my curiosity, I’d lie, until the weight on my eyes and the darkness
made the fear and curiosity lose their power, and when it was
all over, then (if I’d only been awake) I’d be able to say—I’m already asleep.
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Dream Travellers
Soul + Body, World + People
Wellbeing, Science

Dream Travellers

Lucid dreaming describes the act of becoming aware that we are dreaming while asleep. How can we practice it and what are its benefits?
Tomasz Wiśniewski
The Nocturnal Conversations of Neurons
Soul + Body, World + People
Wellbeing, Science

The Nocturnal Conversations of Neurons

The architecture of sleep is surprisingly complex, consisting of various cycles made up of multiple phases.
Łukasz Kaniewski
New Bed, No Sleep?
Soul + Body, World + People
Wellbeing, Science

New Bed, No Sleep?

The phenomenon of first night effect (FNE) often occurs when we spend the night in a new environment – and have trouble sleeping.
Jakub Bas
When They Come in Our Dreams
Art + Stories
Experiences

When They Come in Our Dreams

Sometimes the dreams in which we find ourselves are more vivid than the realities from which we have just arrived… A short story from one of Poland’s finest writers of the form.
Kornel Filipowicz
To Sleep Like a Dragon
World + People
Nature

To Sleep Like a Dragon

So-called “winter sleep” is an essential survival technique for animals living through cold months. Research into the phenomenon suggests that it may also have benefits for humans.
Wojciech Mikołuszko