Finally a Name for It...

Given the meriad of hits on Google and the Lucid Dreaming forums that abound...I'm clearly coming late to the party, but...

I was watching the news last night and they were talking about the Tucson shooter and that this crazy guy was obsessed with "Lucid Dreaming". Then the reporter started to explain Lucid Dreaming and for the first time I realized there was actually a name for what I've been doing since I was a little girl.

I have been drescribing my dream process to friends, family, and even doctors for years (and years)...and they'd just look at me with a "you do WHAT?" look on their face...I never had anyone ever say they understood what I was doing and that they also did the same thing.

When I was little, I loved bed time because that's when the real play time began. There have been times it would take me several waking hours to determine if something I dreamed really happened or if it was a dream...sometimes I never figured it out. I do better with that now that I'm an adult.

I don't ever remeber a time when I couldn't control my dreams: Action/adventure (typical stuff that goes with that), sex (a lucid dream orgasm is pretty fantastic), problem solving (as a kid I'd figure out math problems I couldn't while doing homework, I'd practice "seeing" my text books so I could "see" them while awake taking my test and mentally "read" the answer during test time, as an adult I've processed work problem/issues, etc), re-starting scenes in my dreams to make it more what I like, being writer, director, and the actors within my dream while at the same time "watching" my dreams in an "out of body" observer kind of way (the way one would watch TV) - all the while aware that I was dreaming - well not dreaming really, but asleep in bed and that I was creating a mental story in my mind to enjoy while I rested.

For the last several months I have chosen to not Lucid Dream...allowing my dreams to just do whatever and turning off my mind. I'm still aware that I'm dreaming, but I haven't been controlling them. I had a baby a few months ago and being sleep deprived I have just been too tired to control my dreams. So I've decided to suspend that for a while.

Anyway, I knew I couldn't be alone in the way I dreamed...I knew there had to be a name for it...and now 30+ years later I finally know that my dream process doesn't make me nuts...that its a real thing - other people do it and aspire to do it - and I've just been lucky enough to have been doing it my whole life.

Good for you! Sounds like you are a natural. I find it amazing when people report that they have been doing this their whole life and thought that they were the only one and didn't even know there was a name for it. While most of us heard about it first and strived to attain the skill.

:welcome:

That is indeed quite awesome :D I remember LDing as a kid alot, but certainly not every night. Seems alot of people on here were LDing as a kid anyways:) So you can have a lucid dream any night you want? How long are they in general, and do you need to stabilize them as we do?

...weird, normally it's you who'd have to ask us questions :D But hey, I'm curious!

So as a "natural" - is there a place where I can talk to other naturals...most of the posts here are from people attempting to Lucid Dream. Lots of dream journal discussions, success and failure attempts, etc. I guess I'd like to find out if there are things I'm missing/not doing that I could do, etc. I don't feel limited by my dreaming at all - so I'm wondering what's next?

Howzit. I guess you could jump right into the task of the month? Let us know how easy these things are for you.

Perhaps you have a technique or suggestion that might help others?

I Lucid Dream every night - if I want to. I can reject Lucid Dreaming...as I've been doing for the last three months - because I'm just not in the mood. Too tired with new baby. I Lucid Dream most of the night - about every REM cycle. I can either pick up where I left off or start a new dream. I don't know what you mean by "stabilze" since I'm new to the forum and have just "done it" my whole life. I don't know the terms. My favorite thing to do is to dream a little mini-series...where each night I start off where I left off the night before - so I can finish the story/adventure/whatever - the way I want. Does that answer your question?

Stabilizing is when the lucid you're in becomes..."fuzzy", you start to lose focus. Then you can do things like rubbing your hands, touching, tasting, smelling things to stabilize the dream, and make sure you stay in it :)

And oh my... dreaming in series sounds awesome. Might be something I'll try as well in the future, once I become better at this:p

I don't remember ever stabilzing a dream. I either choose to be a part of it/change it/direct it/etc or I choose to just let it play out and be passive and just "dream" - but I always know what I'm doing or choosing to do. Maybe when I was a kid I naturally did things to stabilze a dream without knowing that was what I was doing...but its not something I've needed to do as an adult.

How cool to have such a skill. Welcome, and I hope you can find some really good challenging things here to push your skills to the limit and beyond.

I have a 9 month old and I am so freaking with you on the sleep deprivation and exhaustion. These little lives come in like a tornado, don't they? :lol: