A lot has been written about nightmares and dreams, but I have my own humble opinion. I can only speak from my own experience and from what I’ve read that’s made most sense to me.

‘One of Freud’s more important discoveries is that emotions buried in the unconscious surface in disguised form during dreaming, and that the remembered fragments of dreams can help uncover the buried feelings.” Excerpt from Reading About the World, Volume 2, edited by Paul Brians.

I agree with Freud’s idea about emotions surfacing in dreams. What we miss, we lack, we need, leaks into our dreams. We may not be able to voice these needs and wants, because they remain buried in our subconscious mind.

There are dreams we may not understand but often, when we simplify them, break them down, we can find out what it is that brought them about. The easiest dreams to understand are those that arise from guilt, those untold secrets. If something you’ve done doesn’t agree with who you are and your core values, dreams and nightmares will haunt you. You can’t will these dreams away. What you can do is clean your slate, forgive yourself and slowly the recurrence of those dreams will slowly dissipate.

Longing, love, human warmth we lack will also come in the most unexpected ways in dreams. You may be surprised by whom you find yourself hugging and kissing in a dream. That this happens, doesn’t mean you are in actually attracted to them in real life, it just means you long for love and warmth like any human being.

At times when we are experiencing a high level of anxiety, we will probably tend to have more nightmares. Those nightmares in which you are being frantically chased, fall of a cliff or find yourself in impossible terrifying situations. Ask yourself what’s up in your life that is bringing about these dreams and you’ll most certainly find a valid answer.

Of course, there are those who suffer nightmares after having gone through a traumatic experience, which are symptoms of deeper emotional problems, which should be treated by a professional as WEBMD suggests.

Personally, I’ve gotten over several traumas, which in time have subsided and disappeared from my dreams. I used to dream I drank again. I’ve been sober for 21 years now. So, this is not a surprising nightmare. Fortunately, I’ve outgrown these.

I still have my dreams as anyone else, but now I have a better understanding of them. I accept what brought about the dreams or nightmares, and try to face whatever it is that is bothering me. I probably only need something as simple as a relaxing run to distress.

Dreams hide many clues as to what ails our souls. In our dreams we can find many insights as to what we need, want, and though them we can learn to deal with unfinished business, or cope with situations in our lives that may not be working for us.

Dream on and grow.