Thread: Does lucidity help create happiness?

I've woken from dreams and lucids feeling amazingly refreshed. I've also woken from dreams and lucids and just wanted to cry. One I had recently just drained me. I'm not sure how it is for other people but I find they can go either way.

The key to happiness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0rVZiefZ3Q

Originally Posted by InterSomnia

I've woken from dreams and lucids feeling amazingly refreshed. I've also woken from dreams and lucids and just wanted to cry. One I had recently just drained me. I'm not sure how it is for other people but I find they can go either way.

Would you like to share more on why or how it was draining? I had a dream with a loved one who has passed away and I felt very sad but also upbeat that I saw the loved one. I just realized I was lucid in that dream but never connected it to lucidity since I was so wrapped up in where the dream was taking me and didn't try to control it.

Edit: is that a Kiwi flag?

It does create happiness for me. Not just lucids, but transitions, and a nice non-lucid, too.

And not just the act of getting lucid, but many elements make me happy too. Like flying, or anything that I manage to do first time. Some of the happiest times of my life happened in my lucids. So yeah, thank you for my dreams.

Indeed, i feel happy when i reach lucidity, and even more happy when i actually get some success with my goals.

I believe dreaming is a huge key to happiness ( to a limit anyway )
the only problem with dreams is that problems in reality will always be there waiting when you wake up so it is like a brilliant temporary high to life. Saying that i believe that there are endless possibilities to how you utilize lucid dreaming. For example using lucids to try and gain confidence to deal with RL problems or as you said you can see loved ones/friends that unfortunately may not be with you anymore.
Further to that your own imagination is the limit in a LD and doing things that are impossible in reality with ease i feel is 1 of the best feelings in the world, ive always woken up happy after a LD and just knowing that they are possible to achieve throughout a lifetime is great. Even during non-lucids and nightmares seeing things that you will only see while your asleep i think adds a little excitement to life, you can walk down the street seeing the same things day-in ..day-out then you can be dreaming walk down the street and get chased by a 12 headed demon trying to kill you .. yes at the time it doesnt seem nice but after waking up its gone away and youve seen a 12 headed demon.
Dreams are brilliant and the potential is unlimited in my opinion good and bad. Nice question

Yeah, that's a Kiwi Flag.

For me I had a dream where I became lucid but someone who I hadn't seen in a very long time and I care a lot about showed up. Totally wasn't expecting it, they seemed so real and when they spoke to me I was so sure it was them. I was overcome with emotion. I just dropped down in front of them and woke up.

The rest of the day I wasn't myself. I still think I haven't been the same since then actually.

that's a nice question..first we have to make a distinction between happiness, joy, euphoria, etc. It´s not easy to reach a consensus on these topics.

it´s easy to get joy from luciddreaming. Happiness has different causes and conditions i think, but if you have the proper motivation you can use dreaming as a gateway to inner journeys

Originally Posted by gab

Not just lucids, but transitions, and a nice non-lucid, too.

I really enjoy transitions too

Originally Posted by InterSomnia

Yeah, that's a Kiwi Flag.

For me I had a dream where I became lucid but someone who I hadn't seen in a very long time and I care a lot about showed up. Totally wasn't expecting it, they seemed so real and when they spoke to me I was so sure it was them. I was overcome with emotion. I just dropped down in front of them and woke up.

The rest of the day I wasn't myself. I still think I haven't been the same since then actually.

Wow, I am sorry to hear that.

On a happier note, what a beautiful country and people! I spent a year and a half total there...mostly on the south island.

If I LD or have a great dream (usually "almost lucids") I am upbeat most the rest of the day. If I go a week without an LD or 2 or 3 days without a great dream I dont get depressed but fall back to maybe normal humdrum (slightly boring) feeling of life...like today. But then like now I recommit to RCs and think how great it can be and I usually experience an LD in another day or two (and just the anticipation helps my attitude) then I am upbeat again. Wish I could LD at least every other night...I think I would avoid the slight downer days, but maybe that is just normal cycle and unavoidable. You cant alwaysbe on the mountain top.

Originally Posted by gab

It does create happiness for me. Not just lucids, but transitions, and a nice non-lucid, too.

And not just the act of getting lucid, but many elements make me happy too. Like flying, or anything that I manage to do first time. Some of the happiest times of my life happened in my lucids. So yeah, thank you for my dreams.

Feeling happy while you are dreaming is a much stronger feeling than feeling happy in reality because your emotions are stronger in your dreams, right? So has this experience a downside as well? For instance the happy emotions you would feel in real life now feel less happy in comparison to the dream? But then again, your body notices it even when you aren't lucid... but subconsciously, so it the feeling would still be familiar. If that has any truth to it, I'm just rambling on really.

Yes! It makes me phenomenally happy because I have done something so amazing and so great in a world that only I can see and is very personal. It's also quite the feeling to be in a world that's a lot more vivid/real/colourful or clear to the current 'real' one. After my first few I woke up feeling a lot wiser too xD Crazy stuff

Happiness is complex, as others have alluded to. But on thing I've found in myself, LDing has increased my self-confidence, expanded my awareness, and made me re-calibrate my own potential. All positive outcomes

Two things are for sure

1. You never get bored of lucid dreams. You may ruin your routine and stop having lucid dreams for a while, mostly if you are too excited like I was, but it's a recursive hobby, once you get into it, you will find a balancing point and deal with it to your death.

2. Dreams are full of heavy and intense emotions, at least from what I have observed. You always feel a different cocktail of feelings, either positive or negative, or a mix of both, respectively to the kind of dream you were into. Whatever the case, this is pretty fucking amazing because you don't have to worry about anything that caused those crazy feelings, its all virtual. Personally, my emotions after a dream are up to 80% more intense and interesting than my waking-life emotions. If you keep an everyday journal of your dreams, It's your daily trip-drug

Every LD makes me happy. Unfortunately, I don't often become lucid in my dreams nowadays. However I have dozens other sources of my happiness and I believe my LD frequency will revive again. I had already experienced a very long dry spell before I joined this forum.

Well... Happiness comes from a lot of things. I wouldn't call it the ultimate happiness. It is hard to achieve, and it ends every morning, no matter what. Happiness is like a food or drink, something you want, but can never be fully quenched. Things like games, friends, TV, life, and money can make you happy. BUT! Think about food, steak can make you not hungry (in a great way), but you will be hungry again.

Hope this makes sense. LDing doesn't drain me in any way. I feel rejuvinated, like after playing a sport or something. It is strange.

To answer Athylus, while emotions are stronger in dreams, happiness, etc, I dont think it translates in reality being more of a downer in comparison, although the LDs are probably a little adictive and so maybe you miss the experience a bit in RL. Before LDs you didnt know what you were missing but now you do. To me dream locations can be cooler than real life. Last night I found myself in a part of a town that looked like it could have been a movie set of a 50's era. Colors vibrant but with a dark look. No sharp corners to the buildings or cars or motorcycles parked. If you've ever seen the painting of James Dean shooting pool, thats what this whole town felt like. It was like old Chicago or NY. I became lucid and just had a rush due to the location. Not sure why but I picked a fight with a tough guy. But the point is the locations are always larger than life to me. But now in RL I am anticipating the next one.

Originally Posted by Rothgar

To answer Athylus, while emotions are stronger in dreams, happiness, etc, I dont think it translates in reality being more of a downer in comparison, although the LDs are probably a little adictive and so maybe you miss the experience a bit in RL. Before LDs you didnt know what you were missing but now you do. To me dream locations can be cooler than real life. Last night I found myself in a part of a town that looked like it could have been a movie set of a 50's era. Colors vibrant but with a dark look. No sharp corners to the buildings or cars or motorcycles parked. If you've ever seen the painting of James Dean shooting pool, thats what this whole town felt like. It was like old Chicago or NY. I became lucid and just had a rush due to the location. Not sure why but I picked a fight with a tough guy. But the point is the locations are always larger than life to me. But now in RL I am anticipating the next one.

Thanks Rothgar. I'm also asking this because I don't want people to escape from reality by lucid dreaming, because that's just running away from your problems.

Absolutely. It should enhace your life, not replace it!