Nightmares and Recurring Dreams

The best way to understand why we have nightmares is to think of nightmares as an early warning system or an alarm that alerts us that something is wrong in our lives and is hurting us, and we need to focus our attention on it & fix the problems so we can overcome them and be happier. Being human, we don't always pay attention to the subtle hints or little nudges that we need to do something, keep procrastinating instead of tackling the problems, or we are so preoccupied with other matters that we miss big issues that are about to blind-side us in our lives, so that's when nightmares occur to help alert us so we can avoid a disastrous outcome caused by emotional blocks or situations in our lives that we are not moving past or even recognizing.

Some nightmares are like practice sessions that test our abilities and outlook on a given issue, to prepare us for going through a painful lesson in life such as the break-up of a relationship, loss of a loved one, fears of death, loss of health; any number of situations. At first the nightmares on these issues are a shock, but as we get used to the issues they are pointing out and change our perception or get inspired to learn new ways of handling painful issues, the nightmares lessen in their severity and we achieve a sense of inner peace or calm.

Nightmares are like a last ditch effort to scream for your attention. There's nothing like a heart-pounding, terrifying nightmare to get our attention and say, "Hey! What's going on, here? I don't understand what this is about, and I need to know so I stop having these nightmares!" That's when I usually hear from people who are seeking help to get past this point, and once they understand the underlying issues that are symbolized in their nightmares, they then discover which steps to take next. Nightmares are actually helpful, in the same way that physical pain alerts us that something is wrong with our bodies and needs healing, nightmares are a helpful warning or alert to us that our emotional and mental state has a glitch that needs work and healing to get past, because it's somehow making our lives harder and more painful.

Dreams prepare you for current and future events in your waking life. They also point out to you areas in your life that need to be healed, or worked upon. Nightmares are usually your deepest fears symbolized by frightening, horrifying images. If you learn to face your fears instead of running away or ignoring them, then the nightmares will disappear or evolve into regular non-threatening images. Nightmares are your wake-up call to problems you need to solve in waking life. Why are they so frightening or graphic? Because that's what most effectively gets our attention.

Unfortunately, we don't usually pay attention until our dreams get to this point, and then we sit up and take notice. It's similar to the way in which we pay attention to our bodies...pain may be unpleasant, but we finally realize that there is a health problem or injury that needs to be tended to, and then take care of it. The pain may start out mild, but the longer we ignore the problem, the worse it gets until we simply must take care of the problem. It's the same situation with dreams; we may get numerous messages in regular, non-frightening dreams, but not pay attention. Finally, when the situation gets to a vital point in which a problem must be taken care of pronto, we will get the nightmare. One of my favorite quotes is this:

The Fates lead him who will; him who won't, they DRAG!

Once you get used to paying attention to more subtle messages in regular dreams, you won't have to be "hit over the head" with a nightmare to clue into a problem, and take care of it. In this way, just as pain helps you avert a more serious physical disaster, nightmares prevent a problem in your waking life from getting advanced to the point of not being able to fix it.

You can learn helpful techniques for conquering your nightmares by finding information on dream symbols and learning how to interpret your dreams, so you can start learning without having to be "hit over the head" with a nightmare. I have been "dragged" plenty in life, and I finally started learning to clue in earlier to what my dreams were telling me, and I must say I feel much more in-tune with my intuition and what is going on in my life ever since. It clears away a lot of the confusion.

Recurring Dreams

Link to ABC News Report on People's Dreams of September 11th

Here's a link to a huge resource on sleep disorders put together by NASA:

SLEEP DISORDER RESOURCES

Here is a link to accredited Sleep Disorder Clinics & sleep related breathing disorder labs per ASD throughout the USA:

http://www.asda.org/sleep_study.htm

Please Sign My Guestbook?
or
View My Guestbook

Here's a link to a huge resource on sleep disorders put together by NASA:

SLEEP DISORDER RESOURCES

Here is an A-Z by State listing of Sleep Disorder Clinics:

American Academy of Sleep Medicine

"Twilight Zone" by Golden Earring

Copyright 1996-2008 by ZenCyn - Cyndi Russell