Nightmares can pop up, over and over again – leaving you to feel out of control, scared, or anxious about going to sleep and then waking up.
Dreams are your mind trying to understand and resolve emotions or feelings that you may not have dealt with.
Listen to your feelings
Step one is to listen to these feelings associated with your nightmares.
What is their message?
Step two, is to ask yourself the question, what are these feelings trying to say?
As an example, if you feel anxious to ask yourself, what is going on that is making you anxious?
You might have a test coming up that you don’t feel prepared for or you feel tense as you are not sure if you have money for rent this month.
Listen to the feelings underneath the nightmare
Your nightmares are trying to send you a message in any way possible – therefore shocking you into action.
Remember, it is not so much the content of your nightmare that you need to listen to, but rather the feeling or emotion underneath it.
And this leads us to the final, and most important third step, which is to act on these feelings within the nightmares, in order to diminish the anxiety and stop your nightmares.
I.e. Start revising for that test, sort out your finances or do whatever you need to do to stop that feeling pervading your life.
Your dreams will eventually stop having this negative tinge, and you will be able to have a better nights sleep.