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[abrightboy]

This is Bright. Leave a message.

Comments

Re: audio

[abrightboy]

Are they nightmares related to memories?

Re: audio

[creeksidealtarboy]

Kinda, yeah.

Re: audio

[abrightboy]

Dealing with those requires processing the trauma behind them. Are you ready to work on that?

Re: audio

[creeksidealtarboy]

Ugh. No.

Re: audio

[abrightboy]

Okay, well. Until you are, there are some exercises you can do with your mind that might help mitigate them.

Re: audio

[creeksidealtarboy]

Like what?

Re: audio

[abrightboy]

Are you familiar with the concept of lucid dreaming?

Re: audio

[creeksidealtarboy]

Uh, no, not really.

Re: audio

[abrightboy]

Basically, it’s a technique where you train yourself to control your actions in dreams. So say you often have a nightmare where you go into a particular room and inside that room you get stabbed. As you learn to take control, you could - when you see that door in a dream - lock the door instead of opening it. That redirects the dream and your subconscious.

Re: audio

[creeksidealtarboy]

Yeah, that. I want to do that.

Re: audio

[abrightboy]

It takes practice. So tonight when you go to sleep, focus on changing any one thing in any dream.

Re: audio

[creeksidealtarboy]

It's that easy?

Re: audio

[abrightboy]

No. You won't be able to do it right away. It takes practice. That's why you start with trying to change anything and work up to changing specific things. Just remember to hold that thought in your head before you fall asleep: that you can control what happens in your dreams.

Re: audio

[creeksidealtarboy]

Huh. Alright.

Anything else you want to talk about, then?

Re: audio

[abrightboy]

Nothing I can think of off the top of my head. But try that for a couple of nights or so, then call and let me know how it’s going. If you’re struggling, there’s a bedtime meditation you can try.

Re: audio

[creeksidealtarboy]

I'm gonna try it, doc, but I don't think it's going to work.

Re: audio

[abrightboy]

Why not?

Re: audio

[creeksidealtarboy]

Seems a little weird, that's all.

Re: audio

[abrightboy]

Brains are weird. This stuff works. Sort of. For a time. Like I said: the only way to really stop it is to process the trauma.

Re: audio

[creeksidealtarboy]

That's not something I really want to talk about, doc. So drop it, huh?

Re: audio

[abrightboy]

I wasn't asking you to do it, Aaron. Just letting you know that making the lucid dreaming work is probably your best option if you don't want to do that. And I understand not wanting to, believe me.

Re: audio

[creeksidealtarboy]

Yeah?

Something you know from experience?

Re: audio

[abrightboy]

I have mountains of inadequately processed trauma. Mountains.

Re: audio

[creeksidealtarboy]

You're a bad doc, doc.

[But it's said with a laugh.]

Why's that?

Re: audio

[abrightboy]

On the contrary, I know exactly what I'm talking about.

Some of it is stuff I just don't want to talk about; that's why I never try to force you, even if it might be good for you.

Some of it is stuff I don't want to let go of, even if it's attached to stuff that's terrible.