To Sleep, Perchance To Dream...

I've never been a good sleeper. I tend to delay going to bed and I rarely feel refreshed when I wake. I can probably count on one hand the number of times that I awoke refreshed and relaxed and ready for the new day; and that's throughout my entire 31 years of life.

Since childhood, I have been plagued with nightmares. I remember some very vivid nightmares from my childhood STILL because they were so horrific. Last night I had another. Last night's nightmare was so vivid that I was almost afraid to get out of bed this morning. I can still feel the hand in my dream grabbing my hair as I reached for the knife I had hidden under my pillow (in my dream, of course).

Some have suggested that what I eat before bed impacts my dreams. I say, "Hooey." It doesn't matter if i eat an apple (as I did last night) or a steak or if I drink a nice glass of milk before bed. I still have these nightmares.

This site suggests that the things I dream happened to me ina past life. I say, "Hooey!" to that too. There is no past life, just this one and the afterlife.

Freud would say that my dreams mean something about my life and that he could understand my dreams by analyzing my psyche. I say, "Hooey!" to Freud too. He was a druggie whose brain looked like swiss cheese after the syphillis rotted it out.

Personally, I tend to think my dreams have more to do with spiritual warfare than anything else. (If you heard the details of my dreams, then you might agree.)

So... what do I do? I pray. Psalm 4 has been a great comfort to me on nights when I have these nightmares. I don't know if my dreams "mean" something that I am supposed to understand.

I dunno... I think praying is probably the best means of combatting these dreams. I mean, even if Freud was right and my dreams have something to do with my psyche, since "psyche" means SOUL, I would think prayer would be about the only viable option. That's just me though.