A person told me only 20% of the population can lucid dream

I asked for some advice on Yahoo answers and got this reply:
"Sounds like you need a dose of reality. There is no proven method to cause lucid dreams and what those websites don't tell you is that less than 20% of people will *ever* have one. Plus, even if you're that one person out of every 9 who actually has the capacity, the vast majority of lucid dreams are spontaneous, happening totally at random. Even for people who are natural lucid dreamers (like me), it's impossible for anyone to FORCE one to happen. So it's really pointless to put a lot of effort toward lucid dreams-- that's just not how they work in the real world.

The main thing that differentiates lucid dreamers from those who don't have them is inner awareness. Unless you fully grasp your own mind and recognize your own train of thought, you won't be able to distinguish rational, intentional thinking from dreams. Despite all the hype about LD training, that's why goofy physical cues don't work-- because it's more about philosophy and human consciousness than mere gimmicks. And self-actualization isn't something you can pick up from YouTube or websites."

My question was about why I don't recognize that I am dreaming, despite my dreams being vivid and sometimes illogical (my last dream I was outside at least a few miles from my home, to then be in my room again with a naked woman or when I met a coworker in my town, but he doesn't live here and I can't understand what the hell he would do in my town when we live in two very different areas).

This makes me very sad to hear, because I've been fashinated by dreams for years (I rarely have nightmares, only 3 I can remember but they were not that bad) and I remember my dreams sometimes. I've heard about lucid dreaming but I thought it would only occur randomly maybe once or twice in a life-time so I didn't read about it untill about 1 and a half weeks ago.
I started doing reality checks but also keeping a dream journal and think a lot about lucid dreaming and my surroundings, what I'd like to do and achieve and so on. I read pretty much everyday about people's stories and such. Dreams for me interest me so much because I see myself as a kind of a philosopher. Most people in this world don't care that much about the small things in life, I do. I go for walks at night quite often and I can look at the stars and just be amazed over what I see. I've started to appreciate and study the surroundings a lot more the past two years.

I truly feel like I am that type of person who would both be able and deserve to be able to lucid dream. I doubt this person a bit, because I've felt my whole life that people don't think I'm good enough or capable of becoming something, but I've ignored them and went my own way and my own confidence and I've achieved stuff I never though I would. But everyone still needs a guide or a friend, I have none of these and I think I could find both of these in a lucid dream or with the help of a lucid dream. It would be quite illogical to be interested in dreams and paranormal phenomenons (especially EVP) and not being able to achieve a lucid dream. But maybe I am just expecting to much again (common problem for me). I feel only a certain type of people find these kind of stuff interesting. I am also neutral about God, he or she might or might not exist. I believe angels might or might not exist as well.

Dreams is a symbol of hope for me and many other too for sure. But I've always felt that my dreams mean something and I feel that I want to find out more about their meanings, because I am a very curious person.
But still, reality is harsh so this person might as well be right and I might be wasting my time.
What do you guys think? Maybe I am just thinking too highly of myself (I hate doing that, I tend to try to not do that and I am sorry if I come off as a narcissist)?
I am not going to give up yet, I know things takes time but if nothing happens for 2 months, then maybe I am not capable of achieving a lucid dream.

I dont know where the person has this number plus 20% is not 1 out of 9 ... so maybe he is just not that good in numbers?

lucid dreaming IS a skill. like every skill for example playing basketball everyone can learn it. some are talented and they dont need a lot of effort to get decent. some will be really awesome and some will need to put some (alot) of effort in it to get decent in it. but EVERYONE can learn how to play basketball or how to get lucid...

i agree with him that awareness is the key. there are people who are a zombie their whole life and dont realize anything around them or about them. those for sure wont lucid dream.

a lot of people are not made to work for a goal. those probably will give up before getting results or give up because progress not come fast enough because in the end it is work and a lifestyle and nothing that one accomplish over night (:lol:) in some days weeks or even month. but those kind of people dont accomplish anything big in their life too... sad but true

but when you stay consistent, work for it and see the journey as the destination and not expect wonders and instant success then you will be successful for sure. maybe you wont be a michael jordan at basketball or a michael angelo in arts but you sure can get good with practice and be better than most of people with some effort.

i feel like lucid dreaming is like growing up. you take baby steps and it might take some years. first you crawl then walk then run then ride a bike then a car and in the end maybe fly to the moon. when you would give up after a year because you just learned crawling or maybe even walking but you want to the moon you never accomplish it but when you stay consisted and focused you will get better and better every day until... just think about what you can do with your lucids in 5 or 10 or 20 years from now and how you will benefit from it. that should be the aim and not the shortterm thinking the next lucid that i worked so hard for and it only lasted two seconds...

hope you get what i mean :P

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Originally Posted by RelaxAndDream

I dont know where the person has this number plus 20% is not 1 out of 9 ... so maybe he is just not that good in numbers?

lucid dreaming IS a skill. like every skill for example playing basketball everyone can learn it. some are talented and they dont need a lot of effort to get decent. some will be really awesome and some will need to put some (alot) of effort in it to get decent in it. but EVERYONE can learn how to play basketball or how to get lucid...

i agree with him that awareness is the key. there are people who are a zombie their whole life and dont realize anything around them or about them. those for sure wont lucid dream.

a lot of people are not made to work for a goal. those probably will give up before getting results or give up because progress not come fast enough because in the end it is work and a lifestyle and nothing that one accomplish over night (:lol:) in some days weeks or even month. but those kind of people dont accomplish anything big in their life too... sad but true

but when you stay consistent, work for it and see the journey as the destination and not expect wonders and instant success then you will be successful for sure. maybe you wont be a michael jordan at basketball or a michael angelo in arts but you sure can get good with practice and be better than most of people with some effort.

i feel like lucid dreaming is like growing up. you take baby steps and it might take some years. first you crawl then walk then run then ride a bike then a car and in the end maybe fly to the moon. when you would give up after a year because you just learned crawling or maybe even walking but you want to the moon you never accomplish it but when you stay consisted and focused you will get better and better every day until... just think about what you can do with your lucids in 5 or 10 or 20 years from now and how you will benefit from it. that should be the aim and not the shortterm thinking the next lucid that i worked so hard for and it only lasted two seconds...

hope you get what i mean :P

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I understand you completely and I agree totally. Great post to be honest :)

I am definitely a person though who will fight for goals (I've two hobbies and both of them did I start with very little knowledge and then I advanced, but slowely thought but that is because I was lazy and unfocused, today I am a lot better, even better then I thought I would be at these hobbies but it took years to develop).
I was just a bit disappointed to hear what the person wrote, because if something sounds too good to be true, it most likely is.

Thanks for your input, then I will keep trying. I tried some new ideas out today and hope they can be in assistance. I guess I am a little bit too inpatient, but I will from now on have the same thoughts on lucid dreaming as on my hobbies and other goals.

I second a lot of what RelaxAndDream said, and I want to add a couple of points on my own.

When you dream, your logic circuits are not active. You're pretty much a baby in the dream in the sense that you'll take any irrational situation as reality. This is why it's difficult to lucid dream. This is also why simply the result of a reality check with no self awareness will not grant you lucidity. I feel as though humanity as a whole, me included, have lost this self awareness bit and a majority of people always get constantly distracted, and I believe this is where that guy's coming from. Unconscious habits, at least logically in my eyes, are almost always carried over into dreams, with the occasional few conscious acts throughout the day (things that happened, reality checks, etc.) being represented. Of course, there are the spontaneous lucid dreams, but we don't have much control over that. I guess he was saying those spontaneous lucid dreams are the only ones most people will have, but he missed the fact that regular practice will influence your dream self. Whether you (surprisingly O.o) have the discipline to reach the point of unconscious self awareness, or just lazily go about it ( my life ;-; ), or anything in between, like any skill, it'll help. Sure, consistent lucid dreams might be a very difficult goal, but it certainly doesn't require complete self actualization or recognizing your train of thought. In the days when I was serious about lucid dreaming, I simply on and off tried ADA withe reguar RC's and dream journalling. I've had quite a few LD's where in the dream, I was trying to have a lucid dream, often with success. About 8-9 lucid dreams, no matter how short or boring, from only a month of practice. If I had kept going I could've reached two-three a month, then four-five a week, then maybe one every night! There are many out there with consistent lucid dreams.

Also, where's the guy's source for 20% of people will ever have a lucid dream?

I third what RelaxAndDream said. Now I believe anybody can lucid dream, anyone that says it's impossible is straight up lying or really misinformed in my book.

Is lucid dreaming easy? Well you have to define what easy means. For me, easy means you can get relatively efficient with a particular skill within a years time (excluding talented people).

Now i believe lucid dreaming is easy but requires dedication. I practice martial arts and it isn't difficult per say but it requires ALOT of dedication, and because of that i have seen quite a few people drop out or never improve because the dedication

is too much, so they quit trying or leave. Lucid dreaming doesn't require nearly the level of dedication as martial arts does, but enough people who try LD drop out when they may not get they results want in the time they expect.

At end of the day lucid dreaming is very fun and it seems you have the first step down. from what i read you seem to love dreams. And that's very important. lucid dreaming for me was difficult because i wasn't appreciating the dreams at all and

was only expecting results. As long as you appreciate your dreams i think you will go far.

All I can do is relate my experience. By age 57 I had had perhaps 3 natural lucid dreams in my life. Since working on the techniques learned from ETWOLD, in 6 years I have had 300 or so more. So you can definitely improve with practice, although it still "seems" to be random, as a lot of things have to line up for success. But you can improve the odds.

PS... when you have your first good one, you will be hooked. It is the only thing I am aware of that really seems like true magic, or perhaps like having a supernatural ability. Last night I turned a cat into a beautiful woman and kissed her. I flew over a city and was amazed watching the tops of buildings rush by me. I have walked on water, passed through walls, tossed tigers into space, and many other impossible things that felt as real as if I truly did them. Once you experience that it is hard to just give it up!

Work on having confidence in your-self Newtothis - put the effort in and it will happen - you know it's true :)

Yahoo answers...nuff said.

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Originally Posted by Patience108

Work on having confidence in your-self Newtothis - put the effort in and it will happen - you know it's true :)

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Very true, I remember my dreams on a daily basis now, which is a huge step because before I would remember maybe a few dreams per month. I've started to make a habit out of this and it works somewhat good. I'll just have to wait and explore :-P

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Originally Posted by DenMorke

Yahoo answers...nuff said.

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I gave it a shot since I've actually read some good stuff on YA. But I've also gotten some stupid answers the recent times I've asked so I better avoid it haha.

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Originally Posted by Rothgar

PS... when you have your first good one, you will be hooked. It is the only thing I am aware of that really seems like true magic, or perhaps like having a supernatural ability. Last night I turned a cat into a beautiful woman and kissed her. I flew over a city and was amazed watching the tops of buildings rush by me. I have walked on water, passed through walls, tossed tigers into space, and many other impossible things that felt as real as if I truly did them. Once you experience that it is hard to just give it up!

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This is one of the reasons I want to lucid dream :P