Everyday, life throws numerous hurdles at us and most days we can overcome these hurdles and move on. But sometimes, the trials we face seem insurmountable, and these become our physical and emotional traumas. Dealing with trauma is a normal part of life. And one of the most important things our mind does to deal with traumatic exposure is dream. It may seem crazy to imagine that we deal with trauma overnight, but the science behind dreaming makes it clear that dreams are essential to our emotional health. There are many types of trauma that we can face throughout our lives, and here are a few that the practice of lucid dreaming can help us combat.
Dealing with the Trauma of Frequent Nightmares
No one understands the impact a dream can have on one’s life more than a person who experiences frequent nightmares. Although some people have a hard time taking nightmares seriously, they can have a detrimental effect on all elements of daily life. Nightmares haunt you while you sleep, but they can also keep you up at night, make your waking life more difficult, and bring about bad moods. And when you are experiencing nightmares on a regular basis, this can be hugely detrimental to your life. This is where lucid dreaming comes in as a way to deal with the trauma of your nightmares. Because lucid dreaming allows you to consciously take control of your dreams, you have the opportunity to turn your nightmares around. Instead of letting your bad dreams control you, you can positively affect the outcome of your bad dreams. Imagine a time when you have had a terrible dream. Wouldn’t things have turned out better if you could have simply changed the course of your imaginings? Lucid dreaming gives you that power. Through a lucid dream, you can respond to nightmares in many ways but the two that are most common are:- 1.Waking Up. One great way to use lucid dreaming to banish your nightmares is to simply wake up. As a lucid dreamer, you can make yourself wake up from a dream in order to avoid a negative ending and make your dreaming experience more fruitful.
- 2.Confrontation. This second option allows you to use your agency in a lucid dream to confront your nightmare. This can give you the answers you need to learn about the root of your fear and grow past your nightmares.
Lucid Dreaming and PTSD
Closely related with nightmares, and as one of the causes of nightmares, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can also be treated with lucid dreaming. Having lucid dreams does not replace other means of therapy, but in addition to other positive mental health practices, lucid dreaming can greatly help people who suffer from PTSD. The experience of PTSD has a lot to do with the perception of threats. And with lucid dreaming, dreamers can learn to overcome their fears by realizing that those threats are unfounded. Though lucid dreaming is not yet used as an independent treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, it works as a great addition to other treatment options allowing people suffering from PTSD to harness their dreams and change the outcomes for the better.Lucid Dreaming and Personal Freedom
One of the greatest benefits of lucid dreaming is that it allows us to get to know ourselves better, and this grants us huge freedom that is unavailable through other methods. As we come to know ourselves more fully, we can become more familiar with our fears, hopes and dreams. With this knowledge comes the ability to work past our fears and work towards the things we truly want to accomplish. Through lucid dreaming, we can gain further control of our unconscious and conscious lives and use our dreams for personal healing.