Lucid Dreaming - Nightmares

Hi everyone!

Last time, I talked about false awakenings. Today, I'm going to talk about a slightly more unpleasant subject for most of us: Nightmares.

I'm sure all of you have had a few nightmares in your days. They can be different for different people, but what they all have in common is that they make us feel scared, uncomfortable, disgusted and generally just be an unpleasant experience. Common themes in nightmares include not being able to move properly while being chased by something, or being in an extremely socially awkward situation. When I was a child, I had quite a few nightmares, one of which was a recurring dream. In that dream, I was inside a cave together with a group of gnomes. All of a sudden, the cave collapsed on top of me and I was trapped in the dark, unable to move. At this point, I would wake up, frightened. Over the years, though, my nightmares got fewer and fewer, and now I rarely ever have them any more.

As horrible as nightmares can be, they can be a prime trigger for a lucid dream. Due to their nature, they can very easily be identified as dreams when you recall them. Because of this, it should be fairly easy to recognise a nightmare for what it is, a dream, and become lucid. This should hold especially true for recurring nightmares, since you might start to recognise them quickly.

Once lucid, you are the true master of your dream world, and have the ability to defeat your nightmare and conquer whatever fear that triggered it. If you are being chased by something, turn around and face it. Confront your pursuer. Sometimes, this alone is enough for the fear to dissipate completely. Ask your pursuer what he is doing in your dream. Knowing that you are in control, that you have the power to defeat anything in your own dream, it will listen to you.

When your nightmare has been conquered, demand that it give you a gift. This will change the negative emotions into positive emotions, and completely dispel the nightmare. If it was a recurring nightmare, it should be gone for good. The "gift" you will receive can be anything, but it will always be something good.

After all that, you might as well enjoy the rest of your LD by doing something fun. Congratulations on defeating your nightmare!

Well, I hope this can be of help to you. Until next time, sweet dreams!