Thread: How do I get rid of doubt in a dream?

I like jumping off of things to fly. But that is just me.

If something doesn't work I convince myself that I did it wrong. For instance: I reached in my pocket to grab a redbull. It wasn't there! "Oh! of course it isn't there, I put it in my back pocket!" Then I pulled it out of my back pocket. It was not there before. I like to remember doing something in the past and using that. "Oh! I just left so and so over here!" "I flew like THIS" "I left my griffin over here."

I like to use fake dream memories like this. My non lucids do it to me all the time. i hope to learn how to use it to increase my ability to LD. Maybe remember what technique gives me 5 lucids a night. I dunno. We will see. That is why they call me a dreamer. haha.

In my experience, the best way to get rid of doubt is to rationalize whatever it is you are trying to do. Flying and summoning is a little tricky to do before you learn to get rid of doubt, so you should start with something more simple like running at super speed or smashing through walls. My first step happened after I was hit by a car in a dream, and was confident enough that nothing had happened that the impact didn't leave much more than a bruise.
You need to find the "magic macguffin" of sorts. That is, you have to find the one thing around which your basis of logic in the dream world will revolve. It helps to grab feasible forces from television (for example, using something like the idea of "ki") and convince yourself that when you are dreaming, the manipulation of that force will alter the world around you. My advice would be that you don't learn to control your dreams first, but control yourself. Have some interaction with whatever your subconscious mind decides to cook up. In time, you yourself will realize that "reality" doesn't necessarily apply in dreams.

Originally Posted by sanctum

I know it's not easy to suddenly convince my brain that the impossible is now possible, but I can't seem to get rid of that shred of doubt when I, say, imagine I'll round a corner and have a DC there.

If you are lucid in the dream... Then remember it is just a dream.

1) You can't be hurt so have fun. You are invulnerable in the dream state.

2) Move on to having Super Hero or God Like Powers. Start with small things and work your way up.

Once you know you are the dream just do what you want. Remember is is only a dream and nothing you do in it matters.

When I did lucid dreaming years ago, I was for a while not satisfied with my flying positions. They all seemed lame to me and unrealistic - yea, right, like there is a realistic way for a human to fly. I finally accepted them the way they were, and stopped being annoyed at the failure of my imagination to live up to my expectations, or rather it's limitations based on my expectations(?). And once I stopped being dissatisfied with my lucid dreams and just accepted them the way they were, I was a much happier person. Then at some point I did wind up having a dream in which I flew in a way that seemed to me much more satisfying, but at that pooint it was more of an added bonus and not a necessity. Does that make sense to you?

I just don't think about it, when it comes to things like flying. For instance most of the time after I become lucid and stabilize I just launch myself out of a glass window or something like that. On the downside of my flying I'm really good at changing left or right but I can't control how to go higher or lower, rather frustrating when I see a place I want to get to in my dreamscape but I can't for the life of me get there.

Sometimes trying to fly is weird aswell, instead of the usual 'superman' pose I sometimes have to flap my hands up and down like bird wings, but whenever its like this I have full control over going higher and lower I just laugh away as I'm doing it because of the pure ridiculousness of it.

Originally Posted by sanctum

So tell me, Forum, how do I convince myself that there is no spoon?

Perhaps just by getting amazed with the dream itself.

Long ago, I was stuck in some sort of thought once I became lucid, it was something similar to what happens to you, because nothing worked at all. Whenever I realized I was dreaming, it was the same "boring" place, which looked like in waking life. I wasn't able to perform any dream control there, because of I felt everything as it was in WL. My first choice was to start walking around looking for something different, but it was the same boring city, the same boring people, although they looked different, I knew it was the reflection of that boring place. I wanted to teleport using the door method but I always got to more boring places. All of it happened until I remembered some amazing non-lucids which took place there. It was not difficult to find a lot of connections, "the gates" which lead me there. So, in the next lucid I had, I went to one of those places and I was able to recreate the way I got those amazing non-lucids, I had a lot of doubts that moment, but it worked fine.

I took to the drealm flying right from the beginning, but what I do when I want something impossible to happen, is remember the obvious, that this is my subconscious imagination, so it only makes sense if I mix my active imagination into the scene it will become part of the drealm's reality. For example I want to levitate, I basically imagine a force lifting me so vividly that it becomes part of the dream, and I fly.

Personally i don't go for trying to tricking my subconscious into doing it for me, I find that gives me less control, instead it becomes more of a dialogue between my dreaming mind and my lucid mind. I find this method to be very versatile personally.

Originally Posted by sanctum

But I simply cannot control my dreams.

Then don't.

Is there a commandment from the dreaming gods requiring that a self-aware dreamer must be able to change things in her dreams just to have fun, and to learn? Not that I know of.

Forget about control for a time. Instead, just revel in your self-awareness, follow the action or moment of the dream your unconscious has supplied, and pay attention to all that you can. In other words, leave the dream alone, and nurture your Self, your presence in it, instead. Rather than change your dream, find beauty, joy, and fun in it as presented you, and remember that that presentation, that the entire universe around you, is being created by your own mind.

The funny thing is that if you do this you'll find that eventually you and your dreaming mind (your unconscious) will come to terms with the fact that this world in which you are wandering is "just" a dream, your dream, and simple control actions like leaving scenes, flying, and chatting with DC's will seem not only possible but downright sensible. Though these terms should come fairly quickly, given the frequency of your LD's, be patient.

Better yet, don't even be patient; just ignore the desire to control anything and pay attention to your self-awareness and memory. Control will come, but not if you force it. All the tricks and tips in the world will continue to fail if your expectations and memory are centered on whether or not you can exert control. Center them somewhere else, focus on building your self-awareness and memory until those negative expectations are long forgotten, and control will become a no-brainer.

LD'ing is a state of mind; not a technique. Control doesn't come from doing clever things; it comes from knowing that there are no clever things, only you. You must first remember there is no spoon, and avoid going about bending it after you've resolved its non-existence. Nestled in that self-awareness-fueled remembering is all the power for control you'll ever need.

Dear Sageous,
I just wanted to cry after that. There is something about those paragraphs that makes me look upon you as a god among lucid dreamers. You are a genius it seems, and you are a prime example of what I would like to be when I become as intelligent as you on the subject. Does anyone feel the same or am I just going crazy over this? This is the best advice I've ever heard.

^^ Aw, shucks...

Thanks for the kind words, and I hope your endorsement might get mine ever closer to being heeded (because that's always my hope; never to impress).

PS: And yeah, you might just be going crazy...

You need to change your mind and dreaming techniques to get rid of this dream.

hey im having a problem with my dreams. i feel pain. it feels like real life.

Originally Posted by snakebro101

hey im having a problem with my dreams. i feel pain. it feels like real life.

Me too. I have never really cared about pain in real life, but I can see how it would be a problem. It definitely makes fights a bit crazier. Breaking arms and stuff. Eek.

You should be able to get rid of it with dream control if you wish to.