Using Lucid Dreaming to affect waking life?

Hi everybody. I'm doing a research project for my AP English class right now, and my research question is if Lucid Dreaming can affect one's waking life. I myself have not been able to achieve any lucid dreams, so I can't give my own results for this project, but I was wondering if any of you master lucid dreamers had any examples of how lucid dreaming had affected your waking life, for better or for worse.

Also, any other sources (books, articles, websites, etc) that could help me with this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for you help! :lol::lol::lol:

It generally improves my mood, and I now look at life in more detail. I see the beauty in everything now, and am aware over all.

There was a recent thread about this subject that has some interesting answers from a lot of experienced LDers. Check it out here.

And to answer your question, the practice of LDing has completely changed my life. Whenever I walk around, I take in the beauty of nature and the breeze against my face. I use to just "daywalk" and not pay any attention to my surroundings. The practice of LDing in general has given my life a whole new meaning.. I'm not sure where I would be now if I hadn't discovered it.

I actually was just reading the chapter in EtWoLD about how lucid dreaming can be used to practice skills and improve your life. Athletes and artists can use lucid dreaming to practice their muscle movements and actions in dreams and that correlates to how they would actually perform in the waking world because the same brain neurons are firing and the same muscles are being activated (though you are paralyzed while dreaming). If you end up getting the book it's Chapter 8: Rehearsal for Living.

There are also many claims about how lucid dreaming can affect your life in various ways, like improving your awareness of the present moment, enhancing creativity and memory, and for inspiring ideas, among others. I don't have any sources on these but I'm sure they would be easy to find with some search on this site and through google.

Here's also a thread that was just posted yesterday asking dreamers on the site how their lives have been affected by LDing, not many replies as of yet but there may be more responses over the next few days: How has lucid dreaming helped you in waking life?