"... negative thinking and unresolved issues play a huge role in determining what kind of nightmares, and how many of them, you might have.
“Our
brains work like a computer; what goes in equals what comes out,” Mayer said.
“So, if you go to bed with negative thoughts or you’re replaying negatives from
your day, boom! Your brain is going to be loaded with negative thoughts to
recycle while you sleep.”
-
John Meyer, a clinical
psychologist practicing in Chicago
Everyone
has nightmares; when we were little we
had them more often. I have known those
that have night terrors and nightmares from ptsd. Sleep is when we heal our bodies, mind, heart
and soul. Nightmares create nothing but
anxiety and fatigue. Sometimes we do not
know we have had a nightmare. We say
things like, "I am having a bad hair day....I got up on the wrong side of
the bed..." Sound familiar? it does to me. I can wake up and feel angry, sad,
threatened, feeling like there is something I should be doing and I am not doing
it.... sometimes my sense are heightened like I should have something to
fear. If you have no why, no reason for
it, it may be that you had a nightmare and this is the nightmare hangover to be
sure.
Nightmares
can be caused by many things; caffeine before
sleep, the use of a sleep aide, health issues, a worried mind the day before, a
trigger pushed that you tried to ignore, again, during your dreaming, you may
have been working on unresolved issues. If you are a sensitive person a
creative person, you may be asking for bad dreams that you were unconsciously
dealing with as you created. Everything
is recorder in our brain. Weird how
things manifest. Traumas that we have
not resolved can surely trigger nightmares.
PTSD ensures nightmares. Sadness
before bed evokes nightmares.
Personality disorders order nightmares.
Repressed memories ensure nightmares.
Even sleep apnea or sleep disorders can cause nightmares. Heck, what you eat before bed can cause us to
dream nasty dreams. (eating keeps brain more
active). Dairy products before bed can cause nightmares. Drinking before bed even though sedative
properties of alcohol help you fall to sleep.
Whew... lists and lists of things.
Sometimes
there are monsters chasing you in your sleep.
Ah, those monsters under the bed, still, from my early childhood. Figuring out who/what is the monster makes
those dreams fade away. Really looking
at what disturbs you, what the messages of the dreams are, and acknowledging
them, working through them, healing them, assures those will not happen again
as long as you do not introduce like activities that caused them in the first
place.
I
want to tell you a little bit about Dream Catchers. I know a story for the hoops that
eventually became called Dream Catchers.
Kayas ( way back) the men used to have a game where they shot arrows or
speaks into a woven hoop ( that looked like a dart board), in fact, it was very
much like our darts today. Each man
practiced, and eventually they were made for the yo0ungsters who were learning
how to use the bow and arror and spears.
When the man was home, the hoop was left on the outside of the tent, but
when the man would go away from home, to settle the children and the woman, the
hoop was brought inside. It settled the children
at night and calmed the spirit of the woman.
Well, wehen white men first came, and were invited in, the man asked why
they br9ught the hoops in at night. He
was told that it helped calm the children so they did not have night terrors or
nightmares while the father was away. In
interpretation, the meaning became Dream Catcher. But, nonetheless, it has become a standard
modern thing, now, and by the 1960s everyone was making dream catchers. Dreamcatchers are said to catch the dreams,
to sift out the bad dreams, and some believe that the good dreams trickle down
the hanging feathers on to the sleeper.
The idea of catching bad dreams is a great idea, although a new
idea. They have become quite
kitschy. But, for this purpose, I would
like you to paint, draw, write a story, whatever way you can express a dream
catcher, in your journal.
A
blank page can feel intimidating.
Sometimes you need to give the edges of your page some color... wash
watercolors or thinned out acrylic to do so.
Your Ego may try to convince you to delay, to not do it, that it is
dumb. Squelch it. Do it anyways. For this first dream page, try to remember a
sweet dream you had. What symbols,
signs, objects, people, place thing was in this dream you remember. Quickly write or sketch or paint what comes
to you. Always leave space for writing
or adding in the meanings of the dream when it comes to you, later.
When
you are done, leave it for a while. Put
the journal near your bed. Read it over
before you sleep. Doing such will
encouraged new dreams, it seems. Keep a
cicker pencil or pen near it so, if you waken in the night, or when you first
wake up, you can make quick drawing or write a few words to help you remember
this dream.
Do
this for a few days. Then, after those
few days, start looking up symbolic meanings of your dream.
A
good place to start is:
https://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/30-common-dream-symbols.html
Enjoy
this. Continue to express dreams and
their meanings to you. Share on the
facebook group page if you like. Maybe
some of us can help you dig deeper. When
the answer comes, you will feel a sense of relief and exhilaration. Your soul will recognize your work.
©Carol
Desjarlais 11.21.19
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