I guess I'm not as odd as i thought

[Lonertyme]

Im a 34 year old male. I have been having controllable dreams for as long as I can remember. Im a very realistic person and don't consider myself anything but above average in very few areas. My wife of 2.5 years is the only person I have ever told about my dreaming issues. Up until literally today, I thought I was some kind of freak. I don't want to get into any long draw out story so I will give ya' the short. I do not consciously control entering a lucid dream..... It just happens. It started probably 20 years ago. Frequency was probably once a month then to nearly every night by my late 20's. I tried everything to make the stop. Everything from drugs and alcohol to alarms every 5 mins thru the night to not sleeping at all. It got to the point where my life was severely compromised. One day I said, "the hell with it....let's see where this goes". My dream content usually begins with some sort of instinctive desire format. Over the years, I have learned to add people (even dead relatives or people I don't know), places (most of which I have never been) and activities (some of which I have never done). I learned how to completely direct my dreams after they begin. Very similar to a movie director with a limitless budget. Sometimes I'll make every decision on the direction of the dream and other times I'll make a change here and there to see how it ends. Similar to a choose your own adventure novel. Occasionally, I will fall asleep within a dream, wake up in another, fall asleep again and wake up in another. I haven't learned how to control depth, but I have never been deeper 3 layers deep. Honestly, i think any deeper would mean death. Laws of physics skew the deeper i go. When I begin to realize im 3 deep, everything changes. I fall into escape mode and get out ASAP. I have never created a personally fatal situation (instant escape) more than 2 deep. My escape plan requires me to send intense shivers down my spine but The deeper I am, the less physical control I have over my body. It takes all I have to escape from 3 deep but that makes it easier to get out of the other 2 levels. I have become comfortable with 2 and like that depth due to the altered laws of physics. However, just as I may fall asleep sitting on my couch.... typing this post, I could fall asleep exactly the same way in level 2. I see my lucid dreaming ability as a gift and a curse. On one hand, I lead a pretty good life. I don't want for much. I attribute a large portion of my success to the dream situations I created, conquered, practiced, etc. Ive also learned empathy to the greatest degree. As i have been in 'your' shoes. on the other hand, it's no different than AIDS or cancer. A 4 deep or god forbid 5 deep dream will be my demise. Im risking sounding insane but 'what the hell'. I just told a million people what I have only ever told one. Or did I? Will I wake up beside my wife on the level I consider reality?

[Woodstock]

There's no way you could die from a dream, it doesn't matter how many "layers" it has. Don't think of it like AIDS or cancer! This is something amazing and very few people are as lucky as you are!

[Lonertyme]

If there was no lasting consequence, I would be able to easily escape 3 deep. I don't know anything about lucid dreams besides what I have experienced. Ive never had any conversation about my dreams My wife listens but after about 30 seconds, I can tell she's just nodding her head. the most I get is 'wow.....that is crazy'. I never even knew these type if dreams had a name. Until tonight when I was feeding my 6 day old little boy....flipping thru the channels. I landed on 'American Dad'. The episode was about Steve and his lucid dream kick. At that moment, I shut the TV off and piced up the IPhone. Now I'm here!

[Woodstock]

Instead of treating it like a deadly disease, learn more about it. There's nothing dangerous about it. I wish I had lucid dreams every night. Read more on this forum and you'll see some of the things you can do.

[MadMonkey]

Lucid dreaming is definitely not a curse. I don't quite understand why you feel that way. Do you experience nightmares while you are lucid or do you just not like it because you don't choose to be aware? The layers thing is interesting. Going to sleep in a dream won't slow down time or anything like that in Inception or cause you any danger. You just dream that you went to some new layer but in fact you are in the same dream. However if you expect something to happen in a dream it will. That is the cornerstone of dream control after all. If you learn to understand and be optimistic about your dreams they will become much more pleasant.

[PlanesWalker]

Definitely not a curse in my eyes, although I can see how disorienting it may be to constantly have false awakenings like you seem to be. My Dreams are incredibly realistic and the few times I've had false awakenings I wake up(for real) feeling quite weird. I'm sure that your Dreams have made you wonder about the reality in which we live right? Take you Dreaming ability as a gift and use it. Many people are trying and have been trying to get where you are, please see it as a gift. There is no limit to what you can do in your Dreams, and you already know that they can have lasting effects well after they are over.

[Matte87]

I can see how you'd think of it as a curse if you never considered the possibilities and just had the mindset that it's disturbing your sleep and/or your life. As I see it, you have a whole world at your disposal for entertainment or spiritual pursposes, use it! I suggest you do some more heavy stuff and challenge yourself in your dreams. Try visiting a whole new world, think of it as a dream world that is actually real in the dream. You can go there over and over and meet people, participate in events etc. You won't die from dreaming, unless you have a heart disease and you get so excited that you'll get a heart attack. Also, you're not crazy. Enjoy!

[Lonertyme]

When I speak of death while dreaming, Im not talking about getting shot 3 deep or anything like that. My wife cannot wake me when I'm 3 deep. I'm suggesting a dream could take a person so deep where he or she would have no way to control their physical bodies. I theorize that a lucid dreamer may be able to go deep enough to cause interruptions in the body's voluntary systems. I honestly think I could make this happen, but with a wife, 4 year old daughter and a newborn son, I won't be trying anytime soon unless I was surrounded by a staff of grade A doctors. Since LD's, I challenge too many issues. That's the nature of the beast I suppose. I have done just about everything I can think of while lucid. I actually went on a bad sci fi kick to spur a flow if creative juices. It worked well. I spend much if my lucid time figuring how people in though situations feel. So that I can solve their problem . Sounds boring but it sure help in my professional life. One question, is this inception a movie? I live on a large piece of property. My obligations don't give me much time for leisure television. Is this a movie i should watch? I feel like I tapped out the LDreams. What do I do next? Maybe take up a new hobby?

[Matte87]

Alright, you shouldn't do anything you don't want to, I suggest you try not to go deeper than level 3. Also here's a great thread full of things to do in a LD: http://www.dreamviews.com/f11/1000-t...-dream-104556/ Inception is a great movie, it's taken stuff from lucid dreaming and twisted them a bit. Like "totems" which are basicly RC's. I recommend you see it Also there's been alot of talk about the layers they enter, which sounds a bit like the levels you're talking about. The last one is called "limbo" and apparently if you get stuck there you'll be lost forever. But this is all just fiction ofcourse.

[Nerq]

It looks as though you've gotten quite a bit of feedback that I'd think to put in. Lucid dreaming can be a scary thought, I don't think most people have these fears but they are understandable. Just the other night, and a few times before that; I had a lucid dream that ended very nervously. I walked outside of my house in the dream and heard a girl talking. She was saying "Once you've been in this state for too long, you won't be able to rise back out." After that, I began seeing bodies of people materializing and dissapearing in front of my eyes, as if they were other people stuck in the dream state. I've known how to wake myself out of dreams since I was young, so I woke myself up. The problem was, this time I woke up into a false awakening in my bed. I woke myself up again, and again I was in a false awakening in my bed. I literally panicked for a moment thinking that I was literally stuck in the dream state. I gave one last burst that woke me into the real world, and was releaved as hell... The point of this isn't to be a scary story, but it taught me of how dreams can implement these fears into your head that make the fears- make sense even to the rational dreamer. I, and many others that have been studying dreams for a decent minute will inform you with assurity- this is not a curse. Lucid dreaming isn't a danger. There is no way to die, become ill, or become stuck in your dream state. That's not how the mind functions. With the right help, you can learn to overcome those issues. The only 'danger' of lucid dreaming, is conceptual fear and doubt. Rest easy Lonertyme.

[Lonertyme]

Alright let's step away from thedisease issue. I should Havel made a better analogy. Most lucid dreaming as deep as 2 is fine but I believe to go deeper would not be without consequence. That's a little better explaination of my view. The deeper you 'drill' into you concious mind the more likely to cause damage. I feel completely gone from the natural world in ln level 3. You get where I'm going with this?? Has anyone been 3 deep?

[MadMonkey]

Alright let's step away from thedisease issue. I should Havel made a better analogy. Most lucid dreaming as deep as 2 is fine but I believe to go deeper would not be without consequence. That's a little better explaination of my view. The deeper you 'drill' into you concious mind the more likely to cause damage. I feel completely gone from the natural world in ln level 3. You get where I'm going with this?? Has anyone been 3 deep? I totally get what you meen. There are some dreams that are deeper into the subcioncious and they feel quite diferent. Waking Nomad used to talk about this were he has deeper dreams were he doesn't even remember life oitside of the dream world. You seem to activate it when you go to sleep in a dream although that is not necisarily the case for most people. Thas just what your subconcious expects to happen. There is still nothing dangerous about it but do what ever feels best to you. I recomend you try the tasks of the month here on dreamviews to get some new goals and some added challenge.