I have often woken from a nightmare and felt completely out of control.

Most nights I cannot sleep all the way through the night and wake myself up after a disturbing dream. I have often wished and hoped to stop my nightmares. I stopped watching anything I found scary, or reading anything scary, especially before bed.

It has taken me a long time to realize I am in control of my dreams. (My thoughts too, which create my dreams).

Nightmares serve a vital purpose. Many times during the day we encounter conflicts. We may even have problems that we do not face. Often we just push through the stress of the day. Avoid thoughts, feelings, or situations that may upset us. Or even worse we may have a huge fight with a loved one or spend hours stressed about something at work. When we go to bed our unconscious mind processes these feelings, thoughts, or situations in different forms. Many times, these situations become nightmares.

In a nightmare we may be chased by a horrible creature. We may fall from a great height. Each one of us has unique dreams. Each one of us has even more unique nightmares. Now when we are in the nightmare we do not feel in control. When we are running from a horrible creature, we are literally running for our very lives. It is not easy think mid run “What am I running from in my daily life? What do I feel like is chasing me at work?”

Inevitably we will wake up. Understandably we will feel out of control and scared. After we have woken up for a few minutes; we can remember that we are in control of our dreams. I suggest putting a note by your bed or a picture on the wall that reminds you of your control.

Getting uninterrupted sleep is important, but since you have already been awakened, this is challenging. Write down a few notes about the dream that can be analyzed in the morning. Or spend just a few minutes analyzing the symbols in the dream in your mind.

Once you have deciphered the dream (if you have not done this before, it is helpful to think of everything, every person of your dream representing either you, something in your life, someone in your life, or something you wished was in your life. Carl Jung, noted psychologist, theorized that every person in every dream you have somehow represents you) your fear will subside and you will be able to fall back to sleep.

It is also possible to change your dreams. Before you go to sleep at night or after you are awakened at night, create the type of dream you would like to have in your mind. Think of how you would change your nightmare if you could. Become your own champion and stop the horrible creature from following you by putting a huge wall of imperturbable rock between you and it. When falling from a great height, catch yourself with a flying carpet, and start your own flying adventure.

We are in control of our dreams. We can learn from them. Change them and understand them. We can use our dreams to face the problems and stresses in life. We cannot continue to sleep well, even if we don’t get sweet dreams!