Thread: Do people in real life know you practice the art of lucid dreaming?

I can only recally talking to a few random friends (not best friends or really close or anything :p) And I liked lucid dreaming on facebook so I guess there is maybe one or two people lol but I havent brought it up with my family.

All of my friends and my immediate family know that I lucid dream. Though I haven't managed to get any of them to show interest in it. Oh well.

I sometimes get mocked because of it :/

Friends: Really, I don't have any, discluding my boyfriend. There is a guy I talk to online I guess I consider a friend, and I've told him about lucid dreaming. I actually found out he lucid dreams regularly without trying but he doesn't try to do anything and doesn't care. It's infuriating...

Boyfriend: Knows of course, but isn't interested in trying it himself. Thinks it's pointless since everything achieved never leaves your mind, you aren't actually doing anything. If he had a choice, he'd choose to lucid dream rather than not, but he doesn't think it's worth the effort.

Family: I'm not sure if they know. I've brought it up at dinner a couple times, but it was more awkward than anything. They react in an 'oh' way and change the subject. I guess they just don't care, and I wouldn't be surprised if they've forgotten about it or assumed I've stopped. I did mention a 'dream forum' I'm a part of, for some reason, I forget why, to my mom, but she didn't question me further on it. My brother would probably assume I'm trying to do something abnormal on purpose so that I can feel special for being different, and that I'm bringng it up for the same reason.

A few years ago I mentioned it to my psychology teacher and she was fascinated by it. I sort of wish more people in 'real life' were like her.

PS. I'm glad I'm not the only person who intuitively wants to refer to non-internet-life as 'real life'.

Well my brother does it every now and then. I have told any close friend that will listen. First friend I told didn't want to hear about it, she hated me talking about it, that was like over 5 years ago. I tried to get a few friends I'd sleep over with to write down their dreams or something, they ultimately had not much interest either.

Then I became friends with a guy in high school and we went camping once in his backyard for fun. I was telling him about how awesome lucid dreaming was and looked over and saw that he had fallen asleep. But one day he called me out of the blue excitedly talking about a lucid dream he had after falling asleep reading a book. From that moment he was hooked, even had an account here for a short time. I guess it made us closer as few kids could tolerate him as he dominated conversations with what he wanted to talk about, which tended to be interesting to me anyway.

Later in college I told another friend on the bus, she seemed somewhat interested, but didn't ask any further questions. I then took a class in mind-body connections and my teacher brought lucid dreams up. I mentioned that I had been a lucid dreamer for many years. I then explained it to the class and later did a presentation on it. Everybody seemed like "yeah thats cool" but I don't think anyone bothered trying to start.

Even after stopping lucid dreaming in my childhood when I first encountered it online I sort of brushed it off, but that was partly because I thought OBE's where possible when I was 14 and was more happy to try those. I did come back to lucid dreams though and glad I did.

My theory is that people can't get past the idea that dreams are just vivid thoughts that mean nothing, they just can't see potential in them unless they've been in them.

I told my brother few days ago, that was inevitable - we were watching Inception, since he hasn't seen it before, so I just had to talk about it. I knew he might be pretty much the only one who can get it. However, his first reaction was completely the opposite of what I expected. He said "I can do all of that in a normal dream, so why bother?"

He didn't get it straight away, but later as discussion was progressing I could see the ideas in his eyes flashing

As for friends...well, I can't help but see the only possible outcome - every time we're hanging out and I look at my hands for any reason I would hear "Checking reality again, are we?" in a mocking tone...I think I'll keep it to myself for now, thanks X)
Although, it's too much of a big thing for me, so I guess, one day I won't be able to resist and share it

Originally Posted by Dianeva

Friends: Really, I don't have any, discluding my boyfriend. There is a guy I talk to online I guess I consider a friend, and I've told him about lucid dreaming. I actually found out he lucid dreams regularly without trying but he doesn't try to do anything and doesn't care. It's infuriating...

Boyfriend: Knows of course, but isn't interested in trying it himself. Thinks it's pointless since everything achieved never leaves your mind, you aren't actually doing anything. If he had a choice, he'd choose to lucid dream rather than not, but he doesn't think it's worth the effort.

Family: I'm not sure if they know. I've brought it up at dinner a couple times, but it was more awkward than anything. They react in an 'oh' way and change the subject. I guess they just don't care, and I wouldn't be surprised if they've forgotten about it or assumed I've stopped. I did mention a 'dream forum' I'm a part of, for some reason, I forget why, to my mom, but she didn't question me further on it. My brother would probably assume I'm trying to do something abnormal on purpose so that I can feel special for being different, and that I'm bringng it up for the same reason.

A few years ago I mentioned it to my psychology teacher and she was fascinated by it. I sort of wish more people in 'real life' were like her.

PS. I'm glad I'm not the only person who intuitively wants to refer to non-internet-life as 'real life'.

The thing is, if you go on a brilliant vacation to the Bahamas, and you are there for a week, and its really amazing and fun; by the time the week is up you are back in your regular life. When its over, all you have is the awesome memories of doing all these fun and exciting things. So the question is, what is the difference if you dreamed it or not?

I've told a few of my friends about it, but they don't really have any interest in it.

I've explained lucid dreaming to my brother, but other then that most of the people I know don't even know what lucid dreaming is (as far as I know.)

Also, I'm a little worried that my friends will just think I'm weird. Well, know that I think about it they probably already do, so I don't think telling them about lucid dreaming would help much with that.

Well depends, I help people if I see that they're interested on facebook or something, but other than that I don't really share it. My gf knows and a couple friends.

Family knows and we tease each other for it. They know because I straight up told them when I was first learning about it, and specifically, how to WILD. Hiding it would have been a pain when I was doing afternoon WILD attempts and then someone could have disturbed me. They're not really interested in learning how to do it, but will ask me questions about lucid dreaming sometimes if they spontaneously have a lucid dream or a vivid dream or some other experience that they see as unusual. Other than that, they just keep dreamin their normal dreams. Hahaha, I gotta love em though. When I lived with em, I put em through so much crap, arguments, etc. etc. I don't understand how they put up with it all.

I don't bring it up unless people are showing legitimate interest in it. Bringing it up out of nowhere feels too random for me. I just use my intuition to gauge if I should go into deeper discussion about it or not if someone else happens to be discussing it or a related thing about it. Or maybe I'll bring it up depending on the circumstance. Like I said, it's just about what I feel is "appropriate" at the time (just like any other discussion). I also believe it's not something people HAVE to know about me, but like anything else, it can definitely be talked about. I just try to do it in a way that will capture/engage both of our emotions, like telling a cool story.

"Dude. I totally realized I was dreaming last night and I had the best sex with Megan Fox!"
"You semi-lucky bastard..."
"Hahaha. Yea. Happens sometimes. Some people can actually do shit like that whenever they want. Just dream while knowing it and just doin whatever the hell they want!"

Like any other thread of discussion, if they're not interested, they won't be as responsive. Imagine talking about sports, hobbies, or whatever else and them not really knowing or being interested in what you're talking about. They won't be really responsive or they'll change the subject. Sometimes that can be because they don't know HOW to respond, other times they just might not be interested. The answer that guides me through everything- intuition. Not assumptions (assuming he or she feels a certain way about what I'm saying), but just how I feel things should be discussed and what should be discussed at any given moment.

Oh and I always love doing it in a fun positive way. Sometimes, I notice some of my friends talking about something amazing that I've never heard about in a negative way. Like:
What is wrong with the world, why aren't more people fascinated about [insert topic here]

This wouldn't make me feel more interested in the topic because now I just associated it with negative emotions. Ultimately, it's different for absolutely everybody. This is just how I approach discussing it with people, who I talk about it with, etc.

Originally Posted by PhantomLegend

Family knows and we tease each other for it. They know because I straight up told them when I was first learning about it, and specifically, how to WILD. Hiding it would have been a pain when I was doing afternoon WILD attempts and then someone could have disturbed me. They're not really interested in learning how to do it, but will ask me questions about lucid dreaming sometimes if they spontaneously have a lucid dream or a vivid dream or some other experience that they see as unusual. Other than that, they just keep dreamin their normal dreams. Hahaha, I gotta love em though. When I lived with em, I put em through so much crap, arguments, etc. etc. I don't understand how they put up with it all.

I don't bring it up unless people are showing legitimate interest in it. Bringing it up out of nowhere feels too random for me. I just use my intuition to gauge if I should go into deeper discussion about it or not if someone else happens to be discussing it or a related thing about it. Or maybe I'll bring it up depending on the circumstance. Like I said, it's just about what I feel is "appropriate" at the time (just like any other discussion). I also believe it's not something people HAVE to know about me, but like anything else, it can definitely be talked about. I just try to do it in a way that will capture/engage both of our emotions, like telling a cool story.

"Dude. I totally realized I was dreaming last night and I had the best sex with Megan Fox!"
"You semi-lucky bastard..."
"Hahaha. Yea. Happens sometimes. Some people can actually do shit like that whenever they want. Just dream while knowing it and just doin whatever the hell they want!"

Like any other thread of discussion, if they're not interested, they won't be as responsive. Imagine talking about sports, hobbies, or whatever else and them not really knowing or being interested in what you're talking about. They won't be really responsive or they'll change the subject. Sometimes that can be because they don't know HOW to respond, other times they just might not be interested. The answer that guides me through everything- intuition. Not assumptions (assuming he or she feels a certain way about what I'm saying), but just how I feel things should be discussed and what should be discussed at any given moment.

Oh and I always love doing it in a fun positive way. Sometimes, I notice some of my friends talking about something amazing that I've never heard about in a negative way. Like:
What is wrong with the world, why aren't more people fascinated about [insert topic here]

This wouldn't make me feel more interested in the topic because now I just associated it with negative emotions. Ultimately, it's different for absolutely everybody. This is just how I approach discussing it with people, who I talk about it with, etc.

I like the way you think. I believe that no one is really disinterested, as much as they are uninformed, and unwilling to be informed. Lucid dreaming appeals to everyone, because anything is possible; its all about the circumstances in which its presented to them.

Only my bro knows I am practicing LDing

I told my sister about it but she dismissed it pretty quick. I brought it up a few more times but she just thinks it's weird. I told my cousin about it and he was pretty interested in the concept of lucid dreaming but I don't think he ever bothered to visit this site when I told him about it.

Everyone who knows me knows I'm into dreaming, but haven't gotten a single person interested enough to try it out for more than a few days.

My friends know that I'm learning to lucid dream. One of them is interested in it too. My family members know it, except for brother

Of course they do! I tell everyone, regardless of their reaction.

Do not cast your pearls before swine. Be careful who you talk to about this.

I don't talk to anybody about it really. I think I've asked one/two friends if they've heard of it but I haven't told them I practice it.

I told my close friends and they dismissed it in like a week.

One of them said they heard of it O_O YAY

Originally Posted by WakingNomad

Do not cast your pearls before swine. Be careful who you talk to about this.

Don't see how it would be bad to tell people, unless you care about how others think about you/might do with the info, which I clearly don't.

Generally I keep it to myself, the only people who know is my mom, she is interested in it and I tell her my experiences and techniques. She had her first one when I started telling her about it but she doesn't really try, just spontanious. I've told my aunt a little about it but not much, same with my sister, but really my mom is the only one....
I like keeping it to myself because I feel like it is my little secret talent/hobby different from all my friends XD I'm selfish about it feeling like it is mine in my little group of buddies, that is why my friends don't know xD

Originally Posted by Hukif

Don't see how it would be bad to tell people, unless you care about how others think about you/might do with the info, which I clearly don't.

I think he just meant, who will accept it, or who will dismiss it of crazy or unattainable

I used to tell people but they feel weird about how to respond. Its like there is an unspoken agreement that we are not supposed to talk about them. Then when I get over that hurtle the idea that dreams are just like nocturnal mental trivial garbage that has no meaning and not value gets in the way.

The world's understanding and the English language at least needs a lot more before I can have a meaningful conversation about this in light conversation. The very word "dream" is saying it is mental nonsense or has no real meaning. What goes on in a LD is far far different than any word in this language and that alone disinterests a lot of people. Its like trying to explain sex to a child, you start off discussing mechanics then you realize that's not what it feels like at all, then you realize there are no words that can convey the feelings and you are left with a crappy disjointed example that would leave a kid thinking you're a little mental. Now if there was a new and better word for what we do, one that sounded interesting and meaningful, then there'd be something to talk about.


People love action movies and video games, if they only knew...

They think I'm crazy, I think too much, nothing better to do, stress..
Only some of my family find my 'adventures' interesting though.