Thread: The impact of Lucid Dreaming on your life

While shrooms can affect mood, it can also damage the body. Best just not to use them in the first place. The use of drugs to cure a terminal or serious condition should be a last resort or not even an option at all.

After learning about lucid dreaming, and subsequently joining this forum, I don't really think my waking life, or at least what goes on outside of my head, has changed all that much. Sure, I think about dreaming and dreams more, and I might bring them up more in conversation than I used to. I definitely look at my hands more, and people have observed me trying, without success, to stick one of my fingers through the palm of my hand.

So, all in all, no. I don't think lucid dreaming has changed my life in any mentionable or over-the-top ways. I might think more about things that I wouldn't have before, but that's about it.

On the whole, 'is dreaming necessary or unnecessary?' topic. I like to think that dreaming is necessary, at least in some way.

And I know that dreaming helps me in more ways than I probably know.
Sometimes, if I'm feeling too serious or pessimistic about something my dreams might make me laugh, or in some way make fun of whatever I'm going through that seems so horrible or serious. Likewise, if I'm acting too flaky, or ignoring a situation that ought not be ignored, my dreams might send me the message that I need to suck it up and deal with whatever it is. But that's not always the case, sometimes, say I'm afraid of something. My dreams might pound that fear further into me, like I should be afraid of whatever it is, but I guess that's helpful too, in its own way, sometimes.

So to me, dreams, at least regular dreams, are helpful. At least they help me.

To Sir_Realist who asked if Lucid dreaming could be unhealthy, I'm gonna say no. At least, not in the way I think you mean.

I don't think the lucid dreaming itself could be anymore dangerous than regular dreaming. Since, at least to my knowledge, the same thing physically happens to your body as in regular dreaming. I think it could become a problem if you became obsessed with it, if it was all you could think about and all you could do. But I think anything taken to that kind of extreme could be dangerous.

You also asked why all dreams aren't lucid. My answer to that would have to be this:

All dreams aren't lucid because people don't become lucid in all of their dreams.

Seriously, that's the best I could come up with. I figure it's like this: you either realize it or you don't. That sounds lame. I know. But look at it like this, when you wake up, you don't necessarily realize that you're awake. Just like when you start dreaming you might not realize that it's a dream right away, if at all.

I'm thinking it's basically about realizing things, and how easy or hard things are to realize.

For example, say, you're on fire, you would probably realize it immediately. 'Oh my god. I'm on fire!' that's easy. However, if you have a brain tumor it might not even have any symptoms. Even if it did you probably wouldn't make the jump from 'oh, my head hurts, I'm dizzy, my vision is blurry' or whatever, to 'oh, no. This must be a tumor.'

I guess it's just like in real life, either you realize something (that something being that you're dreaming) because it's obvious, it's not obvious and you still figure it out. Or you don't figure it out and you just have a regular dream.

Basically I'm saying that all dreams aren't lucid because everyone isn't always aware enough to realize it.

Wow, I typed a lot, but anyway, those are my ideas, feel free to poke holes in them if you want. I just felt like getting all the stuff that ran through my head while reading this thread out, and what better place to put them than here?

That's a valid opinion. But why not at least test it and see if traditional, natural herbs and fungi can do something for human health? I might not, but maybe it does.

Leave that to the professionals. It's probably best not to try something if you don't know what it is or what it does.

Edit: Though, obviously if jalapenos help fight cancer then I might eat a couple.

Originally Posted by Ezey

I just felt like getting all the stuff that ran through my head while reading this thread out, and what better place to put them than here?

This is one of the reasons I created this thread, because it was pretty much what I did in my opening post! Thank you for your contributions and please add more! about the unhealthy issue, i didn't mean physically but mentally. Maybe this dreamworld is meant to be secret for a reason, insofar as lucidity. But then again i'm sure the majority of people experience a number of LDs accidentally in their lifetime... but maybe the act of knowing that you're dreaming and manipulating your dream world could be detrimental? I mean, take the fact that when you try to forcibly control your dreams many people lose lucidity, but when you passivly control your dreams you can stay in them for longer.. it's like tricking yourself to become lucid and then tricking yourself to think that you arn't actually lucid! how interesting!


Also to PSPSoldier534, I really, REALLY mean no offence by this at all but your obvious ignorance concerning entheogens ('magic mushrooms and the like') has somewhat dumbed-down the tone of this thread, so shall we leave it there? I'll make a serious thread concerning psyhedelics after this one dies out

A question: proportionately speaking, do you think more people are LDing these days or a hundred years ago? 500? a 1000? 5000? I mean clearly more people are LDing today than then because there are more people and better communications (for example, this thread) but proportionately?

Thanks for a very insightful thread everyone, I know it's gone off on a giant tangent but any i enjoy throwing random idea out there

Yeah sorry. I'll give my opinions later about shrooms (even though I have nothing against fungi in general, just shrooms and other drug-like things.)

As for dreaming, I agree with Ezey. I think you just don't know your dreaming because it is a passive state, like noticing your living.

My first post in this forum as well , hi everybody. The thing i noticed when i had lucid dreams was that i was sometimes very tired when waking up in the morning. It almost felt like i had not been sleaping at all. I had different kinds of lucid dreaming but after having quite alot of them i started to change more and more in them and i guess my brain was just working its braincells of to make them. Anyone else that has experienced being sleepy in the morning (not the ordinary sleepy when you just want to fall asleep again but a feeling that you did not just wake up but had been awake for hours.

BordusiusIV !

An interesting point, thank you for bringing it up! How sleepy would you find yourself after, say, a particularly intense LD? I myself have never felt any more tired than i usually do (i'm always tired) but this is a great example of the effect of LDing on waking life.

The only way Lucid Dreaming has impacted my life is that I go to sleep 1-2 hours earlier than I used to.

As far as LDs making you tired, I've always noticed the opposite. Whenever I have a good LD I feel much more awake in the morning.

Originally Posted by PSPSoldier534

As for dreaming, I agree with Ezey. I think you just don't know your dreaming because it is a passive state, like noticing your living.

I love how you made that point so easily, when it took me like a paragraph to just barely put it across.

When I had to ungently realize that the span of my life is limited, my priorities shifted. First, I stopped killing myself, second I got rid of meaningless things that posed a burden and third, I decided to pursuit the only thing that seems worth spending the rest of my physical time on. We all "know" we must die, but realizing it lets your house of cards fall apart. A sports car and a nice pair of t..s suddenly becomes very insignificant.

Lucid dreaming is one of the tools I use to explore the secret of existence. Currently it's the main tool that I'm using but that may change when I think I have learned enough this way. I'm trying many different things and see what I can draw from it.

So how did it change my life? With every dream I have I become more aware. Mentally I concluded that life is made of the same stuff as dreams are, but unless one experiences it, it stays an opinion like every other knowledge in the world. The only way to learn the truth is to be it. So lucid dreaming is like an exercise for me. Like it's possible to become lucid in dreams, it must be possible to become lucid when awake. Apart from that, making RCs in public can be entertaining. In general I am more aware in life. I guess that's a side-effect of frequently checking your state, currently every few minutes, whenever it comes into my mind.

I am frankly surprised at the amount of people who say that lucid dreaming hasn't affected their waking life at all, but hey, we are all affected by things differently.

Lucid dreaming has really changed the way that I experience my waking life; I am much more aware of what is going on internally, while still maintaining an outward orientation.

I haven't always had a disposition that is patient or completely considerate, but after seeing just how quickly perceptions can change entire environments or situations during dreams, in waking life I now make sure to give an extra moment or two to thinking about how I am perceiving a situation so as to not just react blindly to whatever happens.

I also feel much more in control of what Buddhists call "the monkey mind" during my waking hours, and I have found that this is beneficial in many things, from academics to socializing to just enjoying life.

Overall, that is how lucid dreaming has impacted my life; my main goal in mastering lucid dreaming is self-improvement, however, so I tend to think about this kind of thing pretty consistently.

It hasn't affected my waking life. Mainly because I haven't had one yet. I'm still having enormous trouble even with recall. I'm beginning to wonder if I'm ever gonna get there.

Originally Posted by gigaschatten

Like it's possible to become lucid in dreams, it must be possible to become lucid when awake.

This is a brillient point that I think a lot of people are missing

To sleepalot, the point about the "monkey mind" I can comletely appreciate, and others would do well to take note and be more 'aware'

And Iank... i'd wager the vast majority of people on this site/forum felt the same way as you - atleast I sure as hell did. Just hang in there; it usually takes a a long time but if you're truely adament, it's an inevitability imo.

I really like what's coming out of this thread; precisely what I was hoping for. Positive alteration in perception and transcendant realisations epitomises some of the principle benefits of LDing.

More !

Originally Posted by John11

The only way Lucid Dreaming has impacted my life is that I go to sleep 1-2 hours earlier than I used to.

As far as LDs making you tired, I've always noticed the opposite. Whenever I have a good LD I feel much more awake in the morning.

I think i described it badly, what i wanted to say was that i was not tired in the morning, it came during the day. What i did feel in the morning was that i did not "wake up" the way i did before. The dream was completed and when i came around awake i fealt like i had been up for a few hours. Its like the brain had been working just as hard as it does when one is awake in that state of LD. Maybe im just plain wrong but thats what took the edge of it in the end. Think im going to try it again though

I mostly get problems with my stomach if i dont get enough sleep, mostly this determined if i ate anything during the day. Sometimes i got realy sleepy to though.

Originally Posted by Sir_Realist

I mean, LDing is clearly hard, and it's hard because our minds make it so, so if LDs are really as helpful and beneficial as we all seem to believe, why aren't all dreams lucid?

This is what you are saying: If something is valuable, why don't I get it for free?

I guess that answers it. The most valuable things in life are hard to achieve and require patience and dedication and unlike material goods they cannot be just given or taken. That IS why they're valuable. The air you breathe is beneficial for you too and it's free! Yet who would appreciate its value? If you were aware in every dream, we would not discuss that here. It would be considered mundane like waking life.

Originally Posted by Sir_Realist

A question: proportionately speaking, do you think more people are LDing these days or a hundred years ago? 500? a 1000? 5000? I mean clearly more people are LDing today than then because there are more people and better communications (for example, this thread) but proportionately?

Many of our predecessors considered dreams as a way of connecting with the dead or the gods, while today most people consider them as farts of the mind. There are more people today, but focus has shifted. Considering that, your assessment may be wrong.

Hmm I'm not so sure. I imagine that average person of any age would be just as preoccupied with the same things the majority of people are today - food, shelter, society, et etera - it's just that you're considering only the great minds of the past - as they were all that was seemingly worth documenting with the limited tools available - that you draw that conclusion. I would surmise that with the science and information available to us today more people are aware of the fact that lucidity is achievable.

Also that wasn't what I was concluding at all, concerning the value of LDs. I'm just saying that if you consider the mechanisms in place surrounding LDs - many of which seem, to me, to be your own mind testing and making sure that you are not conscious enough to attain lucity, one begins to wonder why such barriers seem to exist. Again taking the scientific route, through natural selection maybe such commodities are there for a reason - the same reason we have a lot of hair on our head and why we fear the unknown.

Are dreams are important for filing and storing information into memories. Could lucid control of our dreams disrupt this process?

Originally Posted by Sir_Realist

Are dreams are important for filing and storing information into memories. Could lucid control of our dreams disrupt this process?

No, I don't think so. There has been a study that resulted in dreams not being important for memory processes, BUT... dreams are extremely important for the perception of waking reality and the stability of personality.

In another study, people were woken just at the beginning of REM, so they couldn't dream in that phase. After three days the subjects displayed psychotic behavior, the control group didn't. A period of unbroken sleep normalized the behavior.

The same happens to people suffering from Fatal familial insomnia. A short time after sleep-deprivation they have hallucinations and their personality changes. After about a year, they die.

The very special case of Peter Tripp is documented here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXrANL9aqz8

And here is a nice summary about the many effects of sleep-deprivation: http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.c...privation.html

All this is related to sleep-/dream-deprivation though. My personal opinion is, that lucid dreaming is more healthy than normal dreaming, because you can avoid or handle situations that otherwise would have a negative emotional influence on your waking life. Besides as far as I know, there are no known (published) long-term deficiencies that could be directly connected to lucid dreaming.

Originally Posted by Sir_Realist

And Iank... i'd wager the vast majority of people on this site/forum felt the same way as you - atleast I sure as hell did. Just hang in there; it usually takes a a long time but if you're truely adament, it's an inevitability imo.

!

Cheers. I'm keeping trying, using auto-suggestion and such. Did dream last night, though not a lucid. That said, I woke up after it and half didn't want to go back to sleep because it was so damn creepy. It was about somebody secretly living in the crawlspace of some woman's house, for YEARS.

BRRRRRRR.

That reminds me of this hobo who lived under my grandmother's house. Nobody knows how long he was under there, but one day my grandmother had a party, and the hobo got drunk, crawled out from under the porch and proceeded to tell them to shut up.

That, however is off topic. So...

Originally Posted by Sir_Realist

Are dreams are important for filing and storing information into memories. Could lucid control of our dreams disrupt this process?

I think this is a good point. How do we know we're not accidentally killing our brains?

I don't think so, since there are people who have been lucid dreaming for years and years and years. And there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with them, at least not because of the lucid dreaming.

But I'm not going to completely denounce the idea, since I'm in no way qualified to do so, and since it would be mean.

since LDing is seemingly not necessary and dreaming probably is, does anyone think that maybe LDing is unhealthy of detrimental at all? I mean, LDing is clearly hard, and it's hard because our minds make it so, so if LDs are really as helpful and beneficial as we all seem to believe, why aren't all dreams lucid?

Although as far as I know, Lucid Dreaming cannot be detrimental to you physically, it can have negative effects emotionally that could potentially spill over to one's life. Of course for most of us, we can handle the separation from the "Dream World" and "Waking Life". Like all good things, Lucid Dreams can be abused. There have been stories, albeit few, of people who have centered their lives around sleep. Obviously nothing warrants itself to extremes. The "perfection" of dreaming can be to overpowering to everyday life to some. Of course we're talking about very few people, and I'd hazard a guess that chocolate has hurt more people then Lucid Dreaming has. However small, there are still negativity.

Bah. I'm sorry for falling behind. The subject of the "how natural" Lucid Dreams are is quite an interesting one, but sleep is an even more.

Originally Posted by Ezey

I love how you made that point so easily, when it took me like a paragraph to just barely put it across.

Sarcasm?