Healing from Nightmares
By Anna-Karin Bjorklund, M.A.
Nightmares can be terribly frightening! You feel them deep down into the bone, your heart is beating fast, and you truly feel as if you have actually just experienced what you dreamt of. The body is unable to differentiate between what is happening to you in your “real life” and in a dream so it is no wonder you feel shocked! Your mind is going wild as you wake up, and you may even be wondering why you are being punished with something so awful and terrifying.
Everyone has experienced a nightmare at some point. Some people though are being haunted by them on a nightly basis. They may even dread going to bed at night, because they feel so terrified of them. It doesn’t need to be that way! Nightmares are here to help us heal. The healing path opens once we acknowledge and work with them.
Why do we have Nightmares?
A nightmare is a desperate cry for help from your higher self. You are not getting the message, so the dream has now turned into something incredibly strong and terrifying to ensure you are listening.
Nightmares develop when we ignore an issue in our lives too long. Our “regular” nightly dreams help us become aware of any life situations we are not giving enough attention to in our daily lives, and help us solve dilemmas and find solutions to problems. If you choose to ignore the messages, or simply don’t listen to your dream, it will come back, in stronger and scarier form, and eventually becomes so terrifying you no longer have a choice but not to ignore it. It is now felt throughout your whole body, and you may even feel so terrified you don’t even want to go back to sleep, as you feel afraid you may have it again. You are now fully aware of your dream! Your higher self has succeeded, the dream has made an impact on you, and you now have no choice but to listen.
If you still don’t listen, the dream will come back to you. If it keeps haunting you in the same form, you are now having a recurring dream. Our dreams don’t like being ignored! Sometimes you get different types of nightmares instead of recurring similar ones. In those situations, the dream is attempting different ways of getting the message through to you.
I recommend working with all your dreams, because if you pay attention to your “regular’ dreams, the risk of them developing into nightmares is significantly reduced (unless of course you are still not getting the message!). With some types of dreams and life scenarios it is recommended to seek professional help. This applies in particular to nightmares that have developed from a real life trauma, also known as PTSD: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder:
Real Life Trauma Dreams
If you have experienced a real life trauma, and you are now having nightmares from the memory, it is equally important to work with them in the same manner as “regular” nightmares. All types of nightmares are occurring to help you become more aware of what you need to work on in your daily life, and they bring about underlying feelings that have not been properly processed and released.
If you are re-experiencing a terrifying event in your dreams that happened to you in real life, it is very important to process what happened. Some issues may require professional help. With some types of events and memories, the pain may never fully go away, and it is important to remember that the dream is not here to punish you and make it even worse for you! The nightmare is your friend. It is occurring to help you realize that you still need to process the event more, and that there are blocked feelings and emotions within you. Even though the pain may never disappear, once the emotional connection to the feelings around the event has been acknowledged, the pain will not carry as much weight as it used to. Blocked feelings need to come out, experienced and felt. If not, they will cause the body to break down in various health issues and if not attended to, the blocked feelings will eventually weaken body, mind and soul.
So a nightmare that developed from real life trauma is here to help you process the event, and release these blockages. By paying attention to your nightmare and releasing the fear around it, your pain will become more manageable with time, and even though the pain from the trauma may never fully go away, by no longer having blocked feelings, your body, mind and soul now have the power to heal again.
The steps suggested below apply to all types of nightmares, whether or not they were caused by a Real Life Trauma, or “dreamed up” by your higher self to highlight an issue that need to be addressed.
How to Make Peace with your Nightmare
You do not have to suffer from nightmares! Here are some steps you can take on your own to help highlight issues that need to be faced, release blocked feelings, and process what needs to be worked on. You have the power to heal, and the Nightmares are here to help you!
The best way to deal with a nightmare is to figure out what issue the dream is trying to highlight, and then bring attention to the problem in your daily life. A nightmare is your friend. It is here to help you with your pain!
Write down the Nightmare
Even though you are feeling absolutely terrified when you wake up, it is important to give the dream the attention it is trying to bring you. Otherwise it will come right back. It may still return that same night, but by writing down the dream, you will have de-sensitized some of the horror in it, and it will not have the same charge.
Work with Dream Associations
Look at all the symbols being portrayed in the dream. All dream symbols were chosen for a reason. A symbol can be an event, a dream figure, a location, sound, smell etc. Write down all associations you have for each of the symbols, and see which associations “clicks” for you.
For example if you are being chased, think about what being chased means to you. Where in your daily life have you experienced a similar feeling? What are you running away from? Is it something you are avoiding that needs to be faced? Perhaps there is someone you need to confront? Most chasing dreams stop once we find a way to deal with the issue we are afraid to deal with in our daily life.
Re-Enter your Nightmare & Ask your Nightmare for Guidance
This step is what Jung referred to as Active Imagination. You can enter a dream while awake, and imagine you are talking to the dream figures, or the dream in general. Ask the dream what it is trying to tell you and see what answers you get. Write them down as well! Your underlying feelings and fears are crying out to be acknowledged, and they will get attention in this process.
Once they are acknowledged, the blockage is released, and you now have the room you need to heal.
Create a New Ending
If the dream keeps coming back, decide on what you want to do next time you’re in it. Yes, it is possible to reprogram yourself! This step will give you an immense sense of power and control, and the effects from this mind changing reframing will reverberate throughout your daily life as well. You are now creating the life you desire in your dreams, and the changes will be felt on every level of your life. By experiencing a resolution in your dream, you will feel more secure in your daily life as well.
If you are experiencing a nightmare, remember it is here to help you Heal. It is here as your friend. You will continue to suffer as long as you ignore your nightmares. Take the step today to start listening and heal!
By listening to your nightmare, you will receive the help you need to process blocked feelings, heal from past trauma, solve life situations you feel afraid of, and receive the guidance and inspiration you need to create the life you truly desire!
Sweet Dreams!
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Anna-Karin Bjorklund
Dream Expert & Dream Maker
Interpret your Dreams & Create the Life you Desire!
