Vivid, but not quite lucid; seeking enlightenment!
Good Evening, all! Just wanted to introduce myself to these parts.
You can call me Sirocco. I'm in my mid 20s, and am an Architectural Designer, and have always been a lifelong dreamer. Ever since I was quite young, I have had what my peers have described as rather vivid, detailed, and spectacular dreams. I began to realize that perhaps something was different about my dreams when I was young, since hardly any of my friends and peers would have dreams quite so visceral, detailed, and riveting as the ones I had. This continues on to the present day; as I grew older, and my pool of knowledge grew, so did the intensity of my dreams. I've always been interested in a vast array of fields, from botany, to architecture (my career of choice!), to cinematography, the arts, music, sci fi to an extent, etc, and these have all had a profound effect on my nocturnal existence. Furthermore, after doing some research, I have also come to the conclusion that my ability to recall dreams is quite well developed; I can recall most dreams from the previous night upon waking, and sometimes, the memory will flood back to me after what I like to call a "trigger stimulus"; ie, something will stimulate a flood of recall to occur. In fact, I've had many instances where the trigger stimulus occurs within another dream! I've also had deja-vu's during waking moments, only to realize later that my deja vu was actually linked to a dream! Various other things like this have occurred, and I'll get into those more as I explore the forums, and participate more.
Although my dreams have ranged from the mundane to mind-blowingly vivid, I have not quite reached the state of lucidity in the vast majority of them. Once in a blue moon, I have been able to, but those are a rarity; I for one, would like to be able to enter a lucid state more often. Most people are not able to dream during short naps; however, I've had some particularly vivid ones during naps as short as an hour.
My recent attempts to achieve a lucid state have not quite worked out as well as I have planned; it seems that my mind tends to play tricks on me, and when I try certain techniques such as "questioning if I am dreaming" while in a dream, the conclusion tends to be a negative, and I continue on as if I were in a waking state. My dream sense also likes to play tricks on me when my alarm rings in the morning; I hit the snooze button, and arise and get ready for the day, and then this is interrupted by a rather rude awakening! It is almost as if my subconscious refuses to allow me to take control, and would rather I simply go along for the ride. I'm not complaining; I just wish I could have a bit more conscious influence now and then on what occurs! It also seems that what few lucid dreams I have had have been significantly less vivid than the organically spawned, deep-subconscious visions.
I have been seeking how to reconcile the two; I have been doing research into lucid dreaming lately, and this forum seems to have piqued my interests, particularly due to the exposure to the experiences, and discussions with others! I really hope to be able to participate in this community, and perhaps share my quest with some of you.
To sleep...perchance...to dream....lead us on!
