A Lot of Questions

Hi, I'm new here (obviously) and I have tons to ask you all about my experiences with lucid dreaming and other aspects of dreams. First off, I would like to commend the people who keep this site going because you have an incredible amount of members and there always seems to be a lot going on.
So, I am 15 and have been able to lucid dream for awhile now, but more recently haven't been trying because my dreams have been so good. I have REALLY bad depression/anxiety and possibly PTSD, but my dreams have been sort of trying to compensate with that. I have always felt that dreams feel more "real" than waking life because they are so much more vivid and pretty much sensory overload.. I don't know how to describe it, but life just seems very dull. Everything seems the same all the time--patterned and repetitive. Things seem to be so much more outstretched, infinite, crazy, bewildering, and unexplored in my dreams. I very rarely dream about normal things. There are rarely people I know in my dreams, and I am not always conscious of myself, or actually AM myself. I am always able to remember my dreams, which somehow seem to last for the whole night, occasionally feeling like I've spent months in that world. Needless to say, I feel very dissapointed and stirred when I wake up. I have often felt like real life isn't real, because it just seems to predictable and describable and small. When I am dreaming, it is always a different world. I don't have any of the typical "going to school and forgetting your pants" type dreams. I do, however, have sort of "snapshots" of little things that I am anxious about (i.e. leaving a document unsaved on the computer), and then am confused when I go to my computer, realize it is saved, and wonder why I thought it wasn't before I remember this "snapshot". I don't consider them dreams, though.
I have a photographic memory and remember things that happened a long time ago that I have never remembered before randomly sometimes as some sort of connection to a thought, or sound, or some other sense. I also do this with dreams like they are memories. I have very vivid pictures of books, too, which sort of have the same sense of my dreams, but more limited. I guess you could say that I have a hyper hyperactive imagination. I also tend to feel emotions much stronger than other people. I guess just like I have no limit to the amount I am terribly depressed and cry, I have no limit to the imagination I have. I don't mean this in an arrogant way, but when people say they aren't creative, or their favorite type of book is realistic fiction, I immediately do not understand them. How could someone not appreciate/have access to the amazing ways to escape out of this world? I also might have a slight bit of mirror-touch synesthesia (I can't help but wink when other people wink, sometimes feel some pain when watching a movie, etc.)
On the topic of lucid dreaming, I have had dreams within dreams and sometimes though I had woken up but really hadn't (which is incredibly scary, especially when things go wrong.) I don't know what category this is, but my ex-friend and her family have had dreams that came true. (One example being she had a dream about there being a pathway with a fork, going to the right and something bad happening. Days later they ended up hiking and reached a path identical to the one in her dream and she insisted on going the other way. They later realized that something [I]was[I] at the other end, though I forget what.) I also was camping with a girl with a girl who talked in her sleep once, and we were able to talk to her (even in French!) and convince her of things going on in her dreams.
I am constantly wondering why I don't have normal dreams. This is more of a mental health issue, but when I was about 8, I was a "solopsist", which means that I had this idea that only one's own mind exists and everything else is purely a figment of his/her imagination. I used to dismiss it as a silly thing a kid would think, but once I found out there was a word for it, I've gotten far more curious, especially as my depression kicked in (also at a young age). I am very observant and tend to notice things other people don't. I am also very good at predicting what will happen and following patterns. I easily guess the endings (or sometimes entire plots like with The Alchemist) of books/movies/TV. I think this might be relevant to how I can control my dreams. I get over-involved with things a lot. When I am watching a movie, for example, everything else seems to go away and I am never able to fall asleep or talk over it. I feel like I could pull my hair out right then, and it wouldn't matter because the story becomes my own reality in that moment. I get engrossed in things easily and it is hard to transition. I associate this with my complicated dreams and the pain it takes to get out of bed.
Occasionally, I have gone into a sort of dreamlike state while I am awake, and I do everything that I can to stay in it. I don't know much about that yet, though. It usually happens as a sort of coping skill when I am very depressed. It happens automatically.
I am currently starting a book (that I will hopefully finish) about dreams and how they can compensate for troubles in life. Maybe once I have posted longer on here and if people are interested, I will post it.
Sorry if this has been to detailed or too personal; I just wanted to get everything out in writing, and you guys seem pretty accepting. :) I hope this is all relevant, too. I guess this turned out to be a lot of weird analysis instead of a bunch of questions, but my main question through all of this is: can anyone relate? Do you guys feel like dreams are better than real life?

Thanks!

Also, what are the age demographics of this forum?


Edit: Indents won't work? Sorry for the big blob!

Hi Frightlight. I can totally relate. I may be what some call a Freak or a Mutant. Kids in school were generally mean to me, I think because they could tell I was different. My imagination is also very wild, and intense. I have had some dreams so amazing that I didn't want to wake up, dreams that seemed to last for years.
My personal theory is that the DreamWorld is a very real place, another dimension or plane of existence, and much cooler than this one. Sorry to hear about your depression. It was severe depression that led me to take more control of my dreams, because I kept having dreams of my ex-wife while I was going through the divorce. Learning dream control helped me have cool dreams and wake up smiling most mornings.

Welcome to Dreamviews and thank you for the long post!

What you described as "waking up in a dream within a dream" sounds like False Awakening - FA. Those are non-lucid dreams, in which we dream about waking up and going about our day. Good way to turn them into lucid dreams would be to do Reality checks every time you get up from a bed. That way, you will start doing RC in your dream as well, when you get up from a bed in a dream.

Awareness, which you say you don't always have, is probably the most important part of lucid dreaming practice.

Here is a link to our recommended techniques Induction Methods and Techniques
and here is something to help you navigate our forum Welcome

something extra about awareness http://www.dreamviews.com/wild/13181...prep-part.html

Most of our members are teens and young adults. But we have people from every age category here. And yes, we are very open minded. So look around, and please ask, if there is anything we can help you with. happy dreams :alien:

It's so nice to have someone who can relate! And what do you mean about DreamWorld being another dimension? Would everyone dream of the same one, or would it be different for everyone?
This is part of what my story is based on, too, so that's cool :)
And imagination can really be an amazing thing, especially when going through a tough time.

Thank you. I tend to write a lot :)
I definitely have a lot to learn; I'm looking forward to using your resources.

My personal belief is, that we can either dream in our personal space, where there is only us and dream characters, that are made up by our mind. Or a public space, where there are we, other dreamers, OBEers, and perhaps other entities, like visitors from other dimensions, worlds...

You will find more about this in Beyond Dreaming

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Welcome to DV, Frightlight! I can totally relate with a lot of what you write. I too have a vivid imagination, and have often throughout my life since childhood used it to escape waking life including issues such as depression. When I am depressed, the waking world does not appear vivid at all, and I personally like to call that "brain fog." However, this year I have started to actively work on an alternate strategy: instead of using daydreams and dreams to escape issues and depression, I am working on combatting depression by increasing my self awareness in waking life and changing my outlook to see waking life in a more positive light. I am combining lucid dream preparation practices with depression combat, hoping that the result will be more and better lucid dreams in addition to a better waking life. I am also using dream interpretation to better understand my subconscious and observe change over time - to get more of a meta awareness, awareness of my awareness and of cause and effect and how I get worse and how I improve. Instead of escaping into a separate better world, I want to build on success in both/all worlds to improve my experience no matter whether I am waking or dreaming.

When I was a kid, I once told my mum that I live in three worlds: reality, my own imagination, and other people's imagination (books, movies, etc), and that of the three I frankly was least interested in reality. This has been my attitude for most of my life. Now at 40 years of age, I am finally starting to dream of what if I could improve reality and especially my perception of reality, so that it lives up to being an enjoyable world in its own right. Instead of living in several separate worlds, one of which is clearly more dysfunctional and less satisfying to me, I want to live in a combination of worlds that I enjoy no matter whether I am waking or dreaming. That is the goal that brought me to this site in February of this year, and I am still working toward it.

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Originally Posted by JoannaB

Welcome to DV, Frightlight! I can totally relate with a lot of what you write. I too have a vivid imagination, and have often throughout my life since childhood used it to escape waking life including issues such as depression. When I am depressed, the waking world does not appear vivid at all, and I personally like to call that "brain fog." However, this year I have started to actively work on an alternate strategy: instead of using daydreams and dreams to escape issues and depression, I am working on combatting depression by increasing my self awareness in waking life and changing my outlook to see waking life in a more positive light. I am combining lucid dream preparation practices with depression combat, hoping that the result will be more and better lucid dreams in addition to a better waking life. I am also using dream interpretation to better understand my subconscious and observe change over time - to get more of a meta awareness, awareness of my awareness and of cause and effect and how I get worse and how I improve. Instead of escaping into a separate better world, I want to build on success in both/all worlds to improve my experience no matter whether I am waking or dreaming.

When I was a kid, I once told my mum that I live in three worlds: reality, my own imagination, and other people's imagination (books, movies, etc), and that of the three I frankly was least interested in reality. This has been my attitude for most of my life. Now at 40 years of age, I am finally starting to dream of what if I could improve reality and especially my perception of reality, so that it lives up to being an enjoyable world in its own right. Instead of living in several separate worlds, one of which is clearly more dysfunctional and less satisfying to me, I want to live in a combination of worlds that I enjoy no matter whether I am waking or dreaming. That is the goal that brought me to this site in February of this year, and I am still working toward it.

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That sounds great-- and it's pretty admirable that you are able to think so optimistically and creatively about depression. Unfortunately, I'm not yet in that place. I've recently have had the absolute WORST experiences and traumas. I hope one day I can get past it like the way you are getting past your depression now, though. It's a good goal, I think.

The simple life isn't for everybody :) And it isn't very appealing, either. I'm a strong believer in the saying, "bad things happen to good people."
Thanks for your reply :)




Unrelated, but is there a synesthesia thread?