In what way did Lucid Dreaming contribute to your waking life?

Hi Dreamviews,

I'm very interested to hear your experience with lucid dreaming which resulted in enhanced experience in your waking life.

I remember reading about this specific person who played an instrument but was anxious when on stage. As he was an experienced lucid dreamer, he decided to use his dreams to overcome his anxiety. He dreamt about playing his instrument in front of a huge crowd at the New York City Theatre and he did this several times. Over time he became more and more confident on stage and eventually he was free of anxiety when he got to play in front of a real crowd.

Have you had any similar experiences? Did you in a certain way 'improve' yourself while lucid dreaming?

I'd like to hear your stories!

I also posted this question on the Lucid Dreaming subreddit, and I've got a few responses there. Please check it out here!

I really would like to receive more input from the community. If you know somebody whose story fits this subject, please persuade him or her to share the experience!

I don't have LDs consistently enough to work on any self improvement goals. But for me the #1 thing LDing contributes to my life is how incredibly good I feel the day after having a lucid dream. Last night I was trying to fly into space and as I got higher I began to see the most incredible night sky I've ever seen. Indescribably beautiful. That is a memory that I can keep and will bring a smile to my face when I think of it.

Lucid Dreaming gave me the curiosity to learn about the brain, the subconscious, spiritual themes, meditation, life after death and all that. Now, those are the themes i read when i have the time.

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Originally Posted by Tygar

That is a memory that I can keep and will bring a smile to my face when I think of it.

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The last lucid dream I remember having (A few years ago!) I had a similar experience. It started as a false awakening but I quickly realized something was off. Walking into my living room I noticed the most amazing landscape out my window. I couldn't believe how beautiful it was. I just stood there taking it all in. I don't remember what else happened but that part always stuck with me, even after this long. :)

When I was a child, I used to be excited about going to bed, because I knew that I would be dreaming, and my dreams were nice, so I would be looking forward to it.

Then, as a grown up - for decades - I didn't pay much attention to my dreams, because I was so focused on my waking life, and I did not particularly look forward to sleeping - it was simply going 'into a void' for the night.

Now, since having discovered lucid dreaming a couple of years ago, I'm paying just as much attention to my dreams as I did in childhood - and again I go to bed with happy expectations of the wonderful dreamworld, which I'm about to explore. :)

To put it succinctly: my happiness has increased!

That's exactly how I've been the last couple years. I was so focused on my waking life that I neglected my lucid dreaming routine and eventually forgot about it. I'm glad I remembered it again, and to be back here. I can't wait to have another one after so long!

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Originally Posted by Tygar

I don't have LDs consistently enough to work on any self improvement goals. But for me the #1 thing LDing contributes to my life is how incredibly good I feel the day after having a lucid dream. Last night I was trying to fly into space and as I got higher I began to see the most incredible night sky I've ever seen. Indescribably beautiful. That is a memory that I can keep and will bring a smile to my face when I think of it.

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Why do you suppose you should be able to lucid dream consistently in order to use them to improve skills? I suppose everything you need to do is to remember the intention to practice a certain skill and you need to be skilled enough to be able to carry out your intention. What are your thoughts?

Dreams that leave you with good memories indeed has great influence on how you feel. It's pretty much the same the other way around where bad dreams make you feel bad upon waking up. Have you got any more examples of when a (lucid) dream made you feel better or worse in waking life?

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Originally Posted by DreamHighlander

Lucid Dreaming gave me the curiosity to learn about the brain, the subconscious, spiritual themes, meditation, life after death and all that. Now, those are the themes i read when i have the time.

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Interesting! Did you become interested in those themes because of lucid dreaming? Have you ever used lucid dreaming as a tool to gain some knowledge or understanding for one of those themes? Thank you for your response!

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Originally Posted by Buddy

The last lucid dream I remember having (A few years ago!) I had a similar experience. It started as a false awakening but I quickly realized something was off. Walking into my living room I noticed the most amazing landscape out my window. I couldn't believe how beautiful it was. I just stood there taking it all in. I don't remember what else happened but that part always stuck with me, even after this long. :)

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I have read quite a few stories in which people experience certain events or sightings in their dreams that stuck with them. It's amazing that our own minds can impress us that much.

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Originally Posted by Voldmer

When I was a child, I used to be excited about going to bed, because I knew that I would be dreaming, and my dreams were nice, so I would be looking forward to it.

Then, as a grown up - for decades - I didn't pay much attention to my dreams, because I was so focused on my waking life, and I did not particularly look forward to sleeping - it was simply going 'into a void' for the night.

Now, since having discovered lucid dreaming a couple of years ago, I'm paying just as much attention to my dreams as I did in childhood - and again I go to bed with happy expectations of the wonderful dreamworld, which I'm about to explore. :)

To put it succinctly: my happiness has increased!

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That's awesome to hear and quite inspirational too! What are things you look forward to when you're about to go to bed? Is there something particular that always seems to brighten up your day (night actually, hehe)?

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Originally Posted by wouterjongeneel

That's awesome to hear and quite inspirational too! What are things you look forward to when you're about to go to bed? Is there something particular that always seems to brighten up your day (night actually, hehe)?

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In part it's excitement about what's going to show up; dreams can be pretty creative. :) And also the uncertainty about whether or not I will become lucid that night. But mostly it's probably the prospect of carrying out the plans, that I always seem to make for lucid dreams. There is so much to do ... :)

Personally, I found lucid dreaming liberating. I was very afraid of life in general before I started and even though it has been a long time since I have been able to have lucid dreams at will, I'm more in control of my life now than I was before.

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Originally Posted by Voldmer

In part it's excitement about what's going to show up; dreams can be pretty creative. :) And also the uncertainty about whether or not I will become lucid that night. But mostly it's probably the prospect of carrying out the plans, that I always seem to make for lucid dreams. There is so much to do ... :)

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What kind of plans do you make for your lucid dreams? Are they purely for entertainment?

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Originally Posted by Dream_King

Personally, I found lucid dreaming liberating. I was very afraid of life in general before I started and even though it has been a long time since I have been able to have lucid dreams at will, I'm more in control of my life now than I was before.

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Hey Dream_King, I'm glad to hear that! Could you share a little bit more about how lucid dreaming helped you stop being afraid and regain control over your life?

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Originally Posted by wouterjongeneel

Hey Dream_King, I'm glad to hear that! Could you share a little bit more about how lucid dreaming helped you stop being afraid and regain control over your life?

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Sure, I'm not sure if it was just lucid dreaming alone but at the time I was probably at my most powerless in my life. I was incredibly sick and extremely shy at school because of Asperger's and very severe bullying when I was younger. I don't know if it was the medication or simply motivation since I had a very strong incentive to escape reality or a combination of the two but I perfected the MILD technique and could have lucid dreams every night for several months. The experience of being in control of my environment was one factor in inspiring me to develop social skills and to take control of the direction of my life. Unfortunately it has been several years since I have been able to have lucid dreams with that kind of frequency but real life is pretty awesome right now so I'm fine with that.

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Originally Posted by wouterjongeneel

What kind of plans do you make for your lucid dreams? Are they purely for entertainment?

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So far, most of my plans concern increasing my level of control inside the dream world. But, somewhat further out, I plan to use lucid dreams in the same way, as one would use selfhypnosis.

Aside from giving me something interesting to do on a night, its contributed to giving me a greater appreciation of both worlds, acted as a great motivational tool for pretty much everything in my life and lets me fulfill my desires for absolute power in a way that won't cause harm to actual sentients. Its also quite nice seeing first hand what you truly think of yourself.

I haven't had enough LDs yet for the dreams themselves to affect me, but I feel like I am affected by the technique of ADA. I am in high school, and generally on math tests, I screw up all of the little things. Since I started practicing ADA, I have been able to catch these errors as I make them, and it's actually given my grade a few points.

When I was 19, I learned how to lucid dream the first time around. That year was one of the years when I changed the most: I became more tolerant and more open minded. Of course, first year of college was a big part of the cause, but I think lucid dreaming also contributed because it encouraged increased self awareness, and I did not like what I observed about myself, so I changed drastically.

One of my lucid dreams helped drastically reduce my phobia of large dogs back then too.

I came back to lucid dreaming twenty years later, not just because it is fun, but because I believe that lucid dream practice can help me battle my periodic depression. Mostly because self awareness is a major part of learning how to lucid dream and self awareness is also a key to overcoming depression.

I got more happy. I feel more outgoing and idk, just more excited all the time :D

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Originally Posted by DreamHighlander

Lucid Dreaming gave me the curiosity to learn about the brain, the subconscious, spiritual themes, meditation, life after death and all that. Now, those are the themes i read when i have the time.

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same here. the Quest for lucidity has become more important to me than the LD itself.
All the goals I set for myself , reading countless books, meditating and practicing all day awareness taught me a lot about myself and changed me Significantly.
and sometimes.... (Recently more than ever).... i become lucid and it makes me so happy :)