I've read a few things here about people having dreams they didn't want to have, like something stupid that happened during that day, or something similar. You know, something they didn't give a damn about and certainly didn't want to dream about. I've found a way to not have these kinds of dreams and instead have more meaningful dreams. I don't know if other people do the same, but I'll just go ahead and post it.



I play video games during the day, like Batman or Aliens vs Predator etc. These games are fun, but dreaming about them isn't. You know, inane crap like this:





I was playing Aliens vs Predator with a guy, except it was real. I was an Alien, he was a Marine. There was something about reading a forum where people were giving love advice that I could see while playing. I found him in a corner next to a building and tail whipped him, he didn't do anything so I moved and did it again, then again until I killed him. We ended up in a construction site later. I killed him, then he killed me, then I respawned near where he had killed me at, and went to go kill him. I said "This is my thanks to you Sega" I walked over a fence and saw him run past, he was wearing a grey spotted army uniform. I tried grabbing him as he ran past but couldn't. He ran to a group of other Marines. I turned into Batman at this point, and went to attack them, I started doing combos on them. I got my combo yellow and went to use it but Batman jumped instead. It ended there.




I REALLY hate dreaming about stuff like that, it makes me feel stupid, and writing it down is a chore, but I do it anyway so my dream recall doesn't suffer. I eventually developed this technique out of frustration. I call it Dream Releasing.



What I do is, after I've layed down, I'll focus my mind, and envision the thing I want to release, like AVP. Then I keep repeating the words "No AVP" or "No Aliens vs Predator" or "I do NOT want to dream about AVP tonight" over and over again. The words aren't enough though, I have to throw myself into it, really want it, like when you really want something or pray really hard for someone. After a few minutes, I will literally feel the thing I am trying to release, start to dim in my mind. If I keep doing it until it's barely there, I will not dream about it at all that night, not even a tiny bit. This actually helped me keep my mental sanity for awhile too. I'll explain:




See, I'm bipolar, so I have depression. Thoughts about death/ suicide were common for me before I got on an antidepressant that worked. I mean, I wasn't a suicide risk or anything, the suicide thoughts were very light and just something that goes with having depression. I've never tried it. Now, the thoughts about death were far worse, as were the dreams. I had really sick, twisted, disgusting dreams about death for so long. Some still make me nauseous. One in particular I had, I didn't just wake up feeling sick, I woke up with my head really messed up. Like, fuzzy, and my skin felt harder and hotter and I couldn't feel emotions normally. Only lasted a day though thankfully. I didn't really know what to do about them and was frankly starting to become scared of dreaming until I discovered this. After I discovered this, I did it every night I could, and if I did it right, I had no dreams about death. There was one time I screwed up and only did it halfway before falling asleep though. I had a dream about a woman who had died, some people had built a house for her as a memorial, and they'd sit in the living room with her dead body and watch tv with her to keep her company. I felt that she was dead in the dream as I was looking through the window, but I HAD done the releasing part way, so she was moving around like she was alive and I couldn't really think of her as dead. So yeah, it definitely works. Now that I'm on a good antidepressant, I don't need to release death anymore, but I still do it for other dreams and if I do it right, I never dream about anything I don't want to.




Oh, and before anyone says it, this is NOT like the "Don't think about an elephant" thing. The wording's different and you do it a different way. I actually tried the don't think about an elephant thing in place of this just out of curiosity and the thing I was trying to release became stronger in my mind.




But yeah, when I do this, I dream about meaningful things, things I feel, things that have depth, not the games I play. It also works in waking life if you want to put something out of your mind, but not as well.




Anyway, try this out if you're tired of having animal dreams, and I guarantee it'll work for you. It's worked for me every night that I've tried it.