hello,

I've known about lucid dreaming for a few years now, and have had periods of very precise dream recall and recording, but I was never sure about the next step until I found this forum, which really took my breath away with it's magnitude.
So yeah I guess there are true believers in this world of dreams, and I should like to count myself one of them, but before I get started I have a question, and I have posted this in a more appropriate place aswell:

I am anxious about, or rather, I have a deep respect for, screwing with my psyche. What I mean by that is, I have a notion this consciousness during sleep is a thing to be handled with care, and that you are changing yourself by passing this threshold and allowing yourself to become lucid.
This is just the downside of things I am focusing on right now, I am very much into the thrills experienced and the skills required for lucid dreaming, but the thought just won't let go of me - what if this is something that can't be reversed? (I mean that's what they say about a shift in consciousness: it can't be reversed.)
I might cherish the vivid dreams where I'm not conscious. I don't want to lose that I think.

I posted this under "Sleep and Health" aswell: http://www.dreamviews.com/sleep-heal...ml#post2025925

I think for most of us lucid dreaming is very much something that can easily be reversed because those of us who are not natural lucid dreamers need to spend a lot of effort to become lucid and need to continue to expand a certain amount of effort or we loose the skill. I used to be a successful lucid dreamer twenty years ago, but then I stopped and I don't remember why, and now twenty years later it has been quite an effort to relearn lucid dreaming - still struggling, though I am making progress.

Most people even once they become successful LDers are not lucid in every dream of every night. Even during a lucid dream your subconscious still has plenty of room to express itself, for example through other dream characters whom you do not control. Also you can choose how much control you wish to exert in a lucid dream, and you could choose to focus on maximizing awareness, but instead of controlling the dream try going with the flow of it. In some dream I think more subtle forms of control can be especially effective, and lucid dreaming does not mean that one has to just take over everything and change the dream entirely. In nightmares for example instead of changing the dream entirely, you can talk with the characters chasing or attacking you, and ask them why they are doing it. If you find yourself in a strange house, you can choose to explore it consciously upon becoming lucid instead of leaving the house. Lucid dreaming is a very versatile experience, and you can adapt it to whatever makes sense to you and makes you comfortable and does not screw up your psyche. Different people have different ideas about what is or is not appropriate to do in lucid dreams, and you can decide that for yourself.

Edit: One other related thought, yes, lucid dreaming can and will change your psyche. I know I am not the same person I would have been if I had not discovered lucid dreaming ever and had not become more aware and had not decided to change my identity in fundamental ways because I did not like what I saw once I became aware of who I was. However, while that cannot be reversed, would you really want it to be? Similarly, knowledge cannot be reversed: you cannot just go back to being ignorant. Maturity to some extent cannot be reversed (at least for some people): we grow up, become more responsible. Well, ok, maybe this can be reversed to some extent, but you will never again be the person you used to be. And lucid dreaming can have such a profound effect on your psyche if you let it.

Thanks so much for responding in such detail. In a way I notice I'm just putting this question in my way because some part of me insists on caution. But I can't help notice that the process of becoming conscious during my dreams is almost happening by itself, it seems quite natural actually. I mean I'm just so drawn to it..
I hear experience in what you write that can't be ignored, especially because I know how many people would agree with you, and yet - I'd like to hear if perhaps there have been negative experiences reported, maybe in this forum. Just to be informed, I don't mean to overly focus on the negative.

A word of caution: a lot of the experience in lucid dreaming is based on expectations, so if you expect the experience to have a negative effect on you, it may well because that is what you expected.

Welcome Sanshiro!

Quote:

---

I hear experience in what you write that can't be ignored, especially because I know how many people would agree with you, and yet - I'd like to hear if perhaps there have been negative experiences reported, maybe in this forum. Just to be informed, I don't mean to overly focus on the negative.

---

What do you define as negative experiences? Something scary as seeing a monster? Not being able to fly? Having nightmares?
Lucid dreaming makes people less prone to nightmares, due it's natural influence on our perception and response to this negative stimulus, but it doesn't mean you won't have a bad dream or see something that might scare you. The difference though, is that as lucid you can realize (with more or less difficulty depending your your level of lucidity) that nothing can harm you, and that ultimately, you decide what kind of experience you want. Even if you had a horrible nightmare, you can always wake yourself up :)

I guess I'm not used to being the one who opened the thread, so sorry if I'm misbehaving. Thanks for the replies, I think I've gotten somewhere with this now.
See you round! -sanshiro