If you need practical tips on how to stop dreaming about your ex, you are in the right place.
Regardless of how a relationship ends, it is not always easy to automatically get over an old flame just like that.
Many people keep thinking about their ex for a long time, and others even start dreaming about them.
Dreams about your ex can make you feel many emotions- positive, negative, or even both.
These dreams might represent unresolved emotions or feelings in your previous relationship.
It may also be how your mind is trying to process and make sense of the past.
Dreaming about your ex could also be due to things like fear of being alone, insecurity, loneliness, or missing the feeling of being with that person or in a relationship generally.
Many times, your dreams reveal the state of your subconscious.
While it is good that you recognize that healing takes time and everyone moves on at their own pace, it is even more essential that you know when you have dwelt on your ex for too long and have to move on.
Get the dreams to stop, and these steps will help you.
How To Stop Dreaming About Your Ex
11. Pay Attention To The Dream
Before discarding the dream into the bin, analyze it for a little while to see what it means.
What is the nature of those dreams?
How do you feel about them?
What do those dreams reveal to you?
- That you miss your ex?
- That they hurt you?
- That you desire companionship?
Analyzing and coming to terms with the dream is the first step towards ending them.
Beware of over-analyzing the dream.
Instead, gently dissect it and understand why it keeps coming.
If you keep thinking about your ex during the day, your dreams will follow the same thought process.
10. Be Honest With Yourself
After analyzing the dream, you now know why your ex keeps coming up in your dreams.
Face the fact and accept it.
Don’t try to hide from the truth.
Allow yourself some time to grieve if you need to do so.
You may have experienced hurt in the relationship and need some time to heal and be fine.
That is okay; take some time.
But don’t let it linger or remain depressed.
Get back up after grieving.
9. Get Busy
An idle mind is a clean slate for any and everything to make drawings and paintings.
And since your dreams reflect your thoughts during the day, if you fail to engage yourself and your mind with other things, it will wander and welcome thoughts about your ex, which will inevitably lead to you dreaming about your ex again.
An effective way to stop dreaming about your ex is to involve yourself and get engaged with other things.
Get busy with your hobby, job, school, business, career, family, etc.
If you do not have anything going on, find something to do.
That way, your mind is filled with other things and has too little space for your ex.
Getting busy will also make you sleep deeper and have dreams related to work and other interests.
You may not have dreams at all.
8. Focus On Yourself
What better time to practice self-care and self-love than now?
Redirect your mind from your ex to yourself by caring for yourself and being gentle with yourself.
You deserve to be loved and cared for, and you should give that to yourself.
Attend to your emotional, physical, and general well-being and wholeness by listening to your body and soul and doing what it likes.
Be joyful, eat well, exercise often, and sleep well.
7. Cut Your Ex Off
If you’re trying to stop dreaming about your ex, the last thing you need is them showing up in your face or your social media, reawakening your feelings, and bringing your mind back to what you’re trying to get it away from.
Eventually, when you’ve healed, you can face your ex without feeling bad or dreaming about them.
But in the meantime, you need to cut them off to avoid them interrupting your process of moving on.
Do not be afraid of staying away from them, deleting and blocking their number, and unfollowing them on social media.
You have to put yourself first.
6. Reconstruct Your Mind
An effective way to stop dreaming about your ex is to change your mindset about them.
Remember that that season of your life has ended. So, there’s no use dwelling on the negatives, the trauma, or desire to return to the relationship.
When you begin to view your past relationship from new lenses, your thoughts and your dreams about your ex will change and even stop.
See the past relationship as a season and learn from it.
You are now much better and wiser because of it.
5. Journal
Journaling can be therapeutic, especially if you love writing.
Put down your feelings and how much you have evolved or are evolving on a note.
It will help you make sense of every emotion even more.
Practice journaling often.
4. Be More Self-Aware
One of the reasons you keep dreaming about your ex is that you are not aware of your emotions.
We can’t always control what we dream about, but we can become more conscious of our thoughts and feelings so that we don’t get caught up in them when they’re not serving us well.
In becoming self-aware, you need to know what makes your ex so appealing to you.
What did they do that made them special?
What was it about their personality that made them so attractive?
When you become aware of these dreams and their causes, they lose their power over you—and instead become an opportunity for growth.
Here are some steps you can take to start being more self-aware:
1) Meditate: Meditation helps to bring clarity to your thoughts and feelings, so it’s an important first step towards becoming self-aware.
2) Journal: Journaling helps you process your thoughts and feelings by writing them down, which makes them easier to understand.
You can even write in multiple journals if one feels too overwhelming.
3) Practice yoga or other mindfulness practices: These activities help you ground yourself in the present moment, which will make it easier for you to be aware of your thoughts and feelings at any given time.
Relax and clear your mind.
3. Surround Yourself With Friends and Family
Sometimes, all we need to do when we are overwhelmed with emotions is speak with our friends and family.
Talking with people you trust and can be vulnerable with may just be what helps you put things in perspective and get over your ex.
Open up and speak with your mum, dad, friends, siblings, or anyone you feel comfortable sharing with.
2. Get Professional Help
If you have done all of the above and given it time, you still have those dreams, get professional help.
Talk to a counselor or therapist and embrace their help.
The services of a professional will help you unpack the emotions and thoughts plaguing you.
So do not hesitate to book a session with a therapist or counselor.
1. Be Patient With Yourself
It may not happen overnight because it takes some time to heal.
So you must be patient and gentle with yourself through the process.
You may badly want the dreams to end and wish they could happen overnight, but you must know that people heal at different paces.
Allow yourself the time to heal, flourish, and move forward.