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  #21  
Old 24-04-2018, 06:07 PM
Michelle11 Michelle11 is offline
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Originally Posted by In Flux
Dear all, I've read several times about 'people facing their demons'. I never really grasped the meaning of that, but now it seems to become clear. I want to describe a dream I just had, but most of all, I wanted to ask you what 'facing your demons' meant to you, how you did it, and whether you had a certain strategy for it.

In my dream, if felt like I was building up towards facing my demons. It had a lot of silly plot lines that I think are not that interesting, and the first demon that appeared was in some kind of game I was playing. The demon was able to fly, and all it did was ask silly questions, but there was somehow a very dark presence or motivation behind those questions. I felt like it was capable of the worst, it had no inner drive to do good things (it was like it did not see any reason for goodness). I was really disgusted by it, and afraid, but at the same time, I realized that this demon was somehow a part of me.

When I just out-right rejected the existence of this demon (did not wish to deal with it), the dream changed and I dreamt about some kind of border patrol check (this seems to have a clear interpretation as 'checking what may come in or out'). This border patrol was supposed to check a party that included the 'president' (I vaguely imagined Trump), and also some people in his following. When thinking of his following, I imagined several (about 8) demons, who I 'saw' as deeply black and very ugly beings. They also felt to me as being really powerful. Again I realized that they represented parts of me, and I did not want to deal with them because I imagined that this interaction would be a hellish ordeal.

Already in the dream, I recognized that facing these demons is necessary. It feels like they are parts of me that need to be cleaned up. It's like we're living in the same house, and we're associating but I'm keeping it a big secret, and when I come accross them, I just avoid them in any way possible. At the same time, they *are* a part of me, and this is just unacceptable to me, I don't want anything like them to be a part of me. I see them as stains that need to be removed. I also know that they can be battled by facing them openly, daring to look at them (this is what people have described before as what it means to face your demons, I think I get it now, and I understand why it's a big deal).

You could try to remove the stain without facing it, but I have the impression that this would be much harder, because you can easily trick yourself into believing that the stain is not that bad (and so you avoid all the work and sabotage your own efforts).
The dream is a special occasion where I relax my daily censor/filter and have a change to see that the demons are there in the first place.

But now the really important question: how do you face your demon? Do you try to mentally protect yourself by imagining some kind of shield, do you invoke love in some way, do you try to maintain some degree of separation from the demon while you look at it, or do you look at it without any effort to protect yourself? What happened when you did? I would prefer answers coming from personal experience (I don't really believe in theoretical answers at this point), but any input is welcome.
For me personally I had to become honest with myself. Totally, blatantly honest without apologizing for how I was feeling and what I was thinking. The thoughts were pretty dark but they had to be allowed a voice so I could challenge them and confront them as lies shifting them to something more compassionate and life affirming. Like you, I initially tried to pretend they weren't there. Turned a blind eye to it all, running from what I was feeling trying to keep it a secret from not just the world at large but myself especially. This is because my demon was rooted in self loathing and suicidal thoughts. There was a part of me that was out to get me and so it makes sense I would want to run from that aspect of my psyche. But it was only by confronting it, allowing myself to be honest with what I was feeling, was I able to begin to release and heal my shadow self and find a new way to define myself.

So from my perspective, our demons aren't just some negative entity that is attached to us but rather some negative thinking within our psyche that undermines our well being and sabotages our efforts creating bad feelings. These are usually thoughts and beliefs rooted in lies we picked up along the way about who we are and false ideas that lead us to identify who we are with the wrong things. These things can make us feel badly about ourselves and in an effort to not feel badly we avoid facing our thoughts and beliefs. We ignore the blatant signs and do our best to not pay attention and just cope. We can even go so far as to push past the bad feelings and force ourselves to feel good but until we weed out the source thoughts of why we feel bad in the first place we will remain vulnerable to those bad feelings coming back.

My impression of what you have stated is that you are attempting to avoid the feelings because it is unclear to you the actual source of the demon energy. Which makes sense, if we do not recognize what is causing the pain it is hard to truly clear it much like the stain analogy. It keeps coming back. The best way I have used to get in touch with what was feeding the bad feelings was to use Mindfulness to pay attention to my inner dialogue. the random thoughts that filter through our mind all day long really do tell the story of us but most of the time we just rush past them and/or don't notice at all. Over time those thoughts become habits that can be hard to break so ideally the goal is to try and pay attention to our inner voice and challenge anything negative or derogatory shifting it to something more life affirming. this is especially helpful when we feel triggered by something in life to feel bad. Our running dialogue will usually give us lots of clues to the false beliefs and ideas we have picked up along the way.

But if that still isn't too clear for you, I would ask before bed, what do you need to know about your demons. That is a really good place to start. It's important to identify what we believe to be true about ourselves and the world at large and then question whether those thoughts help us feel good or are thoughts that contribute to us feeling bad or as you say, contribute to sabotaging our efforts in life. Your demons are really just your shadow side and your shadow side are really just the aspects of your psyche that you are not aware of that undermine your happiness and well being. Shining a light on those things, the light of awareness helps us challenge and shift the lies for something more compassionate and life affirming. That's my perspective based on my personal experience. Hope it helps. Take care.

As a post note, I will add that if in your quest to confront your demons things get too much to handle or too dark there is no shame in seeking professional help. We can all use help sometimes. And sometimes confronting our demons is pretty intense so use your best judgment. You need not go it alone.
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  #22  
Old 24-04-2018, 10:49 PM
In Flux In Flux is offline
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Hi everyone, I just wanted to say I've read all your replies, thanks for taking the time!

To underline one thing I've mentioned: i'm experiencing these demons mostly as a vibration or a potential. It feels like the potential to do any unwholesome deed without minding the consequence. I think it's this potential that scares me. When I engage with this dark energy in my dream, unpleasant experiences follow. I guess that's why I was asking on this forum what other people's experiences have been, because I don't have a clear idea what benefits could come from engaging with this energy (but otoh I also don't want to ignore it when it comes popping up in my dreams from time to time).

Maybe it's informative to also mention a different dream, where I have a constant companion in the shape of a big black (rather monstruous) dog. The dog is mine, it follows me everywhere, but it's also very powerful and strong, and threatens to take the upper hand all the time. If I get scared of it, it immediately starts to growl and dominate me (and I constantly fear it will attack me). I would like to just get rid of it, but I know that I cannot.

Now, in this dream, it's clear to me that the dog represents my dark side, and it needs my attention and engagement. I know I should find the courage to directly deal with the dog in a compassionate way, not avoid it or dismiss it, and that this more courageous approach can totally transform the situation. But I must say that encountering this dog in my dream is a very different experience compared to encountering these demons (as I called them), and I'm not sure that they should be approached in the same way.
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  #23  
Old 25-04-2018, 12:01 PM
Michelle11 Michelle11 is offline
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Working specifically with the dream content we may be able to glean a few things. In the first dream the demon could fly. This could indicate a possible tendency to look down on people. It was also prone to ask silly questions which could be viewed as a type of mocking behavior. The general reason behind the behavior possibly based in a belief there is no point in being good maybe because of seeing others do bad and get away with it.

In the second dream it would be helpful to know your personal impressions of trump but since we are working from the negative side of things I will focus on his negatives. In the dream you have set up a border patrol. This suggests that there is a part of you that keeps an eye out for the demon like behavior so you can stop it from occurring. In this instance you are looking out for Trump and his cronies. Trump is a bit of a bully and definitely can take to mocking people he dislikes so again a bit of a mocking aspect being suggested.

In the third dream there is a big black menacing dog. Dogs in general are supposed to be our best friend/ally side but in this instance the dog wants to viciously attack you at the first sign of any weakness. This suggest that the bullying and mocking may be self directed. Meaning your inner demon and shadow side is basically out to get you because a part of you sees yourself as weak and no good. You try to keep this belief about yourself secret for good reason. There is a part of you that doesn't want to tear yourself apart but there is truth to the fact that these false ideas need to be confronted for the behavior to be healed. The longer we avoid the longer it will be a stumbling block in our lives.

So I guess I would ask if you were raised or had strong personalities growing up. Males who possibly mocked you or bullied you or others for being weak or a whimp? There is a possibility you bought into the behavior and a part of you believes it to be true and has turned on you. There is also a part of you that knows compassion not condemnation is the answer that will heal the shadow/demon side. In reality that side was spawned from lies and developed from a place of hurt, but it isn't who you really are. Your true nature is unconditional love but you may have to challenge the idea that weakness is a flaw that needs to be destroyed first to shift the belief to something more life affirming. It's definitely a male dominate belief system that is very common. This idea is based on survival of the fittest but it's false bravado that only serves to demean people who do not fit some sort of manly mold. Ideally helping the weak to become strong benefits everyone but tearing them down, even if it is done as a form of tough love, really only serves to break a person's spirit and self esteem. Compassion and support will definitely win the game over bravado.

So I'd say mull over your past and see if any of that fits or what else it could relate to. We can unfortunately be heavily influenced by the people around us especially in our early formative years but as much as we can inadvertently take on negative traits and beliefs we can also gain some positive ones too. You do have both sides. You have an ally side as well as an enemy side. Use the idea of being an ally towards yourself to help you confront the ideas that would have you attack yourself or others for being weak. There may be some truth to the fact that weak people get picked on but it isn't a sign of their lack of worth merely a sign they are surrounded by negative people. The weak can learn to be strong against their detractors but only by showing itself support as opposed to joining in the fray of berating weak traits.

So something to think about. The clues are there in your dreams Ask yourself what they relate to and how they may fit into your life and see what comes back. The demon side is being brought to your attention for a reason. It's normal to want to avoid it and keep it secret because it's rather painful but if we don't face it odds are it will undermine all our efforts in life and color our happiness and well being. Sounds like a part of you is ready to heal it and your dreams may provide you with the best insights. There is a dream section on the forum where you can post your dreams for others to offer their insights. Either way though I think you are on a path of sorting it out. Take care.
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  #24  
Old 25-04-2018, 05:13 PM
Imzadi Imzadi is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by In Flux
Hi everyone, I just wanted to say I've read all your replies, thanks for taking the time!

To underline one thing I've mentioned: i'm experiencing these demons mostly as a vibration or a potential. It feels like the potential to do any unwholesome deed without minding the consequence. I think it's this potential that scares me. When I engage with this dark energy in my dream, unpleasant experiences follow. I guess that's why I was asking on this forum what other people's experiences have been, because I don't have a clear idea what benefits could come from engaging with this energy (but otoh I also don't want to ignore it when it comes popping up in my dreams from time to time).

Maybe it's informative to also mention a different dream, where I have a constant companion in the shape of a big black (rather monstruous) dog. The dog is mine, it follows me everywhere, but it's also very powerful and strong, and threatens to take the upper hand all the time. If I get scared of it, it immediately starts to growl and dominate me (and I constantly fear it will attack me). I would like to just get rid of it, but I know that I cannot.

Now, in this dream, it's clear to me that the dog represents my dark side, and it needs my attention and engagement. I know I should find the courage to directly deal with the dog in a compassionate way, not avoid it or dismiss it, and that this more courageous approach can totally transform the situation. But I must say that encountering this dog in my dream is a very different experience compared to encountering these demons (as I called them), and I'm not sure that they should be approached in the same way.

Many people on this thread had cautioned you not to "feed" the demons which translates to not indulging in them. I absolutely agree! That means you do not follow through on potential harmful thoughts or behaviors that may arise in your mind and energy field. However, being able to transcend the darkness can only happen if you become aware of the nature of the darkness that is there in the first place. If you can't see them clearly in the Light, how can you even begin to heal and transform them into something positive?

It is entirely possible to work through the fear of being bad and potentially doing something bad without actually turning into a psychopath. The potential to do good or harm lies within all human beings. We are capable of great feats of love and compassion, but on the flip side we can also experience depravity, apathy, and cruelty.

The fact that you are questioning yourself about this situation and cautious about your own darkness and the potential for that darkness to do harm is a good sign that you have more Light in you then say some others who completely ignore, repress, or deny that their darkness exists. To me, I see this as a sign of your sanity and your emotional and mental maturity.

I would also like to make a strong and practical suggestion that I think would truly assist you on your current journey. It may be beneficial for you to find a Spiritually inclined and open-minded psychologist or psychoanalyst to assist you. They can help provide a safe space for you to explore all your thoughts and feelings and to help you understand where and why they are occurring from a deeper perspective. This has certainly been helpful for me on my Spiritual path of wholeness and healing. :)

*Big Hugs* And safe travels.
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Last edited by Imzadi : 26-04-2018 at 12:05 AM.
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  #25  
Old 25-04-2018, 08:52 PM
Starman Starman is offline
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All is well, even in our darkest hour all is well. Don’t let go of hope, even though things may seem dark and dismal,
that sacred divinity is always with us. We don’t always get what we want and sometimes we even lose what we had;
what we cherished; still divine unconditional love flourishes within you.

Even if you have done something which you may think is shameful or wrong; the light of all lights is there just right
below that shame; allow it to shine through. Don’t worry, you’re going to make it; whatever making it may mean,
you’ll make it even if you don’t want to make it.

The sum total of all that we are is perfect; that which is at our core is already home basking in unfathomable love
and wisdom, and you will get to know that which is unknowable by our mind, our thoughts; beyond time, measurements,
or qualifications.

Somewhere beyond all reason, far from all time and space, is a valley deep with wisdom, and a mountain high with grace.
Stop before you try to imagine, we will never comprehend, the peace and glory deep inside, with no beginning or end.
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