Optimistic Dreamer :)

[Ginny]

Hi! my name is Ginny, 18 yr old from England. I've always had vivid dreams and can still remember some of the Night Terrors I had as a child. Growing up, even after the Night Terror stage, nightmares weren't unusual for me and I would regularly wake up too terrified to move, feeling sick to my stomach and dreading falling back to sleep - but as I've matured I've began to find even the bad dreams incredibly interesting and have tried to link them to my subconscious self. I find it amazing how powerful some of the dreams are, and even if they leave me frightened, I feel in awe of the human mind! I found out about Lucid Dreaming a few months ago. I read on a random website it could be achieved by laying on your back completely still and essentially letting your body fall asleep, but keeping your mind awake and letting your dream form around you. I had a couple of scarey experiences (feeling the weight on your chest, hearing strange voices and seeing things while my eyes were closed) and after doing some actual research I realised it was not the best way to go about lucidity... I was probably seconds away from Sleep Paralysis a few times and with my record of bad dreams I don't think it would have been a good experience ha My main aim in achieving lucidity is to become more confident with my dreams. I read a story of a guy who was having a nightmare where he was chased by a lion, but because he was able to realise he was dreaming he morphed the lion into something more pleasant and avoided a frightening situation - I would love to be able to do this, since a lot of my dreams are horrible But also, ofcourse, for the fun and freedom of it! So here I am to read your stories and learn some techniques for myself. I've been lurking for a few days and I've found some people's experiences really funny LOL, nice to know other people have as strange dreams as I do! Sorry for the essay~~

[Dragonworkz]

Hello Ginny, welcome to DV. Sounds like that method you heard about beforehand was the WILD method. While that's one good method to do, there're plenty of others you can do to achieve lucidity, so just experiment and find out what's good for you. Hope your dreams become less scary in the process as well, yeah? Happy dreaming!

[RebelSeven]

Awesome intro Ginny A lot of people discover lucid dreaming as a way to handle their nightmares, I think the most rewarding and healing way to go about it is (when lucid) to stand up to the scary thing and ask "What do you represent?" or "Can I help you?" or something along those lines that works towards resolution, not avoidance (of course opinions will always vary). But vivid dreams is the best place to start, I'm sure you will be lucid in no time