Thread: What calms you?

Because everything seems more dramatic when you awake I often just get up and snap out of it!
When you lie there with just you and your thoughts it seems to compound. So If I get back to bed I think of something that takes me down a different train of thought. Like politics or art or Jessica Alba.

After a nighmare I habitually wake up and get out of bed, pace around in the dark for a bit. It's the only way to calm down quickly. It seems to shake off the feeling of terror or sorrow or whatever feelings are left lingering after the dream.

And...about once every couple of months I end up rolling right off the bed due to a nightmare. Falling and hitting the floor hard definately knocks the nightmare instantly out of me.

Along with half your brain cells
Falling out of bed hurts

Upon waking from a bad nightmare, I usually sit up, breathe deeply and tell myself to relax. I then write down my nightmare and concurr that I wil try and make sence of it in the morning. It usually works.

Just in general, taking a nice (long) walk always calms me down. I can hardly think of any times it failed me Walks also refresh me and give me inspiration when I need. Walks through nature, preferbly of course And it doesn't matter if its pouring down, because I actually find that refreshing

As for nightmares.. it has been a long while since I can remember having a real nightmare that left me really anxious and tense when I woke up. I tend to snap out of it pretty quickly. If not, I think I would just sit up and let myself calm down. What might help is thinking about your dream and imagining a different, happier ending I think there is actually a technique like that.. can't really remember though.

Wow, Thanks for all the replies! Maybe an Admin will sticky this if it starts over flowing haha

Most of the time when you wake up from a bad dream, at least in my case, I do snap out of it once I get up and get my mind on something else. Laying in bed just thinking about it doesnt help, haha.

Good Suggestions though! So when your lucid dreaming about a hott girl and she starts putting her clothes back on, which makes you suddenly try to wake up from the nightmare. Start pacing, get out the Marlboros and take deeeep breathes.

Now what about the dreams that stick with you... Not for extreme periods of time, just stick with you as you wake up. What's your long term calming method?

--Ezekiel(Vex's Dog)

If i have a really big, huge nightmare, i have to get up and turn a light on, it seems to chase the ghosts away. Have a cup of tea. Sit up for an hour. Because i'm alone, it takes me a long, long time to get over a nightmare.
And then i can 'think' about going back to bed, but it's still very hard to go back to sleep. I sort of have to 'resolve' the issue of the nightmare in my mind. It's a real shock to the system!

Luckily, I don't get plagued with too many nightmares that will stick with me throughout the day. On the Rare occasion that I wake up immediately after a nightmare, I'm usually in the mindframe of "whoa....that was fucked up..." and go on about my day. Hehe. However, most of my nightmares have gotten me lucid, and I'm able to deal with them in whatever way I chose, while I'm still asleep, which is good. ^__^

I had a dream last night where my dad told me to kill my dogs, so I suffocated one and then I had to break the second ones neck.

It wasn't a nightmare, but it was a very sad dream, after I did it I was very sad, and sorry I had done it.

But, it was just a dream, and Im glad of that

Originally posted by ezekiel7
/* I suppose this is sort of a sticky/common question for everyone. */

So the question is when you wake up from a nightmare, or a dream that discomforts you or worries you. How do you cope?

By knowing that it was just a dream. It's nothing to get hung up on, considering it never really happened.

Typically it has to be really bad to unhinged me that much....when you have the nightmares i do you quickly learn to dismiss all but the worst immediately.....well most of my nightmares involve losing a loved one or close friend to some enemy.....one of those "If i had just been stronger, faster, smarter..etc" types. Now i doubt many do something like this... but i find it calming to practice my swordwork...more specificlly a low speed blind-drill....very slow, very precise. I just go through the motions with my eyes shut and try to move like i would in a fight without losing control of myself or my blade...an exercise in control if you will.....if your completely in control of yourself, fear and anger have no power over you that you dont give them.

I agree. Not gonna say with who. But I agree haha.

Dreams are easy to get over after awhile just because you realize they werent real, for most people anyway. Now lets add a second question to make it even more interesting...

Btw, For the sword relaxation, do you do Kendo? and do you have a Katana? or Shanai(bamboo sword)?

Questions :

First: What calms you after a nightmare, bad dream, or bad astral/oobe?
Second: What calms you before going to sleep or attempting an astral/oobe? (Is there a special routine you do, breathing excersise, tea you drink, etc etc etc)

Sincerely,
Ezekiel

I almost never have a nightmare. For a dream to be a nightmare to me, when I wake up I don't want to go back to sleep. The last one I had was on Halloween night after watching "Saw" (a stupid thing for me to do). And it wasn't so much that the dream was scary, but the voice - and if you've seen it you know what I'm talking about - was stuck in my head and I couldn't get it out. In those cases, I have to find something that will occupy my mind so I can stop thinking of what I dreamed.

Every now and then, though not often, I'll have anxiety dreams, usually where I'm being chased for some reason or another. However, those tend to resolve themselves before I wake up, or at least the emotions dissipate so I don't worry at all about what just happened. I just say to myself, "I should have realized that I was dreaming."

As for general relaxation, I started a post on the subject and here's what people came up with: http://www.dreamviews.com/forum/viewtopic....t=stress+relief

As for this being stickied, I think that we could add some information to the "Nightmare Tutorial" on what to do if one occurs and you can't go lucid, or if you can't get rid of the emotions caused by that nightmare. Good idea, Ezekiel.

I dont do anything I just say "O, it was just a dream, that was wierd"

or before sleep I sometimes take breathes and follow them into my lungs and back out, or I just lay in bed until I go to sleep

dont like to over complicate things lol

As for this being stickied, I think that we could add some information to the \"Nightmare Tutorial\" on what to do if one occurs and you can't go lucid, or if you can't get rid of the emotions caused by that nightmare. Good idea, Ezekiel.
[/b]

Thank You ^_^,

and of all else fails for relaxing or recovering from dreams... Stay late on the computer discussing games and playing mindless video games

--Zeek

P.S. Thanks for all the feedback guys

I haven't had a decent nightmare in years. Just a bunch of weird dreams.

The last nightmare that really freaked me out I remember having in daycare. It was naptime for us, the room ws dark and all the little kids were sleeping. I guess I passed out, and started dreaming. I dreamed that my mom resembled the "Mean Mommy" and she here short hair became grey and she acted sinister like, though I can't remember what she said.
Somehow I remember her laughing at me.

So, I (being the emotional kid of the bunch) woke up in tears. I was so freaked out, I went to one of the care takers and asked if I could call me mom. I did, she consoled me, ect.

I'm told that later, I broke the Mean Mommy cup that brought about this fear.

But I haven't had a dream that freaked me out so much since, and I think I was 3 or 4 at the time.

I havent had many nightmares that I remember in my life, but the one thing that has always calmed me before or after anything, has always been music therapy.

I always go to sleep listening to any of my old CDs. I like to concentrate on the intruments and lyrics and such, and even go to sleep analyzing them. It helps keep my mind off anything else as I go to sleep.

Recenltly, I have been listening to a lot of jazz albums, so I dont have to worry about extracting any meaning from lyrics that may keep me up.

So, I suppose, if I ever wake up from a nightmare, I'll record that in my dream journal, and try to go back to sleep with my progressions.

When I have a nightmare, there's usually nothing I can do to calm down until about five minutes later. Getting out of bed is probably a good one, because it forces you to become properly awake. However, I can offer advice for how to make sure you don't go back into a nightmare when you fall asleep again, which used to happen a lot to me.

The solution's simple - turn the pillow over.

I really don't know why this works, but it does.

The solution's simple - turn the pillow over. [/b]

Is this the secret to life...

What is the answer to the big question!
~7 million years later~
42
.....42?!
Yes, 42! That is the answer to the question.
....Then what's the question?
Oooo I dont know that... but there if you come back to the other computer in 11 million years it can give you the question.

-----Remember Folks,

Smartest Beings on this planet (from rank of smartivity) :
1. Mice
2. Dolphins
3. Humans

Now that I've randomly filled up the post....

Thank you for your answers!

~Zeek

What calms me? I like the sound of rain, and I guess fortunately for me, I live where it rains A LOT!

I usually lie still and aknowledge that it was just a dream, until the fear or sadness passes. Or depending on the situation I may run to the toilet or vomit (it happened when I had flu) by then I've usually forgotten the dream.

1. cooking calms me

2. playing/composing music calms me

3. I have a 'calm place' that I visit mentally if I'm in a situation where I can't do the first 2, like if I'm trying to sleep

PsyTrance in my car with the bass stretching the glass or,

Push-ups or,

Substance abuse ( pick yer poison ) .

Originally posted by R.Carter
PsyTrance in my car with the bass stretching the glass or,

XD It's fun to turn up electronica/trance super loud when everyone in my house is gone.



I usually never have nightmares (anxiety dreams are pretty much my nightmares, I have em all the time about school) except when I'm sick or in very rare cases I have mild type nightmares. However, I'm usually sick so I just go and take a poop. Or throw up.