Weirdness whilst drifting into sleep, mind playing tricks on me?

Charlie

I am not sure if anyone else has experienced this or if I can explain it roperly but, here goes.

Often when I am going to sleep I will be thinking of various things, as you do, like what happened during the day. A few mins later I will begin to drift into sleep but definitely not asleep, and I will think of something. The thing I think of will make absolute sense at first but, I will suddenly get a feeling/impulse to almost rethink what I just thought, I will then realise that what I originally was thinking about and which made perfect logical sense at first, is in fact absurd.

I'll give you an example, whilst I am in this drifting state I might think to myself I left my keys in "my motorbike"(I don't actually have a motorbike). I will probably go off on several tangents of thought that involve this notion of owning a motorbike. I will then get the urge to go back on what I just was thinking about and realise that I don't have a motor bike and get a weird feeling that I was thinking of several things (the tangents) that involved me owning a motorbike without ever copping on to myself that I didn't own one.

The thing that bugs me about this is that, like I said, it will happen when I feel virtually awake and I am definitely not dreaming. Further, it can happen 5 or 6 times before I actually fall asleep and each time I will feel even stupider that I have managed to let my mind trick me again after only realising a minute or two previously that my mind had been playing tricks on me about something else.

Any thoughts on this or, similar experiences?

skelliser

ya i have this same kinda experience often, like in ur example il be thinking of something, branch off from that and then try and think of the original thing only then i cant remember it then !!!
its kinda scary cause i think im still awake, glad in a way im not the only one tho!!!

Stargal

I get this all the time but I really like it; it's not quite dreaming cos I'm usually aware that I'm still in bed and thinking about stuff, but it's usually very surreal, and often takes a few seconds upon waking to realise that what I've been thinking/dreaming about is completely impossible/unrealistic

A couple of times when this has happened I've jolted myself awake by responding out loud to conversations that have been happening in my head - like one time I thought I was having an argument with Michael McDowell about gun crime, and made what I thought was a really cutting revoke... much to the bemusement of my (very much awake) boyfriend!

And by the way, it's nice to hear that other people get this too - when I've tried to describe this to other people they've just been like 'Oh, you mean a dream? Yeah I get them too...'

Charlie

Thank you, this is exactly wjat I am talking about. I have found it hard to describe to people before and was sceptical if even people round tehse parts would know what I was talking about.

It is such an odd feeling though, being so assured and comfortable with what you are thinking about, only to realise its utter gibberish and feel really puzzled as to how you cold have ever felt confident that what you were thinking made sense.

Stargal

charlie mchugh wrote:

It is such an odd feeling though, being so assured and comfortable with what you are thinking about, only to realise its utter gibberish and feel really puzzled as to how you cold have ever felt confident that what you were thinking made sense.

That's exactly it. It all seems to naturally progress in a logical way, right up until that moment when you snap out of it and realise that it was completely unrealistic.

skelliser

i find sometimes im not aware its happening and other times i do notice it!
i dont mind it tho, must of the time its quite relaxing cause ur beginning to go to sleep etc.
i to have tried to explain it to people only to be misunderstood.
i wonder is there a name for it perhaps?
or in actual fact everyone has it but just dont notice it or are aware of it like us!!!
are we the chosen few!!!!:cool:

skelliser

ya same here, it seems logical, u would bet ur bottom dollar on it!! and then ya realise its a load of rubbish!!!!

speaking of which im off to sleep i shall try and remember it this time!!!!

SuprSi

Heh yeah the same thing happens to me. It's weird, but I also enjoy it. It's as if I'm thinking of something and it makes perfect sense, but whatever goes on in my head messes this up and I find myself all confused, and after sub-consciously shaking my head restart on a different tangent!

Hasn't happened in a while, but I used to really enjoy it