Nightmare Self-Help
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Nightmares wake us up like a lightning strike. They jolt us because something in our lives is awry, off-course, or imbalanced. Our soul's job is to awaken us. We can participate in healing by knowing that the nightmare has come in the service of our well-being and that as frightening as they are, they still only offer us a direction that will make our lives more productive, peaceful and powerful.
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First, fear not. If you can shake off, even temporarily, the physical manifestation of the nightmare, you can start to unravel it. Easy to acknowledge the terror; now to look at its message.
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The dark figure or event, the shadow as Jung called it, is some attitude or aspect of your personality that has been shamed or neglected to a severe degree. It is a part of you that you are generally not aware of ,but if you even thought about it you would be horrified. Few can admit to their shadows. The shadow is calling for the light of day and it will either surface and be attended to or it will act in your daily life to sabotage you. The thing you are the most ashamed of in behavior will turn out to be what you do unconsciously. That's why it is crucial to open the door to the shadow and allow some breeze on its face.
For example if I am proud of my discipline of punctuality and I even feel an extreme irritation with those who are late to meetings, I can get a glimpse of my shadow. If I sit on the part of me that is capable of being late too hard, it will sneak up one day and I will forget an appointment or lose the reminder or in some way turn up late. I will experience the shadow getting air time.
If the dream involves a figure who is menacing, it is probably a part of yourself that you have mistreated by being so ashamed of it. However when it shows up as a nightmarish terror, it has had enough imbalance and needs you to re-evaluate your relations to this embarrassing quality. For example if I have been taught that anger is always inappropriate and maintain a certain pride about never using my anger even when it can protect me, I may have a nightmare with an angry figure chasing me. It is the neglected capacity for anger that is trying to be acknowledged and accepted as a functioning and helpful quality. When under attack,when boundaries are crossed, a show of protective anger --just a drop-- is the relief of the shadow and nightmares will stop.
If the dream shows a death, or a murder or some violence, the dream might be trying to show some quick and shocking change that is underway in order to save the harmony in your own soul. The death is showing that something must change and with your conscious awareness can help you feel unlike a victim of circumstances and more aware of buried feelings.
If the dream holds demons, the shadow has already progressed to a terrible state of neglect. The question to ask here is what part of my life, or practice is being neglected? What part of me gets no exercise? In a short dream with a terribly burned monkey, the dreamer knew that her sense of play and spontaneity were being "burned out." If she had not given herself and her inner monkey, a short "joy break" daily, soon the dreams would have angry gorillas and then later unrecognizable demons. She didn't have to become irresponsible to her heavy work load, because the shadow needs only a drop of attention to be satisfied.
Best book on the topic is still Evil,The Shadow Side of Reality by John Sanford. Some might enjoy the variety of writers in a book called Meeting the Shadow: the Hidden Power of the Dark Side of Human Nature, Edited by Connie Zweig and Jeremiah Abrams
"All nightmares come in the service of your wholeness. They are sent from beyond by the Friend."