Nightmares

[Remus]

In every single one of my nightmares the thing that is scaring me is something that won't die! Half the time I fight back but it never dies....the dreams usually end with me dieing......They are different dreams eveytime, though. but that's always the monster in a dream. what could it mean?

[Scwigglie]

Hey there Remus. I'm no expert at dream interpretation, but maybe it has something to do with low confidence. I.E. there might be a goal in your life that you think you'll never achieve, or a concept in school that you think you'll never understand, that sort of thing. Does that help?

[Jin]

It's just a dream. Try and talk to it or something, it won't hurt you.

[Placebo]

Originally posted by Jin It's just a dream. Try and talk to it or something, it won't hurt you. I kinda agree with this... its just a dream, and he's not real. The less important that monster is to you, the less he will appear. For example, I used to have recurring wolf nightmares... they would hunt me down, and no matter what I tried, they always killed me. I stopped the nightmares by confronting the wolf, and not taking it seriously any more. Kicked it around, etc... started doing stupid things. Its all about whether it sticks in your mind I suppose...

[WerBurN]

...low self-esteem, or whatever in his real life is causing these nightmares has not resolved...you really didnt give us much info to go off of, but try to think and see if you cant figure out what is the waking life cause of these nightmares...then confront this issue...i think youll find this is the correct way to kill whatever is chasing you

[Remus]

Hm...What are some ways I can realize it is a dream in a nightmare?

[Scwigglie]

I guess just telling yourself before bed, "Next time I feel scared or face something that won't die, I will do a reality check." Something along those lines. Self-hypnosis works well too.

[WerBurN]

lucidity > scary-mind-monsters

[Corrupt]

For me my fear level defines a dream whether lucid or non lucid as a nightmare. As a child I would dream of demons chasing me, or me floating towards a demon with not control over stopping, but these are quite simple to handle once you have faced a few demons prepared for a non painful non harmful attack. Nightmares I find more difficult to control often involve things like being trapped in space floating towards a strange planet - with a feeling of doom and terror, this for me is much harder to handle than any demon - and it cannot be fought. I have no phobia of space or planets in waking life, but in a dream state i am terrifyed of them even as objects in the sky (i also suffer badly from vertigo only in the dreamstate). In nightmares over the years, ive seen my parents die, strange cats dig their claws into my leg and cause terrific pain, deformed human beings may suddenly lunge at you with a dagger - ANYTHING could happen - and although even in nightmares things arent usually that bad - its the out of control and not knowing what on earth will happen next, which causes my fear and desire to wake up. In this state i may often start thinking of the last things i want to experience out of fear that it may happen - and this will often trigger that very consequence. One of my better wake up techniques is to stare at one thing - which in a dream changes quite quickly into something else, reminding yourself constantly you are dreaming.. refusing to take part in the experience, this seems to work fairly well for me. Another one i used when i was young was while lucid, is to be aware of your real body in bed, and to attempt to turn over and over until you wake up, this is extremely hard and often on waking u fall back to sleep instantly, but with continous efforts this often worked. The danger of this technique of course is to "dream you have woken up", which kind of tricks you out of being lucid for a short time while you do another reality check.