New to the forum and looking for ways to understand my dreams and the way that I dream...

[byrd828]

Ok here it goes.... Ever since I can remember, I have always been able to dream. My dreams have ALWAYS been extremely vivid whether they are regular dreams or nightmares. For the most part I have always been a very active dreamer and have had the ability to manipulate my dreams any way that I wanted to. Some of them have reminded me of those "Choose Your Own Adventure" books. At anytime of the day that I choose, I can simply fall asleep and decide whether I want to go back to a dream I wanted to finish, or I can simply tell myself what I want to dream about. I always thought all this was normal and something everyone could do considering that I have always been able to do it for as long as I can remember, I am now 29 and I am still able to do this. I have never been one to look at the meaning of any of my dreams and have only made attempts to keep dream journals. Dream journals never worked for me because I would always forget to write in them...but thats ADHD at its best for you. I do wish that I was successful at keeping dream journals because a lot of my dreams are quite interesting. Recently I have been going on Google to try and find meanings to a few of my dreams and I have read that a lot of my dreams are what are called Lucid Dreams. So I have been reading more about Lucid Dreams....but I still can't seem to find a reason why mine are so consistent. The only thing I find are tools and advice on how to have Lucid Dreams. I don't think I need any of that because I am and have always been a very very very active dreamer. So I decided to come to a forum and see if anyone else can share a thing or two with me, or if anyone can relate. A lot of times I will make sure that I don't tell myself what I want to dream about because I want to see what my mind has in store for me. Its kind of like deciding to watch a new movie, or read a new book. I tend to get bored with some of my dreams because I either know that outcome or I simply have played the dream out in so many different ways and I need a new adventure to start. I can also do this while I'm sleeping...if I get bored with one dream, I can simply "turn it off" and start a new one. Like I said, I have never put a whole lot of thought into why I dream the way that I do, I thought everyone could do this naturally. My dreams are always very vivid and real. Its almost like all my senses play a very active role in my dreams, because I can hear, smell, taste, and feel everything. I can also feel inside emotions....it can be very weird and confusing. I once had a dream where I got shot and I could feel the warmth of the blood and feel not only my physical pain, but emotional pain from me and my loved ones. I can go on and on about all the dreams that I have had, but that would take a very long time. I just felt like I should try coming to a forum to see if anyone else could relate to me because I know for a fact that I am not the only one that experiences dreams like this. I just didn't really know what else I could do. It's not like it bothers me, but since there are so many tools out there to help induce Lucid Dreaming, I just thought that maybe I should start looking more in depth into this "gift" that I have and see if I could share it amongst other people. I hope I never stop dreaming the way that I do, because it's very exciting! I'm always looking forward to taking short naps or going to sleep at night. I also day dream pretty heavy, but not as much as I used to since I've been taking ADHD medicine for awhile now, but if I choose to....I can! Thank you to everyone who took the time to read this! I look forward to all of your comments and messages. I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend! Take care!

[Peetee36]

Dreaming differs for a lot of people, and it's likely that ADHD has affected your dreams, although I really don't know. But what would you like to know? What you can do with your dreams? And welcome to the site.

[riverboy]

I'm not sure whether lucid dreams really have meanings as you decide the outcome yourself, but I've never really been a fan of dream interpretation etc so I'm a bit closed minded in that respect. I can help you if you're stuck for ideas though! Check out the task of the month forum, which is part of the dream experiences forum (i think!). There's a couple of challenges to do each month which will keep your dreams pretty fresh and original. Also some people think you can potentially "use" lucid dreaming to think at a higher level, something about the sleeping state enables people to work things out which they can't during normal waking life. But that's a pretty grey area at the moment because 99% of us use lucid dreaming as a huge playground of the mind. Sounds like you're a complete natural though and you're very lucky! Welcome to the forums and enjoy!

[KingYoshi]

I too have had vivid dreams all my life. I used to have lucids throughout my childhood, but didn't really know what they were called (or didn't know what all I could do in them). I used to ask friends and family if they ever had dreams where they knew they were dreaming. Some would say they had, but none of them seemed to do what I was doing. I would wake up and purposely go right back into the same dreams often, control what I wanted to dream about, etc. I just didn't understand they amount of control that I actually had. I found this site and my LDing sky rocketed. People like this are what they call "naturals." I had a lucid the first night I joined this site actually. Anyone in the world can become skilled and masterful in lucid dreaming...we just have a bit of an easier start. Which is one of the reasons I like to help other members out...only seems fair, ya know. As for meanings in dreams...I'd love for a dream interpreter to dabble in my dream journal. There is no way they could draw a conclusion from most of them...aside from "Dude, you are insane!" lol. I also get bored with "god-mode" control. What I like to do is play along with the dream plot. Sometimes you have to kick start one, but act as if each dream is some wild, outrageous movie and you are the star. Play along with the DCs as if they are real people and react to the situations at hand. It keeps everything fresh and exciting. Your mind works so fast that you really don't always know what to expect next. TONS of times I have paused for a moment and thought, "WTF?" or "Where did that come from?" You should give it a shot.