Thread: Introducing myself

Hi everybody! I'm Revero (no, that's not my real name. It's the Novial word for "dreamer"). I'm a 20-year-old college student from Buffalo, NY.

I've been having lucid dreams now and then over the past few years, and I've read about them occasionally, but in this past week I've been really getting into them. Last week I had a brief period of lucidity, and even though it was only a few seconds long, it was enough time for my detailed dreamscape to amaze me. I was just astonished that my brain was able to come up with such a realistic experience, to create every intricate detail of my environment. So I went to the library to see if they had any books on lucid dreaming. Fortunately they had an excellent book, "Lucid Dreaming" by Stephen LaBerge. It's a fascinating book, and in the week that I've been reading the book, I've had three (!) lucid dreams.

The first day I read over half the book, and that night I had the most amazing dream. I don't remember what tipped me off to the fact that it was a dream, but I do remember having fun showing off my superpowers to the dream characters. For instance I would tell one of them to check his back pocket, and he would find a $500 bill that wasn't there before. That got boring after a little while, and the dream started to fade. At that point I remembered about LaBerge's book and what he said about fading dreams. I tried spinning around on my axis, because he said that would stop the fading, and it did.

Then I decided to explore my dream world, so I left my room, where I noticed the large window at the end of the hall. It would be a perfect launching pad for my first ever dream flight, I thought. The window doesn't open in real life and it didn't in my dream either, so I decided to just go through it, but on the first attempt I just hit the glass and bounced off. The second time I hit it but didn't bounce back. I was pressed up against its cool, hard surface. I was amazed how faithfully my brain recreated the sense of cold, but I really wanted to get through that window. Then I remembered something else LaBerge had said, namely the important distinction between merely intending to do something and expecting it to happen. I walked a few meters away from the window, and made myself believe with every inch of my body that the window wasn't really there, that I could do anything I wanted, and that I would go right through it. I ran towards the window, leapt, and glided through it effortlessly, landing on the ledge seven stories above the ground. I felt like Neo must have when he bent the spoon, knowing it was not his environment he had to change but himself. Now confident that I could do anything, I forgot all about how terrifying heights usually are, outstretched my arms and jumped.

I soared like a glider over the trees below me, feeling the most exhilirating sensation of freedom. I then hovered down on top of another building. Unlike Neo, I had made my first jump. (Although I suspect that without the lesson from that stubborn window I might not have.) I stood up and to my right I saw the most beautiful sunset, full of vivid oranges and yellows. I decided to fly again, and soared towards the sunset, but after a little while the excitement got to me and I woke up. That was definitely one of the best experiences I have ever had, and I was more eager than ever to pursue this lucid dreaming stuff. My other two lucid dreams after that were only a few seconds long, followed by false awakenings, but the fact that I can get lucid at all is keeping me encouraged. Which brings me here. Just yesterday I started keeping a dream journal and doing reality checks, and today I found this wonderful site.

Well, that's my story. I just wanted to say introduce myself and say hi to my fellow oneironauts.