I had a lucid dream last night! (Long, and probably boring!)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

It was so incredibly cool, I feel I must share.

A bunch of people and I were cleaning up a mess. A really big mess. A mess of the sort and scale that I hope that none of you ever have to deal with in real life. It involved bodily fluids, and that is all I’m willing to say about it.

At some point, I looked up and said, “This mess is just ridiculous. This must be a dream.” Everyone else looked at me, but nobody denied it. Usually, my recollection of dreams (including this one) is kind of fuzzy, but I remember that moment very distinctly, all the sensations, the details of the room I was in, my exact thought process at the moment. I thought to myself that if it was a dream, it was incredibly realistic, because the world didn’t feel any different; everything seemed quite real and detailed. I don’t recall the dream before or after that moment as clearly, and I know there were some shifts of scene during the dream, with people appearing and disappearing.

I just went back to cleaning up the mess, but then I thought, well, hell, if it really is a dream, I should be able to control things. So I tried to fly. (I don’t go around doing this when I’m awake; trust me.) It didn’t work. So I tried something easier, levitating a leaf. And it worked! I pointed it out, and no one beleived that I was levitiating it–just the wind, they said. I tried it on a couple of people, too. For one it didn’t work, but I could levitate the rest of them by pointing my palm at them and concentrating. No one seemed particularly suprised at this.

Then I tried to fly. I couldn’t just think, “Okay, now, fly!” Instead, I concentrated on changing the world around me. I had to look up and see clouds above me, then make the clouds get closer, then part as I passed by. I looked down and caused the landscape to shrink away below me. Neither of these effects were particularly convincing–they looked like bad animation. But I definitely felt like I was flying.

So it was very cool. Unlike other possibly-lucid dreams I’ve had, this time, I didn’t wake up upon realizing I was dreaming, and I definitely was in control. Sometimes I think I’ve had lucid dreams, but I wasn’t able to change anything or, rather, it didn’t occur to me to try, so I was left wondering was it really a lucid dream, or did I just dream that I was lucid? (Is that a paradox?)

Anyway, you may be asking, what’s my secret?

The answer is that last night my hubby made me watch “Dreamscape,” a really bad 80’s sci fi movie with Dennis Quaid as a psychic who could enter people’s dreams who fights the guy who played Tin-Tin in “The Crow” who was an evil psychic who could do the same thing.

I don’t know if that’s what made me able to dream lucidly. If it is, and that’s the only thing that works, that was suck, because I don’t want to see that movie again, ever, thanks, but I do want to try this lucid dreaming thing again!

2

That’s really cool Podkayne. I’ve had lucid dreams before and it’s fun. One way that’s recommended for having a lucid dream is to suggest to yourself every night before falling asleep that you will have a lucid dream. By doing that, I can usually have such a dream within a couple of weeks of starting. Also, it helps to give yourself a task to do in the dream, such as looking at one of your hands. In addition to the reminders right before sleep, give yourself the suggestion during the day when you remember to.

3

I’ve tried a few of the tricks, like training myself to ask, “Am I dreaming?” and recognizing recurring themes in my dreams, but never had much luck. This kinda came out of the blue. I haven’t even been keeping up my dream journal.

I guess it’s just the magic of Dennis Quaid.

4

If you want to have lots of fun, remember that there’s no easy or hard in your dreams. If you expect something to be difficult it will be. If you try to concentrate really hard on something, you’re assuming that it requires a lot of concentration and effort right?

5

Not boring at all, Podcayne! Very interesting, in fact. I’m jealous – when I watched Dreamscape, the only thing I dreamed of afterward was doing it with Dennis Quaid… Of course, I’m just a pig :wink:

6

More information on lucid dreams: http://www.lucidity.com/ [They have an institute for everything.]

I’ve only been able to do this a couple of times, but I think the whole idea is fascinating. Usually, right after I realize I’m dreaming I get so I excited that I forget about it and the dream continues as “normal.”

Here are two that I can remember:

The last time this happened I was dreaming about my grandparent’s house. I was in the dining room and noticed the wallpaper was red. As I walked out of the room I thought, “That wall paper’s not supposed to be red.” And when I went back in it had changed to beige. I figured I was dreaming and got so excited that I ran outside to find someone to tell, but by the time I got there I had already forgotten about it. Oh well.

When I was about seven or eight I had a dream that I was in the back yard of Sanford and Son [I knew it was their yard because I could see an old pick-up truck with scrap in it]. Suddenly the ground gave way and I was falling through this dark hole. I thought “A hole in Sanford and Son’s back yard? This has got to be a dream.” And I woke up.

Weird.