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I was just curious to see who of you friends/family knows that you practice lucid dreaming. Some people find it an "unusual" hobby. Some even get concerned or upset over it. :?: But I'm sure there's some people who love to share it. I think it is a great hobby and really gets you to know yourself better then you could through normal means.
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I talk to my best freind about it sometimes. I have mentioned it to a couple of my other freinds, but not in detail.
I spoke to my parents about it, but I think they thought it was a bit weird...
I think this is really strange, the way we are somehow reluctant to tell people for fear of what they think. I mean everybody dreams, so presumably everybody has lucid dreams from time to time.
Hmm.
Everybody I know Knows that I Lucid Dream. I have never had anyone think it was veyr weird. ONly once did I have a teach ask why I woudl want to do it, but thats it. i found that many people who I have tlaked ot have experinced at least one Lucid Dream, ro are very interested in dreams in general. I acctuly foudn out that 2 of cousins Lucid dream by practice too :) And everybody who comes into my room sees my big "Am I Dreaming" sign drawn on my white bord, and posted on my computer moniter :P
I pretty much just go arround "enlightening" people.... I actually just talk too loudly and people join in my conversations that I am having with my friends. People don't find it weird coming from me, but I have changed the beleifs of many people just by talking to them.
I learned about LD as a child from my father. I mentioned being able to control
my dreams and he told me he could also. I was around 8 years old then and have been dreaming lucid for as long as I can remember. I can still remember a lucid dream I had around Halloween when I was 4 ( 1978 ). I still talk to him about dreams and told him
about this site last week. Other than that I talk to my girl ,she thinks it's cool, and some
of my closer friends. Some folks definitely think it's odd though.
My Dad is 71 now and says he still likes to enlarge womens breasts at will when he
dreams :shock:
Yeah, pretty much everyone knows I'm weird! :sunflower:
most of my friends probably wouldn't care/understand.
i haven't told many of my friends about it, mainly because i haven't been actively interested in it for long, and i haven't really had much success with it yet. but, i feel confident that if i wanted to, i could talk to any of my friends about it, and even if they weren't interested in it for themselves, they would still be interested in it enough to talk about and not think i'm too weird or anything. (or maybe it's that they already know i'm weird . . . ) i think the sign of a good friend is that they'll understand and talk to you about something, whether they are interested or not.Quote:
Originally posted by AlternateReality
most of my friends probably wouldn't care/understand.
but i think most of my friends would be pretty interested in this. when i start having more success, i'll probably talk to more of them about it.
Ya, but what about the lucid dreaming part? lol :wink:Quote:
Originally posted by Seeker
Yeah, pretty much everyone knows I'm weird! :sunflower:
Not everyone I know, knows that I lucid dream. I can tell by their personality if they will be close minded to lucid dreaming.
I few I have tried, only to get discouraged.
I now only tell people who show a spark of interest.
I just don't talk about it to very many people. I used to talk to other kids I new when I was in high school but they mostly did not understand what I was talking about. However, in my line of work I frequently come across people that know what lucid dreaming is and we occassionaly talk.
You hit that one right on the head. :)Quote:
Originally posted by kage23
i think the sign of a good friend is that they'll understand and talk to you about something, whether they are interested or not.
I've told most of my family and friends. Most of them aren't terribly interested in it, but none of them has gotten weirded out by it, either.
iv told some of my friends and they acted like i was suddenly a freak or something sad how closed minded people are
yes, definitely. our western culture/society has trained us that dreams are unimportant and don't matter. it has also, i think, trained us to not think for ourselves much, which causes the closed-mindedness.Quote:
Originally posted by BillyBob_001
iv told some of my friends and they acted like i was suddenly a freak or something sad how closed minded people are
"I like to lucid dream."
"Cool! What's it like? How do you do it?"
"Weird! You're a freak! Dreams aren't anything. They're just what your brain does while it's asleep. Get your head out of the clouds and focus on the real world, not something your brain makes up!"
the first reply makes so much more sense to me.
I've gotten the freak and wierdo reply too when I tried to bring up the subject of lucid dreaming to most others. Most people I know don't give dreams a second thought.
Now I only discuss LD-ing with my bf and a select few others in my life. Don't know if they're actually interested or just putting up with me...but in either case...I appreciate the time spent discussing such things with them. It's nice to sit and discuss or try to decipher dreams with someone sometimes.
i was told by someone i know who is kind of my friend. then i started practicing and i told my other friends but whenever i try to tell them about it they think having a lucid dream is like a wet dream :?
well some lucid dreams can be wet dreams, can't they? :ohyahbaby:Quote:
Originally posted by Wee YaK
i was told by someone i know who is kind of my friend. then i started practicing and i told my other friends but whenever i try to tell them about it they think having a lucid dream is like a wet dream *:?
I've told only my immediate family. (ie. parents and brothers)
My parents only have a vague idea of what it is, and don't really care one way or another about it. My brothers I actually got interested in it. They both tried for a few weeks, had no success and gave up indefinitely. :?
I have told my friends and family, but mostly they don't really understand. It's funny though, how sometimes you happen to get talking about it with someone you wouldn't have expected. For example, on the day I finished school I was very drunk and I ended up with some people I had just met while hitch hiking back into town from a party. I suddenly mentioned that I had a feeling I sometimes get where I am sure I'm dreaming or something, and I wait to wake up but don't... and that led to a long conversation about lucid dreaming. They were interested, or at least humouring me :)
I've never encountered anyone who was concerned or thought I was crazy or anything.
Yes, some people can be extremely closed-minded which is actually very sad. Personally I don't understand why people find lucid dreaming is weird, but it's a common reaction. Even meditation these days is thought of as out of the ordinary. Once at school I was asked a good way to reduce stress and I said meditation and everyone thought I was making a joke. My sister told me that she had dreams she could control a long time ago and I just wished I could have them, without knowing it could be practiced.
However I do enjoy how lucid dreaming is a unique hobby, and since it is a small population that practice it regularly, lucid dreamers can share and support each other in a way a lot of other "groups" cannot experience.
uum . . . I don't exactly see what our western culture/society has done to minimilize dreams at all? ANd also i've never heard anyone respond like that :(Quote:
Originally posted by kage23
yes, definitely. our western culture/society has trained us that dreams are unimportant and don't matter. it has also, i think, trained us to not think for ourselves much, which causes the closed-mindedness.
\"I like to lucid dream.\"
\"Cool! What's it like? How do you do it?\"
\"Weird! You're a freak! Dreams aren't anything. They're just what your brain does while it's asleep. Get your head out of the clouds and focus on the real world, not something your brain makes up!\"
the first reply makes so much more sense to me.
I have told my mom and brother and dad, but they aren't very interested. I've also told a couple of my friends, and one seemed vaguely interested, but never really tried. the othre has never tried, but he still like to talk about it and stuff whenever I have a new LD.
ARG!
I was talknig to my brother about this last night, and I dicovered that for all the years I've known him he has been a natural lucid dreamer!
I was quite jealous.
But I guess it goes to show, you can never tell.
I've talked to most of my friends and familly about lucid dreaming. My dad has always enjoyed LDing, but he doesn't do it very often, and I don't think he realized you can practice it and get better until I started talking about it. Of the friends that I've told, almost all of them said they were interested in their dreams, but only half had any desire to lucid dream. The others said they prefer to let their mind create wierd dreams. I don't think they understood that lucid dreaming doesn't put you in complete control. One of my friends has taken quite an interest, and made a decent effort resulting in a few lucid dreams. I've never had anyone tell me I'm weird for lucid dreaming, but then, my weirdness is kind of a given. :lol:
Nice poll. =) Me meself don't tell anyone. Only a very few people, the ones I know will not react like it is weird. Maybe I will bring it up to some more people. But I don't want to explain it to people who see it as crazy, becouse it isn't. ^^
Yea that about sums it up for me too except I would add there is an unsaid expression or quietness that says” he’ll get over it someday". Yea rightQuote:
Originally posted by Seeker
Yeah, pretty much everyone knows I'm weird! :sunflower:
Ha ha! That's awesome. I did that in my first lucid to my own breasts. How else will I know what it's like to have a big chest? Surgery is not an option.Quote:
Originally posted by R.Carter
....My Dad is 71 now and says he still likes to enlarge womens breasts at will when he dreams :shock:
I talk about it with people but they don't seem to get too interested, which is really weird to me. If I didn't know what lucid dreaming was and somebody told me about it I would be so excited to try it. I don't understand why it's such a hard concept for people to grasp. The mind is an amazing thing, and being aware of the fact that you're dreaming when you're in a dream doesn't seem like such a crazy idea to me. It actually seems pretty logical. As far as we've come in the world with all our advancements, something like lucid dreaming seems like such a minimal thing compared to the other stuff our brains have been able to figure out. When I first discovered you could train yourself to lucid dream I had absolutely no question that it was achievable.
The theme seems to be pretty evident to me.
i posted the dreamviews link in my profile on aim a while ago, and that pretty much made everyone thought i was weird. The only ones that believe me are my brother, mom, dad, and my best friend
My best friend has had 1 or 2
and my mom has had 1
I just remembered this. A couple of weeks ago I was at work and making a note in a notebook because something had reminded me of a dream I had the night before. An older lady I work with asked me what I was taking notes for and I told her I was just recording some dreams that I had remembered. When I said that she kind of screwed her face up, so I asked her why she reacted like that, I honestly had no idea what she was thinking. And she said that she "doesn't believe in that kind of stuff." I asked her for more details, did she not believe in dreams or what? And she wouldn't really go into detail, she kind of just kept repeating it over and over. Mind you, I wasn't even talking about lucid dreaming, just recording dreams that I had remembered. So I kind of guessed she thought I was trying to interpret my dreams or find some greater meaning from them or whatever, so I said that wasn't really what I was doing. Still same response. So I asked what she though of just recording your dreams because they make interesting stories. Same reaction, screwed up face. This woman could not open her mind a little more to even entertain the possibility that dreams can be more than just images that your mind creates when you sleep and that it shouldn't go beyond that.
She's a very religious, kind of old school woman, and my co-worker has known her for almost 10 years, and her guess is that she thinks dreams are something god gives you and it's not up to you to interpret or play with that in anyway. I can't even imagine how she'd react to me bringing up a subject like lucid dreaming! Whatever, to each his own I guess. I'm just glad my mind doesn't work like that.
But I think I've decided that I'm going to talk about this with her some more and see what she has to say about LD'ing. Just for fun. :wink:
this is like what i'm talking about. people in our society just don't place any importance in dreams.Quote:
Originally posted by Alucinor Architecton+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Alucinor Architecton)</div>well, admittedly, that response was an exaggeration, but although no one really responds like that, i suspect some would like to.Quote:
uum . . . I don't exactly see what our western culture/society has done to minimilize dreams at all? ANd also i've never heard anyone respond like that :([/b]
<!--QuoteBegin-kichu
I just remembered this. A couple of weeks ago I was at work and making a note in a notebook because something had reminded me of a dream I had the night before. An older lady I work with asked me what I was taking notes for and I told her I was just recording some dreams that I had remembered. When I said that she kind of screwed her face up, so I asked her why she reacted like that, I honestly had no idea what she was thinking. And she said that she \"doesn't believe in that kind of stuff.\" I asked her for more details, did she not believe in dreams or what? And she wouldn't really go into detail, she kind of just kept repeating it over and over. Mind you, I wasn't even talking about lucid dreaming, just recording dreams that I had remembered. So I kind of guessed she thought I was trying to interpret my dreams or find some greater meaning from them or whatever, so I said that wasn't really what I was doing. Still same response. So I asked what she though of just recording your dreams because they make interesting stories. Same reaction, screwed up face. This woman could not open her mind a little more to even entertain the possibility that dreams can be more than just images that your mind creates when you sleep and that it shouldn't go beyond that.
To be fair though, I think people have so much going on in their lives already and it's very hard to grasp the idea of adding work to your sleeping life as well. You have to admit, if you're not a natural LDer, it takes a lot of practice with all the reality checks, research, dream recall, etc. And even something simple like just recording dreams takes some work. You have to be motivated to record your dreams all the time, even in the middle of the night. And if you're having trouble with dream recall you're taking B1 to help improve that and blah, blah, blah. I'm sure people could understand the concept that dreams are important and LDing is very possible, but they may just not want to open another can of worms so they brush it off as irrelevant.Quote:
Originally posted by kage23
this is like what i'm talking about. people in our society just don't place any importance in dreams.
good point. i have trouble being motivated to record in my dream journal, and i'm actively trying to improve my dream recall. when i wake up in the morning with memories of a dream, and there's still time before my alarm goes off, i just want to go back to sleep, not write stuff down! a couple of nights, i've written stuff down after i've hit the snooze alarm once or twice, but i always know there's some detail of the dream missing that i knew earlier and had forgotten, since i didn't write it down immediately. i also have problems trying to get into the habit of doing a reality check every time i wake up. i just don't think of it. of course, the problem there is probably that i'm always very out-of-it in the mornings, and i don't think of anything!Quote:
Originally posted by kichu
To be fair though, I think people have so much going on in their lives already and it's very hard to grasp the idea of adding work to your sleeping life as well. You have to admit, if you're not a natural LDer, it takes a lot of practice with all the reality checks, research, dream recall, etc. And even something simple like just recording dreams takes some work. You have to be motivated to record your dreams all the time, even in the middle of the night. And if you're having trouble with dream recall you're taking B1 to help improve that and blah, blah, blah. I'm sure people could understand the concept that dreams are important and LDing is very possible, but they may just not want to open another can of worms so they brush it off as irrelevant.
Exactly, so imagine how hard it would be to grasp the idea of all this added work for someone who's not motivated the way you and I are. It's already hard enough for us peole that want to do it. I hate to admit that I probably judged that lady in my previous posts a little too quickly. Although I do think her reasons for looking down on all of this are somewhat motivated by her religious views and her old fashioned ways, I now also realize it could be in part due to what I've stated here. Who knows, I'll find out and post here when I get answers.Quote:
Originally posted by kage23
good point. i have trouble being motivated to record in my dream journal, and i'm actively trying to improve my dream recall. when i wake up in the morning with memories of a dream, and there's still time before my alarm goes off, i just want to go back to sleep, not write stuff down! a couple of nights, i've written stuff down after i've hit the snooze alarm once or twice, but i always know there's some detail of the dream missing that i knew earlier and had forgotten, since i didn't write it down immediately. i also have problems trying to get into the habit of doing a reality check every time i wake up. i just don't think of it. of course, the problem there is probably that i'm always very out-of-it in the mornings, and i don't think of anything!
Well, I've told a great number of people, but I still don't think any of them really knows what it means.
So a lot of people know, and in a way no one knows. Damn it sucks to be Ex Nine.