Natural Lucid Dreamer

[Serene]

I believe I was born lucid dreaming. I never knew it even had a name. I also always thought everyone did this, until I tried explaining it to my friends as a teen and they all told me I should write books/movies. Many of my dreams were like movies where I was the director. I think I started when I was about 3 but clearly was a pro by the age of 6 conquering my recurring nightmares. I am now in my 50's. I have never had an easy time falling asleep and on average takes me about 45 minutes. I am an extremely light sleeper. I have also had really bad insomnia for many years. I don't have excellent dream recall but I feel I am 100% lucid in all of my dreams. I have always used my lucidity for learning, practicing, flying and only really controlling my nightmares. I wished I had realized this had a name and more people had it when I was much younger. I was embarrassed to talk about it. If I had to guess why I am a natural I would say from being such an empathetic, compassionate child who was always very appreciative of everything. Being an extremely shy child this helped me practice real life in my dreams. I am an observer and always loved trying to figure people out. I am very intuitive and also ask a lot of questions. As I got older I feel I am much more aware and mindful because of my LD's. I came here for more information and feel I have a lot more understanding of this. I was shocked to see all of the terminology and ways people try to get to be lucid. I feel so extremely blessed to have it so naturally. I would love to learn to have better recall, but I think that is a product of my lack of sleep. Being it came so natural I never tried to manipulate or control it much. I just always felt it was there to help me so I had to listen, watch, practice and learn. I also was afraid if I controlled it too much I would lose it. What causes some people to be so aware they are dreaming? Was it events that happened in their life? Personality? Survival?

[Goldenspark]

Hi Serene, have you discovered TOTM (Task Of The Month) on here? It should be easy for you as a natural, but I would be interested to see how you do. Tasks of the Month & Year

[Lichi]

I think generally what causes some people to be aware they are dreaming is to generally be aware in their waking life, to have a life experience as something very vivid and in the present moment, which would make them perceive things as something new although they probably seen that thousands of time. I heard an example of this recently, Ajahn Brahm, a Buddhist monk, was asked what it feels or what is Samma-Sati (Right or Perfect Awareness) and he replied is like going to the toilet, staring at it and saying "Woooow, look at that!" lol, in other words being amazed for something ordinary, not maybe because of the object itself but because of the awareness. I noticed that when i have more awareness i feel less inclined in wordly activities, since they are a huge load at least for that moment. So i slowly started changing my habits, cutting off with unnecesary stuff and activities. I think in the same way people who develop awareness either if they had weighty habits they let them go, and if they don't had any they just feel light for having been dispassionate towards wordly things that are a dead weight on the mind. So through this non-clinging they are free to be more aware and thus experience life and dreams vividly. Then my hypothesis is that this leads to stillness, stillness to insight and insight & direct knowledge to lucidity (dreams) or awakening (reality), but that's theoretical, in practice im still in awareness and effort.

[Serene]

I think it might be interesting to try TOTM. I think that I still have so much to learn with control but will try some of these. Even though I know it's just a dream, I still wouldn't want to do anything mean or hurtful like kill people or blow things up lol. I feel kinda like a kid in a candy shop. Time to wrap my head around some control and see what I come up with. I love challenges .

[Goldenspark]

One reason to try the TOTM is to explore dream control. It depends how much your past LDs were going along for the ride, and how much you could use expectation to change things. I've only managed some very rudimentary dream control, but it is very cool. Having the presence of mind to think to change things is part way to then going to higher places. I seem to now have good recall and vivid dreams but still can't seem to quite transition to an LD regularly. So frustrating!! Talking to people on here who do seem to do it easily does help make it more real and attainable.

[Serene]

Goldenspark, I love the thought of trying the TOTM. The only thing is I need to get to sleep to do that lol. I am really suffering with not sleeping and having two dogs, one older one who needs to go out in the middle of the night isn't helping me much. Did you see my post I just posted? lol I did try! Lucid Dreams/Sleep Walking/Sleep Talking

[Oneiro]

I believe I was born lucid dreaming. I never knew it even had a name. I also always thought everyone did this, until I tried explaining it to my friends as a teen and they all told me I should write books/movies. Many of my dreams were like movies where I was the director. I think I started when I was about 3 but clearly was a pro by the age of 6 conquering my recurring nightmares. I am now in my 50's. I have never had an easy time falling asleep and on average takes me about 45 minutes. I am an extremely light sleeper. I have also had really bad insomnia for many years. I don't have excellent dream recall but I feel I am 100% lucid in all of my dreams. If I had to guess why I am a natural.. Hello Serene. A question, if I may? All of your experiences as described can be achieved in non-lucid dreaming. So.. what makes you say that your experiences are lucid dreaming?

[Serene]

Hello Serene. A question, if I may? All of your experiences as described can be achieved in non-lucid dreaming. So.. what makes you say that your experiences are lucid dreaming? Because I am aware in my dreams that I am dreaming without doing anything specific to make myself lucid. Granted when I was younger I had much better control over my dreams. My goal is to have better recall. I think over time I gave up control to really observe and learn. When you are aware in your dream you can take full advantage of it and ask questions, and get really good answers. Just because you are lucid doesn't mean you have to decide to control it. Sometimes being an observer is far more beneficial.

[Narratick]

Being aware or reflexive within a dream, is not the same thing as being lucid, and even less fully lucid. I have a feeling or a sense, that a lot of people claiming to be natural lucid dreamers, are just very reflexive in their dreams, or but at a low level of awareness, which never comes close to true lucidity. I am not blaming anyone here, but as I was reading Oneiro's questions here, I felt I am not the only one doubting the reality of the experience as described here and elsewhere as well. And because I am curious, I read your dream Journal, Serene, and I just couldn't feel in your dream stories, the lucid revelation, the extreme awareness it takes inside the dream to know it is a dream, and the power and energy it brings to the dreamer. In the french lucid dream forum I am the most active in, I have the same feeling with people claiming to be lucid a lot in their dreams, but when you read their dreams, there is only good or vivid memories, details, a switch in the attidude from time to time, but near the end of the tale, I wonder where all the lucidity went if it was really here in the first place. What I want to mean, is that I think people, not willing to of course, confuse awareness with lucidity. And what I really want to mean, and this is my advice to you Serene : there IS another level of awareness available to you ! But you have to search for it ! Next time you feel lucid in a dream, just Pause, stop moving or doing anything, and wonder at the beauty of the scenery you are in, take your time to watch and feel your hands, and tell yourself that you ARE in a dream, and keep telling yourself that until you fully grab the concept inside the dream. I hope I was clear enough, as always I doubt myself, english not being my first language. Take care !

[Rockefeller]

Being aware or reflexive within a dream, is not the same thing as being lucid, and even less fully lucid. I have a feeling or a sense, that a lot of people claiming to be natural lucid dreamers, are just very reflexive in their dreams, or but at a low level of awareness, which never comes close to true lucidity. I am not blaming anyone here, but as I was reading Oneiro's questions here, I felt I am not the only one doubting the reality of the experience as described here and elsewhere as well. And because I am curious, I read your dream Journal, Serene, and I just couldn't feel in your dream stories, the lucid revelation, the extreme awareness it takes inside the dream to know it is a dream, and the power and energy it brings to the dreamer. In the french lucid dream forum I am the most active in, I have the same feeling with people claiming to be lucid a lot in their dreams, but when you read their dreams, there is only good or vivid memories, details, a switch in the attidude from time to time, but near the end of the tale, I wonder where all the lucidity went if it was really here in the first place. What I want to mean, is that I think people, not willing to of course, confuse awareness with lucidity. And what I really want to mean, and this is my advice to you Serene : there IS another level of awareness available to you ! But you have to search for it ! Next time you feel lucid in a dream, just Pause, stop moving or doing anything, and wonder at the beauty of the scenery you are in, take your time to watch and feel your hands, and tell yourself that you ARE in a dream, and keep telling yourself that until you fully grab the concept inside the dream. I hope I was clear enough, as always I doubt myself, english not being my first language. Take care ! Why don't you create your Dream Journal? You seem advance in this domain. It would be cool that you share your lucid dreams and your experience of awareness(Of couse if you want to).

[Narratick]

Oh, Rockefeller, if you read french, I can link to you my journal on a french lucid dream forum, where you can find nearly 60 LDs of mine. But I don't have the time to translate them to english and post it here sorry. Also, I am not advanced, I am not advanced at all. I am not a natural lucid dreamer, not even a natural dreamer. I have to fight to have somewhat a decent recall, and lucidity comes and goes when I least expect it sometimes. The only domain where I feel I have predispositions is what is commonly called WILD. I have practiced it a lot and it became sort of second nature.. BUT only when I have proper motivation, which I find difficult to find these days. I had a little more than 100 LD in a little less than three years, which is not formidable.. but I can count on my two hands the really lucid ones, and I can feel those peeks of lucidiy when I read dream journals. Surely everyone's dreamworld and dreams are pretty unique, and maybe when lucidity becomes natural, it also becomes normal, and the lucidity loses its freshness and viguor, and maybe that's why in Serene's case, I just can't see the lucidity anywhere. But maybe it's there ! Maybe it is lucidity, and I am wrong all the way. I didn't mean to doubt you Serene, or make you doubt yourself or your faculties. If you say you are lucid, then you are. I apologize if I threatened your confidence. I wish I could be in other people's mind, but can't, and that's why I end up theorizing on a forum, when maybe I shouldn't. Again take care !

[Serene]

Narratick I really appreciate your perspective and I wish I had answers for you but I really don't know for sure myself. This is the closest explanation I could come up with but like you say, I could be wrong. I honestly don't care if it is lucidity or not. The word itself doesn't mean anything to me, I just know what I have experienced and what it has meant to me. I just happened upon this site and was thrilled to have people who seemed to experience what I have only they took it to a level that I was totally unaware of. Just because I feel I am lucid doesn't mean I don't have a bunch to learn. This is all so new to me. Now if I could only get more than 4 - 5 hours of sleep a night I may be able to explore this further. :-).

[Goldenspark]

You're right Narratick, being aware in a dream is not the same as being lucid, but simply knowing that you are dreaming is. Although there are clearly different levels of awareness, don't belittle our lucid dreams just because they are of lesser awareness. You are quite within your rights to believe in a different definition of what a lucid dream is, but I choose to use the loosest one as above. Aiming for a higher level of awareness while lucid is fine, and I understand what you mean.

[Serene]

I really want to learn all I can and that's why I'm here. I am so excited to be here with people who really know and understand and can help me to become much better at this :-). Thank you all BIG HUGS!

[Serene]

Awareness of physical body when dreaming? I only slept 4 hours and don't remember any of my dreams from last night but I had a curious thought on this subject of awareness. I know this will probably sounds silly but I was hoping some of the really lucid people can help me out with an experiment. I usually have a hard time falling asleep so I often use either one ear plug or two. I am usually a side sleeper so I put the earplug in the ear that is exposed. I move around a lot during the night and always switch my earplug to the exposed ear. Once asleep I must somehow take out the earplug and hold on to them. I always wake up with them in my hand. I find it strange that I am aware of where those earplugs are. Therefore I was wondering if it is just possible that the reason I know I am dreaming in my dreams is because I am aware of my physical body sleeping? I also wonder if because I have always had to have a sense of awareness of things around me due to babies, dogs, needs of others during the night, that I just became aware of my sleeping body? Experiment: Can we try an experiment tonight? Let's go to sleep holding a marble, coin, or something in our hands? See if you wake up with them and if you became lucid?