Intense Action Event Simulation
Fun with Phobias!
So you want to face fears? There are many different ways one can approach this in waking and in dream-life. One way I can suggest doing that is with an Intense Action Event Simulation. This is a technique to face an intense, “scary”, and/or dangerous situation safely and have fun at the same time. Below is a quick example of a fear one can face in dream land(being hit by a car) and do something cool; and maybe learn something useful too...
Say I have a fear of walking on the side walk of busy streets because I'm afraid that at any moment a car will veer off the road at me. So to overcome this, I'm going to teach myself how to jump out of the way of the car. Or in the very least jump on the hood to avoid being squashed, or hell why not just show yourself what it would feel like to Jackie Chan flip out of the way...or all 3! That's the cool thing about dreams, even if you mess up, you can "rewind", and set different "rules" to suit your needs. Not to mention getting into subtle things like; what does a car about to hit me from behind sound like so that I can recognize it and move should I ever have to? This way you're actually programing your subconscious with the instructions of what to do in that kind of event.
Anyways, here is how I suggest directly challenging your fears in your dream.
(using the car/squash example):
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Think about a stretch of highway that would seem the absolute scariest scenario for your phobia (or you can start incrementally, the dream construction is the same). Try vividly build the scene in your mind, eyes open or closed, it doesn't matter. But feel and smell what it would be like. Think about any sounds you might hear while walking along the road, what time of day, things like that... Hold the image & other sensual information in your imagination as an observer only. Remember to take special note of what it's like to even conceptually be able to "view" this scene as an "observer". Meaning you are not a participant in the scene itself, merely observing it.
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Now here is probably the scariest part of the experience when trying this for use on especially deep or strong phobias. However, as long as you can handle this without freaking yourself out, you should be able to do so in your dream to. If not, no biggie, just keep trying. Fear isn't the easiest thing to control by any means. This is where you visualize or imagine the worst case scenario of your fear. For this scenario, think about what it would be like to watch the car barrel down on you and smash you in your imagination. Visualize the bumper draw closer and closer and finally start to morph your body into the surroundings. Now watch it from different angles! See what it looks like from that "observer" view for instance. Think, damn, if someone was standing over "there", they'd see one crazy sight...
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You've just experienced the "worst case" scenario" congratulations
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3.
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Now put yourself back into watching the bumper barreling down on you but this time, imagine time itself going into "slow motion" as you run up and over the car using the bumper as a "boost", then jumping gracefully onto the pavement, safe from danger. See it from different angles. If you want to save yourself from potentially seeing another gruesome sight, imagine the car as a runaway car with no driver Our subconscious uses our programmed logic to fill in mundane but important details like that, and cars tend to have drivers in them after all. Build as many "escape plans" as you can. Let your imagination go crazy, everything from the practical to the fantastically cool.
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You've just experienced transcending your fear...yay
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Now imagine the street scene again from your "observer" view completely calm and empty. Know that thoughts are real, and you really just confronted your own fear. Feel satisfied & try to relax and calm yourself, knowing that you're going to get to "act" this out in your dream sometime for sure.
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5.
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Now hold that satisfied feeling, and allow yourself to drift off to sleep if you are doing this while in bed. If you are using this visualization technique during the day, remember the feeling in your body and maybe use some kind of queue or “marker” as I call it to help you remember. Such as the song that was on your playlist at the time, what you were doing, where you where at while doing this visualization exercise, etc. These things will sometimes find their way into your dreams and can be used to help “wake up” in the dream world.
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You just created some serious "intention" to dream and also created a path for you to follow and recognize while you are dreaming. In essence you have created easily recognizable temporary "dream sign" to follow on this self-made adventure. This should aid in allowing you to wake up in your dream with direction and purpose which makes it much easier to maintain consciousness while there.
This can often take time and more then one try to achieve for various reasons. Many times we might just have a dream of being in a car that night, or being hit for that matter, but not attain “lucidity”. Don’t get discouraged, this is actually a good sign. It is just hard for our conscious mind sometimes to realize that it is dreaming, so we end up viewing more than actively participating in the dream. Either way you can confidently say you consciously induced this dream. More often then not our expectations of full lucidity overshadows the fact that we may have just consciously induced our first dream, or just added another one to the tally. Ideally it’s nice to be able to choose freely when to “view” and when to actively participate. Using true mnemonic statements that apply to both waking and sleep worlds as almost a mantra can help with this too(IE “I am awake.”).
Remember when confronting fears with dreams…
You are on an "adventure" not a having a "nightmare"
Empowerment is key. The "adventurer" comes out relatively unscathed despite fear displaying courage; the person in the nightmare is a victim of fear.
While you're in dream land, you might wake up in the car crash, but this is your fear you need to confront. So remember if you think you're in a "nightmare" turn it into an "adventure" by any means necessary. Pull yourself back together; literally if need be!(things can get odd in dreamland after all) You are in control and you can literally do anything there. Including rewind the scene from your "observer" position, and jump into action when you are ready That is the purpose of visualizing the “observer” position first. It is a form of grounding your conscious mind into a stable state of being within the context of the perceived phobia, but safely removed at the same time.
That is one technique; substitute the car-crash with any other scenario you want, spiders, knives, guns, falling, plane crashes, etc. Build the construct around the fear you are trying to confront, but see both sides and transcend. The more control you get over your dream, I recommend really dissecting everything going on moment by moment with the intention to gain insight into as much of your perception of physical reality you can. Subtle but important principles such as these bring lessons that cross over and apply to the waking world quite apparently. This is another way to squeeze as much information out of our subconscious as we possibly can when given the opportunity. We contain the wisdom within ourselves to realize who we really are and what we really want to do with our lives. Facing and transcending our fears is a vital component of this, and using the dream world is a fun and safe way to do it!
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