Q&A with Daniel Love - Author of 'Are You Dreaming?'

Q&A with Daniel Love - Author of 'Are You Dreaming?'


Hello Dreamviews,

For those of you who I've yet to have the pleasure to talk with, I'm Daniel Love, a British dream researcher and the author of "Are You Dreaming?: Exploring Lucid Dreams: A Comprehensive Guide".

It has been suggested by various members of the forum that I run a Q&A session, a chance for us to get to know each other, and for me to answer any questions you may have.

I'll be here from 20:00 (BST), tonight, Sunday June 5th, until reasonably late. However, I'm more than happy for this thread to continue beyond this evenings session and I'll pop in at regular intervals after this date to answer questions.

Feel free to ask anything you like at all. From questions about my new project involving Dreamviews - called The Lucid Dreamer's Guide to the Cosmos, my previous book Are You Dreaming?, general lucidity questions, or if you just fancy a random conversation about life, the universe and dreams... I'm happy to discuss anything.

I'll do my best to answer any questions you have.


I look forward to getting to know you all!

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Originally Posted by DanielLove

However, I'm more than happy for this thread to continue beyond this evenings session and I'll pop in at regular intervals after this date to answer questions.

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YEAAAAH! Awesome, thank you so much, Daniel. I understand you have a ton of other things to do but if this could become a kinda permanent thread where you could pop in, that would be incredible. I'm so grateful for this.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gab

YEAAAAH! Awesome, thank you so much, Daniel. I understand you have a ton of other things to do but if this could become a kinda permanent thread where you could pop in, that would be incredible. I'm so grateful for this.

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That is absolutely my intention Gab, I just thought I'd put a night aside this evening to get the ball rolling, so people can post any time after this evening and I'll pop in regularly to answer questions from now on.

Imma just leave these questions here, since they are the questions that I get asked the most.

How many lucid dreams have you had?
What is your experience with persistent realms?
What is the worst experience that you have had LDing? (nightmare question usually)
How many dreams are possible in a night?
Do you believe in time dilation? (scientifically or non scientifically is fine, just your personal belief)

I am cool with short or long answers for these. I did the conversion to see when this started, and it started an hour ago? Or did I do that wrong? If not, then feel free to answer when it starts or whenever. I look forward to your answers. :P

@Sensei - That's fine, the conversation is open from here onwards. I'll be on-line for sometime this evening, so I'll do my best to keep an eye on this thread and answer questions. I apologise for any typos and grammatical issues, but I'm going to type at lightning speeds so there's a lot of room for potential errors.

How many lucid dreams have you had?
I'm afraid it's almost impossible to answer this question as I've been lucid dreaming since very early childhood and have continued ever since. So, the best answer I can give is "countless". These days I normally put two to three nights a week aside to lucid dream, although this varies depending on how busy my life is.

What is your experience with persistent realms?
I assume you're referring to dreamscapes that can be returned to on multiple occasions? If so, I've certainly experimented with this idea and returned to enjoyable dream locations on multiple occasions. Of course, certain categories of dreams have an inherent persistence to their environment, such as visiting places from one's past. I think the question of persistence is really a matter of how invested one is in a particular dream environment. If you enjoy a particular dreamscape, it's only a matter of choosing to revisit. The more you do so, the more established the "pattern" for this dream becomes in your mind. I personally don't believe there is any persistence beyond that which we create.

What is the worst experience that you have had LDing?
Well, my journey into becoming a lucid dreamer was a trial by fire. I suffered almost debilitating nightmares as a young child, and lucid dreaming was a defence mechanism I developed to deal with these. So I certainly have quite a back catalogue of childhood nightmares to choose from! More recently, I suffered from quite a terrible fever several years back, which resulted in horrendous nightmares that involved a form of lucidity that was lacking any of the usual control one would expect. I'll not go into details, as it really was quite vile.

How many dreams are possible in a night?
This would depend on whether you classify a period of REM as an individual dream, or if you'd define a dream by its "storyline". The former, would suggest we have between 5-6 dreaming periods a night, but how that is divided between each dreaming theme could vary wildly.

Do you believe in time dilation?
I believe the illusion of time dilation is possible, but I also think the human brain has it's own "clock speed", that is, we are limited to the processing speeds of the brain itself. I'm sure others would disagree on this, but I prefer to err on the side of caution when it comes to these kinds of concepts. I think it's better to be pleasantly surprised by future research that may prove you wrong, than to be at odds with our current understanding of the universe and the brain. However, I do love experimenting with time in dreams - it's possibly one of the most fascinating areas to explore. It's also curious how many reports from users of psychedelics such as N,N-Dimethyltryptamine, claim they experience profound distortions in their perception of time. The human mind certainly has the capacity to experience very convincing distortions in time. How and why these occur and what they tell us about the brain is still very much up for grabs. I think it's an area that would be fascinating to research further.

Hi Daniel,

Thanks for taking time to run this Q&A :).

One question that comes to mind right now is whether you've come accross any smarter than average DCs in your dreams? Those would be characters that stand out from the rest of DCs, maybe full of useful insights and ideas even willing to teach you how to do things. If so, are these reoccuring characters or random DCs?

Awesome thread! Thanks for doing this thread, should be quite interesting :)

My question is: Do you think the misconceptions and misinformation surrounding lucid dreaming (such as sleep paralysis) has negatively affected it's acceptance, popularity, and growth? If so how?

This is something I often run across, while the misconceptions and misinformation is bad within the lucid dreaming community, I've found they are much worse outside of it with people who know very little about lucid dreaming.

Daniel, do you think the dream world is 100% in your mind? Logic tells me yes, but then it can seem so real that I sometimes wonder if it is another dimension (which I guess it could be depending on how you define it). Also have you had any experiences that make you wonder if shared dreaming exists? In my 2nd intentional lucid dream, I became lucid when I saw a tiger on the loose in a park. My fear made me lucid. I then boldly went up to the tiger and threw him into space...watching him become a little point and disappear. Not 3 months later an article appeared in our local newspaper about a dream a reporter had. He was in India, and this tiger came flying out of the sky and landed near him! Now this of course could be a coincidence, but what are the odds that the reporter would write that, and I would see it?

@NyxCc

No problem, it's nice to be able to let my hair down and discuss these things!
With that in mind, I'd like to say that all of my opinions, knowledge and beliefs are works in progress, and should be read as such. I think it's important for us all to be open and willing to throw away any of these should better information come along. So, I'm very open to everyone's opinions, if people disagree or feel they have better information, please don't worry about pointing it out or putting me in my place! Life is a fantastic opportunity for us all to learn from each other!

To answer your question. Yes I have and it's really very peculiar.
In fact, for many years I've had a very odd theme along these lines. It may be a little hard to put into words, as it's something that can sound kooky - and kooky is an area I try to avoid. For me, I've noticed certain dream characters, that seem more cognizant than others, have made themselves apparent to me by the appearance of their eyes. That is, almost every time I've experiences such a dream character, their eyes appear exactly as my own do when I look in the mirror. It's very disconcerting!

A few of these dream characters have been long term inhabitants of my dream world. One in particular has been with me since childhood. Curiously, this particular character hasn't aged, although I have. As such, their role and my relationship to them has morphed throughout the years. In childhood they played an almost parental, protecting figure, in adolescence they were someone to "get into trouble" with, in adulthood, someone with which to have interesting discussions.

Do I believe these characters are some kind of guide? Probably not in the sense that most people would use that term. Instead, I have often speculated if this may be something to do with the relationship between the two hemispheres of the brain, which could, in some ways, be considered as almost "two brains within one skull". Certainly, experiments with those who've undergone a complete separation of the two hemispheres (usually for the treatment of extreme epilepsy) demonstrate some very peculiar results with quite unnerving implications. It's all very much speculation, but fascinating. If nothing else, we know for certain that the human brain is capable of creating consciousness, from the simple fact of our own experience. Is it perhaps possible that more than one consciousness can arise? Who knows,? I certainly don't, but it's fun to think about such things.

Hey Daniel, great to see you doing this thread! I read your book and refer back to it now and again. It's a great book.
I have two questions;

First, as you've got older, have you found your lucid dreaming has got better or worse overall?

Second, I'm still relatively inexperienced at lucid dreaming having only had about 50 very short ones, but I'm going through a very frustrating dry spell just now that has lasted four months. Any advice?

@Mismagius

Do you think the misconceptions and misinformation surrounding lucid dreaming (such as sleep paralysis) has negatively affected it's acceptance, popularity, and growth? If so how?

Absolutely. It's been a personal battle of mine to fight these things. I think the danger here is that lucid dreaming is overlooked by many intelligent people because it has been essentially hijacked by all sorts of odd groups looking to promote their own agendas and beliefs. Even some of the most respected books on the topic are very "out there" compared to what is palatable to the majority of educated individuals.

Saying that, I have no problem with people using lucid dreaming to explore their own philosophical and spiritual beliefs. I just think that, as a subject, it has been promoted in this way for a little too long and it has seriously restricted its appeal and growth.

I think this has happened for two reasons:

1) It's a very good way to make money. Spirituality sells very well indeed.
2) Neither lucid dreaming nor spirituality require any kind of meaningful qualifications, so, anyone can set themselves up as an expert or guru in these fields. So the two subjects make for very easy companions to those looking to put themselves on a soap-box, claim unverifiable knowledge and make a nice living in doing so.

I know this probably isn't going to be a popular answer, but let's face it, we have absolutely no way of knowing who is actually capable of the things they claim. We also have no way of assessing how genuine their beliefs are. It's actually part of the longer term plan for my new project (see my signature), to eventually invite big names in the field into a sleep laboratory to demonstrate their ability to lucid dream under controlled verifiable conditions. I think it will be very interesting to see how that pans out.

I think the best approach towards all of this, and it needn't contradict people's personal spiritual exploration, in fact it only strengthens it, is to start from the ground up. We need to reboot lucid dreaming, educating people on the most basic scientific understanding of sleep, dreaming and the human mind. Work with what is definitely known, expand that further into how these interact with our universe (again with what is known), and then once all of these things are clear, people will be in the perfect position to use their dreams how they see fit. Without that understanding, many people can be hoodwinked into all kinds of peculiar things, which may be a huge waste of their time and resources.

Plus dreams and our universe are already absolutely the most wonderful things imaginable. How can they, even at their most basic, not be a source of joy, awe and inspiration?

@Rothgar

What is also an amazing coincidence, is that only earlier this morning I was reading Richard Dawkins, Unweaving the Rainbow, which explained very well the nature of coincidences, statistical significance etc. I'd really recommend getting your hands on a copy, as he explains these things far better than I can in a short forum post. Look for the chapter called "Unweaving the Uncanny".

I share the same internal struggle that you mention, I think we all do and it's a very normal way to feel. Logic compels me to believe that dreams are 100% a construction of the mind, yet personal experience can be so very strange that it entices us consider alternatives. Still, as thrilling as these alternatives are, I do indeed think that dreams are a creation of the mind. I don't think that lessens the experience, I think it just heightens my respect for the sheer wonder of the human brain. All the evidence points to this being the correct answer. If I'm proven wrong in the future, I'd be very happy - as it would be so interesting! At this point in time, I'd rather work with what is known and keep an open mind to new information as and when it comes about.

Yet, if we throw ourselves into speculation mode, concepts like the Many Worlds Theory open up a whole can of interesting worms - although, we do have to be very careful with that, speculation is very different from fact. But it's really fun to think about these things, and it's something I'd like to explore in detail in further books.

@Goldenspark

Thanks for the kind words, I'm really glad you enjoyed the book. If you've not done so already, check out the link in my signature - I'm running a new project which will involve more books. Everyone's help would be really appreciated!

To answer your question: That's a tricky one. My lucid dreams have improved in both skill and content with age but the quality and duration of my sleep (but not dreams) has declined. Also, it does seem to be a very real phenomenon that teenagers and young adults are more prone to spontaneous lucidity. It's a very mixed bag, but I'd say that on balance, lucid dreaming has improved with age, it's just a little easier to be woken from them!

I've worked with several people over 50 who'd never experienced a lucid dream and were very keen to give it a try. All were capable. Several have gone on to become very proficient and regular lucid dreamers. I do believe that the most important factor is dedication and passion, regardless of age.

Dry spells are awful but I think they're inevitable and hard to completely avoid. It's hard to establish exactly why any dry spell occurs and only you can really do the detective work on this. If I were in your position, and I have been, I would keep a detailed account of your sleeping habits, daily life, your diet and your dreams. Then, try experimenting with shifts and changes in each of these. Very often it can be a dietary cause - perhaps try supplementing with choline or, alternatively eat more choline rich foods, such as eggs.

You may also have just reached a point where you're "going through the motions" rather than fully engaging in your practices. If that's the case, just give yourself a week off, then start afresh with a new energy and motivation.

The bottom line is you need to experiment and mix things up as much as possible - and be sure to record the results of these.

Hey everyone,

I hope these answers have been interesting to everyone. I'm fully aware that we'll not all agree on everything and I certainly don't consider myself as the "last word" on any of these topics. These are just the opinions of one lucid dreamer, who has had a different path through life and come into contact with different experiences and knowledge to your own. Also, each of these ideas are works in progress, and I'd be happy to discuss and develop them with you all. This is very much why I'm instigating my latest project, as I'm very aware that we all have different views, and all deserve a platform to share them. If you'd like to add your own voice to the discussion, check out the thread for the project: http://www.dreamviews.com/general-lu...de-cosmos.html

I think my mind is starting to fog over a little tonight, so I may have to call it quits for now and answer other questions at a later date. I'd rather have a clear mind and give you thoughtful answers than push myself only to write some senseless-gibberish :)

Do feel free to drop any further questions below and I'll pop back and share my thoughts.

Also if you've not done so, please check out my project using the link in my signature :)

Thanks all of you for your company and questions tonight. I hope we get a chance for much more of this from now on!

This post is for your next visit. I'm guessing you're back in dreamland by now. I quite enjoyed your book and wanted to say the peg system you wrote about in it is something I've found very useful. I tend to use it more for easier recall of dream goals (pegs travel as easily into dreamland as out of it, it seems). I have also used variations of the peg system to make sure various details survive through what tends to be less lucid false awakenings and late morning dreams which can cloud the crispness of some details from earlier. Quick plug: your promotion to get a free copy of "Are You Dreaming?" for any contribution level to your Kickstarter campaign (in Daniel Love's signature, look for the details) is very generous and anyone that hasn't contributed, should contribute for that valuable bonus, if not for other reasons.

I hope you don't mind several questions again. I won't be offended if you decide to answer, some or all of them, later.

What do you like to do in "the void" which I consider "the space between dream scenes"?

What do you think is the single most powerful lucid dreaming practice (for you and for the general populace, if you feel it is different)?

Do you have, or are you considering a 4th pillar (your 3 pillars in your book)?

What do you think is the best way to ask your dream (assuming your subconscious) to help you to have more lucid dreams and have you had any interesting experiments with this?

What is the relationship and interplay between lucid dreaming & virtual reality? What's a lucid dreaming approach to VR? You implied recently--if I recall correctly, it was in a recorded conversation with Ryan Hurd--that VR might replace interest in lucid dreaming. Could you elaborate on that? It seems equally likely to me that VR might help spark increased interest in lucid dreaming, as well as increase the incidence of spontaneous lucid dreams.

Have you transformed into anything else during a dream? If so, what did you transform into and how? If not, what would you transform into and how?

@Fogelbise

What do you like to do in "the void" which I consider "the space between dream scenes"?
I actually rarely experience "the void" so I'm not in the best position to answer this. I generally instigate waking when I feel that a suitably long lucid dream is coming to an end or fading. I do this mostly because I find it's a much safer practice for ensuring a high quality dream recall. Alternatively, if the dream has been short, I've not achieved my goals or I feel there's a good probability that there is more to come, I'll use the void experience to try and quickly return to a full dream scene. For me the void will generally start to morph into a dreamscape through a series of sensory stages. Normally, the tactile or auditory elements of a dream are the first to be established, so I tend to focus on these - I find this helps keep me engaged with the experience and hastens the formation of a new dream scene.

What do you think is the single most powerful lucid dreaming practice (for you and for the general populace, if you feel it is different)?

I'd say it's the development of the skills of critical thinking combined with experimentation and detailed record keeping. I think these skills underpin virtually every other practice. A reality test, for example, is just the application of critical thinking plus experimentation. Even without any of our refined modern techniques, pioneers in the past who were in possession of these skills had a higher propensity for inducing lucidity. Moers-Messmer, for example, developed on-the-fly reality tests in dreams, simply because he was particularly good at critically examining his environment. In one instance, he came to the conclusion he was dreaming simply be realising that the angle of the shadows were not consistent with the time of year.

For a more specific technique, I'd probably choose WBTB as one of the most effective. It's incredibly simple, it's flexible and easy to experiment with or combine with other techniques, and it approaches lucid dreaming from more than just a psychological/willpower angle; as you're interrupting the physical processes of sleep.

Do you have, or are you considering a 4th pillar (your 3 pillars in your book)?

Well, the pillars were only an attempt to simplify some of the basic principles in what is really a very complicated subject. The reality is that there is so much overlap between the three that there's certainly room to experiment with ways to categorise them differently. It's all a work in progress, so it's definitely a possibility.

What do you think is the best way to ask your dream (assuming your subconscious) to help you to have more lucid dreams and have you had any interesting experiments with this?

I think this is one of those concepts that is really appealing and sounds great, but in practice doesn't tend to be all that effective - at least, that has been my experience. It relies on several assumptions that may have no foundations in reality, such as the existence of the subconscious as some kind of entity you can communicate with. I'm not ruling out the possibility, I just can't say that I've had much luck in these areas and I've tried all manner of experiments.
So, If I'm trying to use the areas of my mind that are not a part of my conscious experience, I find prospective memory practices - such as working with my internal "alarm clock" seem to be more effective and consistent.


@Thinkinuit and Dolphin - I'll get to your questions soon I promise. Hopefully later today.

Hi Daniel. In your book, you talk about bringing something tangible back from the dream world. Like awakening with a flower picked from a dream meadow.

Did you ever try to draw or paint your dreams? Or compose a music piece that you've recently heard in a dream?
Is there a limit to the amount of details and complexity that you can store in one peg?
What was the inspiration for the cover art of 'Are You Dreaming?', was it a dream meadow perhaps ;) ?
What did you study in your adolescent years? Was it a difficult choice?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DanielLove

@Goldenspark

Thanks for the kind words, I'm really glad you enjoyed the book. If you've not done so already, check out the link in my signature - I'm running a new project which will involve more books. Everyone's help would be really appreciated!

To answer your question: That's a tricky one. My lucid dreams have improved in both skill and content with age but the quality and duration of my sleep (but not dreams) has declined. Also, it does seem to be a very real phenomenon that teenagers and young adults are more prone to spontaneous lucidity. It's a very mixed bag, but I'd say that on balance, lucid dreaming has improved with age, it's just a little easier to be woken from them!

I've worked with several people over 50 who'd never experienced a lucid dream and were very keen to give it a try. All were capable. Several have gone on to become very proficient and regular lucid dreamers. I do believe that the most important factor is dedication and passion, regardless of age.

Dry spells are awful but I think they're inevitable and hard to completely avoid. It's hard to establish exactly why any dry spell occurs and only you can really do the detective work on this. If I were in your position, and I have been, I would keep a detailed account of your sleeping habits, daily life, your diet and your dreams. Then, try experimenting with shifts and changes in each of these. Very often it can be a dietary cause - perhaps try supplementing with choline or, alternatively eat more choline rich foods, such as eggs.

You may also have just reached a point where you're "going through the motions" rather than fully engaging in your practices. If that's the case, just give yourself a week off, then start afresh with a new energy and motivation.

The bottom line is you need to experiment and mix things up as much as possible - and be sure to record the results of these.

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Thanks Daniel. I've actually gone back to your book and started again on the fundamentals. My DJ entries have been very sporadic of late, even though I tend to have quite good recall each morning. You are probably right that I have slipped into a basics malaise.
Having a week off might prove difficult because I seem to have been thinking about lucid dreaming almost every day for the last few years. I'm not sure I can completely disconnect, but I do feel that maybe it would be a kind of release to properly let go for a time and reset my mind on this.

@Thinkintuit

What is the relationship and interplay between lucid dreaming & virtual reality? What's a lucid dreaming approach to VR? You implied recently--if I recall correctly, it was in a recorded conversation with Ryan Hurd--that VR might replace interest in lucid dreaming. Could you elaborate on that? It seems equally likely to me that VR might help spark increased interest in lucid dreaming, as well as increase the incidence of spontaneous lucid dreams.

You've asked a particularly tricky question here! The interplay between lucid dreaming and VR is something that I believe holds a very interesting future, but as VR is still very much in its infancy, there's little data to work with. Part of the reason for wanting to approach that topic with my project (see my signature for those who have no idea what I'm talking about) is to explore this in depth, for the very reason that there hasn't been much research into this yet. I hope to use that particular book as an opportunity for a lot of real world experimentation - and to hopefully even produce some software for that very task. So, I can't give any final answer to this question, only that it is something that I feel has a lot of potential and needs to be researched.

As for my discussion with Ryan Hurd where I mentioned the possibility that VR could replace an interest in lucid dreaming, I do think there is a strong possibility for this, but it will all very much depend on how much lucid dreamers embrace VR and produce lucid dream based software for that platform. You're right, it could equally increase incidences - but that's still remains to be seen. What I meant in that conversation was more a suggestion that VR will have a wider appeal because it is a "push button" form of entertainment; instant gratification that requires no effort to experience. Lucid dreaming requires effort and dedication, so that in itself acts as a filter to a certain section of the population. It's likely that section will grow if there is an easy alternative that offers a similar but simpler to achieve experience. But, all this remains to be seen! I think there are also huge opportunities to develop VR software that can act as a training system for lucidity - and, it may be very effective indeed. We'll just have to wait and see.

It's a topic I really want to explore, so I hope the project proves to be a success so that we can follow that thread wherever it leads!

@Dolphin
Have you transformed into anything else during a dream? If so, what did you transform into and how? If not, what would you transform into and how?

Oh yes, all the time! It's one of my absolute favourite experiments during a lucid dream. It'd probably be easier to ask what I haven't transformed into!
A personal favourite is to transform into different birds. I've always been very interested in the natural world and have quite a wide understanding of the biology and habits of various creatures - so my mind is well equipped to create quite convincing simulations of these transformations. When one is aware of the variations in bone structure and the more subtle physical differences, the experience can be really mind-blowing. Feeling your bones and muscles undergo metamorphosis, feeling your sensory organs shift in sensitivity, or the distortions in vision depending on the placement and quality of a particular species eyes, is all quite wonderful. Feeling yourself experience a different branch of the evolutionary tree is magical.

Then there are the more obscure transformations, such as into creatures of the microscopic world, inanimate objects, plants or even something very abstract like water. All can give such interesting results.

I do find that the more one understands about that which they wish to transform into, the more beautiful and rewarding the experience.

@Tataglia - I'll try to answer your questions as soon as I can, I have quite a busy schedule tonight - but if I can find the time I'll pop back and do my best to answer them!

Do you believe that dream recall is indeed inconsistent?If so why?How can somebody deal with that inconsistency and have better recall.
Also how much do you think and induction technique should take to show results?

@Tataglia

Did you ever try to draw or paint your dreams? Or compose a music piece that you've recently heard in a dream?
I've done both. I've been a musician most of my life and I'm very fond of art and enjoy painting. I've quite a few compositions that have been born directly in the dreamworld. Actually, music is a very regular component in almost all of my dreams. It never fails to impress me just how perfectly the mind can recreate known tunes or generate brand new musical pieces. Perhaps if I can find a way, I'll record and share a few of these pieces sometime. As for artwork, I've used my "fractal dreaming" technique on many occasions - jumping into artwork, in a dream, to enter the "world of the painting", to look for a new scene to paint upon awaking. This can be repeated again and again, hence the choice of the word "fractal".

Is there a limit to the amount of details and complexity that you can store in one peg?
Yes, I think individual pegs should be used for short pieces of information. If you try to attach too much to one peg you'll lose important details. Fortunately, the peg system itself can be expanded upon, so you've plenty of available "memory slots" to work with.

What was the inspiration for the cover art of 'Are You Dreaming?', was it a dream meadow perhaps?
It's a scene from one of my favourite places in the waking world, and an environment I often recreate and visit in my dreams. A certain forest from the cliff-tops near my childhood home-town, that in springtime becomes absolutely covered with a certain British flower called the bluebell. It's a wonderful place with many varied and dramatically differing environments; rugged cliff-tops, beautiful fragrant forest, the sea, old ruined buildings, and a great place to find Jurassic fossils. It's a place I often visit in both dreams and reality and where I find a lot of inspiration. In springtime I can often be found there, swinging in a hammock, writing, dreaming and pondering. I'll see if I can attach a photo to give you an idea.
Attachment 9305Attachment 9306Attachment 9307

What did you study in your adolescent years? Was it a difficult choice?
Psychology, although I can't say it was particularly useful. In retrospect I would have preferred to have studied a more established and concrete scientific field, physics and genetics appeal greatly, or something along those lines. Saying that, barely a day goes past where I'm not deeply engrossed in some arcane scientific textbook. As for if it were a difficult choice, I wish I could say it was, however I was quite impulsive in my younger years and quite strong willed - so I didn't give it the consideration it deserved.

@tasinios
Do you believe that dream recall is indeed inconsistent?If so why?How can somebody deal with that inconsistency and have better recall?
Yes definitely. I think there are so many variables that it's impossible to point the finger at one as the culprit. Diet, health, how and from which stage of sleep one wakes, personal distractions and concerns etc.
The only real way to deal with this inconstancy is to minimize the fluctuations in the variables that cause it - which is much easier said than done! Aim to always awaken from an REM period, be sure your diet is balanced, take time before getting up to lay with your eyes closed and give yourself time to make an effort to recall whatever of the nights dreams you can. I think perseverance combined with stability will always yield positive results. But, life is just too varied and unpredictable to always maintain the best conditions for recall.

How much *time* do you think and induction technique should take to show results?
That's a very broad question and would depend entirely on the technique being discussed. For example a technique such as CAT should be effective within a couple of weeks. WBTB could be effective on the first attempt. It will really depend on what the premise is behind the technique and if that premise actually has any factual grounding. There's an awful lot of "what if" techniques out there, which may never yield results. I'd suggest not putting all your eggs in one basket and focusing on multiple techniques and developing strong basic foundations in your practices, such as regular reality testing, critical thinking and observational skills etc.

DanielLove is in Paris at the moment, doing a podcast about lucid dreaming. He will return shortly into this thread.

More info about the podcast and other thigs are here http://www.dreamviews.com/general-lu...de-cosmos.html. Check out his project and a chance to get an e-book of "Are you Dreaming?"

Hey guys, you've asked some fantastic and interesting questions, and the answers have been very fascinating to read!

I really liked hearing about your experiences with dream characters, DanielLove, it's a topic I've always found very interesting. It's also been a goal of mine to make dream companions that I can explore dreamscapes with. I'm of the "more the merrier" mind, even in dreams :cheeky:

That jumping into the world of the painting is something I've actually wanted to try, it reminds me of Super Mario 64

A couple more questions I had. In one of the answers you said you've painted your dreams and composed music from them. Have you ever incorporated any of your interests, passions, hobbies into lucid dreaming in reverse? For example, bringing a hobby into the dream or even using it as a tool. Such as using a paint brush to create a dreamscape or paint something onto the current dreamscape, like a door.

When did you learn that what you were doing was lucid dreaming? When did you first start talking with other lucid dreamers and how did you come to meet them?