A different need for lucid awareness

[Wh00ps]

Hi People... New user... First post... Be gentle... I will start off by saying I am not new to lucid dreaming - I have been able to do it since I was about 15. I don't have any practiced techniques nor do I aim to LD. I do not follow the normal pattern of sleep, that is, I do not go through all of the stages involved in sleep. Unfortunately I have the uncanny knack of being able to enter REM sleep within seconds of falling asleep. Therein lies the problem and my practical need to have lucid awareness of the dream state. My brain sometimes forgets to paralyse my body to stop me acting out my dream or when it does do the job properly it forgets to undo it when I wake up. This also means I can dream and get out of bed or wake up and be paralysed. Great! (before you get worried, this is a known condition relating to narcolepsy etc). My problem is that I often go to bed I lay down, switch off the lights and close my eyes.... then I remember! I haven't done something! so I immediately switch the light back on and proceed to do whatever it was. The problem is that I am usually in an REM sleep state at this point (even though I am physically up and about). Because I fall into REM sleep so quickly my brain sometimes fails to paralyse my body and I am able to get out of bed and interact with the real world. It is important for me to recognise that I am dreaming as well as being awake because I often start dreaming odd things.... For instance, I went to bed once, and immediately remembered that I had forgotten to take out my contact lenses. I went to the bathroom and tried to take them out, but I could not find them. I could not see any contact lenses in my eye or anywhere in the bathroom. I started to panic, worrying the lenses had travelled into the back of my eye. I was poking and prodding my eye whilst looking in the mirror when I realised the scene didn't feel right and that I was not familiar with this practise. That is the point at which I realised that I was dreaming and that I didn't wear contact lenses and I had never worn contact lenses.... mad huh. Now this was a fairly innocent situation but suffice to say I often have nightmares which are not the best thing to be dreaming about - when you are frightened normal logic goes out of the window and you fail to spot check reality and realise you are dreaming whilst being up and about. If you have read this then you can see why I have a practical need to be able to spot signs and be lucid... does anyone here have a similar problem or has anyone any suggestions? Huzzah!

[Krrish]

Hi Wh00ps.... Welcome to DV ... Originally posted by Wh00ps My problem is that I often go to bed I lay down, switch off the lights and close my eyes.... then I remember! *I haven't done something! *so I immediately switch the light back on and proceed to do whatever it was. *The problem is that I am usually in an REM sleep state at this point (even though I am physically up and about). *Because I fall into REM sleep so quickly my brain sometimes fails to paralyse my body and I am able to get out of bed and interact with the real world. *It is important for me to recognise that I am dreaming as well as being awake *because I often start dreaming odd things.... *For instance, I went to bed once, and immediately remembered that I had forgotten to take out my contact lenses. *I went to the bathroom and tried to take them out, but I could not find them. *I could not see any contact lenses in my eye or anywhere in the bathroom. *I started to panic, worrying the lenses had travelled into the back of my eye. *I was poking and prodding my eye whilst looking in the mirror when I realised the scene didn't feel right and that I was not familiar with this practise. *That is the point at which I realised that I was dreaming and that I didn't wear contact lenses and I had never worn contact lenses.... *mad huh. Isnt this a False Awakening ? Wait.... The lucid gurus will be soon here to help you.

[Wh00ps]

No because I am really in the bathroom and I am really looking in the mirror.... It is like sleep walking but more lucid.

[Theotherguy]

I have this every now and then..usually accompanied by night terrors. I don't know what to tell you. I just lock all my doors so I won't get into trouble or start reading something until I get out of REM.

[Wh00ps]

Hi Theotherguy, How do you know you are asleep though? My problem is that when I am asleep the real world convinces me I am not asleep. I can't do spot checks because I am interacting with the real world and any slight deviation (such as something floating by) I seem to accept blindly... especially if it floats by then I think "oh no, it's coming right at me! )!" If I go to the light switch - it WORKS (because it is real) so that just adds to my misconception that I am awake. I need something to help me decide whether I have fallen into REM sleep before I imagine a ghost, a HUGE spider or a knife wielding murderer... in which circumstances I usually run like hell (usually the adrenalin rush and my escaping to safer territory (even if it is just another room) is enough for me to rethink the liklihood of what is happening and I then figure out what is going on and go back to bed. But I have been unfortunate enough to do stupid things.... i.e. to leap down the stairs whilst being attacked by a symbient creature that wanted to control my body (yeah yeah, I am screwed up in my dreams)... Because it was attached to me, I could not escape from the dream - it followed me... I wasn't able to rationalise my situation until I had physically torn the thing from my side and thrown it and ran into safe territory at which point I was able to reconsider the likelihood of the situation. It was at that point I realised I had injured myself quite badly and had to go to hospital. That was fun explaining.... My parents thought I was insane. I woke them up.... they came to see what was wrong... I was saying something about a creature that attacked me - they thought I was awake.... my dad couldn't find the thing... My interaction with them helped me to wake up. I feel like a psycho explaining it out like this because it sounds like I am hacing hallucinations - but I am not... it is just a dream.

[mongreloctopus]

So...You are dreaming but you can still see and hear everything from the real world? I'm confused--I didn't think that it was possible to experience the dream world and the waking world and interact with both without the help of psychedelics or insanity/confusion.

[Dust Mote]

Very interesting problem. First, it seems that though you are familiar with Lucid Dreaming you are not in fact lucid during these episodes of yours. What actually happens when you become lucid in a dream? Do you immediately wake up? Can you take control of the dream? Secondly, I don’t get the idea that you are actually sleep walking, you are just dreaming that you are in the real world, so locking you doors isn’t going to help. It seems the answer is to gain greater awareness of being in a dream. You say Reality Checks like the light switch don’t’ work. How about trying something more dramatic like sticking the index finger of your right hand thru the palm of your left hand? Flying? Get some Reality Checks that you know can only happen in a dream. Start a list of Dream Signs like: being attacked by a symbient creature that wanted to control my body. Really pay attention to the things that could only happen in a dream. And another thought: do you play a lot of video games, watch a lot of TV? If so, lay off for a while, see if that helps.

[Neruo]

Wow that's some weird shit you have there, with the walking-around dream stuff you have... I don't adive mastrubating in your dreams, lol. What was the question, I forgot, lol.