Thread: I'm scared!

Look at the spider and think. I love you.

Spiders in dreams are very scary. I've dreamed of a spider, a huge one sitting right next to my bed on the wall. It looked at me and I looked at it. I was frightened. I forced myself to look at it. I felt stronger for it and it imparted a sense of energy and knowing into me. Since then, i've been able to be with spiders and even put my head into a spider's nest in the corner behind the couch. For fear of other things non-theless. Spiders are scary.

Love the spider. They are ur friends, I believe they are helping you.

Damn, I don't think I could do that...

Originally Posted by HappyFellow

Damn, I don't think I could do that...

Time time time, we grow stronger with time as long we try'ne

I only like the spiders that maintain a distance and keep the flys away.xD Anyways, just do the opposite. Instead of being afraid that you'll expect something terrible. Think about you expecting something great to happen in your lucid dream. If it still seems scary think of a big spider protecting you instead of hurting you like dthoughts mentioned. If that doesn't seem better than just remind yourself thats not gonna happen and give your attention to something else. Shrug it off. Think of your dream place as a place where nothing can really hurt you. Like your in your happy place. ^ w ^

Spiders show up sometimes in my lucid dreams. Usually when I'm trying to enjoy flying around, they'll be in tree branches or something and I'll get tangled in the webs. It can be scary and frustrating, but if I'm fully lucid I just say "I don't have to be doing this!" or "I don't have to be afraid, this is my dream!" and I'll just ignore them and they disappear.

Originally Posted by HappyFellow

I really want to achieve lucidity, but at the same time I'm so afraid of big spiders being in my lucid dream, that I kind of back away from it.
I know that the second I become lucid, I will think of the spiders, and then they'll be there... I just can't handle it, as apparantly It's so real.
What can I do guys. All answers welcome

How about you simply don't think of the spiders, Happyfellow?

If you go into the LD knowing that you will not think of spiders, you likely will not see any. This might take a bit of work and discipline, but you really ought to be able to have a LD without ever giving spiders a thought.

Getting things to appear in LDs is more difficult than you may think. Even if you think of big spiders there's a good chance you won't see any. If you do, there's a good chance that telling them nicely to go away will be effective.

Try dream incubation, where you imagine the dream you want to have. Do not have it include spiders, or have them scatter away from you if you want.

Worst case you get your first lucids and are frightened by some spiders. Well you have to go along ways to get the first lucids so it is a victory in itself. Believe me as you get good at this you will have very few bad dreams.

"Do something every day that scares you!".

Think of confronting your phobia as a challenge, and remember, a lucid dream is only a simulation, how ever real it might look.
In fact it's the perfect way to deal with your phobia, because they can't actually hurt you!

Maybe as a pre-cursor to that, try calling up images or footage of spiders on your comuter monitor and imagine that is what your lucid dream will be like. You can touch the spider on the screen but it can't possibly hurt you.

Even if you were to experience something horrifying in a lucid dream, it would still be better than getting a non-lucid nightmare where you just helplessly observed the events without being able to make any decisions.

In a lucid nightmare you are at least aware that you are dreaming, and thus you will be able to handle the situation much better.

Originally Posted by HappyFellow

I really want to achieve lucidity, but at the same time I'm so afraid of big spiders being in my lucid dream, that I kind of back away from it.
I know that the second I become lucid, I will think of the spiders, and then they'll be there... I just can't handle it, as apparantly It's so real.
What can I do guys. All answers welcome

No, you don't know that because you've never had a lucid dream before.

HappyFellow, you will honestly not know how you will react until you have actually experienced a lucid dream.
Lucid dreams can come in all degrees of vividness - sometimes you can indeed be as alert as you are during waking life, but a lot of the time you will still be in a fairly groggy and absent-minded state, despite being lucid.
For example, it is very common that people who become lucid will struggle to remain that way, and they can still very easily get distracted by things and lose lucidity, or have problems thinking clearly.
Personally I have problems even remembering my own name during lucid dreams;
I know that I am dreaming and that I am asleep in bed, but that's pretty much it.
It is a bit of an art to develop lucidity to a degree that you can actually function like normal in those dreams.

Anyway, you should definitely aim for lucid dreaming - no matter how low your lucidity level might be in some lucid dreams, the realization that you are dreaming is in itself amazing.
It is a little bit like being a very small child and suddenly realizing that you see yourself in the mirror - becoming lucid in a dream is a bit like that, like an incredible insight.