Angie, I believe your insomnia is connected. Long periods with lack of good sleep can result in intense nightmares and inability to wake from them. You need to address the insomnia problem and the rest will hopefully right itself. Staying awake to avoid the nightmares will just make them worse when you eventually go back to sleep.
If you know why you are having insomnia you may be able to treat that yourself. If not there may be a chemical imbalance somewhere which a trained professional could recognise and sort out. Don’t be afraid to seek help from the pros if your personal efforts fail.
I have a problem with insomnia a little myself, especially as of late. I didn’t want to sleep because I never felt I needed it, there was always something I could do. Anyways, I noticed I was haveing very vivid and complex nightmares and my LDs were less lucid. I have since then gotten a perscription for Ambien, and I don’t take it unless it is really late at night and I still cant sleep, the reason is it makes me sleep so hard and so fast i ofen dont remember sleeping at all. I simply wake up and wonder how i got in bed. I dont know if this is a common thing with sleep aids, but I thought i would share that experience with you in case that helps.
Also, you should not want to avoid lucid dreams, actually it should be that you want to make all your dreams lucid. In a highly lucid dream, you could know that you are dreaming, and that whatever it is that is scaring you is not real, you could then turn it into something that doesn’t scare you. I have found that a good amount of people will say to confront your fears and understand them, but I know if you are truely afraid of something its very difficult. But, If you know you have control over it, you can make it appear as something pleasing, like a unicorn or something (Assuming you are in to unicorns, im not sexist but lotsa girls dig unicorns ) You could interact with what is causing the fear while it is in a form that simply does not cause your instinctive fear. You need to realise that their are different levels of lucidity and it sounds like you are at a very low state of lucidity. I think if you understood more on lucidity and realised that you have COMPLETE control over your dreams once you practice enough (theory) with being lucid then you will never have any reason to be afraid.
Sorry for such a long post, and please take this into consideration before you try and quit LDing.
Laberge mentions in ETWOLD that it might not be good to ‘attack’ and ‘destroy’ the dream attacker in your nightmare, because first of all it’s like destroying a part of yourself (a fear perhaps), and secondly there can be dream avengers which return to ‘avenge’ the dream attacker, making the problem worse.
So the best approach is to realise there is no fear, the ‘attacker’ cannot harm you once you realise that and he will probably transform into something harmless…
that is exactly what you should do… And remember… as long as you believe, you can change everything in the dream easily… but you need to believe or even better know that you can do it. Change that monster into something more pleasant. And btw… bad things happens probably because you expect bad things to happen… try to think more positive and expect pleasant things instead i know it is easier said than done, i have been where you are too and trust me, only way to overcome it is by facing it.
I agree with mostly everything mentioned thus far. I just want to add that if these nightmares you are having are recurring or follow a common pattern, you might want to practice Dream Rehearsal. Basically this is just replaying your nightmare in your head, but you decide an alternate ending. Such as if being chased, you turn around to see that there is nothing harmful there, or maybe it is one of your friends or something asking you to go somewhere pleasant. Or if you have falling dreams, imagine yourself growing wings and flying off peacefully. I think confrontation is the best method of nightmare therapy, but that doesn’t imply killing the enemy while instead you can ally it and realize that it really is no harm.
If you become lucid in a nightmare, you should ask the suspicious DC “what do you want” or “who are you”. You’ll be suprised that their reply might be symbolic of something in your waking life that you might be afraid of or running from.
Best way to do it is to confront your enemy, make conversation and friends, perhaps you can ask it why that stuff is haunting you and such. For you to do that you have to gain control of your dream. Just know you can do anything, including attacking your enemy or waking up (which focusing on your third eye has been said to help, I just close my eyes and “let go”. You can also try falling backward with your eyes closed. Don’t think about hitting the floor. It won’t happen. Er, but it’s really best if you have a nice talk with your inner demons.
I think this is probably the best thing to do. If this creature is part of your subconcious, when you ask it why it is “haunting” you, you may gain an important insight about yourself and why you have that fear
Well, I agree, but I don´t think it does any harm to attack.Of course the best solution is talking/making friends, but since this is difficult while you are in fear I suggested to try the fighting first, and talk in the next dream.
Btw, in the Senoi dream culture (who knew a lot about LDing) the normal way to deal with nightmare-things is to defeat them, and afterwards ask them to give some kind of present (poem, song or the like) as a “prize” for being defeated.
You can do both Angie…meet from love or fight a creature…
Also changing your surroundings could help…think tomas mentioned that.
But what i find way more important…why is your first thing fear…a creature of light…it would make me curious instead of fear…because its a dream…the only thing that could happen is an experience…real danger aint there. Also when your first choice is fear you for sure will colour any meeting with whatever creature to a rampage and a fearfull experience.
Suppose i see a marshmellow and the first thing is fear then even a marhsmellow looks like godzilla to me…fear is wearing the wrong pair of glasses anyway…it colours anything to something terrible.
Maybe the creature of light has good intentions…you dont know that at all.
The other point i find weird…even if you wouldnt lucid dream anymore you still would have normal dreams…and what if then soem creature would meet you…how you escape then? Fear or creatures wont just be in lds but also be in normal dreams waiting for you…
My idea…think of a strategy and try it out…if it dont work try another one.
But doing nothing and just crawl back in a corner will always leads to nothing and failure…its like you become a frozen personage…
the only danger you can feel in a ld is never danger but intentions from a creature that mirrors your fear…translates it to evil intentions…as long as your fear is there. Isnt it time after so many years you find out who that
creature is and what its intentions are, good or evil…how you cope with it…because your subconscious fears will find you also in normal dreams and then u have even less control…
And remember…maybe the creature aint evil at all…it comes as light…so it also could be good to help you…but because u fear it always will look evil to you. find out what its message is 4 you. try this…next time you see the creature of light reach out your hand and welcome it from love…its a dream nothing can happen…but then u will find out what its message is 4 you…from your subconsciousness. Because when this is made clear it will end and not before.
Good luck!..only one thing i hate and thats fear…it freezes ppl…it stops them to believe in themselves.
OK, you see horrible monster next to you, what is everything you have ever been afraid of. Of course you go crazy, and propably you will soon awake. But… Here comes my help: Ok, there is horrible monster or something. Now use your power. Change it bit by bit less scaring. Make it more human, so you can talk to it. Or something. If you can make it staying it clearly its old monsterious self, and still not scary, it propably will not tease you anymore in your dreams. With good luck, it will tell you something crazy when it answers why it is like he is, and why it teases you.
This technique is depending on one thing. That creature MUST stay near you in normal dreams pretty long time. Because that, it will change, after whatever it is doing, more human, and you will gain more and more power over it. This is if you don’t feed it with you’r fear. But if you don’t, you’r mind must create it more compatible to this world(And in this world creature like that can’t exist). If it won’t turn more human, thats very bad, because it will propably tease you later in your life, even if you get rid of it now. Or well… Point is, you must face those monsters with no fear, and it won’t tease you. Even if you beat it with no fear, it’s OK. But making it more human helps alot when reducing fear.
I thought I suffered insomnia, but my doctor tested me for allergies and found I was severely allergic to white flour. So if I had anything with white flour in it after about 4pm, I would be restless and I would have trouble sleeping.
As far as quitting lucid dreaming, its fairly simple. Kill a man in your dream. A buddy of mine claims that after he killed a tall bearded man in his dream he has been unable to lucid dream. But my friend is also REALLY insane…
Well, I think that trying to fight it is definitely a bad idea. Just accept that it’s there, and speaking with it is definitely a good idea, if that’s possible. Don’t try and block it out, try and…I don’t know. But don’t block it out.
If you don’t want to spend the money to buy LaBerge’s ETWOLD (and it’s worth it!), you can read parts of it for free. The Lucidity Institute generously publishes selected chapters of both books on their website, including the chapter of ETWOLD that covers nighmares.
Meanwhile a trick a babysitter taught me when I was a child, to get rid of that horrible irrational scary feeling after you wake from a nightmare. It still works for me 40 years later (although nightmares get much rarer for most people as they get older–I hope that’s also some comfort to you): Just repeat the dream out loud. I don’t know what it is that’s different about doing it out loud, but it works. I can “dictate” it mentally word for word, even sub-vocalize, and it doesn’t help much. But when I repeat it out loud, it somehow retreats down to the level of objective statements which I can deal with less emotionally.
When I was a kid I assumed (and I think my babysitter might have assumed) that it was having a comforting person listen that made the difference. But I’ve found that it works just fine wih no one there, as long as I say it out loud.
You shouldn’t want stop LDing… you should practice it and improve your ability to become fully lucid… that way you would have full control of your dream and be able to stop the fear…
I know this thread is two years old, and that i’m being a stupid copycat saying this but hey, Angie needs help.
To say that you wanna avoid LD-s, you’re not adressing your fear. Else, try to LD, then confront your nightmare.
Here is a little LD story i made up as an example in how to accomplish this. (This is NOT a real story, mind you):
I’m being chased, but then i realize that i’m running without fear, bam! I’m lucid.
Then i turn around and notice the demon i’m running from. I yell at the demon with authority as if i were a sarge: “What are you doing in my dream?! Why are you here ruining my dream?!”
Then, summoning a blade and shield, i yell “Time to die, fiend!” before entering an RPG battle.
(Now i have to describe the battle layot as well…)
LAYOUT
Cid HP 9999/9999 MP999/999
Demon HP 6523/6523
(Ahead is a made up log of battle events)
Cid attacks Demon (HP243) Demon casts Lancet (Miss) Cid casts Reflect (Status plus Reflect, MP24) Demon casts Fear (Reflect, Demon is IMMUNE)
*Cid uses Limit Breaker “Final judgement” (Demon HP downed to 0) Demon kneels in weakness
*Cid uses “Undeniable destiny” (Demon dies)
) You could interact with what is causing the fear while it is in a form that simply does not cause your instinctive fear. You need to realise that their are different levels of lucidity and it sounds like you are at a very low state of lucidity. I think if you understood more on lucidity and realised that you have COMPLETE control over your dreams once you practice enough (theory) with being lucid then you will never have any reason to be afraid.
i know it is easier said than done, i have been where you are too and trust me, only way to overcome it is by facing it.
