Journey West

The journey West – No, I”m not talking about death. I mean the move back to California. I’ll be on the road for the next two weeks, making my way across the US, my dreamy little caravan of one.

So may these next two weeks treat you well, and may your dreams haunt you lovingly.

How to Deal with World Calamity

I”m having a hard time watching the news about the calamities in China and Myanmar. As of right now, there are 12000 people buried alive in the Sichuan Province, awaiting rescue. The numbers dead in both countries are impossible to comprehend. How can we, as consumers of news, deal with this information without just zoning out?

My friend Bonita, a holistic health educator, sent out this email below, providing ways to cope. These are healthy responses to tragedy, and can help clarify the confusion and guilt that often come with hearing about world events. Included at the bottom are resources to contact if you are the position of providing aid.

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College Students and Sleep Deprivation

Continuing with the theme of sleep deprivation, here’s a new article from Science Daily about the collegiate rites of passage into our sleepless culture. College kids are lampooned as being slackers, but they are actually one of the most sleep deprived segments of Western culture.

Ha – I”m amused that I”m writing this post at 11pm, three hours after the sun has gone down. Goodnight!

Why do Nightmares Happen?

I missed this excellent podcast about contemporary nightmare research when it was released last fall. NPR interviews New York Times science journalist Natalie Angier and dream researcher Kelly Bulkeley about the whole mess: theories about the cause of nightmares, common nightmares, as well as how to deal.

Here’s the link for NPR”s Anatomy of your Nightmare.

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The Good Night – a Lucid Dreamer’s Review

I finally saw the movie “The Good Night,” a romantic comedy about a man who discovers lucid dreaming as a great escape from his boring life. I really enjoyed the movie, and recommend it for all dreamers, if for no other reason to see how the mass media is viewing LD.

I promise – no serious spoilers in this article! Rather, I want to take a look at how The Good Night confronts lucid dreaming – does it perpetuate stereotypes or move the culture forward? The short answer is a little of both.

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The Dream Institute Now Online

I”m happy to announce that the Dream Institute of Northern California is now online, making it easier than ever to see what innovative dream events are planned in the center of the American dream scene: Berkeley, CA.

If you live in the Bay Area, make contact and drop by for one of the Culture Dreaming sessions (a group creation, never the same twice) or one of the lecture and discussion series in the evenings. Getting ten or more dreamers together in a room can be powerful, and the Dream Institute is making that easier in CA.

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Sleep Deprivation and Western Civilization

Check out this amusing and poignant narrative about sleep deprivation and the American Dream as it is practiced in the deep South. The author concludes with a list of facts about sleep deprivation and dreams from the National Sleep Research Project.

Parents might find this statistic particularly interesting: A new baby typically results in 400-750 hours of lost sleep for parents in the first year!

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