How come some people can Lucid Dream naturally and some can't? Well, I have a theory . . .

Heya guys, something's been intriguing me.

I've been able to Lucid dream ever since I was about eight. When I tell my friends, some are really envious but I wonder what makes people Lucid dreamers naturally and why some people have to learn?

I heard something recently about video gamers being more prone to Lucidity, but I hardly ever play them.

Instead, I have a really big imagination as I'm always writing (been editing my fantasy novel for five years lol), daydreaming, living in other worlds. Do you think if you're more creative/think about other worlds then you're more likely to be able to Lucid dream?

Just wondering if there's a pattern at all, or maybe I'm completely wrong? There could be really scientific logical minds on here that Lucid dream all the time!

Let me know, I'd be very interested!

If gamers are more prone to lucidity, I should be having lucids out the whazoo.

However, I am a very scientific and logical person. I don't consider myself very creative. It makes sense.

I think its more likely that being a natural lucid dreamer can make you more imaginative/creative than the other way around. I myself am not a natural lucid dreamer, but I do consider myself pretty creative. I am a maladaptive daydreamer; kind of like the natural lucid dreamer of daydreams.

The thinking of lucid dreaming frequently is really part of becoming an advanced dreamer. Hardly ever am I not thinking about the amazing things I will do when night comes. Then again, I do have a very obsessive personality

TimeDragon97- Oh right, that's very interesting thanks! Yes it was just a theory but it does fascinate me so I like to hear other's views on the subject :)

Brizzl- That's a really good perspective. I'd never thought about it like that. The thing is, when I lie down at night I don't try and Lucid dream or the times I do it never works lol, I just lie there and sleep. My advice about Lucidity is not to try and do it, just relax and if you feel yourself Lucid dreaming, try not to get so excited you wake up, just say to yourself casually, 'Oh cool, I'm dreaming.' and then control anything you like :)

(One time I really wanted to meet Robin Hood, so he appeared and then I was like 'I need some conflict here, Sheriff of Nottingham would be good' Next thing I hear is 'After them!')

As to the obssesive personality, that shouldn't make much difference because I too have that kind of personality, usually about certain franchises, writing fanfiction, collecting props etc (Am a big Potter nerd)

Do you practice anything for recall? I know that not trying wouldn't work for me because I barely remembered dreams at all once, much less obtained lucidity.

Obsessive as in its all I think about, period. I can practically become an expert in something overnight xD

I don't believe personality traits have anything to do with people being naturals at lucid dreaming.

The pattern though is all of these people have a certain level of self-awareness in the dream world. This might be self-awareness carrying over from waking life or self awareness due to dream experiences. Some people have dream experiences, usually nightmares, that cause them to be more self-aware in the dream world as a defense mechanism.

I wouldn't quite call myself a natural lucid dreamer but my first lucid dreams came from a recurring nightmare. I had this nightmare enough that I started to keep it in the back of my mind as I went to sleep. When it kept occurring, I became lucid and would wake myself from those nightmares.

Brizzl- I don't think so, no. It was annoying last night because I tried to go Lucid and it happened as I was walking down a corridor, but I couldn't change anything around me. That has happened before, not often. I think it was because I was so aware this could be Lucid it didn't work. Does that make sense? I was so disappointed lol.

dolphin-The self awareness thing sounds like a very good theory. When I sleep, I don't expect Lucidity normally and I don't plan it (apart from last night) and it usually happens cause my self awareness scale is just at the right level. I hated not being able to control things! I understand what was wrong though, I was trying too hard.

I was extremely creative as a kid, living much of my life in daydreams. However, I am definitely not a natural LDer. Now I think learning to LD was not very hard for me when I was 19, but then I lost it, and now I am having a hard time returning to the hobby, or at least doing it consistently and frequently. So it does not come naturally for me, though daydreaming is definitely my thing.

In contrast I have the impression that my seven year old son lives mostly in waking reality. Sure he likes to play pretend, but no more than most kids, I think. I am not sure whether he would count as a natural lucid dreamer because he got into it only after I told him about it, but I did not tell him any methods or how to. He is now a proficient lucid dreamer, has lucid dreams more than once a week, at times several nights in a row. He can teleport, send dream characters and objects flying, etc. Tonight he was fighting an evil witch in his lucid dream, and he brought up a sandstorm. I must admit I am both proud and jealous of his LDing abilities: he gets it. But as I said, I don't have the sense that he is as imaginative as I was when I was his age.

I agree with the others in that I don't think personality traits have a lot to do with whether or not one is a natural. I'm both creative and scientific (I'm pretty evenly split) and I am not a natural at all. It doesn't come easy to me. I think it may be easier for the creative type (writers etc) to recall their dreams because they think of them as more relevant than a scientifically minded person may, but that's just recall. That's my opinion :)

Can you explain what you mean by scientific?

I think it has to do with your awareness in waking life. If you naturally pay attention to small details you may be able to LD a lot easier, but if you float through life just accepting everything as it is and not really questioning it, you will probably have a harder time.

Brizzl, I just realized you live really close to me, I'm in Rock Hill. lol

Well, it also seems pretty well established that certain changes in brain chemistry and the balance of various substances in the brain drastically affects dreaming: very long, vivid dreams, and lucid dreams with a high degree of control, occur when there is a lot of acetylcholine in the brain to enhance neurotransmission (thus the "lucid dream pill" of galantamine and choline). So "natural lucid dreamers" could just be a physical thing, like someone being tall, or blonde, etc.

I think that FryingMan could be on to something because I had a roommate once who said that he had 3-4 LDs a night for as long as he can remember. Apparently, his mother did too and so did both of her parents. It seemed kind of apparent that there was some sort of genetic thing going on, although there are many variables and it could just be that each parent "taught" their child/children about the experience and therefore it was more of a nurture as opposed to nature.

I don't doubt that certain types of personalities or certain traits in waking life have a correlation with "easy LDing".

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Originally Posted by bula

I think that FryingMan could be on to something because I had a roommate once who said that he had 3-4 LDs a night for as long as he can remember. Apparently, his mother did too and so did both of her parents. It seemed kind of apparent that there was some sort of genetic thing going on, although there are many variables and it could just be that each parent "taught" their child/children about the experience and therefore it was more of a nurture as opposed to nature.

I don't doubt that certain types of personalities or certain traits in waking life have a correlation with "easy LDing".

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Absolutely. Could even be a combination. Confidence and positive attitude, long-term expectation, and elevated self-awareness. It also could be the naturals possess their waking life memories in dreams to an extent that most people don't, also a key fundamental in attaining lucidity.

Hmm. A very interesting topic. Maybe someone will do some research on it one day... I would love to read about it. There is a paper written about lucid dreaming being age dependent (a negative correlation), however I tend to disagree and think that their sample sizes may have been too small. [that's the scientist in me talking :cheeky:]

Personally I have always been highly creative (the love of science came later in life), drawing, sculpting etc. Always been a bit of a daydreamer. Had my first lucid dream over 20 years ago, before I had even heard about LDing ..it was quite a surprise that I was 'awake' in my dream. I could never lucid dream at will, even though I had superb control when actually lucid.

I had a dry period in which I didn't LD in over a year...not sure how long, maybe 2 years? But since I consciously began trying again (keeping a dream journal, practicing dream awareness) I had my 'first' lucid dream exactly 2 weeks after first beginning consciously trying, and my '2nd' 6 days after that (last night)...that one was actually a chain of 4.. each time I woke I went back into the same dream, but I didn't have the level of control that I used to.

I believe it probably depends a lot on how much your logic center shuts down during the nights.
Some people may have a more active logic center than others during, which is just active enough to allow them to realize they are dreaming.

It could also be because those persons are more aware of their environment without thinking about it, for example if you are good att keeping track of your belongings and rarely lose anything then you clearly have a high self-awareness at least in that regard, and this probably affects lucidity frequency as well.

I have been able to LD ever since I was a kid, before I even knew what it was. It had come about after a pretty harsh recurring nightmare, in which I had to learn to wake myself out of to escape it. I guess I am a natural LDer. From there it seemed to me that after being able to notice that I was dreaming, I was able to control and do what I want in the setting I was in for the dream. To me, the intention and decisiveness has everything to do with being able to lucid dream, as well as being able to control your dream. If you think that you won't lucid dream, then you won't, if you truly believe it, then it will be true. If you don't think you will be able to fly in a dream, then you can't. It's all a mental state. When people start posting things in negative statements, that just serves to lessen their own capabilities, and put the inkling of doubt into others who read it.

That fundamentally seems the reason why some people naturally can induce that state, and some can't. It has been shown though that it is possible to reach that point though, and that fact in itself should be quite helpful to all the new hopefuls in giving them the tools. From there all you need is a bit of practice and a set sleep schedule and you're there, and you've past the biggest hurdle in my opinion.

I agree with you k10kemorr. I think the brain is intricate and amazing, and I know that it is quite 'suggestible'. I had a lucid the other night, after reading this forum, and things that I could usually do when I lucid, I found that I could not do them in this lucid - these were things that I had read about.. people discussing their limitations. I forgot inside the dream that I could do them (and had done them before) and I could no longer do them. I will be ready for my mind trying to pull that one on me again. Another thing I read about was DC's denying they were DC's, and of course, this happened in my dream. One of my goals for my next lucid had been to talk to my subconscious through a DC, but they vehemently denied they were either a DC or an aspect of my subconscious.

Can you elaborate a little on the 'set sleep schedule', k10kemorr?