new here, question on dream constructs

I'm new to this site, but not to lucid dreaming. I have been having LDs for years, mostly about flight, although I didn't know what they were until recently. Anyway, I spent a good amount of time yesterday going over this site, and last night I had a really good lucid experience. I was able to stay lucid longer than usual, and I had a good bit of control over my surroundings. Day to night, city to country, flight, all kinds of things. I was able to get rid of some nightmare aspects, and turn it into a really great dream. The only problem I had was when I tried to bring a specific person into my dream. I ended up with someone completely different! I couldn't get rid of him either, so I tried turning him into someone else. That worked, but I still didn't get who I originally tried for. Any advice on this? or is it just a matter of focus? Also, I tried spinning, but I was too close to waking for it to work I think, because I just woke up. Thanks!

Ahoy! and welcome to the forums :) Regarding ur question on bringing in characters to your dream, it is my strong belief that it is due to your state of mind, i believe its all about self belief, you must believe and tell yourself " I am God of this place" it is your universe and it is you who control. I cant offer any better advice than that :) Good luck with finding the people you seek.

the person I was trying to see died a couple weeks ago. Will this make it harder? Although I also had trouble getting someone else who is alive, but is a make-believe character. The only person I brought in with any success is a friend who is alive and well, and who I have dreamed about before, although not lucidly.

i am sure the fact that the person you are seeking has recently died will have had some effect on your ability to summon characters, i dont really know about summoning dead people, i will try 2nite and see if that makes a difference. You may want to try re-living moments you have shared with the person while in LD, so instead of just summoning the person to you you summon the whole event or memory (scenery, sound etc). Another option may to be let time do its work and come back to this at a later date. Il let you know how i fare 2night sumtime 2morow. :)

Finally! I'm posting this in my dream journal for myself, but I'll copy it here. I have been trying so hard to dream of a friend of mine that passed away recently, with no luck. I almost had him in an LD the other night, but I couldn't focus enough to hold him . Last night, I finally kept him there! The level of my lucidity was really low, and I wasn't fully aware that I was dreaming, but enough to know that he was dead, and to be able to take advantage of the chance to say goodbye to him. I understand that this was all in my mind, and that it wasn't really him, but it helped me, gave me some comfort (I did not get to say goodbye to him in life), and some closure. He and his wife were at my kitchen table, as well as one of their moms, I don't know whose. We were smoking clove cigarettes and talking when I became lucid. I ran over and hugged him, and started telling him how much I would miss him, and all the things I have wanted to tell him and regret not saying sooner. He looked me in the eye and told me that he was in Heaven now, and would see me again someday. It was an awesome experience. I had been praying for three nights that I would dream of him, and that God would give me some peace through my dreams. Even though it wasn't real, it felt very true, and I am grateful for the experience.

There is something here that nobody has touched upon yet. Often, your subconcious will override what you are attempting to do in your lucid dream. I've run into it many times. Try to summon Person A and Person B appears. Succeed at summoning Person A and they morph on you into someone totally different.

The best analogy I have heard, and one I really like, is that the subconcious it like a gyroscope. It is sitting there spinning on its own. When you apply force to move it in the direction you want, you find that it moves in a different direction due to the combination of vectors.

In other words, you subconcious is pursuing one path, when you make an attempt to control something, the result you get is a combination of your concious will and your subconcious.

It can be quite frustrating if you are trying to fight it, however, it can be enlightening to observe where your subconcious is trying to take you. I remember years ago, I found a failsafe method to fall asleep. I would lie in bed at night and daydream about a certain scenario I wanted to try with someone. My subconcious would not allow me to go through with it, I would fall asleep within seconds of beginning to think about it.

Congrats on your new sense of peace, we all have issues we would love to bring closure to.

I know what you mean. A few nights ago I had my first LD since my friend passed away, and of course the first thing I did was try to bring him into my dream. What you mentioned is exactly what happened that time. He started to appear in front of me, then turned into someone else. It was sooo frustrating! This was my first LD in a year or more too, I don't have them that often, so that fact doubled my irritation, lol. I couldn't summon this person at will, so what I did was think about him before going to sleep. I thought not just his name, but I went over in my mind, everything I remembered about him. His face, smile, ears, the sound of his laugh, things we did together, anything that I could think of about him. So I was unable to make him appear while lucid, but when I dreamed of him I became lucid. I don't know if that makes sense or not, but that's what happened.