I have really bad dreams which affect my mood the following day; I can be depressed, angry, have existential dread.
It’s frustrating but I also think a lot of it centres around people i know and people i used to know - so my brain is creating situations with people i don’t want to & won’t interact with ever again, just to make me feel bad.
My favourite dreams have just been me roaming around and exploring places - sometimes travelling by car or boat. Usually by myself. If i went running in the woods more, could i leverage my brain to give me more pleasant dreams like that?
I used to get better success when I would use certain activities to sublimate the emotions my weird or stupid dreams gave me. Going for drives, walks, or some other kind of solitary travel was my favorite method. It helps them move from being discordant or shitty thoughts that I don’t identify with into something I can look at, think about how it happened, then move on.
Obviously that’s not always an option for everyone though