A (frustrated) beginers guide to dream control

[Kraftwerk]

I've had a few more lucid dreams, and I've had some findings about dream control. I figured I might try to write a tutorial __________________________________________________ _______________ What a lot of people don't realize about lucid dreaming is that the same techniques don't work for everybody, especially when it comes to dream control. This is the tutorial for someone who's frantically reading tutorials trying to figure out why they can't fly, summon things, use telekinesis. ETC. I can tell you what your problem is: You're overthinking dream control. You're trying to find some elaborate method to fly, or use telekinesis or teleport or what have you. You're trying to find some amazing way to make D.C.s bow to you're every whim. So here's the secret. You don't think about it. If you want to fly, fly. Don't focus on 'Turning off your Gravity Schema' or trying to rationalize it. Just lift off and fly. If you want to use TK, Just use tk. Will the object to move, don't think about it. Make your dream control natural, like walking or riding a bike. You don't think about either of those things do you? No you just do. There is an issue, you're probably saying now "WELL THIS WON'T WORK FOR EVERYTHING. I want to [Big Elaborate Dream Goal Here]." I will admit this won't work for everything, but you have to start small. You have to crawl before you can walk, and you have to walk before you can run. Its a progression. To summarize: Don't try to follow complicated tutorials like cusp's brilliant "Nature of Dream control if you've only just started. Don't over complicate or over think things. Practice Just do it.

[Puffin]

Nice guide! I can't stress enough the importance of just 'knowing' that you'll be able to fly, pick up a car, or do whatever else.

[Kraftwerk]

Nice guide! I can't stress enough the importance of just 'knowing' that you'll be able to fly, pick up a car, or do whatever else. Thanks, I wrote it from personal experience. I used to do exactly what I talked about: Try all sorts of hard things and over complicate it. Last night I realized the best thing to do is let all that go . (At least for beginners.)

[Viat]

I've looked at it this way for a while: I figure that our dreams are mostly controlled by our subconscious. This seems like a reasonable assumption given the small amount of control that we naturally have over them. (If our conscious actively controlled them, then I'd think that whatever we thought of whilst dreaming would immediately appear, and given the short attention span/rapid imagination of most of us, this would probably make for somewhat chaotic dreams) Assuming this idea, that our subconscious is directly in control, we're faced with the problem that we have no way of directly controlling our subconscious. So we need to find ways of influencing it, until such time as (at least in dreams) our conscious and our subconscious are cooperating. I've been experimenting with this idea for some time, and nowadays generally seem to have complete control over my dreams, though obviously I can't say that it's because of this viewpoint or because of practice. I'm going to assume my viewpoint henceforth though -- handily, assuming my viewpoint (given my viewpoint) reinforces my viewpoint. And I do think that it's belief/expectation (close enough the two) that plays a major part in determining what happens in our dreams. On this note, I've found that an effective method of bridging this subconscious/belief gap is wishing. Wishing has been (again making assumptions) a large part of most our cultures for some time, and so should be fairly ingrained as a subconscious belief. What I used to do was simply wish for something to happen, occasionally looking away or closing my eyes if my mind seemed reluctant for things to simply change "in front of my eyes". Once I got used to my wishes being fulfilled, it became easier to control things without actively "wishing" for it.

[Lucid-Balloon]

It is a better idea for beginners to do simple things in lucid dreams before doing complicated things.

[Kraftwerk]

There is an issue, you're probably saying now "WELL THIS WON'T WORK FOR EVERYTHING. I want to [Big Elaborate Dream Goal Here]." I will admit this won't work for everything, but you have to start small. You have to crawl before you can walk, and you have to walk before you can run. Its a progression. It is a better idea for beginners to do simple things in lucid dreams before doing complicated things. Thats what I meant there :p

[Indeed]

This reminds me of Nike's "Just Do It" ads.

[freakyDreamer]

Nice guide. I am still a beginner, have had 13 DILDs and 4 WILDs since I joined in November, which I when I learned about lucid dreaming. Since I started, I have been working on just getting a lucid dream. Now I have had 2-3 good ones. In the seconds good one, I WILDed into a dream, and had a false awakening, which my other 3 ended in, but I do an RC whenever I wake up, whenever I lie down in bed, and before and after a try to WILD, so I cought them. Well, right when I became lucid, I ran out of my room flapping my arms, and I just flew upstairs as easily as walking. 10 minutes later into my lucid, I tried to fly again, and couldn't. I tried really hard, but was unable to. I tried a few other things, and if I really tried hard, I couldn't. So yea, if you think about it, you probably won't be able too.

[sk8r4life7]

I tried flying the other night but i was in my room i jumped and floated longer than in waking life but not technically a fly. I have been trying to get people appear by walking around corners and thinking they will be there and they never will be. Any suggestions on that?

[LRT]

Don't think they'll be there, know they'll be there.

[Supernova]

Good guide. This attidute has certainly worked for me.

[lucidreamsavy]

This is a good guide- and it points out the obvious (in a good way ), which some of us need a wake up call for now and then. This is exactly what should be done- at first, but sometimes no matter how hard you try, something just doesn't work. I get that you have to believe it will, but sometimes you're just having an "off moment" and it just won't work, not that it will happen in all LD's. (Sorry for the thread advertising ) In my thread http://dreamviews.com/community/showthread.php?t=94274 I mention how stuff you want to happen/try to make happen just won't sometimes, and I give some other creative ways to solve these problems, but of course you should first do what Kraft's sayin! Sometimes, for me, I can just get what I want to happen, but not always, so I try a different approach, and it does work, so I guess I am then following some of your advice....just to not get frustrated! I don't let myself get frustrated, new approaches are very helpful.

[danny04274]

Don't over complicate or over think things. Practice Just do it. Just do it? Nike sayes that too Hmm . . . I had a lucid dream recently, and I tried to make some DC's (stands for Dream Characters, right?) appear by thinking of them appearing in front of me. I tried this twice, and it didn't work either time. The first time i tried, the person I was thinking of came up behind me. I was like The second time, I was in a house and tried thinking of the person, then I saw her walk by a window of the house but when I went outside I lost her. Maybe if I just let the dream flo, or didn;t try as hard to summon her it would've worked better. Anyway'z thanks, and ill definately try nxt time i lucid

[Glorfindel_III]

Dream control seems to be about visualizing for me. Imagine doing the thing you want to do before attempting it = ) Sometimes I can't fly like I want to, so I imagine myself being 'shot' from a catapult, and ZOOM: off i go.

[Fitz]

Hm... I think it's natural to try to devise a method first - even if it's just a habit from the waking world. It's like learning to ride a bike. At first all you can think about is your legs working fast enough to gain speed and keep your balance. And then there's the fear you will fall. But when you do learn to ride that thing, it becomes automatic. You don't think about the leg work any more. You think about where you want to go. Same with flying. The first time I flew, in my dream I came up with this crazy idea that in order to get off the floor I need to flap the sides of my jacket like wings. And that worked. But the second time around, I didn't have to do anything. I just thought: This is my dream and I want to go up. And that's what happened. Same with walking through walls. The first time around I found a way to push my hands and then the rest of my body through the wall - but the second time around, I just ran against the wall head first, and poof, I went straight through - and I was mid-air, flying. I keep forgetting about making it simple, myself. Hell, I keep forgetting my dreams goals and my favorite RC's while going lucid in my dreams. So most of my LD's are short and consist of hectic and pointless running around. But then, once in a while, I'll have this great, long, detailed dream, in which I learn a bunch of new skills and realize how easy things are.

[Monolith]

I'm new here, and I've only had about two LDs. In my last one, yesterday morning, I was in a big house full of people I didn't recognise. So I went to the front door and told myself that a certain person was going to be there. When I opened it, they weren't there. Instead was my grandma and one of my old horses. Finding it hard to grasp the idea of just knowing people are going to be there.