i'm actually really excited to be a part of this forum. this is just a little something to introduce myself, but i'm going to use lowercase letters so as not to sound too formal. i hope that's fine.

so, well, i've been lucid dreaming for a year now since i've stumbled onto an article online about flying in dreams. that was when i started googling things and eventually... i found out about lucid dreaming. i've had vivid dreams since i was very young, and so it wasn't that difficult for me to try it out. in fact, after the first time reading through "instructions" on how to lucid dream, i got so excited that i got it right that very night.

mainly, i just get really vivid dreams and i'd do a reality check (the nose pinch is my favorite for now), and i'd be lucid. i find that eating cheese an hour or so before you sleep helps, too. at first i used to just fly around and make up superpowers. sometimes i visit hogwarts and play quidditch. stuff like that. eventually, after i learned how to "summon" people and things, i spend time with the people i wish i could spend more time with in real life. sometimes conversations, sometimes intimate interactions. the best part of it all is taking these people on rad "dates", sometimes on clouds or really tall buildings or a street cafe in paris. it's amazing the things you can do.

but sometime mid-year, something weird started happening. later i found out that it's a phenomenon called sleep paralysis and that it's something completely normal, but at the time (and it's happened loads of times), it really scared me. even now i'm still not sure if it was me dreaming that i was paralyzed in my sleep or if i was really going through a sleep paralysis... or if both are the same. but anyway, it made me fear the thought of ever lucid dreaming or "meddling" with dreams again that i stopped for a couple of months.

several weeks ago, i had my first unintentional lucid dream in a long time. i meant to blow my nose (i was having a cold, i guess) but it worked as a reality check instead. of course, being still paranoid from the sleep paralysis deal, i quickly woke myself up. but after that, the sleep paralysis stopped. last night i finished watching this really cool movie called "waking life" and i really liked it, and so i've decided that maybe, maybe, i'll give lucid dreaming a try again.

i found this forum on google and it amazes me what a big community this is. i'm also wondering if anyone has anything to say about the sleep paralysis? like, how to deal with it or reduce its possibilities of happening? if it has anything to do with my mental state (because i've read that it does...) or my health, even? i don't know, i just really don't like the sensation.

well, this probably won't get any replies, but that's it for now, i guess.


cheers,
elle.