what do you think of deja vu?

[DL Hegel]

Yesterday, I got that "deja vu" feeling not once but a few times. It's always a little creepy. I've gotten them here and there since I was a kid. They do have a meaning for me sometimes---most times I shrug them off.

What are your thoughts on dejavu? What do you think it is? Have you had it before, and did it hold any special meaning? Do you think it's just chemical or a brain glitch?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A9j%C3%A0_vu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A9j%C3%A0_vu)
http://mb-soft.com/public/dejavu.html (http://mb-soft.com/public/dejavu.html)
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...1118122146.htm (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081118122146.htm)

[dgrintalis]

I have it all the time, but I think it's Haggis and his mind ray. I haven't been on AW that long, but I've already figured out a thing or two...

[flamyngo]

I think it's very real when it ACTUALLY happens...

space time continuum I tell ya...

[soapdish]

I said glitch in the matrix, but I also think it is a message. Now whether or not I *get* the message--that is different. Sometimes I do and then sometimes I am like "huh?"
But I do believe in it.

[WildScribe]

I believe in reincarnation, so it seems like a logical step to assume that a feeling of having experienced something before is just that. I like to think of it as sort of an echo of a past life or something, and sometimes it is strong enough that if I focus I can predict what someone will say or do next instead of just experiencing it as a feeling of "been there, done that".

[Ken]

"a bunch of baloney," but pretty tasty when placed between slices of bread with mustard and sliced pickles :P

[EFCollins]

My thoughts are that the subconscious mind, when in REM cycle, is more open and receptive to psychic ability. The human mind is astounding. Many of the people who experience a deja vu claim to have other experiences of that nature in life. I do it all the time. Pick up the phone to call someone and the person you felt you just HAD to call is on the other end. Carry an umbrella on a day that's supposed to be beautiful and sunny, yet you are the only dry person on the walk home. Ever remember to put the extra set of car keys in your purse or pocket and later that day, you lock your keys in the car? Fixed a larger dinner just because and have unexpected company show up?

I even saved my own butt one time when my husband and I were younger. We were at my house, my parents gone and my hubby(then he was my boyfriend, but you know) was getting ready to light a big fattie... and I told him not to. He asked why and I told him my parents were on the way home. Not even five minutes later, they pull in. It happens all the time. I think that, when we sleep, our mind reaches out, testing it's own strength subconsciously. We never remember it... but one day... deja vu.

[DL Hegel]

I believe in reincarnation, so it seems like a logical step to assume that a feeling of having experienced something before is just that. I like to think of it as sort of an echo of a past life or something, and sometimes it is strong enough that if I focus I can predict what someone will say or do next instead of just experiencing it as a feeling of "been there, done that".
I personally agree---believing the same as you:)

[DL Hegel]

"a bunch of baloney," but pretty tasty when placed between slices of bread with mustard and sliced pickles :P
But where do ham sandwiches fit in this theory;)

[DL Hegel]

My thoughts are that the subconscious mind, when in REM cycle, is more open and receptive to psychic ability. The human mind is astounding. Many of the people who experience a deja vu claim to have other experiences of that nature in life. I do it all the time. Pick up the phone to call someone and the person you felt you just HAD to call is on the other end. Carry an umbrella on a day that's supposed to be beautiful and sunny, yet you are the only dry person on the walk home. Ever remember to put the extra set of car keys in your purse or pocket and later that day, you lock your keys in the car? Fixed a larger dinner just because and have unexpected company show up?

I even saved my own butt one time when my husband and I were younger. We were at my house, my parents gone and my hubby(then he was my boyfriend, but you know) was getting ready to light a big fattie... and I told him not to. He asked why and I told him my parents were on the way home. Not even five minutes later, they pull in. It happens all the time. I think that, when we sleep, our mind reaches out, testing it's own strength subconsciously. We never remember it... but one day... deja vu.


That was in a kevin smith movie, too--I think;)

[kikilynn]

I remember things that I've dreamed about, then they happen. At least I think their dreams. Maybe Im just getting a do-over like in groundhogs day.

[LaurieD]

I read a book about this by Sylvia Brown a while ago. Her theory is that we write our next lives while we are in between lives. Deja vu is what we experience when we're following our self written "script". When we're really uncomfortable with where we are, who we are, and what we're doing, we're off our "script". It was pretty interesting.

[LaurieD]

I remember things that I've dreamed about, then they happen. At least I think their dreams. Maybe Im just getting a do-over like in groundhogs day.

A friend of mine used to have a recurring dream of driving a car and seeing three red-headed little boys sleeping, sitting side by side, in her back seat. She started dreaming it when she was a teenager.

About a year ago (she's in her early 30's now) she fell asleep driving her old car and totaled it. She ended up buying a little red Aveo because it was the cheapest one on the lot. One night on her way home, stopped at a traffic light with her twin 6 year old sons and 2 year old son sleeping in the backseat, she looked in the rearview mirror. The brake light on the top of the rear window was shining through the window, onto their very blonde hair, making them look like redheads. She hasn't had the dream since.

[EFCollins]

That was in a kevin smith movie, too--I think;)

What the pot thing? That seriously did happen. That was my personal experience of deja vu. And I could have sworn I dreamed about it. Just didn't remember it until it was happening. It's the major one I remember. The rest were all just small things. Shit I couldn't remember now if i had to... like first times at restaurants where you recognise the surroundings. It's creepy.

The others weren't personal... just examples. ;)

[kikilynn]

A friend of mine used to have a recurring dream of driving a car and seeing three red-headed little boys sleeping, sitting side by side, in her back seat. She started dreaming it when she was a teenager.

About a year ago (she's in her early 30's now) she fell asleep driving her old car and totaled it. She ended up buying a little red Aveo because it was the cheapest one on the lot. One night on her way home, stopped at a traffic light with her twin 6 year old sons and 2 year old son sleeping in the backseat, she looked in the rearview mirror. The brake light on the top of the rear window was shining through the window, onto their very blonde hair, making them look like redheads. She hasn't had the dream since.

I used to have a recurring dream that my grandma drove us off a cliff into the water. It started when I was around nine, the time my grandma started getting really sick. When I was eighteen I went to Lake Barryessa with some friends, and we wound up driving past the same spot i'd seen my grandma drive us off in my dream. It was totally freaky. I'd never been there before, so how'd I know where it was??

[shokadh]

When I bought my first home, I walked through it empty before I moved in. I had the weirdest sensation that I had already been there (not like the thousands of other houses I looked at) and knew it was going to be my house. I didn't even particularly love the style, but I just had this feeling I had already lived there. Same thing happened when I bought my next house. It was a peculiar sense of it being the house I had already lived in, somehow.

As for the phone calls and emails and people showing up on my doorstep whom I haven't heard from in ages, yet have an urgent sense to contact? Happens to me all the time.

It's real.:)

[callalily61]

I get it constantly, at long intervals.

I knew it was Haggis! Just can't trust these undead dogs.

[DL Hegel]

What the pot thing? i know--it sounded cool enough to be in a KS movie---which I for some reason always love:)That seriously did happen. That was my personal experience of deja vu. And I could have sworn I dreamed about it. Just didn't remember it until it was happening. It's the major one I remember. The rest were all just small things. Shit I couldn't remember now if i had to... like first times at restaurants where you recognise the surroundings. It's creepy.

The others weren't personal... just examples. ;)

I have had the same type thing happen, I make a point of writing down my dreams. When I was a teenager---it happened a lot more---and very specific.
---the things that happened yesterday---weren't from dreams---they were overwhelming flashes that came out of the blue---and they still always creep me out a little---but not as bad as the dream thing---that always freaked me a little more:)

I find the older I get--the more symbolic my dreams get---so no deja vu from
them. Sometimes a sign--a push in a direction though.

[LaurieD]

Anybody any good with dream interpretation?

[DeleyanLee]

The teachers I had back in my metaphysical era always said that symbols were totally personal to the person seeing them--thus what dream symbols mean is totally up to you and what the various things mean to you as an individual.

Now, mind you, you can go to any number of dream interpretation books or websites, but I've always found that when I sat and puzzled it out with what's honest to me, dreams always made a lot more sense.

Good luck.

As for deja vu in the OP--I've never experienced the sense that I've done or said something before exactly as it happened "again". I voted for the Matrix answer 'cause I thought it was the best "explanation" ever for the experience.

[DL Hegel]

I get it constantly, at long intervals.

I knew it was Haggis! Just can't trust these undead dogs.

damn haggis;)

[Haggis]

Anybody any good with dream interpretation?

Freud, but I understand he's dead.

Me? I'm a skeptic. Still, I've had those experiences. I think almost everybody does. I'm thinking it's either biochemical or neurological--synapses misfiring or something. Either that or that little rat dog is somehow getting to me.

Oh. Wait.

Whatever it is, it's interesting to experience.

[LaurieD]

I asked, not to derail the thread, but because I've lately had the same dream 3 times in the last 2 or 3 months.

I'm standing thigh deep in a calm ocean, at a beach I recognize as mid east coast Florida, holding onto a soft, almost silky feeling rope that is tied to a rather large, all white sailboat. On the sailboat is my now 7 month gone, much loved 10 year old golden retriever/yellow lab, grinning at me and wagging his tail. I can feel the sun on my skin, the breeze on my face, the rope in my hands, the water on my legs. Can hear the water lapping on the shore. Incredibly vivid and now 3 times recurrent.

Honest, DL, don't mean to derail/hijack your thread

[Haggis]

Maybe your golden is telling you he's just fine now, and it's okay to drop the rope and let him sail off into the ocean in his nice new white sailboat. Maybe it's time for a new puppy. :)

[shokadh]

I asked, not to derail the thread, but because I've lately had the same dream 3 times in the last 2 or 3 months.

I'm standing thigh deep in a calm ocean, at a beach I recognize as mid east coast Florida, holding onto a soft, almost silky feeling rope that is tied to a rather large, all white sailboat. On the sailboat is my now 7 month gone, much loved 10 year old golden retriever/yellow lab, grinning at me and wagging his tail. I can feel the sun on my skin, the breeze on my face, the rope in my hands, the water on my legs. Can hear the water lapping on the shore. Incredibly vivid and now 3 times recurrent.

Honest, DL, don't mean to derail/hijack your thread
Okay, here's my take on it. Your silky rope is the thread that holds you to your beloved pet. You are still connected, even though he's gone. It's a nice feeling to remember him, hence the sun and warmth and breeze. It's just an image to treasure--like a camera snapshot you can hang on your wall--to keep his memory alive with you in his absence. Close?

[Haggis]

Okay, here's my take on it. Your silky rope is the thread that holds you to your beloved pet. You are still connected, even though he's gone. It's a nice feeling to remember him, hence the sun and warmth and breeze. It's just an image to treasure--like a camera snapshot you can hang on your wall--to keep his memory alive with you in his absence. Close?

I like this one too. But I still think you should get a new puppy. Everybody should get a puppy. The world would be a better place.

[LaurieD]

That would be a reasonable interpretation. (eta: both) :) We miss him - my son tells me at least once a week that he misses him - but he (dog) was so sick (cancer) it was kind of a relief.

We have two other dogs (11 years old and 6 years old) and a puppy would make them nuts. Definitely later, but not right now. :)

[EFCollins]

Recurring dreams are, to my mind, something you just can't forget but don't consciously think about all the time. It comes out, in some form or another, in a dream. My momma used to have one such dream in which she was two inches tall, flying on an oak leaf and being chased by vampire bats. I don't even think Freud could figure that one out. My mom seems to think it's her subconscious insecurity about her height. I have no idea where that explanation came from, but there you go.

what dream symbols mean is totally up to you

This seems to sum it up pretty well.

ETA: I don't think they can be completely interpreted... but that was pretty good, shok

[DL Hegel]

if you want dreams that don't match the symbols---I dream about zombies---whenever I dream about them something good and unexpected follows. I get excited when I have a zombie dream---because I know they are always lucky for me.

I think I need help:D

[LaurieD]

if you want dreams that don't match the symbols---I dream about zombies---whenever I dream about them something good and unexpected follows. I get excited when I have a zombie dream---because I know they are always lucky for me.

I think I need help:D

That's neat :D

[DL Hegel]

you should see the reppies I got for that one:D

[LaurieD]

My reppies are so tame - smilies and pats on the back mostly :D

[Mythical Tiger]

I put it's a message, for to me it really is. I think its weird to. Then again, I'm tired as hell at the moment and I have yet to have any coffee.


~Sam

[crazynance]

I find deja vu repetitive :D

[callalily61]

I find deja vu repetitive :D

*grooooaaaannn*

[HoraceJames]

"It's like déjà vu all over again." -- Yogi Berra

I tend to think of it as coincidence and brain chemicals but it's still cool.

[DL Hegel]

"It's like déjà vu all over again." -- Yogi Berra

I tend to think of it as coincidence and brain chemicals but it's still cool.
I found a couple of links on different opinions on deja vu---if anybody else has links please post them:)

[SirOtter]

Hasn't this thread been done before?

;)

BTW, I don't believe in reincarnation, but I did in a past life.

[DL Hegel]

Hasn't this thread been done before?
No... But
;)

BTW, I don't believe in reincarnation, but I did in a past life.


Pretty sure I've heard that joke before:D

[Kerr]

I've read that when you fall off that cliff falling asleep it's actually you leaving your body to go other places while you sleep. I can believe that, I just never remember them, but it stands to reason that some of those places are bound to show up in real time here and there.

[FOTSGreg]

I've been there and done that.

Seriously, I couldn't resist.

To be perfectly candid, I think that deja vu is a subconscious reflection of collected memories that have somehow been mixed together by misfiring neurons or mismapped synaptic patterns.