Hey guys, so, as promised, I want to share my experience attempting to lucidly dream with you! I started my journey 10 days ago, writing this article to introduce you to what I'm doing:
https://steemit.com/cool/@biddle/learning-the-process-of-lucid-dreaming
To summarize, my goal is to begin to take control of my dreams and direct them how I would like. My purpose for doing this is to extend my creativity, increase productivity with problem-solving, and relieve stress while becoming more in touch with my subconscious and conscious mind. The main techniques I've been using in order to achieve lucidity are:
- A Dream Journal - I'm starting to log my dreams tonight and will update you all on my progress weekly (I don't want to bombard you daily with my musings, although I'll make exceptions if there is an especially hilarious, wonderful, or powerful dream, as I'd love to share anything cool with you!). Logging dreams can make you become better at remembering/noticing your dreaming state, which can lead to your conscious awareness in dreams.
- Reality Checking - I will be making habits to pinch myself occasionally, check clocks, etc. , as these things can act unnaturally in dreams. Clocks may have messed up faces; your hands may have more than or less than the correct amount of fingers.
- MILD Technique (Mnemonic Induced Lucid Dreaming) - I will be thinking the mantra 'I will have a lucid dream tonight' while I go to bed until I believe it. I will focus on ignoring bodily sensation and focusing on the process of falling asleep and dreaming lucidly, while utilizing visualization, as a practice to lead me to my lucidity.
I've utilized reality checking some, but I've definitely focused far more on the dream journaling and the MILD techniques. My results have been generally positive so far and I have definitely had a few lucid experiences in this time period. That being said, sometimes it can be hard to really tell if you're lucid or if you're in that state that is halfway between where you are consciously thinking about your dream but you seem to be being dragged through the plot rather than controlling it. If nothing else, I'm remembering better, remembering and fully experiencing dreams every night as I've begun this process. The dreams have also been a hell of a lot of fun and some great adventures!
I've included summaries of the dreams of the first week that I've experienced below and I've found that I was thinking a lot about martial arts for a period of a few days, likely due to my musings regarding the Floyd Mayweather/Conor Mcgregor fight and my passion for them since I was young. Those dreams occurred in the days surrounding that fight. I've put '-' in summaries where I don't want to share the content because it is too personal, whether that be due to memories of the past that I'd rather not share and/or adult content (maybe one day, readers!). I've also numbered within the summary if I had multiple dreams during the night that I remembered.
If you've had any cool dreams recently, please share them below, as sharing dreams is a lot of fun, since so much cool stuff can happen and it can be a lot like the synopsis of a short story (or a full short story if you really want to share a lot of detail!).
The themes of the dreams during each of these time periods were:
8/22-8/23 (Opening Night!):
- Was getting ready to fight some people at dusk with a fire poker because they were trying to invade my house.
- I was at a funeral for a horse and a family who is friends with ours, the Biddles, was there greeting me.
- I wrote down 4 dreams in a dream journal (weird was that this was during the dream and then I only had one more dream haha but this could have been self-fulfilling prophecy)
- I was caught at my job using a fake name and law enforcement officials were entering the building coming to arrest me.
8/23-8/24:
- I was leading a blind man around the city, Manchester, NH (it looked like, with some differences).
- I found jewelry in a box on a shelf in my old apartment from when I was a kid (the room seemed different, almost antique). I gave the jewelry to my mom because it was jewelry she lost. I had read something on a plaque on the wall which led me to the jewelry. This was the first time I achieved full lucidity, deciding where to go in my dream because of what I read on the plaque. I was able to focus in and read text, which let me decide on where I want to go in the dream!
8/24-8/25: -
8/25-8/26:
A swat team was coming to arrest my brother for something (I didn't know of him having done anything wrong) and my fear for him made me lucid really fast. I had to think because I wanted to protect my little brother from getting hurt inadvertently by the police while trying to surrender. I advised him to stay inside until I talk to them and let them in. I was able to get them to eventually and when they came in, they didn't do anything to him roughly, except they cracked his neck like a chiropractor which I filmed it with my phone in fear they were going to hurt him. Then, my mood changed when I saw they were just cracking his neck, which actually made him feel better. haha So, I was laughing and told them about the scene in Little Shop Of Horrors, where bill Murray asks for more pain from Steve Martin at the Dentist Office, since that kind of reminded me of it because my brother was happy with the neck crack. haha
8/25-8/26:
- I was trying to walk to the bathroom and the door started to shut on it's own and my fingers were nearly crushed. The near broken hand helped me achieve lucidity, since I had to use a lot of strength to stop it from fully shutting and hurting my hand. As I leaned in to pry my hand free, I heard an echoing demonic howl coming through the crack of the door. I shouted like a bark almost, in an attempt to assert my dominance and show that I'll fight it to the death (something I've been doing since I learned to be lucid during 'sleep paralysis' (old hag syndrome - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_paralysis ), something I chronically experienced as a kid. I woke myself up by doing this.
- I was driving to Maine for a circus (I wonder if that is related to the new 'It' movie coming out, which is about Derry, Maine [a fictionalization of Bangor, Maine]).
- I was driving through the city on a vehicle that was kind of a cross between a segway and a mini bulldozer. There was smoke and ash rising form the cracks in the pavement.
8/26-8/27: I had a dream about a discussion with a group of veteran sensei regarding my thoughts on the Mayweather/Mcgregor fight (whihc happened 8/26, right before bed this night) and was giving my ideas about fighting and my philosophy surrounding tactics, morality, etc. I also found a rock which, when opened, sparkled like the night sky. That was really cool. I wasn't very lucid this night, but I experienced it pretty vividly.
8/27-8/28: I was with my brother and friends in a mountain town that was at 15000 feet altitude waiting to climb a 15000 foot mountain (on that mountain, I guess, so it would have been a 30,000 ft mountain, which doesn't really exist in our world). We were hanging out on the street drinking sodas and a cop bumped into me and I apologized. I then started walking a few blocks down the street with my older brother and found a stray cat, which my brother wanted to bring to the shelter, but we couldn't right then. Then, a fight was gonna start it seemed, since everyone was rushing down the street, which had morphed into a hall. I yelled 'make sure you bring your best hat' and grabbed my celtics hat. i beat everyone to a stairway downward in the hall. Once I got to the basement, no one knew where to go, but I strayed away from the pack and found a secret door (we were in a mansion lobby, btw, once we got to the basement), which had an elevator behind it. I motioned some of my friends over and we got in the elevator where I went on a rant about 2 factor authentication and it's pros and cons until I woke up. haha
THANKS FOR READING! I'LL SHARE MORE OF MY EXPERIENCES AND LET YOU KNOW OF ANY GREATER LUCIDITY AND/OR PROBLEM SOLVING OR LEARNING EXPERIENCES I HAVE IN MY DREAMS! :)
AS ALWAYS, WISHES OF WEALTH AND HEALTH FOR ALL! :)