Dreaming

Sabin

O.K. friends I have question to ask. I suffered with horrific nightmares for along time. I`m talking years. They usually were about animals hurting me. Crocs, bears but mostly Great White sharks. One I remember, I was standing on a rock in the sea & the water was to my waist & a great white swam towards me huge fin & opened it`s enormous mouth & bit into me. It was so real that I woke up terrified. Got myself a book, A-Z dream dictionary, started writing them down in the mornings, because I could remember every detail. Anyway I studied about why we dream & learnt that they are all part of a healing process, I`m talking psychologically here. That we shouldn't try to hinder them but let them take their cause . Which I did , I wrote it all down & then researched the subject matter, & began to understand what my sub-conscience was telling me. All things play a part, colours, numbers, people, places etc. You get the picture. Interestingly the longer I`ve stayed away from JWs the nightmares are almost none-existent, so not afraid to go to sleep. Question is this: Has anybody else had this experience or is it just me that's NUTS. SABIN.

talesin

If you're studying psychology, then you'll recognize the Jungian way of analyzing dreams ... this was the 'path' of one of my psychologists. In this way of looking at dreams (which is mostly agreed, are a way of processing life events), the people or perhaps, other things or animals, are projections of yourself, and/or parts of yourself and your own experiences that take other shapes in your dream processes. By looking at the actions of these 'projections' (for lack of a better word), it's possible to be able to relate to parts of yourself that may be shut down in day-to-day life, for various reasons. That's just one viewpoint, of course, but I hope it's helpful.

PS. Your dreams are not 'weird', they are just 'yours'. The important thing is, you are firmly on the journey of self-exploration, and that *is* the way to heal. Good for you! All the best. XO

Edit: No matter how you analyze, and there are lots of resources nowadays, whether through personal research online or at the library, or professionals who have sliding scales, etc., may I encourage you to keep writing your dreams down on paper? It's especially good if you keep pen/pencil and notepaper next to the bed, and get down whatever you can.

All the best, you're on a good path! xx

The Marvster

Hi Sabin, I've been trawling through the topics as there are so many added every day.... it was a pleasant surprise to stumble across your thread.... I've wanted to talk about this for ages, but there was nobody who could understand it fully (well that's what I thought at least), because I think my dreams have changed as a direct result of leaving the org...

I used to have terrible nightmares, very regularly, ranging from violent gangs attacking me, recurring plane crash dreams, to filthy graphic demonic murderous bloody killings; I killed with my bare hands in a very bloody manner on several occasions (either humans or demon-like creatures) and awoke feeling as though I was a despicable demonic human, I do not exaggerate.... Well, guess what happened? after I got DF'd, I decided to find out about life on my own terms, and soon enough I started to discover why I was constantly in fear, fear for no reason, every morning on awakening, before leaving for work, this horrible gnawing unexplained fear ... after having an epiphany about the causes, I started to work at them. For me, they were to do with a total lack of self value, and putting all other people above my own importance; i was basically deeply unhappy and constantly devalued of my own opinions and worth etc. After about 3 or 4 months of working at this, trying to learn to accept and value myself as much as or even more than others, I noticed that my underlying uneasiness started to fade and for the first time ever, I actually felt what it was like to be myself, I had NEVER EVER felt this feeling before, and once I got this confidence, I noticed one day, that my nightmares had almost completely ceased, it had happened so gradually that i didn't notice that they had disappeared several weeks before.

Also as I gained confidence in myself, I started some self comfort methods before going to bed; I would tell myself that 'absolutely nothing can harm me' and even if an entity attacked me, all it could do was 'kill me' and nothing more.. I'm amazed as I think back to this because I don't even know how I came across these ideas... I was doing a lot of dismantling of the watchtower doctrine and belief systems at the time and listening to my heart and intuition and to philosophers etc on youtube. Then on a few occasions as I slept I felt these so-called entities sitting on me, trying to suffocate me etc, and one night i had enough and thought 'I'm not moving', and I just laid there and let it sit on me, it felt like it was happening all night' and I refused to move or get terrified... and since then these apparently demonic dreams all but disappeared... I don't know if it was a result of gaining confidence, I have no idea, all I can say is that when I was in the org, I had a lot of anxiety, over field service, giving talks, secret sins, feeling like a loner, no sisters interested in me etc etc, a long list of anxiety creating thought processes... with all that behind me I just think I changed psychologically which seemed to affect the subconscious... I do get irregular nightmares from time to time but like yourself I am into dream analysis and I try to figure out what they mean for me, so they are not even a problem anymore. I actually had one last night which left me subdued all day, but after spending hours pondering its meaning some interesting things came out and I learned more about myself and my inner feelings... this is how I try to use the dreams I have, to help me come to terms with my inner BS....!

thanks again for posting...

The Marvster

P.S. there's no way you are nuts man, after my experience what you describe is absolutely logical.... unless of course I'm totally nuts myself too... Lol

Sabin

Hello Marvster, I wrote this then left it. so I`m quite surprised to find These replies. Talesin mentions the Jungian idear however I`ve never heard this word personally. I tried to find my research, hove notes all over the place, will keep looking. She says about animals or objects being apart of your own charactaristics which I believe to a point can be so. I got the book Dream dictionary by Michael Vigo. I found this really helped me. You can of cause do research on the web, But I think overall dreams are as individual as we are. For instance take my dreams about sharks, indicates feelings of anger, hostility & fierceness. Undergoing a difficult & emotional time, could be a threat to myself or others. Struggling with my individuality & independence, it could however represent a person in my life who is greedy & unscrupulous. Well the interesting thing here is that I was always in the water, always trying to get away & always scared. As I started to spend less time with JWs it changed. I was in a boat, then I was on the shore. Which ever way I looked at it, it became obvious to me that they were the sharks. I had lots of different nightmares over the years with lots of different subject matter. It may interest you to know that these type of dreams are significant to people who are very deep thinkers & tend to feel the pain of others suffering. Which I also found interesting as it was the end of suffering for children that was what really motivated me to be a JW. I didn't care about myself being in the new world. I find myself crying about the things that happened around me concerning kids. It was a great shock when I finally realized that GB doesn't give a shit about them. And Welcome to the forum.

The Marvster

Hi Sabin, thanks for the response, and the welcome... Glad I had this conversation about dreams. I have resisted dream dictionaries for the moment, though I have borrowed a few 'dream' books from the library, ones that contain short lists of suggested interpretations and ideas about dreams... One more thing I can say is that, since leaving the org i have become a much more honest person (go figure), and this also comes out in my dreams too.... and it's such a pleasure waking up after a dream realising that in the dream state i was 'true to myself, and honored my emotions' especially when I have what I call 'Jehovah Witness' dreams.... it's really refreshing to awaken and realise that I was totally honest with myself in the dream state...

thanks for all your info, it will be very useful to me and I was glad to be able to get this off my chest thanks to your interesting post, after holding it in for over 2 years

adjusted knowledge

I have three different recurring dreams for the past 20 years. I learned they are quite common dream types. The human brain is amazing and it is interesting how it tries to resolve conflict while we sleep.

rebel8

I've had a lot of jw nightmares and still have them once in a while. Mine were symbolic of the real issues I had when I was a jw--them letting me almost bleed to death and me being held captive in an empty, sad life. (Those things happened IRL and the dreams were symbolic of those scenarios.)

The Marvster

Hey rebel8, this makes so much sense to me now, when it first happened i thought i was imagining the reasons for the nightmares going away, but now I figure it can be the only reason. Sounds to me like your dreams were 'very direct' in pointing out what the problem was, it's almost as though the answers are within us and we just have to see them. Adjusted Knowledge it really is amazing what the brain does; it's wonderful how the dreams start to adjust when your life situations change. Personally for me, the dreams were confirmation that I had done the right thing in walking away from that life...

Sabin

ajustedknowledge will you share your dreams with us, or 1 of them? understand if you don't want to.

Dreaming

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