Last night I had a dream with an ordinary-person-monster in it, and I realized it was a dream, so I said (I'm not sure if I said it in my head or out loud) very clearly, "I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming, and now I'm going to wake up!" And I clicked my heels together three times just to make the point. At first nothing happened. Then I tried to imagine very hard that I was under water (not difficult when you feel trapped) and going up (not swimming up, just automatically going up) to the surface, and the monster-person faded, and I felt the pressure of the water rushing past me, and then I was awake.
Then later I had another dream with the same monster-person in it, and because I was somewhat aware that it was a dream (so I could get out of it), I could start trying to figure out what it was. (Sometimes when you stop being afraid and instead investigate or ask questions, it turns out the monster isn't all that bad, or if it's bad it's not all that strong.)
What some people in here do when they are afraid to go to sleep is to imagine a favourive person or animal watching over them. This often works, because the things they're afraid of are also imaginary. (Or if you think the dream monsters are symbols of something real you're afraid of, the protector you think of can also be a symbol of something real.)
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2006-03-03 12:38 am (UTC)Then later I had another dream with the same monster-person in it, and because I was somewhat aware that it was a dream (so I could get out of it), I could start trying to figure out what it was. (Sometimes when you stop being afraid and instead investigate or ask questions, it turns out the monster isn't all that bad, or if it's bad it's not all that strong.)
What some people in here do when they are afraid to go to sleep is to imagine a favourive person or animal watching over them. This often works, because the things they're afraid of are also imaginary. (Or if you think the dream monsters are symbols of something real you're afraid of, the protector you think of can also be a symbol of something real.)