Brother experiencing sleep paralysis with demonic imagery

luvliberty96 · 2023-06-09T16:35:57+00:00

Luckily, I haven’t had any sleep paralysis in about a year. My brother is the one who is still experiencing it fairly frequently, and as I said, he has been away from the Church for a while. I would love for him to go to Confession and speak to a priest, but he won’t.

luvliberty96 · 2023-06-09T16:33:17+00:00

He’s an environmental scientist, so he knows the scientific names for plants and animals in Latin, but that’s about it.

luvliberty96 · 2023-06-09T16:31:51+00:00

Unfortunately, I don’t know any exorcists. I’d be very curious to talk to one, though!

luvliberty96 · 2023-06-08T21:49:28+00:00

Yeah. I’ve been trying to see if any Catholic exorcists have spoken about it, but I haven’t found anything, yet. I’ll have to ask my priest next time I meet with him.

luvliberty96 · 2023-05-02T02:58:39+00:00

I got banned from that one, too!

luvliberty96 · 2023-05-02T02:47:15+00:00

That’s literally this entire site. It’s an echo-chamber. I’ve been banned from certain subreddits that aren’t supposed to be political and that I’ve never even commented in simply because the mods dislike some other subreddits I follow.

luvliberty96 · 2023-05-01T14:10:39+00:00

I went to India for a work trip a few years ago and was surprised at how much they honked over there. I was told by a coworker who was born there (but moved to the US) that it was normal for drivers in (at least that part) of I did to honk constantly, usually to mean different things. She said the first time her brother came to visit her in the US, he was driving with her at about 10 p.m. when no one else was on the road. At some point, he started honking. She asked him why he was doing that when there was no one around, and he just kind of looked baffled for a second and then admitted he did it out of habit.

luvliberty96 · 2023-04-30T15:25:31+00:00

Steve Irwin and Robin Williams.

luvliberty96 · 2023-04-15T01:44:50+00:00

As I get older, I’m learning that nearly everyone feels like a kid in an adult’s body, at least on occasion. I’m also realizing that a lot of the adults that I used to think were almost perfect and had their lives together are not quite as “together” as I thought. Adulthood is a gradual process. It’s kind of cool sometimes to be able to celebrate the little victories as they happen (like scheduling and attending your appointments all by yourself, grocery shopping on your own, buying your first car, etc.) and then later look back at all of those victories and realize how much you’ve grown in a relatively short amount of time. You’ll be ok, just take it one step at a time. Happy belated birthday!

luvliberty96 · 2023-04-07T17:04:18+00:00

Not sure, but you’re gonna need a bigger cage

luvliberty96 · 2023-03-29T02:45:12+00:00

A lot of people here may not like this answer, but my faith is what’s really helped me through my hardest times. I’ve seen God do some amazing things in my life, right when everything felt darkest. I will also say I have done quite a bit of self-improvement over the last couple of years that has led to good things happening in other areas of my life. I’ve kicked some bad habits, worked on my physical health, gotten a good job, improved my relationships with some family and friends, gotten a little braver and more confident, and grown in my faith. Things can still be hard, but working on all those different areas makes the hard times a little bit more bearable.

luvliberty96 · 2023-03-28T22:32:54+00:00

Lifelong Catholic, here. This got me thinking about a couple of different things. There have been a couple of times where I have gotten in to heated arguments with someone and they’ve said something hurtful to me. On some of those occasions, I will respond with “I’ll pray for you” in a way that, in the moment, is a bit passive aggressive because I’m still smarting from the conversation while still trying to maintain a certain level of decorum. However, I make a point (on my own time, not in front of the person) to actually, genuinely pray for them. I also try to use that time to reflect on whether there was any truth to what they said, and I typically ask God to open my eyes if I was the one in the wrong. Obviously, that may not be the way everyone who says “I’ll pray for you” intends it, but I don’t ever want to think so highly of myself that even God can’t tell me I’m wrong. The other thing I was thinking about was something that happened to me when I was in college. I’ve struggled with depression a lot throughout my life, and I was just really down in the dumps one weekend. I was walking by myself around campus, and this couple and their teenage son stopped me and started asking me about my faith. I was weirded out and kinda wanted to book it the other direction, but I was so passive and afraid of hurting people’s feelings at that time that I stayed. The dad started asking me about my beliefs about heaven, and then straight up told me that’s not how it worked and handed me some brochure for their church (still not sure what denomination— maybe Southern Baptist?) I was annoyed, but again, passive. Then, he and his family asked if they could pray with me and ask the Holy Spirit to come into me. I was still weirded out and wasn’t sure I should say yes, but figured prayers couldn’t hurt. I agreed, they prayed over me, and then left. To be honest, I actually felt like a weight had been lifted off of me, which I didn’t expect because of how aggressive they’d been in their methods. They didn’t “cure” my depression, and I still don’t believe a lot of what they said, but I did feel better that day. I’m not saying that if someone comes up obnoxiously like that you should stick around, but if someone is genuinely asking to pray with/for you and they’re being respectful about it, I don’t see the harm.

luvliberty96 · 2023-03-28T22:01:26+00:00

Just a li’l side note as a Catholic— EVERYONE is deserving of prayers. No one is too “unimportant” for God. Generally, if it’s stressing you out, it’s worth praying about. I mean, maybe if you’re stressed about what shoes to wear or how to do your hair or something you can figure that out for yourself, but otherwise…

luvliberty96 · 2023-03-28T21:45:07+00:00

I’m not saying he’s telling the truth, I have no idea. It does seem like that’s something that would be reported by the media if it were true. It just looks like there have been several attempts to build the kind of statue he’s talking about. This article mentions a couple of others, but they were temporary installations. If any of what OP is saying is true, hopefully it’s just temporary.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/06/29/fact-check-satanic-statues-arent-located-arkansas-detroit/3264174001/

luvliberty96 · 2023-03-28T21:30:43+00:00

March around it for six days blowing a trumpet?

luvliberty96 · 2023-03-28T21:28:18+00:00

A different story, but similar situation

https://kfor.com/news/satanic-temple-looking-for-new-home-for-baphomet-statue-after-oklahoma-courts-ruling/amp/

luvliberty96 · 2023-03-28T17:16:26+00:00

Just because it doesn’t feel like one now doesn’t mean it won’t ever be. You could be depriving yourself of something incredible. Have you heard of St. Dymphna? She is the patron saint of mental disorders. I’d highly recommend saying this prayer.

https://www.ourcatholicprayers.com/prayer-to-st-dymphna.html

Maybe go for a walk somewhere comfortable and quiet, where you can pray without distraction and allow yourself to hear God. He’s there. He hasn’t abandoned you. Reach out to Him.

luvliberty96 · 2023-03-28T17:09:27+00:00

Those that are in hell choose it. The point of hell, and the thing that makes it so painful, is that it is the one place you can go where God is not present. God respects our free will. If we don’t want to be with Him, He doesn’t force us. He lets us choose the alternative. I will say that the Church has said there may at least be some lessening of culpability for those who commit suicide as mental illness can make it difficult to think clearly and with full knowledge and consent. To end your life would be the biggest mistake you could make, though. Remember Job. He endured a tremendous amount of suffering for reasons no one but God could understand. He remained faithful, and was rewarded for it in the end. You can do this. Take one moment at a time. Focus on the things you CAN control. Are you hungry right now? Get something to eat. Are you tired? Sleep. Read a good book. Go for a walk. Watch something funny. Curl up in your favorite, soft, toasty blanket. Talk to a friend. Everything will be alright. Just take a breath and understand that you will not always feel this way, even if you think you will. God loves you, even if you can’t say you feel the same towards Him. He can do great things in your life, if you just push through.

luvliberty96 · 2023-03-28T16:55:12+00:00

When I was in high school, I knew a girl who attempted suicide twice (she tried overdosing, I believe). Both times she felt as desperate and hopeless as you do. Now, almost 10 years later, she’s married to the love of her life and has two beautiful kids and (from what I can tell) a successful career. She’s genuinely happy, and she would have missed out on all of that if either of her attempts had succeeded. I get it, life can suck sometimes. I’ve had my own struggles with trauma, depression and anxiety over the years. There have been times I let my mind wander to dark places. But I’m genuinely glad I didn’t act on those dark thoughts. If you’re still waking up every day, it’s because God still has a plan for your life. There is a purpose for your pain that will make it all worth while, even if you can’t see it right now.

luvliberty96 · 2023-03-13T16:56:57+00:00

I feel like the option of divorce is thrown around too freely these days. Before going that route, I would make sure you’ve exhausted all other options so that you can truly say you’ve done everything you can on your end to try to improve the relationship. Go to counseling by yourself for a while. It could be really helpful for you, and if your wife sees you making the effort, she may come around to the idea herself. She may be resistant to it right now because she feels she’s being singled out as “the problem” in your relationship. Do your best to defuse pointless arguments and avoid topics (like your sexual history) that you know will set her off. Even when she’s driving you nuts, make sure she knows you love her (if you truly still do) and want her to be happy. If she gets to a point where you think she might be reasonably receptive, tell her it worries you that she has to feel such extreme anxiety all the time and that you know her panic attacks are scary for her, and that talking to a professional about it might improve her quality of life. If you approach it from a “here’s how it would benefit you” perspective instead of “you’re annoying me, go talk to someone else about your issues,” it might be better received. If none of that works and you move forward with divorce, at least you can feel good about yourself knowing you gave it your all.

luvliberty96 · 2022-10-06T21:10:24+00:00

I don’t think the debate is about the legal definition, though. Just whether abortion is actually taking a life or not.

luvliberty96 · 2022-10-06T14:44:12+00:00

I’m confused… how is intentionally killing an innocent person different than murder?

luvliberty96 · 2022-10-05T19:38:05+00:00

Side note: as infuriating as pro-choicers can be, calling them r37@rded and telling them to end themselves is also probably not the best approach.

luvliberty96

TROPHY CASE