Oh, The Insanity. Creating Foundations for Dreams?

I'm sorry, I don't think the title is very accurate, but here's what I'd like to ask:

Let's say I wanted to have a dream in which I am spending time with a certain friend of mine. How would I do that? Would I have to enter lucidity? I was told before, that I could make a "foundation" for such a dream, in which I would imagine or "daydream" about what I would like to happen in that dream, and think about that before I go to bed.

So, my question is. Would this work? Or, what is a better way in which I could do this? Would I have to enter lucidity?

Since I’ve never had a lucid dream before, I can only answer your questions to an extent…

According to Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming (it’s an awesome book; if you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it) you can indeed build your lucid dreams.

Lucid dreams work off our expectations and our perception. Non-lucid dreams also work this way. Let’s use LeBerge’s example…

Say you’re having a dream and you’re walking down a street at night. It’s very dark and you can’t see well. You think (whether consciously or sub-consciously) “perhaps someone’s lurking in the shadows with a knife, waiting to strike me…”

Well, since you’re expecting this to happen, it WILL happen. A man will jump out of the shadows and begin chasing you, just like you feared…you’ll try to hide from him, but no matter where you go, he’ll find you, because you expect him to.

This is also why dream worlds have gravity, space, time, etc., because we’re expecting all of these to apply.

Motivation, however, is the best way to build your dreams. Say you go to bed hungry…you’re most likely going to have a dream about food. Likewise, if you’re motivated to have a friend in your dream, it will happen. If you expect it to happen, it will. I’ve gone to bed with something on my mind and I’ve dreamed about it due to motivation.

There’s a lot more to it than this, but since I’m new to this as well, I’ve never experienced it firsthand. I only know about it from reading.

Hope that helps. :D

So it must be lucid? Or could I acheive this without entering the lucid stage.

No, as long as you're motivated, you can build a foundation for your non-lucid dreams as well (but only to an extent). Once you become lucid though, you begin to have tons of control but, like I said, since I've never been lucid, I can't offer many tips.

Dwelling on something while being awake may cause your mind drift to that topic while asleep. I would recommend thinking about it just before falling asleep, and tell yourself you will dream about your friend, and then be able to recall your dream so you can record it in your dream journal.

If you don't already have a dream journal, I would strongly suggest starting one. It will increase your dream recall.

Having an LD will also give you the opportunity to control your dream so you can change it to involve your friend. I'm not the best with the actual control aspect of LDing - I can only control them to a certain extent, then I lose it. So someone else can explain that better than I could.

I have a dream journal on this site. But I don't bother with one near my bed. My eyes are pretty screwed up, I have to wear contact lenses or else I'll see....well...not much at all. And I can't wear my contacts to bed. :?

I did have a pretty weird dream last night. I typed it up in my spiffy little dream journal here on this site. Anyone's welcome to go look.

if you want to dream about a person just think about that person while falling asleep and there is a high chance that that person will appear in your dream and no you don't have to be lucid to dream about that person but i guess it would be better for you then you would have "control" of your dream and it's always good to know that your dreaming.

what i want to know is why you want to dream about this person when this person exists in real life.. i'm assuming this is the guy with the cowboy hat right? well if he exists in your dream and you really want to get with him then why not do so in real life because dreams can only go so far.

let's say for a second that you do get this guy to appear in your dream and you are lucid at the time and so you do whatever you wish with this guy (sexual or not) i mean what's left? it was all a dream and that's it you wake up!

so instead go for the real deal .. why try to do something in a dream when you have the real person in your life.

jawon, some people are just unobtainable...
(this isnt the best site to be preaching about getting a life anyway :?)

dreams are no less 'real' than waking life while you're in the dream. furthermore, "real life" can only go so far--the dream world is far less limited.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Jawon

let's say for a second that you do get this guy to appear in your dream and you are lucid at the time and so you do whatever you wish with this guy (sexual or not) i mean what's left? it was all a dream and that's it you wake up!

so instead go for the real deal .. why try to do something in a dream when you have the real person in your life.

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Lol, not sexual. But you know why I wanna know? Because pretty soon I won't be able to do anything with him in real life because he's going into the Marines. And I'm practically in love with him. Shame he doesn't know. But he's 3 years older than me.

Anyone else have any ideas?

Lol, anyone?

you can either:

A) learn to LD
B) get up at 4 AM for 20 minutes thinking ONLY about him
C) go tell him you love him in real life and have sex with him (:P)

You are describing what is usually referred to as dream incubation. You do not need to be lucid in order to do this.

I ask a question almost every night before going to sleep, and sometimes I will be able to recognize the signs of my "dream mind" answering the question.

If you just want to have a person appear in your dream, tell your dream mind just that. Think that thought to yourself throughout the day, and concentrate on them at night. Make up a fantasy, that does not need to be sexual, but keep the scene going in your head for as long as you seem fit. Give an example of a dream you would like to have with this person. Show your dream mind what you want. Also, I think it is most important to emphasize how a person makes you feel in the fantasy, what you think of this person, what the person reminds you of.

I have had success doing that and with two weeks of thinking of the same person, she ended up in five or six dreams.

Try doing a search: search titles only for "dream incubation." I did this and found 7 relevant threads. I'm sure you can find even more if you do some creative searching ;).

Personally, I have never been able to successfully incubate a dream, although admittedly I haven't really put my "best effort" into it. I'm more interested in lucidity :).

Thanks! :D