Every day is a new day and with that, a new opportunity.
EVERYONE is welcome and please join us each morning at 7:30 AM PACIFIC
to tell us what you're working on, share your show & tell, vent, whatever you want...
...this is an open thread. Nothing is off topic.
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Do You Remember Your Dreams?
I wrote a New Day diary some weeks ago about sleep. I spoke of the four stages of sleep and the tweener state between being awake and the first stage of sleep. That tweener state is the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) cycle when we dream. There is a typical pattern of sleep. Here's the chart again.
As you see we enter deep sleep during the first half of our sleeping. When we go into stage 3 and 4 of sleep we have what's called "restorative sleep." There is one brief dream state between the two deep sleep cycles. After that we have more frequent dreams and longer REM cycles (longer dreams) with brief periods of waking.
What about dreams? What do they mean? Are they simply random? These are questions we all have. One thing that's known is if we don't go into deep restorative sleep we don't take what we've lived during the day prior to sleeping from our short term memory into long term memory. Our memory suffers and we become emotionally fragile.
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When we are in REM cycles our amygdalae are very active. The amygdalae are where we process emotions and memories of typically dangerous or uncomfortable situations. The amygdalae "see." This isn't a metaphor. They literally see. This wasn't known until just a few years ago. This was discovered due to working with a man who'd had a very unfortunate accident. The back of his head had been crushed in. He was able to function just fine, but the part of his brain that processed vision was destroyed. His eyes worked just fine as well. They put him in a dark room and shined a lazer on the wall and ceiling off and on. He was able to tell them where the lazer was shining even though he couldn't "see." Clearly some part of his brain was processing what his eyes were sensing = his amygdalae.
Have you ever wondered why our eyes are in front of us but vision is processed at the very back of the brain? This is really odd. The other cranial nerves that innervate sense organs process right next to those organs. Our 8th cranial nerve processes sound right inside our ears. Our 1st cranial nerve processes smell right at the top of our noses. But vision is totally different. It turns out that what our eyes sense is purposefully routed through our brains and amygdalae then to the back of our brains where we "see." Why?
It's now known that our amygdalae also "see" what our eyes process, but keeps that to themselves. The rest of our brain, and thus us, only see when the back of our brain processes what the eyes sensed. The amygdalae however does see so as to know if something is "dangerous" out there in the world before we are even aware of it cognitively. It's a protection system and a very ancient part of the brain.
How does this help us survive? Say you are hiking along and you almost step on a coiled rattlesnake. The snake hopefully rattles it's tail and you see it and avoid stepping on it. This scares you because it was such a close call. You avoided getting bitten but your heart is racing and your sympathetic nervous system is on full alert.
OK. The next time you go hiking you just happen to come across a coiled rope on the ground. You haven't seen it yet but you just jump back suddenly without even thinking about it. You think that's really weird. Why did you do that? You look around because you're spooked about what the hell just happened. Then you see the coiled rope and process that. Your amygdalae "saw" that coiled rope before you "saw" the rope. Knowing the last time you saw something similar to that was a dangerous situation, your amygdalae "saw it first" took over and made you jump back...even though you hadn't cognitively seen and become aware of the coiled rope yet.
More About REM Dreaming and NREM Dreaming Plus Latest Updates on Kossack Regional Meet-Up News Below the New Day sunrise cloud
The bottom line about "normal REM cycle dreams" is they are primarily negative. The emotions experienced are negative. Anxiousness is the number one most common emotion experienced during REM dreaming. Other "negative" emotions are common too. Why? It is believed we process "negative" or "dangerous" things during REM dreaming. Fear, anger, aggression, hate and mostly anxiety are the primary feelings experienced during REM dreaming. But why? I'll tell you later on in this diary.
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There is actually another type of dreaming that occurs when we are in a state called NREM (non Rapid Eye Movement) as well. This occurs within the stages of actual sleeping not in the tweener place between wakefulness and the first stage of sleep. One difference is that during REM cycles, or "normal dreaming," our bodies are in a state of paralysis. When we dream during NREM periods, our bodies are not in a state of paralysis. It's as though REM dreaming is more "violent" and we need to be in a state of paralysis while NREM dreaming is tranquil...hummm.
What do we experience in NREM dreaming state? We don't have negative feelings. We process stuff in order to figure out how to do it better. We take new experiences we've had and go over that to understand it better and then we connect it to other experiences we've had in the past to get better at problem solving. This is where dreams occur that give us inspiration and "enlightenment" if you will. NREM dreaming is where we take past experiences and figure out how it might relate to our most recent experiences. And that is where leaps of new understanding can occur.
In REM dreaming we are actually trying to experience the future itself! We are trying to move into the future. REM dreaming is where we practice simulations to face challenges and test possibilities. The future is unknown and was certainly dangerous for most of human existence. REM dreaming is actually a proactive and protective type of dreaming. We had to be on our toes if we were to survive. So REM dreams are where we process all the dangerous and unpleasant stuff so we'll hopefully get even better at living in a dangerous and challenging world when we are awake.
REM dreaming is where we practice in advance to deal with future challenges that haven't even occurred yet. Eons ago it's where a warrior or hunter practiced those undertakings of future dangerous involvements in the world. It's where gatherers practiced protecting there children and themselves. Now days it's where we practice dealing with all the difficult and potentially catastrophic situations we must deal with in the world. REM dreaming is where we practice to be better at handling the unknown. It's for survival and how we create the future factoring in all the dangers that entails.
NREM dreams are where we process non-threatening things. It's where new understanding occurs from what we've known previously combines with what we just learned. It's how we link the past to the present in order to gain new insights by merging them together. NREM dreaming is how we process what we've experienced, but it too will help us do better in the future, just in a different way than REM dreaming.
It is clearly very important that we dream. Our bodies go into paralysis and become sexually activated when we have REM dreams. Dreaming is so necessary that we have an entire physiological set-up just for dreaming.
Dreaming is consciousness. You are conscious all the time, especially when you dream.
Here is a link to a NOVA episode about dreaming.
h/t to Tim DeLaney for suggesting this subject.
~By the way, I won't be here today to care for my diary. I hope you all enjoy talking about dreaming. And I won't be here for Thanksgiving as well. I think that will be a good day for an open thread New Day. :) See you all in a couple weeks.
What Do You Dream About?
Do You Remember Your Dreams?
:: COMMUNITY BUILDING UPDATES ::
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Let's build communities!
Every region needs a meatspace community like SFKossacks.
We take care of each other in real life.
I urge YOU to take the lead and organize one in your region.
Please tell us about it if you do and we're here for advice.
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THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY
>>>Instructions on HOW TO FORM A NEW DAILY KOS GROUP
NEW GROUPS IN THE PROCESS OF ORGANIZING:
Send a Kosmail to the organizers and ask for an invitation to the group.
• Northern Indiana Area: Kosmail Tim Delaney
• Long Island: Kosmail grannycarol
• Northern Michigan: Kosmail JillS
• Nebraska: Kosmail Nebraska68847Dem
• Westburbia Chicago Kossacks: Kosmail Majordomo
• Caprock Kossacks (Panhandle/Caprock/Lubbock/Amarillo area) : Kosmail shesaid
• West Texas Kossacks (including Big Bend Region and El Paso) : Kosmail Yo Bubba
• Las Vegas Kossacks: Kosmail miracle11
• Vermont Kossacks: Kosmail 4Freedom
Note to the above new leaders: Feel free to leave a comment any day reminding readers about your new group. Also, tell us about your progress in gathering members. Kosmail me when you've chosen a good name for your group and have created a the group. Then I'll move you to the NEW GROUPS LIST. When you've planned a date for your first event I'll make a banner for you to highlight your event in our diaries and your diaries.
These are the groups that have started since * NEW DAY * began. Please Kosmail navajo if you have started a group before that.
NEW GROUPS LIST:
• California Central Valley Kossacks - Formed: Jul 29, 2012, Organizer: tgypsy
• New England Kossacks - Formed: Aug 6, 2012, Organizers:
Clytemnestra for Lower New England (Conneticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island)
nhox42 for Upper New England (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont)
• Houston Area Kossacks - Formed: Aug 7, 2012, Organizer: Chrislove
• Kossacks in India - Formed: Aug 14, 2012, Organizer: chandu
• CenTex Kossacks - Formed: Sep 9, 2012, Organizer: papa monzano
• Central Ohio Kossacks - Formed: Sep 26, 2012, Organizer: VetGrl
• Kansas City Kossacks - Formed Oct 15, 2012, Organizer: [Founder stepped down]
• Phoenix Kossacks - Formed Oct 16, 2012, Organizer: arizonablue
• Chicago Kossacks - Formed: Oct 31, 2012, Organizer: figbash
• Koscadia the Pacific Northwest coast from Northern California to Alaska
- Formed Oct 17, 2012, Oganizer: Horace Boothroyd III based in Portland, OR
• Boston Kossacks - Formed: Nov 7, 2012, Organizer: GreyHawk
• Motor City Kossacks South East Michigan (Detroit) Area - Formed: Nov 10, 2012, Organizer: peregrine kate
• Pittsburgh Area Kossacks - Formed: Nov 12, 2012, Organizer: dweb8231
• Salt Lake City Kossacks - Formed: Nov 17, 2012, Organizer: War on Error
• Twin Cities Kossacks - Formed: Nov 17, 2012, Organizer: imonlylurking
• Dallas Kossacks North Texas - Formed: Nov 21, 2012, Admins: Catte Nappe and dalfireplug. Please contact them to join the group. An Event Organizer needed.
• The Southern California Inland Empire Kossacks - Formed: Dec 3, 2012, Organizer: SoCaliana
• Los Angeles Kossacks - Formed: Dec 17, 2012, Organizer: Dave in Northridge
• Northeast Ohio Kossacks - Formed: Jan 16, 2013, Organizer: GenXangster
• Kansas & Missouri Kossacks - Formed: Jan 17, 2013, Organizer: tmservo433
• I-77 Carolina Kossacks who live from Columbia, SC to north of Winston-Salem, NC. - Formed: Jan 30, 2013, Organizers: gulfgal98 and eeff
• Indianapolis Kossacks - Formed: Feb 6, 2013, Organizer: CityLightsLover
• Southwest Ohio Kossacks - Formed: May 10, 2013, Organizer: Dr Erich Bloodaxe RN
• Northern Arizona Kossacks - Formed: Jul 5, 2013, Organizer: Sam Sara
• Mexican Kossacks - Formed: Apr 14, 2013, Organizer: roberb7
• New York Hudson Valley Kossacks - Formed: Oct 27, 2012, Organizer: boran2
• North Carolina Triangle Kosmopolitans - Formed: Aug 2, 2013, Organizer: highacidity
• Silicon Valley Kossacks - Formed: Oct 31, 2013, Organizer: Glen The Plumber
ESTABLISHED GROUPS LIST: (List will grow as we discover them)
• SFKossacks Founded by navajo, Formed: May 2, 2005
• Maryland Kos Founded by timmyc, Formed: Feb 23, 2011. Contact: JamieG from Md for a group invite.
• New York City Founded by Eddie C - Contact the group organizer for meet-up events: sidnora
• Baja Arizona Kossacks, Event Organizer: Azazello
• Three Star Kossacks Tennessee, Founded by maryKK, Formed: Apr 8, 2011
• Nashville KosKats, Founded by ZenTrainer Formed: Jan 30, 2012
• Virginia Kos Founded by JamieG from Md, Formed: May 3, 2011
• Kos Georgia Founded by pat208, Formed: Feb 13, 2011
• Colorado COmmunity Founded by Leftcandid, Formed: Feb 13, 2011
• New Mexico Kossaks Founded by claude
• Philly Kos Founded by mconvente Formed: Aug 29, 2011
• DKos Florida Founded by ThirstyGator, Formed: Feb 14, 2011, Currently organizing: Kosmail Vetwife to be included in next event.
• Oklahoma Roundup Founded by BigOkie, Formed: Feb 13, 2011, Currently organizing: Kosmail peacearena to be included.
• DKos Asheville Founded by davehouck, Formed: Feb 13, 2011 - Organizing Assist by: randallt
• San Diego Kossacks Founded by La Gitane, Formed: Nov 18, 2011
• Massachusetts Kosmopolitans Founded by mem from somerville, Formed: Feb 13, 2011
by CityLightsLover ♥ for Indianapolis Kossacks
CityLightsLover pulled together another Indianapolis Kossack event. This time at a Mexican restaurant complete with her orangey Daily Kos tablescapes and schwag she produced herself.
Here's their group photo:
Lol. ONLY THE SHADOW KNOWS... Use your imagination and guess what these Kossacks really look like. L-R: maryabein, MKDAWUSS, Tim DeLaney, CityLightsLover, im2004Lurker, Mrs. Mokurai, Furbabies2013, Dragon5616, Mokurai and MITHRA666
Please visit CityLightsLover's diary for many MORE photos of those Daily Kos tablescapes and food pr0n! Enjoy! You can join Indianapolis Kossacks by sending a Kosmail to CityLightsLover.
by randallt ♥ for DKos Asheville
Asheville, NC gets out the vote!
The following is a brief roundup of the DKos Asheville Voter Registration Project's fifth outing. We've been setting up every Tuesday for the last five weeks at Earth Fare, a natural food store at Westgate Shopping Center in Asheville. We have a nice spot on the patio outside the store. This week with no icy wind and much more moderate temps. Oh it was cold alright, just not stupid cold. Back to having three of us was great. LamontCranston, David and Myself received many thumbs up and "thank you's" from passers by and shoppers and more than a few questions as to why we were doing this now. "Didn't we just have an election?". We officially re-registered one voter and took advantage of the interaction to do some Daily Kos evangelism. And here is a tease for next week. It involves llamas!
LamontCranston, our new Salvation Army bell ringer friend, randallt and davehouck
You can join DKos Asheville by sending a Kosmail to randallt.
by tmservo433 ♥ for Kansas & Missouri Kossacks
Organizer tmservo433
~Photo Courtesy of Michael Bersin
tmservo433 delivered a great event. Almost 30 people attended what tmservo433 calls the first session of the evening that lasted until 11:30 P.M. The second session of the evening included about ten more people lurking outside the door and some working as hotel staff inside the room. So after the meet-up ended, on-lookers from the hall and hotel service people wanted to talk about what they overheard coming out of the ballroom. For example, the round table discussion about the importance of increasing the minimum wage resonated with the waitstaff and they chimed in about that with strong opinons. A ballroom dancing couple applauded the progressive discussion they could hear on the other side of the partition. This event united progressives within its reach!
Please visit tmservo433's diary for written details on this terrific event! You can join Kansas & Missouri Kossacks by sending a Kosmail to tmservo433.
by tmservo433 ♥ for Kansas & Missouri Kossacks
L-R: Some where in this photo are Kossacks Glitterscale, Man Oh Man and tmservo433.
Please visit tmservo433's diary for a description of the rest of the attendees which were mostly non-Kossacks, but folks who should be there, such as, State Legislator John Wright. tmservo433 gathered a great group of Progressives and hopefully we can get a few more of them to join us at DKos. Kudos to tmservo433 for reaching out and uniting like-minded folk in Missouri!
You can join Kansas & Missouri Kossacks by sending a Kosmail to tmservo433.
by navajo ♥ for SFKossacks
L-R: SFKossacks meeting at the home of Andrew McGuire in the Wine Country
You can join the SFKossacks by sending a Kosmail to navajo.
:: Events Currently on the Books for ALL Kossacks ::
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Sunday, November 24th
Colorado COmmunity Kossacks Meet-up
TIME: NOON
LOCATION: Annie's Cafe & Bar
3100 E Colfax • Denver
ORGANIZER: Send ColoTim a kosmail to attend.
RSVPs:
1. ColoTim
2. Phoenix Rising
3. Leftcandid
4. BadKitties
5. whoknu
6. apca
7. wade norris
8.
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Maybees:
bristlecone77
Merry Light
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Latest diary: Colorado Meetup November 24th and also COlorado COssack MeetUpdate!
Saturday, December 7th
Connecticut Kossacks Meet-up!
TIME: Noon
LOCATION: The Shamrock Pub & Grill
210 Meadow St. • Waterbury
The Shamrock is a short walk from the MTA Metro North Station. If anyone wants to take Amtrak, thankgodforairamerica can pick you up in Meriden and drive you to the event.
ORGANIZER: Send thankgodforairamerica a kosmail to attend.
RSVPs:
1. thankgodforairamerica
2. gchaucer2
3.
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Maybees:
annieli
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And for those with great fortitude:
TIME: 3:00 PM? or so (if you're not too tanked...)
LOCATION: Waterbury Skating Center
60 Harvester Road • Waterbury
RSVPs:
1. thankgodforairamerica
2.
3.
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Maybees: |
Latest diary: [Waiting for linked diary]
Send navajo a kosmail if you post a diary about an event so we can update our round-up.
Okay. Floor's open.
Tell us what you are doing on this NEW DAY?