Blogpost 2 : Recurring Dreams: Symbols or Unfinished Mission?

Most of us have woken suddenly at night, shaken by a terrible frightening dream. Have you ever considered a nightmare as a symbol for something or an unfinished mission like in computer games?

I have read an article about Why nightmares can be good for your health by Charlotte Harding from MailOnline. The article introduced Dr Alex Lukeman, the author of the book “Nightmares, How to Make Sense of Your Darkest Dreams” and a psychotherapist with 20 years experience.

 According to the article, there are symbols in our dreams that represent the same things throughout the world.

Dr Lukeman believes that people have nightmares about the same things. Because of a common shared human experience.

He claims understanding this “language” of symbols in our nightmares can help us resolve hidden problems in our waking lives and improve ourselves. And, he says, recognizing these symbols can be the key to stopping bad dreams coming back for good.

According to Dr Lukeman, “Nightmares can be extremely distressing for people, but they are trying to warn us that we are caught up in some internal conflict needing resolution for the sake of our well-being”

Bad dreams may be the brain's way of helping us regulate our negative emotions in our waking life. We just need to pay attention to it. These dreams symbolizes us that we need to fix things in our walking life.

Another article I have read is about Why bad dreams can be good for you by Leon Nacson from Hay House Australia

As Dr Lukeman sees recurring dreams as symbols.  Leon Nacson sees recurring dreams as a common computer games.

Recurring dreams for the author are much like common computer games. According to the author, the computer games we play are challenging and almost impossible to complete in the beginning. It may be daunting and uncomfortable to us to see these scenarios in our dreams but he views them like a common computer game. For him our worst nightmare can be viewed in the same way as a computer games, the more we see them, confront them and challenge the outcome. The stronger we will feel when we wake up. After practice and familiarity it becomes easy for us to master the challenges and actually beat the computer game regularly.

 

According to Leon Nacson, “ I believe that living out our worst fears in our dreams is very healthy”

Just like in computer games, first, we may fail in the beginning. But as we face these dreams and try again to finish the level, we gain more strength within us as we wake up.