Lucid Dreaming

Yep, I've had several lucid dreams. In fact, lots of my dreams transition to lucid ones near the end. In fact, most of my nightmares turn into lucid dreams where I have super powers and can do whatever I want in my dream.

My unconscious plays tricks on me a lot though, and I have lots of false awakenings.

ETA: there's a number of checks one can do, such as the ability to read something without it changing when you look away; in fact anything to do with preciseness such as a clock or numbers will change if you look away. That's how one can differentiate between reality and a dream. So no, I don't think we are living in a lucid dream. It would have to be termed something different, because reality behaves according to different rules than do lucid dreams.

 

Okay, so I've actually read a couple of books and got a program to learn how to make them more likely. The thing with lucid dreaming is that you can set yourself up to have lucid dreams, but you can't (unless you are really really really good) say "I'll have a lucid dream tonight!" and then actually have one.

The main thing you can do to get into the habit of lucid dreaming is to have frequent 'reality checks'. Why? Because, in the dream world you are going to be just as convinced that you are in reality as you are when you are awake. The catch is, the dream world behaves in subtly different ways than the real world, so you can 'catch' yourself dreaming. An easy reality check is to have a watch that beeps on the hour, check your watch, contemplate about whether you are actually dreaming, and then check it again. If the time is different already, you know you are dreaming (numbers behave really weird in most people's dreams, because the symbolic mind is less active whilst dreaming [often called the 'left brain']). There are other things too, of course, that you can do such as setting the intention before going to sleep that you will dream lucidly as well as visualization, etc.

What I've gotten into lately is what I call a 'half-lucid' state. Often times I will have a dream, and some part of my mind says, "it's okay to do this because it's just a dream" but I don't actually fully take over the dream world b/c I'm not fully aware of this idea. Usually my dreams are not very vivid either, so a lot of times it seems more like I'm playing a game (and, in fact, a large portion of my dreams now are of me playing video games; surprisingly they are actually not ones I remember playing before).

When I was younger, however, I had several instances similar to what you've described, and I would have trouble figuring out whether something was a dream or not. I actually have talked to some people (again, when I was really young) and suddenly realized that it must have actually just been a dream. It only made me seem a little weirder than I usually was, however, and fortunately it was mostly my parents who got wind of it.

Probably the greatest benefit I've gotten from learning lucid dreaming is that now, when a nightmare comes and something bad is 'supposed' to happen to me, I conquer it and take over the dream world. I actually kinda look forward to nightmares now, because it's like a guaranteed ability to use magic and stuff trigger. Oddly, now that I haven't focused a lot on them consciously, I've actually started even having psuedo-lucid dreams in these situations too.

Just to wrap up with an example, I was walking by myself and two men grabbed me and were taking me away to experiment on me. I asked them to let me go, and they didn't, so I smashed one's head against the wall and ripped the other's head off his shoulders (yeah, I get pretty brutal against criminals). But, I didn't actually become lucid, I just triggered a 'habit' of mine. I've never been in a situation like this in real life, but I'm actually half afraid that I'd do something really stupid and irrational in a situation like that.

 

I wrote some about it in my blog, I am currently working to have fully conscious lucid dreams, haven't had any yet.

 

I've never been able to lucid dream even though I know of at least two techniques that are supposed to help induce lucid dreaming. They both involve recognising that one is dreaming, and I just can't get the hang of it. I think it's because I accept even the strangest things as possible (in fact I even do this in real life).

NeverAmI: Does your title ('Am I dreaming?') have anything to do with your success in lucid dreaming?

 

I put it up as a reminder to constantly ask myself. Part of recognizing you are in a dream state is to get used to asking yourself whether you are dreaming. Both in waking and dreaming, if you don't think to question your state, you usually won't recognize one from the other.

 

Do any of you have any experiences with this?
I'm quite good at realizing I'm dreaming.

What are your thoughts/skepticisms about this matter?
If I could master manipulation of my dreams, I'm sure this would all be very useful. Currently all I can really do is notice I'm dreaming ,move where I would like to, and run REALLY fast. I'm working on the super powers and creation of worlds...

Also If I don't like how things are going down, I can get out of it. Reset the dream... or wake up.

This also may pose the question: do you think we are living in a lucid dream? How do you differentiate between reality and a dream?

I look at my hands... in my dreams they don't apear solid, and text is not consistent. Writing this post would be impossible in one of my dreams.

Also there are certain things that don't follow real world logic.

 

I would love to have lucid dreams. I'd be flying in the clouds every night.

 

Hmm, that's good advice. One of these days I intend to master it. I also managed to scrounge up this infographic on lucid dreaming in case anyone wanted to give it a shot. I've glanced over it, but they all involve differentiating dreams from reality though.

 

Interestingly, my dreams never focus on these. Either that, or I simply haven't remembered the ones that did.

On my closest to being fully lucid, I was questioning but I checked my hands and they were quite solid, so I stopped questioning.

There is a good book on techniques in lucid dreaming called Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming. [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Exploring-World-Dreaming-Stephen-Laberge/dp/034537410X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1281102405&sr=8-1"]Amazon.com: Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming (9780345374103): Stephen Laberge PHD: Books[/ame] I HIGHLY recommend it.

The author was working to attain his PHD and for his thesis proved the lucid state by signaling a predetermined sequence of eye movements during a lucid dream in REM sleep. During REM your eyes move according to where you look in your dream. For the most part, the rest of your body is paralyzed; that is why some wake up paralyzed, it hasn't worn off yet, but that has never happened to me.

 

Once or twice, I was able to fly and do all kinds of cool stuff.

 

I've gotten quite a few lucid dreams. You would think that the first thing you'd want to do is try sex in them, but I always forget about that and just start flying or jumping really high.

 

FWIW, I only find dream sex mildly enjoyable. Everything seems less intense in the dream world, so I'd pick flying any day.

 

I usually dream lucidly.
I have fairly horrific dreams.
I usually dream in third person and am aware that it's a dream.

 

I don't know, I have had some dreams where you can link with someone spiritually or emotionally

Everything is heard without saying a word.

That was much more intense than sex in a dream for me. It is like beyond validation, it is just being one.

 

I've never experienced that in a dream. It sounds cool.

 

Yea, but it's like crack, you are always looking for more.

 

Kinda had a moment of it two nights ago. Suffice it to say I'm happy with how my own self development has go, but I'm concerned with what lies ahead. >_>;