Mens Health Blog. Medical Blog

posted by admin on May 8

This supernatural experience can sometimes be very real during dreaming and it may not be easy to tell what is real and what is a dream. My daughter Melinda told me about a dream she once had. We had been playing billiards the night before and she lost. That night she dreamt that she was pushing the billiard ball with her teeth and tried to get it into the side pocket of the billiard table. She tried so hard that her front tooth became loose. She touched her gum and there was blood on her hand and the tooth fell out. She was not frightened as somehow she knew she was in a dream. She made a conscious effort to wake up, as she thought if she could wake up and look in the mirror she would see that her tooth was still there. Still asleep, she dreamt that she woke up, and pinched herself just to make sure. She felt relieved and looked in the mirror. To her horror the tooth was still missing. The rest of the dream was vague and hazy. When she was telling me this dream, she still touched her teeth to make sure the dream was really over. Dreams can be so real, that pinching yourself and feeling the pain does not imply that you are not still in the dream. Sometimes I wonder if there is anything you can do to tell for sure whether you are actually in the dream or the real world.

Throughout the ages, philosophers have marvelled at the reality of dreams. A sleep researcher, G. W. Leibniz, talked about a dream consciousness lasting the life of a man. In other words, we are two people, going side by side, one in the dream state and the other in the waking state. The Nobel Prize winner, Bertrand Russell, went one step further, and stated that real life was actually the dream and waking life a persistent nightmare.

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posted by admin on Apr 29

It is probable that you have had your tension or anxiety symptoms for some time. Do not expect them to disappear overnight following your first trial of relaxing mental exercises. You probably think it strange that I should give such a warning. But it is necessary. Experience has shown that many people tend to give up very easily. When I have personally been showing patients how to do it, and if they falter and show signs of giving up without a fair trial, I have been able to encourage them to keep going; and the vast majority have been well rewarded for doing so. But with you it is different. I can only be with you in spirit. Do not expect too much too quickly. It does not come all at once, neither the relief of your symptoms nor even the mastering of the techniques of mental relaxation.

In this respect it is well to remember that very dramatic changes in one’s mental state, either for the better or for the worse, are in themselves evidence of instability. Be content with a slow and steady improvement.

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