Naturals, who are you?

[adraw]

Asking this question has only one purpose. To find out the differences between people with low frequency of LDs and people with high LD frequency. What is your day routine? What is your natural way of thinking? (Images, Audio, Tactile?...) What is your prevalent temperament? 1.1 Sanguine 1.2 Choleric 1.3 Melancholic 1.4 Phlegmatic Please. Take a deep thought about yourself. What do you think is the main aspect of yourself which supports your LD abilities? Thanx for responses.

[Shift]

I'm not a natural, but I am phlegm. Go figure.

[LoverbeanS]

I think my prevalent temperament is melancholic...but I have my Sanguine days. Which is why my dad thinks I'm bi-polar I'm really very introspective..I think about things constantly. As to my natural way of thinking...I guess it's a little bit of everything...I learn most by doing things and by seeing things. I can remember images and words very well and can also remember music well. when i think, i think in both visible and audible words, and in images. Throughout the day i am supposed to go to class but I often skip. I don't get regular sleep...I sometimes sleep at 4 am, sometimes at 10 pm..sometimes i get 6 hours of sleep...sometimes i get 14 hours of sleep. I am actually always tired. I sometimes exercise. I usually do something creative during the day. I also alot of time talking to people. Hope this helps... J

[Desert Claw]

Definiately not a natural But I'm a Phlegmatic sorta person, maybe tipping towards melancholy

[adraw]

I think my prevalent temperament is melancholic...but I have my Sanguine days. Which is why my dad thinks I'm bi-polar I'm really very introspective..I think about things constantly. As to my natural way of thinking...I guess it's a little bit of everything...I learn most by doing things and by seeing things. I can remember images and words very well and can also remember music well. when i think, i think in both visible and audible words, and in images. Throughout the day i am supposed to go to class but I often skip. I don't get regular sleep...I sometimes sleep at 4 am, sometimes at 10 pm..sometimes i get 6 hours of sleep...sometimes i get 14 hours of sleep. I am actually always tired. I sometimes exercise. I usually do something creative during the day. I also alot of time talking to people. Hope this helps... J Great. What got me interested is the fact, that you are contantly thinking about something...

[LoverbeanS]

Oh and about the main aspect of myself that supports LD...I'm not sure. Maybe its because im a very observant person. I'm also very creative and imaginative. But then again, I didn't naturally start out totally lucid dreaming. From a very early age I've noticed signs that told me i was dreaming. I used to have horrible nightmares as a kid so i told myself that if i pinched my arm in a dream and felt nothing it was a dream. The idea worked...i found signs i was dreaming and became less scared. I learned to wake myself up by making myself jump off cliffs, knowing it was a dream...so my lucid dreaming wasn't totally natural,it was more learned, but i do it almost every time i dream now.

[adraw]

And do you actually sleep a lot these days? What happens to you, if you are sleep deprived. Are there many nights "without" dreams? So, basically, you are very observant, creative and constantly thinking. HOw would you describe that you are observant. Could you make it more understandable with some example situation? . Do you think, that this observer stance helped you when you began with LD? The idea worked...i found signs i was dreaming and became less scared. How did you find the signs. What was the story?

[Hukif]

Hm question, whats your definition of "natural"? And can anyone answer these questions?

[LoverbeanS]

I always feel sleep deprived. I always feel sleepy... Sometimes i sleep alot..sometimes not,. When i sleep a lot, I remember my dreams better, and they become more lucid. When I don't get much sleep I often don't dream at all...or many of my dreams aren't lucid. When it comes to observation, I look around me and notice facial expressions people have, the dimensions of one thing compared to something else, how colors change depending on the time of day, speech patterns and accents, the feeling i get from a place. I analyze things like that. If I'm outside I will study the color of shadows (for example...before it gets really dark shadows look very blue). Things like that. I definitely think observing helped with LD. In dreams, if something happens that I know shouldn't logically happen, and i am aware of the event being illogical, I will know it's a dream. I remember purposely pinching myself in a dream, realizing it didn't hurt, and knowing i was dreaming. If I'm dreaming and I don't feel something I should feel...sometimes I realize it. Another sign is tingling. If I'm in a dream and I get scared sometimes my whole body tingles like it's a numb foot. There is one "character" from nightmares that I've always had...and since its a recurring "person" I know it's a dream whenever I see him. I also know it's a dream when something i want to happen happens...if i WANT to fly sometimes i will. If I am scared of something happening and it happens, i also know it's a dream. If something is unusual or illogical, it's like a warning sign that it's only a dream.

[John11]

My daily routine is mostly get up, Go to work, come home and browse the net/play video games/watch tv, go to sleep. I'm very visual when it comes to learning, but when it comes to thinking, it's mostly auditory for me. I'll basically talk myself through things. Visuals are typically the last thing that forms for me when I WILD. I'm Mostly Phlegmatic, but also fairly Melancholic and a bit Sanguine. As for why I excel at LDing, I'm not sure. I'd say now, the sheer number of LDs I get is probably due to my desire to excel at everything I put my mind to. Also, I'm a very light sleeper, and I wake up a lot during the night (even before I came to DV). That probably led to a lot of my natural LDs before I joined here (kind of an unintentional WBTB). Also, having an interest in dreams since I was in middle school probably hasn't hurt.

[deXtrous]

Wow, that Wiki page is very interesting. I was reading through them thinking none of them would attain the characteristics of my own temperament until I read the Phlegmatic one. I am completely Phlegmatic in all aspects As for the purpose of the thread I don't know whether I'm a natural or not but I gained lucidity after about two weeks of practising, this being about a week ago and I've lucid dreamed three times since. I do get a lot of sleep though. At least 10 hours a night. I don't get out much aside from going to the gym and going out at night time. I like being taught through visual and audible methods.

[arby]

I'm phlegmatic too. But seriously, you need a less biased sample for this sort of thing. There will be MANY MANY more phlegmatic people on this site simply because the internet and LDs are what interest that type of person. Thus, you will get many more people saying they're phlegmatic even if it's not representative of the real probabilities.

[dreamingofdreaming]

Thanks for asking this question..... I was going to start a thread myself because, being a natural at LDing, I wanted to know who else is... I agree with Arby, there should be a couple different sources to remain unbiased, but according to the Wiki source, I guess I would be Sanguine; I"m lighthearded, easy going and confident but I can be a little too bossy, emotional and moody sometimes... I assume by a "natural" you mean, someone who has had LDs all thier life and someone who can LD quite easily once "aware" of the control aspect. So, yes, I have had LD's since a child, I would would be aware I was dreaming and would always fly... Fast forward to a couple of months ago and after having two LD's in one week, I went on line to research them and was amazed to learn they could be controlled! I read through the tutorials, and that very night I had an LD and turned something scary into a cartoon giraffe... The following morning, I attempted to WILD and did! The experience is in my dream journal.... Since then, I've had 6 successful controlled lucids and 4 of those were WILDs. I'm not sure why I"m more of a natural. I know that I've always had very vivid dreams and could always always remember them. Every morning when I was growing up me, my sister and my mom would always share our dreams every morning, because we all dreamed very vividly. My sister has also experienced WILDs, w/o knowing what they were. Maybe its a genetic thing? I brought this up once, but before I get the criticism, I am not pointing out fact, I'm merely pointing out a theory, that unfortunalty has no proof or research, mostly due to the "un-norm" subject matter. Oh, I tend to think primarily with images but I use all my senses for sure This is interesting..... who else?

[Bchill]

constant revision

[Liberty]

None really fits me to a tee, I'm pretty much all of those at one point or another except for the mean stuff. I don't do mean and I'm no where close to being bipolar or depressed. My emotions are pretty stable. I do have a short temper when it comes to certain things, part of it has to do with my stress level too. If I'm in no hurry to get anywhere, it'll take a lot to tick me off. But, I think I'd be Phlegmatic. As for how I think: All of the above. I think in images, sound/music, etc. It just depends on the situation and the environment. Some things spark off images in my mind and others make me think of a song, or a scent, sometimes even a smell. Example: The smell of jellyfish makes me think of the ocean. Yes, I think jellyfish smells. I grew up on the gulf coast. The docks/piers on the other hand leaves this salty metallic taste in my mouth just thinking of it.

[BigFan]

I have no clue if I'm a natural or not. By that, I mean I have very bad recall, so, I could have had LDs before but don't remember them. So far, after working for 2 days on LDs(~1-1.5h/day), I took a break and got an LD a couple of days later. I haven't really tried since then because I'm just feeling tired As for the prevalent temperament, gotta say that they are all interesting. I would say that I'm a mixture of both melancholic and phlegmatic since they seem to overlap at some points

[babs503]

I've been lurking on this message board for awhile and LD-ing since I can remember, tho I didn't know I was LD-ing until I stumbled onto an article about it when I was in college. I guess I'm a natural as I LD pretty routinely unless I'm going through a very stressful time or I'm physically exhausted. As far as my temperament goes, I'd say I'm choleric (although I feel melancholic some days as well). I'm creative and very visually stimulated and have been told that I'm painfully observant of my surroundings. I'm self-employed as well, so I know that my typical Monday-Friday routine is ideal for inducing an LD if I want to...I'm up at 5 or 6 am and then can take an hour nap if I feel like it after a few hours and without any effort at all, I'll get an LD about 90% of the time. I would say that I have LD's at night about 50% of the time. It's weird because I've never had to work much on getting lucid. I've always read message boards and forums because I'm always looking into how to make my lucid dreams better, longer, etc. and get ideas from others. Babs

[WakataDreamer]

I'm an equal balance of Sanguine and Melancholic. I fit both descriptions perfectly. I am both. I have occasional naturals... I'm a Visual/Kinesthetic learner, ...and my normal daily routine is that of your typical school day (since I'm in high school).

[CeDeR]

I have lucid dreams very frequently and it all began when i started experimenting with psychoactive drugs 10 years ago... Im a very calm person most of the time..

[adraw]

Thanx for all this cool responses. Lets now move a little and take it from another perspective: How would you describe your falling asleep at the evening? How would you describe your last thoughts at the evening (in general)? How would you describe onset of your lucidity (in general)? Difficult, isnt it?

[LoverbeanS]

Thanx for all this cool responses. Lets now move a little and take it from another perspective: How would you describe your falling asleep at the evening? How would you describe your last thoughts at the evening (in general)? How would you describe onset of your lucidity (in general)? Difficult, isnt it? Falling asleep... well I usually don't fall asleep until around 3 am ( I am a nightowl.) I don't know if that matters. When I am in a better mood going to sleep, I usually either have a lucid dream that's very vivid or just a vivid non-lucid dream. When I go to sleep in a bad mood I often don't dream, or my dreams aren't always lucid. By the time I go to sleep I am usually physically and mentally exhausted. My last thoughts in the evening are usually pretty stressful. I try to work out things that happened during the day an plan for the future before sleeping so that I don't have to deal with any problems that I haven't thought through. After I sort of work things out I try to think of happy things before I go to sleep...things I would like to dream about, stories in my head that I would like to write, etc.... I usually never have wilds. All the wilds that I remember have been nightmares. I usually become lucid after falling asleep and then I either notice one of the signs (as i described above) or I just get a feeling that it's a dream, I just know.

[KingYoshi]

I would have to consider myself a natural. I first stumbled upon this site back in November and then decided to start LDing. I had 10 Lucid Dreams in the first 20 nights trying. All I did was set my alarm in 2 hour increments throughout the night and then record my dreams upon awakening. I then lost internet and I lost the notebook that contained my dreams from December through January. Now I have eight LD's recorded from Mid-February to now. Out of my 18 recorded LD's, 6 are WILDs and only 2 of the remaining 12 happened because of reality checks. So, in 10 of my LDs I have became Lucid rather naturally. Unfortunately, I don't have the best memory and if I don't immediately write down my dream once I wake up, I'll lose it. I really don't try very hard to LD, all I do is try and record my dream and fall asleep expecting (not wishing) to have an LD and it works for me. Not sure if who I am has anything to do with it, but I'll tell you a bit about myself. I'm 20 years old. I'm a Choleric and Sanguine mix. I'm the leader type and very competitive (played and excelled in football and baseball). I do have a bad temper which goes with the Choleric personality as well. The weird thing is that I am also very day-dreamy and sometimes have trouble finishing/accomplishing anything because I zone out, day-dream, wish I was somewhere else, etc. I often act on whims and do random things for fun, which fits the Sanguine personality. I live in VA and me and my friends were once going to see a movie, but instead we acted on a whim and drove to New York because we felt like it. We were 18 at the time and barely had enough cash to get there and back, lol. I often smoke marijuana and I haven't noticed any repression in my REM sleep. I do however avoid alcohol because I never dream when drunk. I am big time gamer. I play lots of video games. From new stuff like: Socom, Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, Call of Duty to old school NES, SNES, SEGA, and Nintendo 64 games. Many of my dreams involve game characters, game-like situations, or me being "inside" of the games themselves. My sleep schedule is always out of whack. I usually don't go to bed until like 4:00am or later. I often don't get enough sleep and take short naps at different times throughout the day (5 out of my 6 WILDs were in the middle of the day). I always watch T.V. until I fall asleep and often commercial jingles are heard in my dreams. I also once had a dream about floods and when I woke up the History channel was talking about "The Great Flood." Thats all I can think of right now. Hope that helped some.

[Liberty]

Thanx for all this cool responses. Lets now move a little and take it from another perspective: How would you describe your falling asleep at the evening? How would you describe your last thoughts at the evening (in general)? How would you describe onset of your lucidity (in general)? Difficult, isnt it? Lately I've been sleeping around 3 or 4 am. I stay up one night to watch a movie and my whole sleeping pattern is thrown off. Usually I try to get to bed by midnight. If I'm stressed I end up laying in bed until my brain tires itself out and I'm able to fall asleep. If I fall asleep while I'm still stressed, then it takes me a little while to realize that I'm asleep. My dreams in general are strange so because of that I always know I'm dreaming. I never have normal dreams. Even in "normal" dreams I know I'm dreaming because of the place and situation. Yeah, my day-to-day life is pretty mundane, anything exciting pretty much triggers my "Oh, I'm dreaming. Damnit." switch. Last thoughts: Hm...depends. If I'm stressed or anxious about the next day (like if I have something due) then those are usually my last thoughts. Lately though, I haven't had much on my mind before bed except 2012, not sure why but I had a sudden interest in that year. I'm not the "end of the world" type so I don't know why I have a sudden interest in it. In general I can sense myself falling asleep or "falling/pulling" into a dream. I either get that pulling/sinking/vibrating sensation in the middle of my forehead (actually it feels more like it's right underneath my skull in that region), or I get this full body falling sensation. When I experience the full body falling sensation I can literally feel the bed move like I jumped on it or something (of course with the rate of falling it would hurt but I never feel pain) and then I just feel light and *bam* I'm in a dream. When the sensation is centered in my forehead I noticed that my dreams tend to be more gradual, like a transitonal scene in a movie. I'd be slowly appearing in a dream, the scene would start out kind of dark and foggy and gradually become more clear. I'm not sure if it happens everytime but the few times that I did pay attention that's how it was.

[daveW]

I lucid dream most nights naturally and have done for years. Interestingly my routine/lifestyle is very similar to babs503 above - self employed, work from home, creative/artistic (computer programmer and musician), melancholic mainly but fit into phlegmatic too. Also interestingly there's a chance my LD frequency increased after i started experimenting with psychoactive drugs as well, as CeDeR said. Although it might be because coincidentally around the same time i started reading forums like this and using more specific techniques... Falling asleep is usually hard for me, my brain is usually still going round and round from the days thoughts/work. My LDs occur in the late stages of REM sleep for me. I use reality tests to double-check that i'm dreaming, as that's usually the issue, i'm often aware i might be dreaming but don't know for sure. hope this helps

[taylor]

i dont think im a natural, but a couple nights ago i had my first lucid dream and it was really easy for me to control, at first anyways, although it could be because im only fifteen, if age has any effect on lucid dreaming.