Thread: Can Lucid dreaming really change your personality?

The suggestion that LDs could be harmful or have risks it total garbage. This guy says that he is blessed to have survived lucid dreaming? Complete nonsense. I've never seen a logical argument for lucid dreams having negative consequences.

it would not change my personality would it? Like change my chemical structure in my brain maybe and do phyiscal damage? I just want to make sure I will be the same person I was before I start lucid dreaming, does anyone have any bad effects from prolonged lucid dreaming on the mind>?

I don't even have to read it. It is utter bull! Some people have natural LDs and come out fine. Complete crap!

yea but im saying what if it could make you go crazy for instance, you can not tell the difference from reality and a dream?

the worst LDing can do is make you smarter by improving your brain connections.

and the best it can do is the most entertaining/pleasuring moment of your life xD

I've been having LDs off and on my whole life even before I knew what they were. I can assure you I'm not crazy.

To say that your personality would change is garbage. Being aware and in control of your dreams is not going to be a catalyst for major personality changes in your waking life.

ok I thought maybe it woul screw up your brain chemicals possibly.

lol why so? if that was the case, dreaming itself would do it.

Actually, LDing can really change your personality. By making you laugh out loud in a great mood by the morning.

Originally Posted by dreamviewer2006

yea but im saying what if it could make you go crazy for instance, you can not tell the difference from reality and a dream?

thats what LDing is! the ability to distinguish reality from dreaming.

Okay.. this guy has a bit of a point that it may alter your subconscious, like you may defeat a fear or something, and that can transfer to real life. Somehow, he see's this as a negative, a dark side, whereas many would see it as beneficial. His analogy of the man who stans up for himself to the boss outlines this pretty well, and he pretty much contradicts his earlier argument, calling it a dark side. And if your new to LDing and are worried about this, then let me alay your fears by telling you that after at least 30 LD's in the past few months, I've not taken any negative turns for the worst. When I first started out trying to learn to LD I had similar fears... You just need to understand it's your mind and you are the one in control.....

-Justin

Originally Posted by megg322

thats what LDing is! the ability to distinguish reality from dreaming.

Honestly that comment just enlightened me... I've never thought of it that way and wow... it just clicked. Nice one megg.
sorry for double post, but i couldn't pass up commenting on what Megg said...

-Justin

Well, you have the same personality in an LD as you do in waking life. Lucid dreaming doesn't change you at all. thats rubbish.
Some people have them naturaly. your mind wouldnt naturaly do something that hurts you, unless its not working right. and all you have to do is talk to a lucid dreamer to know they arent brain damaged.

also, you'll be able to tell the difference between the dream world, and waking life. trust me. i KNOW when im awake, with no question. I just don't always know im asleep.
you'll read a lot of lucid dreams, where people talk about how "incredibly life like and real it felt". and that's true, it can be very life like and real. but it always has a "dreamy" feeling to it. its not exactly the same.

and dude, getting in touch with your subcounscious, can't be a bad thing. your subcounscious plays a huge role in your daily waking life. people pay thousands of dollars to therapists, in hopes they can tell them what the hell is happening in their subcouncious. save the dough and lucid dream.

easy...

I don't think that lucid dreaming can change your personality any more than normal, waking experiences can. The things we see and experience on a daily basis usually change us over time, be it while awake or asleep.

If anything, because you can consciously face fears and new experiences in dreams it is likely to make positive rather than negative changes. It all depends on your temperament and the choices you consistently make while lucid.

Yeah Sleepalot said it. When dreaming, we deal with a lot of subconscious thoughts, beliefs and things we didn't even remember existed. I think that is great for solving things from the past, facing fears etc. So, if it does change you at all, it is clearly in a positive way.

If you want to be completely reassured from a scientific viewpoint, since you keep mentioning brain chemicals and such, get Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming by Stephen LaBerge.
Not only is it a step-by-step guide and the source for all the basic (and not so basic) techniques for inducing lucid dreams but he's the renowned authority on lucid dreaming research, scientifically.

You must be awful bad at LD'ing if it controls you rather than you controlling it. I would say the potential for POSITIVE change, should you choose to use it for that purpose, is far more plausible.

Complete crap.

There's no way it can mess with your brain; the same chemical reactions that occur 24/7 normally still happen. The only difference is that you're conscious during a dream, and can consciously control the dream if you choose.

As for changing your personality, it can. All experiences in life can change your personality, and lucid dreaming is no exception. But it is what you make it. Conscious dreams don't change anything, just what you do with them

Sometimes people have traumatic experiences in life and use them to improve their outlook on life. Sometimes people have great experiences in life that end up making their personality worse. It's up to you really.

I'm going to cause trouble here!

YES, LUCID DREAMING CAN CHANGE YOUR PERSONALITY!!!

But...for the better. Let me ask a question of the veteran lucid dreamers.

Are you not a kinder, better integrated person? Do you not handle the stresses of life better?

Yes, we are in direct contact with our subconsious minds during lucid dreaming. This gives us a chance to exorcise some of those demons that are lurking there, it also give us a great insight into why we maybe do some of those things we do.

I've been actively pursuing lucid dreaming for years and have notices an improvement in my personality. I am calmer, more friendly, less stressful, more tolerant, more understanding of others, and more in touch with the spiritual than I have even been.

I blame most of it on lucid dreaming.

Look, all the posts on this thread are right in some way. But the bottom line is: lucid dreaming does dozens of beneficial things, one more awesome the next. And assuming you have a good nights sleep, we all dream AT LEAST six dreams per night. And the only difference is, essentially, you know your dreaming.

And if you can communicate with, or even add new empowering beliefs and removing limiting ones from your subconscious, good for you. That can only be a good thing. Maybe lucid dreaming isn't for everyone, but it's never dangerous: bottom line!

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Damn, gone before I could also bitch about it!

EDIT: Just noticed the above poster bumped a topic 3 years old.

Kind of the opposite to the discussion, but could it change it for the better? Like say you wanted to become a little more outgoing, you could gain confidence in dreams because there aren't really any consequences, and thus you would maybe find it easier to be outgoing?

Originally Posted by lucidfish

Kind of the opposite to the discussion, but could it change it for the better? Like say you wanted to become a little more outgoing, you could gain confidence in dreams because there aren't really any consequences, and thus you would maybe find it easier to be outgoing?

No.

People like to theorize this a lot, but it just doesn't work. I question if the part of your brain that deals with human interaction is even active when you are aware your are talking to a dummy.

Thats garbage, dont believe it.

Originally Posted by Loaf

No.

People like to theorize this a lot, but it just doesn't work. I question if the part of your brain that deals with human interaction is even active when you are aware your are talking to a dummy.

Would you really realize your talking to a dummy though? I mean in real life during a conversation you never stop and think whether the person you are talking to is real or not. Would it not be the same whilst dreaming? I would think that while talking to someone the only known reaction would be that these people can still react to how you interact with them. Never had a lucid dream though unfortunately, so you definitely could be right.