Hey guys.

I'm starting this new thread because I think it has some worth... I've been trying to have a Lucid Dream for a month now. No success, but I know the necessary steps in order to achieve one. So, if you want advice, that's fine.

For those of you who don't know what Lucid Dreaming is, it's where you're having a dream... but you know you're dreaming. You are aware- and thus you can have full mental faculty over the content of your dreams. Basically meaning that you can control what happens. It's supposed to be a super coll experience.

So yeah.
If you want advice, just ask. If you've had a lucid dream before, and want to share what it was about, feel free to. If you are working towards having one, post your progress. Anything and everything about lucid dreams you can post here.

As Morpheus said in The Matrix:
Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream. How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?

I've actually done this a couple of times accidentally. It was really weird though since I had no clue what I was doing. Now that I understand more about lucid dreaming, I wouldn't mind trying to do it purposefully. Do you have any advice on how to aim for it on purpose?

I hear you need to devise a mental trigger that makes you know for sure you're in a dream... like focusing on something that would be out of place... or maybe if you analyze your past dreams, there's something reoccurring that happens that might tip you off that it's a dream. But I dunno anything further about training myself to do it. What have you learned regarding steps?

As for previous experiences... they're all short-lived. My brain tends to try to destroy the dream almost the moment I become aware in it. Either the picture distorts or some other kind of trickery. The most elaborate was when my brain kept teleporting me back to my bed to make me think I had woken up from the dream and now this was real and the lucid dream was over. It took me a while (shorter each time), but I eventually would figure out the trick and it looped back again. After several attempts, my brain must have given up or something, because then it just generated a loud and annoying ringing in my ears to force me awake for real. This is something that always happens when I become aware inside a dream. I get that noise that breaks the dream entirely. Any idea how to overcome that in stay in the dream? I never even really get to try and do anything. I'd love to feel out the dream work and explore it consciously.

does this count, sometimes i relize im in a dream and forcfully close my eyes, then i wake up, i have had dreams where my mom tells me to do something, i go to do it, wake up to her telling me that whatever in the dream she asked me and said that i fell asleep, also i've had a triple nightmare before.

pika123 : Simply realizing you're in a dream qualifies as becoming Lucid. The paradox with your mom telling you what to do is a little strange, that seems like a dream within a dream within a dream, although those are extremely rare. Consider yourself lucky. As for having a triple nightmare, I'm really sorry. That seems like the most horrible thing ever. I had a double nightmare the other day. Hey, at least it was only a dream.

Crazy Li : Failed summon, but also a little bit of advice on my own in reality checking, that in dreams you cannot feel pain. If you pinch yourself every once in a while and you feel pain, you are awake. If you pinch yourself in a dream though, you will not feel pain. This is also another way to know if you are dreaming or not.




Anyways, a lot of the time I try to lucid dream, but fail. However when I do lucid dream, I actually use these lucid dreams to help me construct my stories. I will literally form characters in my dream from the ground up, have them interact with me and stuff, and see if I like them as they are with a character. I will also envision places for my stories in my dream, sometimes landscapes, or complete towns. With this I can literally have a complete 3D map in my head of what my worlds in my stories will look like. I always write these ideas down when I wake up with a notebook and pencil nearby immediately, so that I am sure that I will not forget. I will literally know my characters right down to their muscle mass inside my head. It's actually kind of cool. I mean, I'm sure nobody will care about how much muscle or exactly how much every single one of my characters look right down to the very finest of all details, but it still very neat and helps me bond with my characters in the world for my stories.

Xenthou : thanks, what happened what she told me to pick up my bag or something, i went to do it, woke up to her saying that she told me to pick up my bag and then i went to sleep after she said to pick up the bag, i just was confused about it, but thank you.

Sairek Ceareste Actually, the pinching method is ineffective. With a very rare bunch of people, it will work, but with 90% of people it will not. This is because in a dream, if you were to decide to pinch yourself, your brain is so used to the pain signals, that your dream self feels pain, and carries on with whatever you were doing. I know this because I tried it for a period of time; and I actually pinched myself in a few of my dreams, but did not become lucid. I have the pinches on record in my dream journal.

pika123 : Ah, no problem. If you need an other help, just ask.

Oldschool41 : Yes, when you become lucid, it is the notion of most people to control their dreams. I don't blame you for doing the same. It is very difficult. Think of it this way: A dream may feel like a blob of "stuff" that you have to do whatever you want with. If you were handed a blob of moldable material, such as clay, but more flexible, you would probably just sit there and play with it. After that would come a period of time where you just sat there, thinking of what you want to do with it. Then comes the phase where you build masterpieces out of the blob.
It works the same way with dreams. You will play around with them, and this will have little effect. Then you won't really know what to do with your dreams. With a lot of playing though, you will eventually develop better control over your dreams. When you achieve this kind of control, you can do as many things as you can imagine, and set fantastical sidestories that go along with your dreams. You can fly, walk through walls, conjure any item you would think to have, summon any person your brain can think of, literally change the scene at will, or teleport anywhere. It takes a lot of practice in order to do this, however, keep trying the way you're trying, and I'm sure you'll develop the mental capacity for full dream control.

Xenthou : Yeah I'm sure I can after a period of time. I guess the only issue is that if my subconsince has a fear that is psychological and can easily manifest in my dreams would me making my dreams lucid help out with my inner fears.

jih: Ah, that's funny! I had a sort of similar dream about this big pool of water that was tainted and polluted, and it all drained away like a flush of a toilet, and was replaced with sparkling, bright blue, clean water. I think it may have symbolized something, although I'm not sure.

Xenthou : Wow... those are some neat tips. I never realized that your habits while awake might carry over to the dream world. If I keep doing reality checks while awake, I'll do it while asleep just out of habit? That's interesting to know.

Usually I can't notice things out of place in my dreams. When I'm dreaming, it doesn't occur to me that certain things can't be real. I only realize it when I wake up. Like for one, my dreams are VERY blurry. If I looked at my self in the mirror, I probably wouldn't even see anything. I can never see the faces of others or any real clear defining details... yet I know who they are anyway. All I get is a vague, humanoid shape of a person. I also can't read text because it never shows up clearly. The only rare exceptions are stuff like 2 nights ago when I had a dream that I overslept for work and I looked at the clock and saw it was after my shift was supposed to start. The numbers on the clock were INCREDIBLY clear... but after I woke up, I realized that everything ELSE was even more blurry than normal... like all of the focus went into the clock and that took way from the clarity of every other object in the scene. But in the dream, I wasn't able to notice this.

Sairek Ceareste : You can definitely feel sensations in dreams. I've had dreams (lucid and not) where I distinctly recall feeling things. My sense of touch was very much working within the dream world so long as it was a sensation that I already knew how it felt.

Oldschool41 : I heard that you first begin lucid dreaming, you shouldn't try to control too much. Just let the dream happen and experience it. All you should really be controlling is yourself until you get the hang of things. A common mistake people make is like if they see a door, they go to open it and try to force something they'd really want to behind it... but if they're not used to lucid dreaming, they'll fail and they might get something undesirably like a monster or a knife flying out at them or something. The more practice you have, the better able you'll be to actually summon stuff into your dream and fully control every aspect of it.

Crazy Li : Yeah your right. I just don't like how all my dreams have me dying in them becasue well I don't want to die (nobody does) and like anyone else they want to determine how they want to die (at least I believe so).

I have a question, what happens when you don't have a dream in a while, also do you belive in dream catchers to prevent nightmares/i do.

pika123 : How do you know whether or not you actually had a dream? Most people who say they didn't have any dreams last night just fail to remember them. I know that most times, I lose the memory of a dream rather quickly. Maybe I remember a little when I first wake up, but as I go about the day, it fades more and more. I only remember things clearly if it REALLY stood out in some way. And obviously if it was lucid, I would remember that because my awareness of the dream was sharper at that time. If you're not aware you're dreaming, it's easier to forget.

Wow thanks for the tips Xenothou! I've been meaning to look into this for a while as I could never understand why everyone around me enjoys sleep so much, I've always thought of it as an unavoidable 1/2 day of doing nothing but if I can get this down... 8| endless possibilities....