(If you would like for me to interpret a dream for you, just click on this link and you can email me).Click Here
However, not all nightmares are from emotional causes. They can be brought on by the physical body when it is in distress. This could be from bad digestion, a fever, or some other condition which the body feels threatened by. This causes us to dream something that gets our attention, so that we can wake up and find some relief. This strikes me as being such a universal trait of nightmares that I want to point it out specifically here, namely that the reason we have nightmares is to bring attention to something in ourselves that requires adjusting or resolution of some kind.
We could say then that in all probability before we had the nightmare we have already had lesser types of dreams to try and call attention to what it is that requires change, and have not consciously recognized the need to change anything or make an adjustment. The dreaming self then has to come up with images and events that seem more and more bizarre or threatening until we get one strong enough that we pay attention to it and there it is.. a NIGHTMARE!!
Many people who never otherwise remember their dreams may have vivid nightmares that suddenly appear. This is probably because they do not pay much attention to their dreams and do not think they have any meaning. This belief makes nightmares all the more charged and puzzling. Much of this happens on non verbal levels so that even those people who cannot make heads or tails of the nightmare can still have it eventually affect them in a positive way. We can say with some certainty then, that nightmares are by and large productions of our own minds that are meant to call attention to something. If we can respond in a positive way to this taking the matter in hand and acting in the best way possible for all concerned, the nightmare need not appear again.
The next cause of nightmares I'd like to mention is insecurity and feelings of inadequacy. This type of nightmare often occurs when we are under stress at work, when looking for employment, or when beginning a new relationship we are unsure of. We may feel that we are not up to the job we are applying for, and may have a nightmare about being in the job and not being able to do it well no matter how hard we may try. The frustration involved causes some of the feelings involved, yet the main difficulty is the unknown factor of whether or not we can succeed and do well in the job. The feelings of anxiety can cause a bad dream and make us face the feelings in a literal sense. This causes us to evaluate ourselves more honestly, that is if we can get past the fear and deal with the feelings more directly. If the nightmare is about the new relationship, perhaps it may be suggesting that the relationship is not such a good idea to pursue any further, or that we have personality or physical issues which make us feel inferior. In order to succeed in the relationship, we have to come to terms with these feelings somehow.
I think that when this type of nightmare happens near the beginning of a relationship or new job, we are telling ourselves to not take the job or pursue the relationship, or at least to consider things as realistically as possible because we are missing something important. If we should choose to accept the job or relationship anyway, then we can be sure that we will be facing all those fears we had first hand. The best thing we can do for ourselves at this point is to think over how we feel we are doing. Once we have gone through this process of thinking over the options, pros, and cons, we give ourselves more stability and confidence since we know more about where we stand.
Of course if it turns out that we have exceeded our limitations and really cannot do a good job or are not compatable with the person in question, we will have to face that too. If we still are in the dark about things consciously, unconsciously we know and will construct dreams to help us discover the truth of the situation. If those dreams cannot get their message across, a nightmare will help us to let the emotions out, which will probably result in a rocky time for the relationship or even leaving the relationship rather than being humiliated or hurting the other person. This would be a time when the nightmare actually had a positive result though of course it's the hard way to go.
Another cause of nightmares is a fear of a loss of control- control over our lives, our ability to make decisions, and live the life we have chosen for ourselves. Dreams and nightmares about being chased, raped or otherwise assaulted often reflect a feeling of being out of control and having someone do something to us that violates our sense of identity. This is probably the most threatening and frightening kind of nightmare, since losing control means that someone or something else has the control over us.
This condition reflects feelings of vulnerability, which we all have. We all are vulnerable to many things that may come our way, which can change the course of our lives. Being vulnerable is part of the human condition but there are ways of making ourselves less so. The more informed about our situation we are, the better able we will be to make decisions which will put us in a more positive direction.
Much of this has to do with feeling that we are actually on the right track, are perceiving reality correctly, and have understood our situation well. Many people do in fact grow up with ideas and beliefs that are not only not constructive, but are destructive. These cloud our ability to understand ourselves and our situation, and so we struggle with life and other people until we learn better how to treat others and ourselves. This is also the essence of life, that is, learning about ourselves and how to treat ourselves and others. We want to know that our perception of reality is accurate, and when it is not, we have events happen in our lives that are meant to wake us up and help us to make progress in our personal growth.
So how do we get control over our lives and our dreams? I am not sure we ever really can because life presents us with challenges sometimes that we could never have predicted would come our way. Yet there is a kind of faith I have, that nothing that is sent my way will be too much for me to deal with, as God always gives us what we need for our growth, though sometimes it takes the big guns to get us to listen!
Go back to Narrok's Place
PSYCHIC EXPERIENCES
RECALLING DREAMS
LEVELS OF DREAMING
DREAM INTERPRETATION
DREAM SYMBOLS
EXAMPLE INTERPRETATIONS
LUCID DREAMING
DREAMS AND INNER IDENTITY
DREAMS AND PAST LIFE MEMORIES
� 2001 B. Thomas