Thread: Lucid dreaming in the family

So a few weeks ago, I was having breakfast with my parents and... my mother suddenly revealed that she can control her dreams. My father was deeply impressed that lucid dreaming is a thing, he had never thought it was possible. My mother, however, said it was no big deal and that she does it all the time.

I wonder... do you guys know if your family can also lucid dream? From what my mother has said, she can get lucid much easier than I can, while my father has never had anything like it happen to him.

I've tried to get my parents to give it a shot before, but they have no interest in it.

"I just want to sleep, I don't really care about my dreams." - my mom

Originally Posted by Acmic

"I just want to sleep, I don't really care about my dreams." - my mom

Yeah, I had a similar conversation with them that day.

Me: That's lucid dreaming, you can take control of your dream and do whatever you want to!
Dad: Like what?
Me: Anything, seriously.
Dad: But... why?
Me: ...uhm... cause it's fun. You can also learn a lot about yourself.
Mum: That's silly. You can control them, but it's not a big deal.
Me: I like it a lot, which is why I practise to get better.
Dad/Mum:
Dad: You seriously practise... dreaming?
Mum: Don't you have something better to do?

And this is where I lost them.

Originally Posted by Acmic

"I just want to sleep, I don't really care about my dreams." - my mom

I sometimes have an attitude to sleep that is almost the opposite of that:
instead of thinking of going to sleep as just "falling asleep", I just go to sleep so that I can collect as many dreams as possible for my Dream Journal.
The "sleep" part becomes almost secondary, and I only sleep with the intention to get tons of dreams.

This can sometimes lead to a dramatic dream recall - I remember one night when I had like 6-7 very vivid dream memories, plus a bunch of fragments of other dreams as well.

My mom and brother-in-law has LDs frequently. My sister says she has them every couple of weeks. My brother-in-law is also a natural in dream control while my mom doesn't care about it. I don't know how my sister is with dream control but I know she can fly. My dad had also never heard of lucid dreaming. My step mother, who's majoring in phycology, is familiar with lucid dreaming but I don't know how proficient she is.

This is how it went with mine:

Me: Have you ever realised that you're dreaming while your dreaming?
Mum: No
Me: Well it's possible, you can practice and have the ability to control your dreams and do whatever you like in them
Mum: *not really listening to me" That's nice sweety
Me: Don't you think that's amazing?
Mum: *not really listening to me* Yes, yes very nice
Me: *gives up*

My dad seems to think LDing might be fake, and my mom knows what it is and knows that it is possible, but is not interested in it. I rarely tell people in general about LDing, though.

My mother has reported several of her "fantastic" dreams that she thought felt amazingly vivid and magical, and I obviously saw this as a perfect opportunity to tell her about lucid dreaming - however, she seemed a bit confused by the idea and then changed the subject without really expressing any obvious feelings about it.

I think it's pretty strange that people who are not familiar with lucid dreaming have such difficulties imagining their potentials.
I mean, sure, I understand that you will have to experience a lucid dream in order to fully understand what it feels like, but shouldn't it be fairly easy to grasp the concepts "the can feel just as real and vivid as waking life" and "you can do literally anything you can imagine"?
All you need to do is to imagine yourself visualizing a scene while daydreaming, and then imagine yourself doing whatever you want to do.
That's basically what the potential of a lucid dream are like, and it really shouldn't be too hard to understand that idea.

I guess part of the problem is that a lot of people have biased opinions about dreams such as "they are just random imagery" and such things, and this might make it hard to truly understand the "you can do anything" part.
They might believe that we really mean "you can slightly change the random imagery" or something.

My mother can LD, but I don't know how often. I remember asking her one day after taking a Psych 101 class if she ever had dreams where she knew she was dreaming, and she said yeah. I honestly thought it was common for everyone until my dad said that he doesn't do it. I wonder if its genetic? If you're a natural daydreamer, is it easier for you to LD, I wonder? During the day, my mind just wanders. I daydream without realizing it. Can be a dangerous habit while driving...

Originally Posted by CordeliaDivine

During the day, my mind just wanders. I daydream without realizing it. Can be a dangerous habit while driving...

Tell me about it... I need to work on less daydreaming while driving...

Yeah, both of my parents are natural lucid dreamers. Used to shared what they did the night previously at the table, making me extremely jealous in the process. I never could lucid dream, so jealousy I guess is what made me start to try =P

Originally Posted by CreativeInChaos

Yeah, both of my parents are natural lucid dreamers. Used to shared what they did the night previously at the table, making me extremely jealous in the process. I never could lucid dream, so jealousy I guess is what made me start to try =P

Damn! Parents, amirite? But at least, thanks to them, you're here!

Originally Posted by LucasPotter

Damn! Parents, amirite? But at least, thanks to them, you're here!

I know right? Never have the common decency to pass down the right traits Hey I guess that's a good thing

I occasionally have lucid dreams, but it takes a lot of work to achieve. I'm lazy, so, in other words, I rarely become lucid.

I was surprised to find out that my daughter has had the ability to dream lucidly since she was little.

My older sister already knew about lucid dreaming, but she doesn't want to try because she's super scared of sleep paralysis and hypnagogia. I try to tell her most techniques don't involve sleep paralysis, but she won't listen to me.

My wife has been lucid a few times, but with her it is no more than suddenly understanding it is a dream, then waking up. My step son has had a few natural ones that sounded fairly stable. He ran on all fours as if he were a wolf in one, and pushed something away with TK in another. However, neither has shown any interest in learning how to do more.

I have told a cousin about lucid dreaming a few times, and her reaction has pretty much just been a mild amazement and confusion, followed by a change of subject;
in other words, the classic "huh? aha okay cool, but too weird for me, so let's change the subject immediately" type of reaction.

I suspect it would be different if you were able to do something that would benefit them and just mention it in passing. Eg:

"Oh, by the way, if your sciatica suddenly disappeared that's because I healed you in my lucid dream last night." Or:

"I know you've been really struggling lately so I asked for the lottery numbers in my lucid dream last night. Here's $2,000." Or:

"Don't take the bus to work this morning. It's going to be delayed 30 minutes." Or:

"Great-uncle Joe doesn't want you to feel guilty about that 20 bucks you borrowed 30 years ago."