Topic: Lucid Dreams

[Stogi]

I've been having lucid dreams on and off for about 4 years, but it wasn't till this new year that I've had more than all the previous years combined.

Lucid dreams are probably the coolest, scariest things that can be imagined. On one hand, it's cool to try and push the limits of your imagination by suddenly switching the environment or trying to fly; on the other hand, it lets you dwell deep into your personality and can show you what you are truly scared of.

I've been able to find what makes me realize I'm dreaming (the crucial step towards lucid dreaming) and it's one of two things; music and meditation. If I hear music, I will always try to change it; or if I feel the need to quiet my surroundings, I'll start to fold myself into a meditation pose. Either way, it's at that moment that I start to float.

What I haven't been able to make progress in, is the ability to spend a good amount of time lucid dreaming. Every time I have lucid dreamt, the world around me becomes so fragile and I can't maintian the illusion of my dream, so I wake up. I'm pretty sure it has to do with my consciousness interacting with my subconsciousness, and it's such a weird experience that my brain chooses to wake up every time.


Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has experienced this phenomenon and if they know how they triggered it.

[ShyGuy]

Edit: stupid time warp.

I control my dreams to an extent almost every time I dream now. I recently wrote a short story in my dreams. What triggered it? I think years of daydreaming as I was falling asleep.  

[IceCold]

I've had this happen once.. I was doing something that I knew was wrong, but I realised it was a dream, so I continued. It hasn't happened since though, and I have no idea what triggered it.

[Bill Aurion]

Auuugh, I would like to at least REALIZE I'm dreaming when I am...I think the problem is that I escape reality so much that I'm intertwined with my imagination, and thus more willing to believe it's real... =(

[Stogi]

Quote
Originally posted by: Bill Aurion
Auuugh, I would like to at least REALIZE I'm dreaming when I am...I think the problem is that I escape reality so much that I'm intertwined with my imagination, and thus more willing to believe it's real... =(

Yup. That's exactly what use to happen to me. My dreams, no matter how ridiculous they were, always seemed real enough. It wasn't till I actively tried to find the things that were off that I have been able to lucid dream.

And ShyGuy, I've had a similar experience except I wrote a new song. It was by far the coolest song I've ever created, but I can't remember it for sh!t. Can you remember your short story?

EDIT: What the hell happened to this thread?!

Oh and IceCold, that's an excellent way to know your dreaming.

[ShyGuy]

Sure, I wrote it down in the weeks following.

I just had a dream last night where I was in an underwater cave with a sealab built into it. I added a whirlpool in the middle at the end to add drama.

[vudu]

I've been doing this for years.  I didn't realize it was unique until very recently when I saw an infomercial for some guy who teaches a seminar on how to control your dreams.

Most of my dreams involve video game/action movie plots where I'm the ass-kicking hero and I have to save someone from hordes of (a) zombies, (b) mindless henchmen, (c) robots, or (d) some combination of the three.  I'm 100% serious here.

[KnowsNothing]

Last year almost every dream I had was lucid, but recently it's slowed down.  Plus, I only have a vivid dream maybe once every two weeks, so I don't have many opportunities for lucid dreaming anymore.  It's pretty awesome when it happens though, my favorites were the ones where I could breath underwater.

[Plugabugz]

I had this dream last month, where i was on a plane going to new york and i told the stewards that i forgot my passport.

How did i get on the plane?

[Sessha]

I've only had a real lucid dream maybe 3 times in my life.  There are times when I know I'm dreaming but am unable to control anything in it.  I would say the worst dream I had was any nightmare with a clown but I had a dream I attended all my morning classes, That day was terrible it was like sitting through it twice.

[Gylldas]

The last dream I was really aware about was a couple months ago.  It started with me in my dorm room getting a text message from my friend saying that I was late for class.  Simple enough....until I realize that I'm not using my own cell phone.  (keep in mind that this happened during a nap between classes)  Realizing that I'm dreaming I tried to get myself to wake up.  I succeeded, or so I thought as I woke up in my dorm room again, but still with the wrong cell phone.  I started to panic a little, which might have sparked the tornado coming out of nowhere right at my dorm.  Blah blah blah...

To make a long story short, I'm stuck in my dream until my alarm goes off to wake me up.
One of the most crackpot dreams I've ever had.

---
Typos bug me >_>

[decoyman]

I only become lucid in dreams when something really messed up is happening. The first time this happened, I remember I was dreaming about being hunted by vampires. With the vampires catching up to me, and ready to attack me, I realized... hey, this isn't real. I'm dreaming, I can just wake myself up. And I woke myself up.

Unfortunately, that's the only time I seem to "use" my lucidity in a dream - when I need to wake up because bad stuff's going down. I wonder if we consciously tried to dream lucidly if that would affect our success at it... I seem to just go along with the flow in most of my dreams, but I wonder if I went to sleep every night thinking, "I'm going to control my dreams tonight," if that would help...

I know remembering dreams can be aided by thinking hard about the dream immediately after you wake up. Just recounting the story and details in your head, even, can help you retain your dreams. There's even the little trick I read about in a dream analysis book (dream analysis might be bunk, but the technique might still work even if you're not concerned with dream analysis) that was to say to yourself, "As soon as I take a drink of water, I'll remember my dreams." Then, just keep a glass of water on your bedside table, and take a drink when you wake up, saying the same thing again (in your head is ok, too).

So any of you who say you don't dream, maybe you actually do, but you're just accustomed to not remembering them unless they were really whacked out.  

[Darkheart]

First things first 95% of my dreams are nightmares...

If I ever have a lucid dream only one of 2 things will happen. . .

#1) Realize I am in my own dream, thats it.  I will run up and talk to people and be like "Hey do you know where you are?"  and they will say "Um . . no . . ." and then I will reply "YOU ARE IN MY DREAM"  and no one will believe me. . .  On another note, even though it is a lucid dream I have no power to say OOH I CAN FLY or WATCH ME CHANGE MY DREAM.  It just continues on.

#2) If I have a lucid dream in a nightmare I will just realize that I have to die to wake up plain and simple. . . so whatever is trying to kill me I just lie down on the ground and say "just do it."  Though apparently people say I wake up screaming " DO IT JUST KILL ME JUST KILL ME NOW "~!  Which I am sure inst so comfortable for the people that sleep around me. . .

[ShyGuy]

Quote
Originally posted by: darkheart

95% of my dreams are nightmares...

I wake up screaming

KILL ME JUST KILL ME NOW "~!

darkheart INDEED

[decoyman]

Quote
Originally posted by: KashogiStogi
And ShyGuy, I've had a similar experience except I wrote a new song. It was by far the coolest song I've ever created, but I can't remember it for sh!t.

"This is not the greatest song in the wor-hurld. No. This is just a tribute.
Couldn't remember-er-errrr the greatest song in the wor-hurld yayaaeah NO! This is a tri-bu-ute oohhh...
to the greatest song - in the world, ahh alright... it was the greatest song in the world... allllllright..."

(fligagiga, fligagiga)  

And the peculiar thing is this, my friends, the song we sang that fateful night it didn't actually sound anything like this song!
This is just a tribute, you've gotta believe me, and I wish you were there, just a matter of opinion. Rahha faaaahhh!"

Tenacious D's song has never seemed more fitting. LOVE that song: it's awesome in a bun, slathered with awesome sauce, and deep-fried in a cast-iron cauldron of bubbling awesome.

[ThePerm]

every once in a while, i'll have a semi lucid dream...whereas i'll have some control, but the world screws back.Like I'll call forth a vehicle, and it will be a tour bus, i get on the tour bus and it takes me where I don't want to go. I call forth a beautiful women and wake up.

the last lucidish dream i had was I was in a student union and I saw this copy of Zelda, now i realised i had a choice. Steal it or not. There were Nintendo T-shirts, but i decided to steal just the game. Stealing anything more would be risky. I had to avoid security. So I managed to get out through the bottom door of the union on the bottom floor. Normally this door is closed off, but during some occasions its open. There is no detectors for the bottom floor. So i grab the game and I head off to my car, acting cool like james bond, avoiding campus security on golf carts. I try looking for my car and I can't find it. I decide well i'll head home and come back for my car. I start walking and suddenly i'm walking through a mall. Like that makes any sense. Then I walk out of the mall and start heading westward. I see some thugs, but avoid them. Theres this fence. I decide that i can get by faster by jumping on the fence and swinging on it sideways like donkey kong. I'm going along thefence super fast. Suddenly it changes from an industrial zone into something rural. Inside the fence I see some bulls, i just keep swinging along. Then I see theres a bull on my side of the fence thats out of his pin. I start going even faster. He comes at me and I kick him. Behind me along the fence is a road. When I kicked him he went flying towards a semi and is thus ended. I wake up and I don't have my copy of zelda.