Can lucid dreaming/meditation change your beliefs?

[diamondrust]

Hey guys, I'm trying to change some things about myself which are internal, ie my beliefs on pretty much everything. I tend to be too negative and am pretty anti social as well. I was wondering since dreams have big impact on how we think, if lucid dreaming or meditation or both could change the way we think rather quickly than if we were to actually focus on one thing and work on it constantly. Also, is there any meditation exercise to start out with? I'm quite new at this so I need to start working. Thanks.

[youssarian]

You don't need to meditate to LD. Goodness knows, I've never successfully had a meditation regime, and I now stand at 37 LD's (yipee). Now could it change your beliefs and outlook? Lucid dreaming, I don't think it would have any affect, because what you do in your dream stays in your dream. Now with meditation, that may be much more effective because I know it allows you to clear your mind and - well - meditate on things, which could possibly help.

[Darkmatters]

I think it can ABSOLUTELY change your beliefs!! In fact, just reading Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming by Stephen LaBerge will change your beliefs. Most people walk around with a misconception about what dreaming IS, and about what so-called REALITY is. They think there's a complete divide between the two, and that what happens in waking life os absolutely real while dreams are just silly nighttime fantasies. How absolutely wrong that is!! In order to learn to lucid dream you first have to shed that misconception. In doing that you learn the importance of ATTITUDE and INTENTION. And when yu start seeing the effect your attitude and intentions have on your dreams (even before you start having lucid dreams) you'll come to appreciate the power of attitude and intention. Then, when you start having lucids, you also see how powerfully a dream can affect your waking state. Those "silly nighttime fantasies" that most people don't even think about can leave you feeling terrible or wonderful, depending. Once having experienced this, you can no longer deny that your inner world is strongly affected by your own attitudes.

[Maria92]

Fun fact: since reading ETWOLD, I have not successfully confirmed to myself that I am awake. Lucid dreaming *may* have some impact on your inner beliefs, but mediation and inner reflection would probably get you closer to your goal. Personally, I think lucid dreams are a great way to cut loose and do what you have always wanted to do. If you want to be nicer, go around and hug your DC's. Show them the love. Pal around with your dream guide. Whatever floats your boat.

[Darkmatters]

Fun fact: since reading ETWOLD, I have not successfully confirmed to myself that I am awake.

[Acala]

Meditation certainly can change the way you relate to the world and to other people. For example, it is very common to find yourself becoming much less judgemental, more tolerant, and more appreciative. This will not happen overnight, but when it happens it will be permanent. A good place to start is with the book "Mindfulness in Plain English" by a guy whose name I can't pronounce or spell. It really helps to have some guided meditation at the beginning. You can try this program: basicmindfulness.org. Good luck!

[Rebelution]

Meditation certainly can change the way you relate to the world and to other people. For example, it is very common to find yourself becoming much less judgemental, more tolerant, and more appreciative. This will not happen overnight, but when it happens it will be permanent. Meditation creates a balance, and a deeper understanding of the way things are. It will help you in your daily life, and you will slowly start to evolve into a more spiritual being. A good place to start is with the book "Mindfulness in Plain English" by a guy whose name I can't pronounce or spell. Venerable Henepola Gunaratana is the name of the Buddhist monk who wrote this book on Vipassana meditation practice, a style of meditation that claims "the purpose of this system is to give the meditator insight into the nature of reality and accurate understanding of how everything works." Here is the link to the online book. It's really well-written, and very enjoyable. Reading it may help you figure out the answers to some of the questions you have! http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma4/mpe.html

[ld411]

Oh man, you need to google "the secret" by Rhonda Byrne and your life will change.....

[tambu]

I have to say that "the secret" is mostly bullshit.

[gan_naire]

Well Ive never lucid dreamed before, I'll start working on that. Now I have had many dreams where by the time I was done with it, I felt different about the views expressed through the dream. Like I used to hate so many people, not lying one bit if I didnt know you and odds are if I did know you, I hated you so damn much it was unbelievable. Then one night I had a dream where I walked up to a chick from my past, put a gun to her head and pulled the trigger. I then hovered over her body, looking at what I had done and realized that hate fuels such acts. Though in real life I would never have killed anyone like that, I realized what hate was capable of doing in real life. From that day on, I slowly started opening up to people, started being friendly and so on and so forth. Now I still have that occassional dream where I am fighting someone, but its always been more of a self defense kind of thing, maybe showing myself that I need to stand up for myself more. By becoming so nice to everyone, I became somewhat of a sissy (compared to how I used to be) so now I am working on finding the right balance. But thats just one example but there have been numerous occassions where I thought I knew what I thought and believed, but after having a dream, I proved myself wrong. Meditation however, is more used to open yourself up to true reality, your true surroundings, true inner thoughts, etc. For all you know the beliefs you have right now were programmed into you through family, friends, tv, internet, etc. To find out your true inner self, meditation is usually the one that is sought after the most. But to me I have had great success with both, just with the dreaming, I get to see me beliefs in action as opposed to just think of them.