Nightmares

I've had violent dreams before but nothing compares to the series of nightmares I had this morning. The first few nightmares were not too scary - however there was blood. It was the last nightmare that made me wake up in a sweat at 5:00 am. I do not want to disclose the contents of this dream but lets just say there was a lot of cutting and a lot of blood. In the dream I experienced a lot of fear and as I woke up it took a while for me to recover.

Funnily enough, last night I asked for assistance from my higher self to help me become aware in my dreams. I don't really know much about higher selves but I'm pretty sure ones higher self does not resort to scare tactics.

I'm not sure where dreams come from altogether - are they a reflection of hidden issues, our inner selves in cryptic form? Or perhaps they are just of our own creation?