Thread: Need help with dreaming

Hey CXQ, and welcome to DV! I'll do my best to answer some of your post, but I'll admit ahead of time that I'm not the best person around to do so--hopefully someone with more experience will come along and help out further.

First, as for where your dreams "start", I find that I'll usually be in a random place when I "start" dreaming, but I assume that I was other places prior to being there, but I just wasn't aware...at least that's my take on it. Anyways, yeah, dreams start in random places for me--I've only ever had one dream that I can recall start out in my bed.

Non-lucid dreams are typically as you described--like watching a movie. You have no control over the events, etc. At least mine are. However, once you learn to become lucid and then become lucid in a dream, you'll notice that the dreams turns to being more like playing a video game. You'll have control over all aspects of the dreamworld (as long as you expect to be able to have control over all aspects--expectations are what determine your abilities within dreams!). It's fun.

As for dream recall, sometimes you won't be able to remember your dreams. How I remember my dreams is to remember what happened last in the dream, i.e. I was on a mountain. Then from there, I'll work backwards and figure out the dream in reverse. It sort of helps you to remember what happened before this event, and before that one, etc. until you can remember a good portion of your dream. Also, don't try to remember everything at once, just take it step by step as I said. In my experience you'll be able to remember more details that way--it's like studying a video clip frame-by-frame, or slo-mo rather than the whole thing played at once in normal speed, you can notice more details and remember more about it.

I hope that I was at least of some help to you. Sometimes it is hard for me to explain things in writing but I did my best. Good luck!

Originally Posted by slurry

Hey CXQ, and welcome to DV! I'll do my best to answer some of your post, but I'll admit ahead of time that I'm not the best person around to do so--hopefully someone with more experience will come along and help out further.

First, as for where your dreams "start", I find that I'll usually be in a random place when I "start" dreaming, but I assume that I was other places prior to being there, but I just wasn't aware...at least that's my take on it. Anyways, yeah, dreams start in random places for me--I've only ever had one dream that I can recall start out in my bed.

Non-lucid dreams are typically as you described--like watching a movie. You have no control over the events, etc. At least mine are. However, once you learn to become lucid and then become lucid in a dream, you'll notice that the dreams turns to being more like playing a video game. You'll have control over all aspects of the dreamworld (as long as you expect to be able to have control over all aspects--expectations are what determine your abilities within dreams!). It's fun.

As for dream recall, sometimes you won't be able to remember your dreams. How I remember my dreams is to remember what happened last in the dream, i.e. I was on a mountain. Then from there, I'll work backwards and figure out the dream in reverse. It sort of helps you to remember what happened before this event, and before that one, etc. until you can remember a good portion of your dream. Also, don't try to remember everything at once, just take it step by step as I said. In my experience you'll be able to remember more details that way--it's like studying a video clip frame-by-frame, or slo-mo rather than the whole thing played at once in normal speed, you can notice more details and remember more about it.

I hope that I was at least of some help to you. Sometimes it is hard for me to explain things in writing but I did my best. Good luck!

Thank you for the help. It shed some light for me.
So if I can't control myself when I dream, how would I tell myself I'm dreaming?
Another problem I have is that I can't seem to think when I dream. Its almost like my thinking process disappeared

Ah, that I'm not sure. I typically am able to retain the ability to think, even if only a very, very little bit. Typically that little bit of thinking will turn into a RC or a sudden realization and make me lucid, and then I've got all my thinking power.

My best advice to you would be using two techniques that I feel work great together--ADA and autosuggestion. KingYoshi has a great tutorial on ADA, which can be found here. As for autosuggestion, it works best for me while I meditate. When I meditate, I will focus on one object and block out all thoughts, and sometimes towards the end I'll say in my head, "I will have a lucid dream soon" or something similar. It's not exactly a hypnotic state, but I think it might be close enough for the suggestion to work. However, there might be other methods of autosuggestion that would work better for you. (Though, if you do decide to use my method, I will caution against using two absolute words, such as "I will have a lucid dream tonight", as if you don't you may become discouraged and it will lose its effect. Always pair an absolute word with a vague one, such as "may" and "tonight" or "will" and "soon". I've found these to have the highest success rates, as I'll almost always have a LD within 4 days of the autosuggestion. Again though, this is me personally, you'll have to find what works best for you.)

ADA should help the increased awareness and RCs bleed into your dreams, causing your dream self to be more aware and hopefully perform RCs, which will then let you become lucid.

Another thing of advice is not to try too hard. Just be patient, and in time, you will be able to have your first lucid dream.
(Also, sorry if I didn't properly split up the different parts, I was sort of just typing in a stream of consciousness sorta thing, whatever popped into my mind I typed out. )