It is noticed by researchers that lucid dreaming is most often triggered by nightmares. A lot of people had their first lucid experience in a nightmare, when threatened or facing an uncomfortable situation. The thought of circumstances being too horrible to be real often induces a lucidity, at least for a brief period enough to make a dream more pleasant.
Nightmare is a sign of disorder, telling us that something is wrong even if we are unaware of it.
Stress can have many faces, but basically it is a conflict. Stress is a result of our expectations or needs being contrary to reality. In our daily life we often have to make compromises, suppress our true emotions and settle for decisions we inwardly don’t approve.
We may not notice anxiety and frustration at first. But an inner conflict builds up, even if tend to overlook it, often accompanied by the feeling of being out of control, at the mercy of circumstances.
And then our subconsciousness starts to sound the alarm Under stress, our dreams tend to be more vivid, more intense, richer in content with more complicated plots. Our subconsciousness goes wild to get through to us and literally shock us into attention.
Although nightmares are a part of “waking-up call” mechanism, they also leave a lasting negative impression on a dreamer even intensifying the overall depressing feeling.
Studies show that children susceptible to nightmares can develop serious mental disorders later in life. Nightmare management is extremely important, and lucid dreaming seem to be a key mechanism in this process.
Some people condition themselves to realize they are dreaming upon seeing a monster; more often than not, lucid dreaming occurs spontaneously during a nightmare.
LaBarge tells about a 5-year-old girl that dreamed about being attacked by a shark while swimming. LaBarge advised her to remind herself, if she dreams about a shark again, that there are no sharks in Nevada, and so she must be dreaming. Some time later the girl not only overcame her fear of the shark but even rode on its back.
Lucid Dreaming & Psychology
This story is a perfect illustration of a constructive and therapeutic use of lucid dreaming. In the terms of psychology, the dreamer met and incorporated the subconscious content that disturbed her in a guise of a monster.
Most of lucid nightmares follow this pattern. As soon as the dreamer becomes lucid, the monster is no longer a serious threat, and the fear is replaced by more positive emotions, such as curiosity and even sympathy. As the dreamer’s attitude changes, they disappear or turn into friendly creatures
But if nightmares are a symptom of stress, does curing a symptom affect the illness?
Most researches would rather say “no”. To do so, we should directly affect our subconscious. However, in lucid states we are closer to our waking conscious states, the unconscious being temporarily “pushed aside”. In other words, in lucid state we can only alternate the “movie”, but we cannot tinker with the machinery that produced it.
However, basing on this fact, the whole idea of dream analysis would be pointless. What’s the point discussing and analyzing the “movie”, being awake, when we even further from the subconscious than in the dream?
The idea of working on dreams is, basically, to decipher the message and take an action. If we are talking about stress, we should realize what’s causing it and try to remove the cause from our life, whether it is a drastic change or merely an attitude adjustment.
In this case, lucid dreaming is an invaluable tool. If we could turn our monsters into friends or directly investigate dreams while dreaming, why wouldn’t lucid dreaming be as helpful in fighting stress and anxiousness as is dream analysis?
Excitement
Lucid dreams are extremely positively charged. They fill us with excitement after awakening, also giving us the feeling of being in charge of our lives, at least tot some extent. I still remember the joy and sense of accomplishment upon realization that my nightmares were gone, and it was all my doing.
Lucid dreaming may not be a technique, affecting our subconscious directly. Yet it may be a valuable tool acting obliquely, helping us to face the day with a positive attitude and giving us strength and motivation to look for our true selves, learning from dreams to discern between illusion and reality.
Good luck and let us know what you think!
