Thread: How to control these nightmares.(When waking in the night)

hey everyone! School is back in and I haven't had much time to post in forums about my problems, but I feel like I need help from you guys ASAP.

Recently, as of last night, and before. I will wake up in the middle of the night usually from the dream, or will use the restroom and get back into bed. Last night I woke up from a nightmare. I can't remember it all, but I remember the emotion, fear. I did however manage to have another one the same night. When awaking in the middle of the night I usually think irrationally about how something could be watching me, or the feeling of re-entering a nightmare. I try to control this but it's quite hard honestly, anyway. I mentioned somewhere on the forum how about I feel very weird when "entering a dream." I guess tingly.. and just overall "weird feeling" not necessarily bad, but just how I can tell I'am about to dream. I get this feeling ALL THE TIME, but I usually back out from the fear of creating a nightmare because I can't control my thoughts of being scared.. My room is VERY DARK. I have full size blanket covering my window. You wouldn't be able to tell if it was day or night without moving it. I drempt that at the end of my bed where my feet hang, there was a large black shadow. Upon looking at this phantom, I could feel my physical body's heart racing. Sometimes I fear of going to sleep. I usually wake up everyone night because I drink only water which causes me to have to use the bathroom frequently.

I need help, someone please. Dread Guides come fourth! <3

Edit: When I would awake from these dreams and go back to sleep, I'd somehow end up with the same reforming dream.. and feelings.

You sound VERY afraid in general. Are you afraid of the dark? What are you afraid of? WHY are you so scared in the night? To be honest I can relate (which is why I am being so blunt with you lol) as I experienced this rancid fear when I was younger - 12 - 15ish say. It's all in YOUR mind, you are in control of YOUR THOUGHTS. It seems you may be sensitive to energies and stuff, so create you're own, know you are an all-powerful creative being sent here on earth and are always guarded. If you believe your thoughts of phantoms and monsters are real you clearly have an active imagination, so why not ALSO believe you are a kick-a** spiritual warrior and can dispel negative energies/entities in a flash!!! YOU ARE POWERFUL, don't be frightened, if you face your fear with courage you will find it's not as scary as you thought and it will stop bothering you. All the best!

Thank you Skylight for your post as it seems no one else can help me.. I willingly admit that I am afraid sometimes when I'am in my room. I just don't like the absence of light. So i.e. darkness. It just gets me thinking about whats related to darkness throughout my life. Iconic things like scary movies, the paranormal, I wouldn't say monsters. Really just paranormal type things. I am 16, so.

If realize I don't have to fear these things, could I use this as a chance to become lucid?l

One of the easiest ways to incubate dreams is to go back to sleep quickly. When I was a kid I had the problem of re-entering nightmares, but someone told me that if I get up and around that I can just go back to a normal dream. The more you move-the more you lose the dream. Might just be an expectation things, but dream incubation is mostly about expectations.

How dream incubation works for me (a lot of times)
non lucid dream (nightmare), wake up, go to sleep, more aware same non lucid dream (nightmare)
non lucid dream, wake up, go to sleep, different lucid dream
lucid dream, wake up, go to sleep, different lucid dream
lucid dream, wake up, go to sleep, same dream but not lucid

This works as long as I keep expectation up, but my sleep schedule doesn't effect it except the fact that I don't wake up naturally as much when sleep deprived. I went a little off topic. I like writing down my thoughts, sorry about that.

I think that it is harder to control lucid nightmares than normal lucids since nightmares seem to stem a lot from insecurities, underconfidence, or bad expectation. I would work on fixing those things in order to control dreams more.

Some of the best lucid dreamers seem to have dealt with strong nightmares. I don't count myself in that category(not counting myself as one of the best) but I did also discover lucid dreams for dealing with nightmares when I was young and after defeating the nightmare went on to some adventures but then forgot about dreaming (for the most part) not long after, until more recently..years later. Creatures around your bed are sometimes found during false awakenings or when entering the sleep stage and you get hypnagogic imagery. It may help to read up about some of those things but I was also able to successfully change a creature on my bed into something much better, a beautiful woman and completely change the mood of the dream. also, yes, you can use nightmares to become a lucid!

PS: The creatures around your bed are whatever you're mind comes up with. For some people they are aliens, others see monsters, dogs, wolves, ghosts, rapists, so it is not always paranormal things for everyone, just whatever you're mind comes up with. If you are still around we can talk more.

[QUOTE= It may help to read up about some of those things but I was also able to successfully change a creature on my bed into something much better, a beautiful woman and completely change the mood of the dream. also, yes, you can use nightmares to become a lucid! .[/QUOTE]


I own two books on lucid dreaming that I have yet to finish which are both very known.

1) Lucid Dreaming by Robert Waggoner
2) Exploring the world of Lucid Dreaming by Stephen LaBerge


and LaBerge has a chapter in his book all about this stuff. I'll give it another look to refresh the techniques he provides.

Fear...
If you can't fight it, embrace it.

You see, fear is very very good in your situation. Why?
It can help you to become lucid. How?
Well...

Look at it this way.
You are aware there is nothing paranormal in REAL life that can harm you, right?. So you are only afraid of paranormal things in the dream world, thinking you could be DREAMING right now and something might freak you out.
So when you are scared, simply do a reality check. Do a few of them.
If you realize it is not a dream. Then there is nothing to worry about, is there? You might just as well go in the dark and sit there for the rest of the night, and nothing will happen.
But if you realize it IS actually a dream, in that case, it's even BETTER.
You are lucid, and nothing can defeat you.

My philosophy with dreams is to make friends with everyone. The bad and the good. Why? Because it's all you. You don't want to be fighting yourself. DO YOU?
Violence doesn't solve anything.

enjoy

Originally Posted by Vortaix

Fear...
If you can't fight it, embrace it.

You see, fear is very very good in your situation. Why?
It can help you to become lucid. How?
Well...

Look at it this way.
You are aware there is nothing paranormal in REAL life that can harm you, right?. So you are only afraid of paranormal things in the dream world, thinking you could be DREAMING right now and something might freak you out.
So when you are scared, simply do a reality check. Do a few of them.
If you realize it is not a dream. Then there is nothing to worry about, is there? You might just as well go in the dark and sit there for the rest of the night, and nothing will happen.
But if you realize it IS actually a dream, in that case, it's even BETTER.
You are lucid, and nothing can defeat you.

My philosophy with dreams is to make friends with everyone. The bad and the good. Why? Because it's all you. You don't want to be fighting yourself. DO YOU?
Violence doesn't solve anything.

enjoy

Very well put. I see from your profile:past posts that you've been gone from DV for a while. Welcome back!

That's really kind of you.
What a thoughtful thing to say (:
I feel special now.

Thank you friend.

Thank you Vortaix as that really has inspired me to overcome my fears in my dreams and use it to benefit me in my Lucid dreaming Journey.

So when you are scared, simply do a reality check. Do a few of them.

Is it possible that when I overcome my fears or the scary things in my dreams; that they will stop appearing and I will not be reminded to do the RC and critical state test anymore? If so that would be such a setback.

P.S. As Fogelbise had mentioned. Welcome back to DV! Happy Dreaming!

It is quite likely that overcoming your fears will stop them occurring, at least, in the form they are now. So, it might be wise to invest in a few non-fear related reality checks, as well. You could also try WILD when you get to that point.