Lucid Dream #8 — I Face the Big Scary Dog

January 27, 2023

‘I hear it barking and biting, and it nearly reaches my face when I shout STOP!’

Everyone has fears, but not everybody faces them. I have always been someone who actively faces my fears. And I often suggest it to my friends as well. Afraid of the ocean? Try scuba diving. Afraid of spiders? Spend a night outside in the jungle. Easier said than done, I get that. Some fears are just too scary to face or seem too complicated. Besides, our deepest fears can even be concealed from consciousness, so we don’t even realise we have them. But when we sleep and dream, we get an insight into our psyche. Our desires and fears are highlighted. And a dream can be the perfect opportunity to face and overcome fears, as we are completely safe and nothing can physically harm us here. One of my lucid dreaming goals is to be able to overcome a chosen fear, and face unresolved trauma. And in my latest lucid dream, this is exactly what I did!

After a natural wake-back-to-bed, I find myself lucid in a dream. I don’t even do a reality check as it’s so obvious. I do a little dance again like last time, and it seems to help me feel stable in my dream body. I think moving around and getting familiar with your dream body does the trick. I personally pick a funky dance move because why not. Next, I look around and find myself somewhere outside. I don’t see anything in particular. I’m just standing on a road near some farmland. I do see a group of people talking, so I walk towards them. I try to engage, but suddenly I feel a bit scared. What if they start attacking me like in my last lucid dream? What if I do something wrong, and they come after me? I immediately become quiet and try not to draw attention to myself. Maybe they won’t notice me. But nothing happens anyway, so I leave the group behind and wander off.

It’s getting darker now, and I hear something rumbling behind me. I look back when suddenly, a cat jumps in front of me. I know that it’s been following me for a while. It keeps meowing at me. I can tell that the cat is scared, but I don’t know why. It must resemble my personal feelings in the dream. For some reason, I lose lucidity here, and the next thing I know, I wake up in my room (my hotel). But I’m not actually awake, I’m still dreaming. It’s a false awakening. I find out because I immediately pinch my nose upon waking.

I get up from the dream bed and open the hotel door to walk outside. The room looked quite similar to the real thing, but as soon as I walk outside, I’m someplace else entirely. I walk around, and it seems that I’m at some kind of scrapyard. The place is full of random things and buildings. On my left, I see something that seems to be an abandoned Thai/Chinese temple. It looks very colourful, but I decide not to go there. I walk further on the mossy path and see some other structures made from metal, like old car parts. It almost looks artsy. I can’t even believe how my subconscious came up with this place! Maybe it is possible to build something in the dream that I can come back to in my next dreams. A beautiful place that I can revisit whenever I want. That would be amazing. And with that thought, I suddenly feel very powerful, as if I can do anything. So I take off my clothes and walk around naked. There’s no one else here anyway. I forgot what happened next. But, somewhere along the dream, I put my clothes back on again.

Now completely dark, I suddenly get scared again. And then, out of nowhere, a large scary dog starts running towards me. It looks like a pit bull, except it’s at least twice the size. I’m really scared as it’s about to get me. I close my eyes. I hear it barking and biting, and it nearly reaches my face when I shout: ‘STOP!’ Not realising, I hold out my hand as if putting up a stop sign, and it lays its snout against the palm of my hand. I open my eyes again, and it looks like a friendly puppy now. Even wagging its tail. Wow! I can’t believe I just faced my fear. I don’t know how I did it, but it worked. I feel amazing and very excited. But the euphoria doesn’t take long, as I lose lucidity and I find myself waking up in the hotel bed again.

I do a reality check, but I’m still dreaming. Another false awakening. This is annoying me now. Maybe I should wake up… but how? I look to my left and see my (dream) boyfriend sleeping next to me. I yell at him in hopes he wakes up, but I find myself incapable of making any noise or even moving my dream body at all. It’s like I’m experiencing sleep paralysis inside a dream. I try to move around, but it doesn’t seem to work. After a few more false awakenings, I suddenly see my boyfriend getting up. Finally! That (apparently) means that I can finally get up as well. And this time, I awake in my real bed in the hotel room I fell asleep in last night. And yes, I reality-checked a few times to make sure!

I’m happy with this lucid dream, as I have been scared of big dogs due to trauma almost all my life. And I feel like I didn’t just push the fear away, but actively transformed it. Literally, a big scary dog into a friendly pup. So tell me, have you ever faced fears in your (lucid) dreams? Do you feel confident to conjure up a specific fear and face it? And how do you feel it has helped you in your waking life? Please let me know by sharing your thoughts and stories in the comments!