Thread: how do i go back to dreaming naturally?

ever since i was little, having nightmares led to me teach myself to control my dreams. I'd hug my stuffed animal while wishing to be somewhere safe, somewhere magical and I'd do this by saying it over and over again till it worked. being that i was little it wouldn't work for long, and I'd fall right back into my nightmare picking back up exactly where i left off. so anytime i had nightmares i would do this, but as i got older i realized if i do exactly what i normally do to stop having my nightmare that i could fall asleep and dream about whatever i wanted. i can control my dreams for a good few hours but then it seems like my awareness slowly fades as if my mind is getting tired and lets my the dream run on its own. almost like i get tired of controlling it. and now, doing this is a habit, i cant dream unless i start out controlling it....i don't know if that makes sense but if not I'll explain. its very simple. i just think about where i wanna be, who i want to be with, and what i want to be doing or what i want us to be doing. with doing this, it seems like theres nothing to be aware of because didn't i create this dream? didn't i create everything there like the whole setting? with that, in my head i tell myself what to do and or i'll tell the other person what i want him to do. sometimes i get distracted and whatever it was that distracted me makes me think of something else and i'll focus on thinking about that until i realize "hey, you distracted me from my nice dream. i dont care about this anymore i want to go back to my dream." and i'll rewind to where i left off. many times i'll end my dream or it just comes to a point when theres really nothing else left to do or left of this dream and it'll start over with alterations and a different ending. sometimes i get distracted and jump to something completely different but i kinda believe that thats just me. thats how my mind works when im conscious. it jumps from subject to subject in a matter of seconds (like just now) but anyway. i haven't had a crazy, random, adventurous, scary, or just plain natural dream in a very long time. i cant dream without thinking of them myself anymore. i think that started ever since i met my boyfriend. he's all i dream about and for the longest time i have the same kind of dreams almost every night. its probably because of my extreme desire for it to happen but i would like to dream about something else every once in awhile if not more. how should i go about doing this? what should i do to get back into dreaming naturally?