Half of our life, we spend dreaming. Some of us have an active dream life and do not get restful sleep because of nightmares. It can put us in a funk for the entire day and if the subconscious is running free at night, those fears can build and start to come into our waking reality. This may be one of the most helpful articles you ever read as it will help you understand yourself, your brain and your subconscious. Because the mind controls our experience of our reality, this aspect can help you remove blocks that are keeping you from living a happy and successful life. Here are five techniques to get rid of nightmares.
1.FIND THE HEALING MESSAGE First of all, it’s important to understand that dreams are a part of the subconscious that are actually coming through to help you in your waking life. They help you recognize that fear is unnecessarily wreaking havoc in your life or where you may not be taking care of your mind body and soul. I think that all dreams, no matter how seemingly scary, are a healing message for you. The people in your dream represent an aspect of you and a house and car represent your body. Water is your emotions. So in that light, even if you’re being chased, it shows somehow parts of yourself are not in harmony. Many reoccurring dreams will resolve when we find how the message is trying to help us symbolically.
2.PLAY MANTRA: If you’ve ever heard be careful what you daydream about because it will come about, the same can be said for dreaming at night. We do want to regulate the dream state. Most spiritual cultures are awake and praying during the hours of 3-5 or 6am. This is because the subconscious is most active during this time. It’s helpful to use this time to set intention and redirect the mind towards positive things. If we are going to sleep through those hours, I recommend playing mantras on a very low volume because they emit a sound current which has an effect on the mind’s default processing system. A great mantra for curing nightmares is Chatra Chakra Varteee by Nirinjin Kaur. You can play it on an MP3 player while you sleep (yes that technology still exists).
3.AVOID SUGAR & MSG: It’s best not to eat refined sugar before bed and definitely avoid MSG. Those things as well as chocolate can give you some intense nightmares.
It’s also important to understand the different states of dreaming we have. You may have a premonition, you may be aware you’re dreaming and astral travel. The most common one however is the subconscious dreams which are the anxiety generating ones. If you’re trying to resolve a recurring dream, consider a dream interpretation with myself or Christine. There are really two schools of thoughts when it comes to dreams and I see validity in both. The first is that your subconscious stores metaphors and symbols for your to decipher or receive information from. While this can be tremendously beneficial, some people point out that focusing on dreams too much may be inadvertently perpetuating states of anxiety. This school of thought prefers to clear the subconscious with mantra to move the heck on and focus on good things in the future by setting an intention in your waking state.
There is a law of the universe that says, what we resist persists. In Buddhism, they say the only pain comes from resistance to the present. So what are you resisting? Maybe your dreams are trying to help you surrender, accept and enjoy your journey.