Day dreaming and lucid dreaming.

[Freddie]

First post, so please excuse me if this has been talked about before. I've been a lucid dreamer for as long as I can remember. From time to time I'll bring it up to friends and they will have no idea what I'm talking about when I say I can become conscious in my dreams and control them. That got me wondering why I would be able to do it naturally while so many people can't. I was wondering if there is a correlation between people who day dream and people who lucid dream. I've always been an avid day dreamer and I feel like there is a direct correlation between the two just from the similar feelings and experiences I get. I think there might be a mental block people put up to deter their minds from wandering toward ideas or feelings that might be considered taboo. Naturally this attitude would be decremental toward lucid dreaming, in my opinion. So I guess my question is, do you lucid dream yes or no? and do you day dream, yes/no?

[Puffin]

Hi Freddie, welcome to Dreamviews. I'm also a daydreamer, spending at least 2 hours a day thinking about different situations and scenarios. And, of course, stuff I want to do in my next lucids. I wouldn't say I'm a natural at it, but I did seem to pick up the techniques fairly quickly. I also agree with you on the "mental block" aspect of it; some people just don't understand the enjoyability in "knowing that you're dreaming" because they think it's taboo or silly. In a nutshell... Lucid dream - yes Day dream - yes

[Freddie]

Yeah, I'm always surprised at the lack of interest people have in the idea of lucid dreams. Some people seem uncomfortable even at the idea of it. By the way, I read your DILD guide and I thought it was one of the better guides I've read.

[Puffin]

Thank you! And yeah, it's unfortunate that people are missing out on a cool and unique experience. But then again it leaves more for us, as if lucid dreamers have their own sort of "group", like an exclusive club. Personally I've always liked being a part of something different.

[Roxy]

What exactly do you mean with ''day-dreaming''. Sometimes when i'm just thinking about something and my concentration is going to that thought I see what i'm thinking about. However i'm not quite sure if that is what you're trying to say.

[Puffin]

I think daydreaming is more along the lines of creating scenarios or stories, and visualizing stuff. If that's what you do, then yes, that's probably daydreaming.

[Freddie]

Well, it's probably different for everyone. I would consider what you explained as a day dream. I'll often split my attention. I'll be working but at the same time I might get into theoretical conversations with people in my head. This thread actually started as a day dream I was having. I wanted to test out how I thought people would respond compared to how people actually responded. Another example might be how your mind wanders while you're walking or jogging. Also I'll often sit down and just space out and let my mind wander with no particular purpose... that's usually when my wife will walk into the room, turn on the light, and say WTF? haha.

[Roxy]

I dont have the oppertunity to do this at work, since I have a job where i´m always busy helping customers, building and or doing the administration. I do go to school one day in the week though, and when i'm sitting alone reading a book I do infact see the scene wich i'm reading. Welcome Freddie!

[Freddie]

Thanks! Visualization isn't quite what I'm talking about. I guess I would describe day dreaming as consciously exploring what's in your head. For me this is the basis of lucid dreaming. Being conscious or aware of thought and feeling. I think if you can do that while being awake it's only a small step to doing it while dreaming.... that's my theory of why I'm able to have lucid dreams...

[Roxy]

I generaly dont have problems with lucid dreaming aswell. However after I joined DV alot of things in my life has changed (many in a good way) wich caused quite a lot of stress. I had to leave LD for awhile and only just picked it up this week. Back to day dreaming, I guess we were not on the same line and both talking about different experiences. I would love to day dream, but for now I guess i'm not able to.

[Peetee36]

I day dream a tremendous amount. I'll just sort of wonder and then realise 15 minutes that I've just thought of every possible consequence for something, or just played out a little story. Isn't really ideal to be honest, as it seems to have hindered my study. Although I don't have many Lucid dreams, so I'm not sure what the link is.

[Freddie]

Cool, out of curiosity, what methods do you two use to get into lucid dreams? was it something that just happened for both of you or did you need to work at achieving one?

[Puffin]

Cool, out of curiosity, what methods do you two use to get into lucid dreams? was it something that just happened for both of you or did you need to work at achieving one? I had two lucid dreams before actually looking up how to induce one, so I'm definitely not a natural. My technique is DILD, all by itself.

[Freddie]

I had two lucid dreams before actually looking up how to induce one, so I'm definitely not a natural. My technique is DILD, all by itself. What was the circumstance for your first two? I dunno, I think if you have had them without trying or really knowing what they were at the time that's pretty much being a natural at it, no? That's kinda how I started. I've become more comfortable with it over time. I can't do it on comand but I can set up the circumstances to increase the odds of it. For me it's often a strong emotion in my dream that triggers my lucidness or I'll wake from a dream to go to the washroom or my wife will semi wake me up when she wakes up to go to work. I'll remember the dream I was just having and I'll tell myself to continue the dream and when I do that I'll enter the dream lucid. I've never kept a journal, I never do RC. It's kinda intresting to hear how other people do it and how different everyone's routine is.... cool.

[Sweet Dreams]

I incubated dreams through some form of daydreaming.

[Raetin]

Being a natural at lucid dreaming is like having a lucid dream almost every single night, only had one before I looked it up. Day-Dreaming, I can do, but that only happens if I'm idle. Lucid Dreaming I can do, but only 5 LDs in 1.5 years??

[Freddie]

Wow, to have one almost every single night. That would require a lot of subtle control of your daily life. Are there people here who say they have lucid dreams almost every night for long periods of time? I might have 2 or three nights in a row with vivid lucid dreams but for me to have a vivid dream I need to have something particularly interesting or new happen in my life. The last dream I remember was on Wed. and was a typical lucid dream I might have. I was walking in a subway terminal, the atmosphere was hostile. I was trying to get somewhere but I wasn't making progress. This is when my conciousness kicked in. I told myself to pick up the pace of the dream, I will very rarely take over a dream completely. I like to steer the dream but not necessarly change what my subconsious is doing. At that point a DC attacked me, tried to mug me in the subway. I was amused, kinda like "you do know this is my dream right?" I then put the DC in a Muay Thai clinch and started kneing him in the liver. I was very carefull to use the proper technique though. I made sure my hands were clasped around his neck properly, that I was thrusting my hips forward as I kneed him in a stabbing motion to his midsection etc. (Ive been reading a bunch of books on mixed martial arts lately) Then I was worried I was moving around in bed too much and that I'd wake up my wife and that woke me up, not completely though just enough that I realized I was paralized. Then I went back into a dreamless sleep. I'm quite sure that if I tried to change the dream completely as soon as I became lucid I would have woke myself up. For me not every dream is stable enough to turn into a sceen from "Inception" or the "Matrix". I would wager that if there are people who can turn any dream into a fanasy world it wouldn't be from "natural ability" alone and a lot of work would be involved.

[imj]

It depends on what your daydreams are based on. Are they based on real events or real things and then you add your own twist to what already is or is it entirely fictitious that has no real grounding to anything real or it is based entirely on what really happened or is happening. I find that the more reality based the daydream is the more likely it would enter the dream state and that is provided it has a high emotional level to it. If your referring to the usual gaze into empty space and then the mind wanders into daydream...then no it has no effect on sleep dreams because daydreams alone do not have the visual or physical feel that the mind needs to store and dream it. But that's my experience and findings... IMJ

[Freddie]

It depends on what your daydreams are based on. Are they based on real events or real things and then you add your own twist to what already is or is it entirely fictitious that has no real grounding to anything real or it is based entirely on what really happened or is happening. I find that the more reality based the daydream is the more likely it would enter the dream state and that is provided it has a high emotional level to it. If your referring to the usual gaze into empty space and then the mind wanders into daydream...then no it has no effect on sleep dreams because daydreams alone do not have the visual or physical feel that the mind needs to store and dream it. But that's my experience and findings... IMJ I'm not trying to suggest that what you day dream about you will lucid dream about. I'm just suggesting that people who day dream regularly are predisposed to being able to lucid dream.

[imj]

I'm not trying to suggest that what you day dream about you will lucid dream about. I'm just suggesting that people who day dream regularly are predisposed to being able to lucid dream. I know what you meant but I'm not seeing any increase in lucid dreams or any near each other as a result of frequent daydreaming. IMJ

[Freddie]

I'm not talking about the frequency of having lucid dreams either, simply the ability. Are people who can't have lucid dreams simply not establishing a connection to their subconscious while they are awake? Can you create a connection to your subconscious while you are a sleep without first doing it while you are awake? From what I've read, when you try to teach someone to have lucid dreams you get them to keep a dream journal and do reality checks. Both those activities help create a bond between your conscious and subconscious mind.... no? I find that relationship between the conscious and subconscious interesting. We can create a kind of reverse lucid dream while we are awake. Top athletes do it all the time. The common term for it is finding your zone. It's basically getting your conscious mind out of the way to let your subconscious perform a task. By releasing your conscious thought from the equation your body is then able to perform to it's capabilities. Reaction times are quicker etc.