Thread: What to do when you meet people not interested in Lucid dreaming?

I meet people interested in dreams and dream interpretation but they don't care and are not interested when you mention lucid dreaming and they think it's like a stupid fad. i feel kinda bad. Some time ago i met one of those and i was so happy to tell him about my first lucid and just wans't interested it at all.

If the are not interested, then, there's no point continuing to talk to them about that. Just talk to people that are interested.

Originally Posted by DreamHighlander

If the are not interested, then, there's no point continuing to talk to them about that. Just talk to people that are interested.

The issue here though is that most people probably would be very interested in lucid dreaming if they actually gave it a chance, so it's slightly frustrating when they ignore the subject right form the start.
I can honestly not imagine why anyone would not feel interested in something as fantastic as lucid dreams, it is like a world simulation where you can fulfill your wildest desires, overcome phobias, stop nightmares, and even develop as an individual, without any negative waking life consequences whatsoever (and this should be of particular interest to those who complain about "sleeping 1/3 of their lives away").
So, what is there not to like?

I usually get around this by carefully mentioning lucid dreaming-related stuff to people when they have started a conversation about dreaming anyway;
talking about "the dreams from last night" seems relatively common.
However, I instantly drop the subject if I get the usual "ah okay, now please talk about something else" type of response.

Yes. I know what you mean. Maybe those people think it's a complex subject and it's almost impossible to have one. When they say this, i always ask if they had a nightmare and they wanted to wake up. Most of the people (if not all) say yes. It happens to everyone. And i say that this was a start of a lucid dream.
I don't find strange why there's people not interested in this. Everyone has it's own likes and dislikes.

Originally Posted by DreamHighlander

Yes. I know what you mean. Maybe those people think it's a complex subject and it's almost impossible to have one. When they say this, i always ask if they had a nightmare and they wanted to wake up. Most of the people (if not all) say yes. It happens to everyone. And i say that this was a start of a lucid dream.
I don't find strange why there's people not interested in this. Everyone has it's own likes and dislikes.

Yes, but it seems like it would be very unusual to be completely uninterested in lucid dreaming, in my mind that's almost equivalent to not being interested in great pleasure.
Of course you can experience great delight in waking life as well, but one cannot deny that lucid dreaming is a lot more flexible and allows you to experience a lot of more unique things to a much greater extent, and therefore it is something that I believe that at least an overwhelming majority would enjoy a lot if they got into it.

The problem is that there are people that are just closed minded. Just because lucid dreaming isn't a mainstream cultural phenomenon, many people shut it out of their idea of what it would be acceptable to do. So they don't want to be seen talking about it at the risk of being thought of as different by their colleagues.

I can´t understand too why some people wouldn´t get interested in LDing. It just doesn´t make sense to me. I think most of those people simply don´t get the full picture. Oh, and LDing probably attracts people who score higher on curiosity and need for cognition, although it can also raise these baseline scores. So, may be we are very special people, guys ! Just feel compassion at those who can´t feel a bit of curiosity or wonder

I usually just start to talk about something they like to talk about, and that's it. But if you really want the other person to be curious about Lucid dreaming. Then you should first plant a seed in others mind, not give a whole tree away. One got to be cool about it, like it's nothing unsual at all. In a conversation this could go something like this.

The target might ask you, "So, what did you do this weekend?"

You: Na, not to much. I had a Lucid dream last night, and the day before that, I was just chilling and watching some bad movies with X and Y. And you?

The target: I did this and this and this. But hey, whats that Lucid dreaming you mentioned?

You: Ow, yeah sure that was really awesome. (now go for a fast change back to somthing the taget was talking about, nothing that excites him/her to much though.) So.. you said you had been doing this and that, where were you doing this thing at?

The target: Yeah I was doing this thing there, you know that place. So whats up with the Lucid dreaming, what is that thing??

And after this the target might lose interest in what your briefly explain about lucid dreaming. Or the questions will go on.

Mission accomplished! Good luck next time

Originally Posted by DreamyBear

I usually just start to talk about something they like to talk about, and that's it. But if you really want the other person to be curious about Lucid dreaming. Then you should first plant a seed in others mind, not give a whole tree away. One got to be cool about it, like it's nothing unsual at all. In a conversation this could go something like this.

The target might ask you, "So, what did you do this weekend?"

You: Na, not to much. I had a Lucid dream last night, and the day before that, I was just chilling and watching some bad movies with X and Y. And you?

The target: I did this and this and this. But hey, whats that Lucid dreaming you mentioned?

You: Ow, yeah sure that was really awesome. (now go for a fast change back to somthing the taget was talking about, nothing that excites him/her to much though.) So.. you said you had been doing this and that, where were you doing this thing at?

The target: Yeah I was doing this thing there, you know that place. So whats up with the Lucid dreaming, what is that thing??

And after this the target might lose interest in what your briefly explain about lucid dreaming. Or the questions will go on.

Mission accomplished! Good luck next time

Hehe yes, you are right about that, DreamyBear.
It's just that when you know of something as awesome as lucid dreaming you are very eager to tell others about it, and you easily get carried away.

To people, who have never heard of it/experienced one - I do it like this:

First I say - when people get lucid - they can control their real body`s eye-movements - and thus tell the outside world.

Then I tell them, that Max Planck Institutes of Psychiatry in Munich, and for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, and from the Psychiatry Department at Charité in Berlin -have found out, that when people become lucid - communicated with eye-movement - three brain regions "light up" on functional MRI simultaneous to that.
And not just any regions - but the ones, which were already thought to be involved in "meta-consciousness".


This convinces everybody.
Here the link: Lucid dreamers help scientists locate the seat of meta-consciousness in the brain

“The general basic activity of the brain is similar in a normal dream and in a lucid dream,” says Michael Czisch, head of a research group at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry.

“In a lucid state, however, the activity in certain areas of the cerebral cortex increases markedly within seconds.

The involved areas of the cerebral cortex are the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, to which commonly the function of self-assessment is attributed, and the frontopolar regions, which are responsible for evaluating our own thoughts and feelings. The precuneus is also especially active, a part of the brain that has long been linked with self-perception.”

The findings confirm earlier studies and have made the neural networks of a conscious mental state visible for the first time.

Once they are convinced - I try to fascinate them - and possibly water their mouths.

Not primarily with playing zombie killer - but with getting in contact with their very core - what they are, without having conscious access to this, while awake.
But sure enough with flying to and looking at Jupiter - very attractive, I found - transform into an animal - thousand things I tell them - once they listen.

Today I decided, that I will expound on the potential psychological self-help aspect more, next opportunity.
I did already - but without really trying to think it through.
I might even interest people with such "profane" things like habit-change - overeating - maybe even smoking?
That would even have a market - teaching people as good, as to enable them to do advanced lucid dreaming ..
It's for real - and people pay silly money for humbug promising wonder-solutions.
But they needed to put effort in - but the side-positives are invaluable - playing zombie killer for example.

Depends - to my darters I say, how LD seems the most potent thing there is out there for boosting skill and performance.
Really - that I believe.
Now I need to prove it by making a jump in - primarily 3-dart points average.
I have data over half a year - how less than mediocre I am now.
So. But that is a longer term project of mine.
I made a thread on my darts forum and got 500+ clicks* and 4 pages..
*no "like" button there..

I got everybody interested in real life - and not one nasty comment on the forum - darts-players - mind you. But special place there..

Might be I have many of "this sort of people" around me - but I'm not asking selectively.
If by the count of three you are not on your tree - I give it a try with talking LD.

Most everybody listens and for a longer while - and some listen raptly..
One darter had after ages the very night I posted it an LD!

:yumdumdoodledum:

It surprises me less now when people don't seem interested in LD. There are probably many reasons but I suspect subconscious/brain reasons are high on the list. A simplistic summary of what I've heard about dreams is that it's the time when your brain updates its survival strategies based on what you've experienced. So the subc could view LDing as a threat and create subconscious resistance to even trying LD.

From what I've read the subconscious can sometimes have a "things are ok now so why risk a change" attitude. To put it simply, nature doesn't 'care' that you enjoy your life, it just 'cares' that you survive. Just look at the miserable lives of many animals and people, human intelligence has sometimes helped to break free from some of our "evolution-programed bad behavior" but sadly it's almost like many people are trapped in a partially conscious "human-animal dream." Maybe "mother nature" is like a bad cat hoarder and the earth is her home .

LDing has helped me become more conscious and thoughtful during my waking life, it helped me realize that much of the time people just do what they do all day with few or any thoughts about why they're doing any of them and if a good change was in order. Waking consciousness was more like the autopilot of the non-lucid dream world.

Or maybe they might not believe it's possible and/or that you're trying to fool them. They could be a "worker bee" type of person that just exists instead of living a more interesting life.

I hear on the news all the time that the majority of 'mercans don't get enough sleep and that sleep is very important, so maybe their subconscious views LDing as another threat to their health.

I wonder if someone at dreamviews can compare the amount of posts, new visitors, etc to economic changes (monthly etc) so they can tell us if they see anything interesting during tough times? The bad economy in the USA might be an easy place to start if you can sort visitors by country.

If you're determined to spread the "LD word" you'll need to know your audience, what they want, like, etc.
It's not only what you say but how you say it and when. Prepare good responses for negative reactions too. People can surprise you even when you expect strange things.

Good argument, TheThinker - also for another thread, with many people having sub-optimal sleeping habits - might be a hindrance to experience the - in my view natural ability - to LD.

Tie them up and put them in your basement, while quietly whispering to yourself, "There is no other way, there is no other way..."

I have found a few different types of people not interested in LDing, and some of this may be a little surprising.

People that like LDing are normally people that would be called dreamers. They most likely like things like anime fantasy or sci fi because they like to think about things that dont exist. It doesn't bother them that they just read 250 issues of Naruto last night and that these characters don't exist or have any relevance to waking. It is fun. I do it. Simple enough. Prone to day dream, and to want better things in life.

People that want to LD and learn how to (through sites and books). They are similar since they want to LD, but they are normally successful at their hobbies and know what it takes to get good at something. Pay attention to the right people and ignore the wrong ones. Even though they day dream, they still accomplish things in reality and they are normally led to wanting to do something with their life.

People that LD naturally. Normally a little more absorbed in their own world, similar to a child. Either not caring what others think, and just doing what they want to do. Their LDs can seem vague and not as colorful to the non natural, because to them it is another part of life, so the familiarity can bread contempt. They normally get to a point that they always know they are dreaming but dont care to "accomplish" anything, but they will complete the stories that are given them. They are normally go-getters in life and successful in whatever field they are in. Need less time for play because they can play at night (this can be gotten by all LDers of course, but it is easier to reach for naturals. (Might sound a little harsh, but this is what I have seen from most. Some of these things could be considered a plus to a lot of people)

Hipsters. LDing isn't popular. Must like before it gets popular.

People that aren't interested in LD
1) new things are boring. These people just do whatever the world around them does, and since they are into the new normal things like movies and phones. Doesn't really care to have an adventure alone. Won't read books that aren't outside the social ones ( twilight, divergent etc). Imagination is not good.

2) too much work, not enough pay off. This could be the ones that I understand the most. You spend lots of time and for the at least 6 months it seems like most people don't take to it very quickly. Hard to make people get up and do it.'

3) sounds boring. 0_0 I have no insight on this one. it scares me.

I have noticed that the people that I talked about LDing to think that knowing that you are dreaming and doing what ever you can imagine isn't useful. I don't mean they are obsessed with practical stuff, but they must think that LDs are "fuzzy" and barely remembered like NDs, so they see it is useless, especially that you need to work your butt off to achieve it.