Hello there.

[Avatar122]

Hello, I am new here, and I have some questions/comments that you guys might help me with. 1) How do you gain consciousness in your dream? For example, if I show up in a dream how do start to be able to think about the things I read about here so that I can manipulate it? You guys said it takes practice to fully control you dreams but how do you awake within the dream so that you can practice? (Do you get what I am saying?) 2) NV I got the answer to this question. 3) How many of you are able to control your dreams to a considerable degree? 4) If you answered something like "quite well" on the above question, how long did it take you to achieve this high level of control. 5) Is there something that I should do before I go to sleep? For example, if I wanted to go sailing in my dream, should I look at pics of boats before I go to sleep, or watch a movie about boats, or think about it before I go to sleep? Please answer ASAP because I need to go to bed soon and I would like to statrt tonight.

[Puffin]

Hi, welcome to Dreamviews! 1) Gaining consciousness in dreams is really just being conscious (aware) in real life. Really question if you could be dreaming, just because things feel and look real, it doesn't mean they are. In normal dreams, things feel real and we don't question them. It's the same with real life - just because it looks real, doesn't mean it is. Stop and ask yourself if what you're doing, where you are, and what's happening around you is plausible. 3) I can control my dreams rather well; it all boils down to expectations. If you expect something to happen, it will. You can expect someone to appear behind you when you turn around, or a ball of fire to appear in your hand, and it'll probably happen. Visualization also helps a lot. 4) It took me a bit less than a month, but it varies greatly between people. 5) If you think about something enough, or see a lot of something related to what you want to dream about, there's a higher chance you'll dream about that particular thing. This is called "day residue" - residue from what you've done and seen during the day that ends up in your dreams.