To a very limited extent, I at least control some things. Like denying the gruesome fates of some people ("What? She just... drowns? Just like that? Yeah... no. Let's reverse this."), saving myself. Dreaming is beginning to seem like a playground to me, a place for me to meet cool new people... only to be annoyed when I re-remember that it's a dream.
I am kind of glad I cannot control my dreams. 'Tonight the unicorn of pleasure, mmmm.' Also, as a great writer I have the recurring 'wonderful draft' dream: 'I really should change that word.' 'No, no. It is perfect. You can enjoy your work in the morning.' 'Mmmm, it is so good, and so clever. Oh my god, it has all gone. At least I can remember fragments.' 'No, you cannot.' Otherwise, the child in peril dream is very exhausting: grief sleep is horrible, but as Chickenfreak said it's a big relief to come round. I don't know if anybody has dreams where they are at work? That is a most terrible thing - dreaming work, going to work, dreaming work, going to work...
i just had my first one last night, i've been trying for years. but finally, i was in a dream, and i somehow knew i was there, and was able to direct what happened. it was awesome and scary at the same time. personally, i can't wait to find out if i can enter other people's dreams on command. it's happened before but i couldn't control it or when it happened.
That's an interesting thought, I've often wondered the same! I used to have this theory (and guess I still do) that dreams are essentially just another plane of existence, one in which we don't have our physical bodies - which would make it possible, theoretically, for those who have passed on to reach us through our dreams because physical boundaries don't exist. So why shouldn't it be the same for visiting other people's minds when they're dreaming? If that even makes sense. I only have this theory because I've had really vivid dreams about a deceased relative over the years. But back to the original topic of lucid dreaming. It's only happened to me a couple of times and both times it only lasted about 30 seconds before I woke up I know there are ways of training yourself to lucid dream on command, but the thought of doing that makes me worry about my dreams becoming better than reality
what if they aren't different planes of existence, but actual alternate realities? sometimes when i have dreams, they aren't about me at all, or anything connected to me. what if i'm slipping into someone else's life in another universe for a few days at a time while i'm asleep here? does that happen to them, too? i pity the poor soul who has to deliver pizza and watch tv for a few days while he sleeps...although a few of my dreams have been just as boring.
I used to have lucid dreams quite frequently, but I haven't had one in a while now. Not sure why. Either way, one of my favourite activities was to argue with those around me about the fact that they aren't real, but a figment of my imagination. The most surreal part was that my own imagination often didn't believe me, and would argue back without my control. It was really bizarre, so bizarre in fact that I ended up adding a sequence similar in my novel. Other than that, my absolute favourite thing was often to cause destruction and mayhem.
I've never had a lucid dream and I'm not quite sure how that would look like... I did have couple of dreams (when I was a kid) where I knew I was dreaming, and those were vivid (and scary) dreams which I remembered for all this time. My dreams used to be very lively and full of action, always in color... But I haven't dreamt anything memorable for couple of years now. Even if I do dream, I rarely remember anything. I don't know why I don't dream anymore... But I have never slept better, I fall asleap as soon as I go to bed, and I sleep all night without waking, and when I wake up, I feel like I really had enough sleep. I don't have to take afternoon naps anymore. I don't know, maybe that's connected. But regarding lucid dreaming... I never had any control in my dreams. I always actively participate in them, but those are usually some random and exciting events and I'm in the middle of them. I used to dream about flying a lot, but that was always a struggle; I was being chased by another flying creature, for example, so I would have to flap my arms real hard in order to fly and escape. As far as weird dreams concerned, I did have that recently... I dreamt (twice in a couple of nights) that someone cut my hands with scissors. Completely cut them off. There was no pain, just a lot of blood, and when I had that dream for the second time, I was like: Not again! So I knew what was going to happen, but not exactly that I had this dream before... What could it mean?
I'm not the only one who believes one or the other? Yay! Speaking to deceased relatives occurs more and more lately, like my late stepmother, but at times... I exist as something else- like a spirit- or I'm actually someone else when I encounter them, and at least at first, I wouldn't recognize them. In one dream that was at least semi-lucid, I was the one who was dead, and my grandmother was still alive, and mourning my death. I was unable to speak to her at first, but soon, I had my suspicions that this was a dream, and I "rejected" the reality that I couldn't speak to her... Grandma never looked so relieved to see me in my life... or unlife. So perhaps in another reality, I really am the dead granddaughter, and she's still alive. Who knows? I'd like to believe that dreams aren't just things jumbled from your mind, but either another reality, a plane of existence... neither, or somewhere in between.
Here's an interesting article. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150123135112.htm It posits that metacognition is stronger in those who report lucid dreaming. Apparently if you lucidly dream often you're more self-aware, so to speak.
I researched a lot into Lucid Dreaming (actually the first proper story I started was based around a man discovering lucid dreaming), but the whole sleep paralysis side scared the shit out of me, so I didn't end up trying it.
My lucid dreams are more as if someone is playing a movie and I keep rewinding it and editing out or in whatever I did or didn't like. Like this: Say I was running from a monster and suddenly did not want to be running from a monster anymore, when I decide this my dream would "reset" itself. I go back to the moment the monster first appeared and resume activities, the monster just doesn't appear this time. So the monster (or whatever I'm "editing") can't simply disappear, and once I go back I have to relive the whole dream up to the point I stopped it at. I can't do this in all my dreams however, but I'll know it from the moment the dream starts if I can.
I've had a few lucid dreams. The problem is that once I realize I'm dreaming it becomes hard to hold onto the dream without waking up. The world around me starts deteriorating, things disappear, everything goes black but comes back like flickering lights, the world I'm in in general becomes smaller. Then the dream ends never very much after I first realized I was dreaming. Its hard to do anything useful in that minute and usually my methods of achieving goals in dreams are illogical. The first time I had a lucid dream I remembered that people like to fly in lucid dreams so I spent the minute I could hold onto the dream trying to conjure up a helicopter. It didn't work and when I woke up I felt stupid for not just flying. The next time I spent the first half jumping before I sprained my ankle in the dream and woke up concerned I wouldn't ever be able to walk in dreams again. The most interesting thing I did in a lucid dream was enter some office building and talk to a guy behind a desk. The conversation went something like this: "Hi, you are my subconscious!" "Why the f*** did you call me that? Get the f*** out." Then I woke up. I haven't had a lucid dream since then and that was over a year ago. Has anyone else tried to talk to their subconscious in a lucid dream?
