Thread: Hello there. I have a few questions...

Hey there, and welcome to the site!

I don't have a lot of time, so very quickly:

1) -- Either you have conscious control over your dream, or you don't. Of course you're "dreaming you're controlling your dream" -- that's because you're dreaming!

2) -- I suppose it's possible, but I think it would be a distraction. Many people here have told about dreams they've had that included things that were on the TV or radio while they were sleeping.

3) -- Yes. Absolutely. Actually, you can go ahead and try to induce lucid dreams anyway, but if your dream recall isn't very good, it's probably going to be futile.

4) -- Yes, I think that the majority of us do. Although I'm in a self-induced dry spell right now, due to a lot of issues in my life, but when I was practicing the techniques regularly, I would have 2-3 LDs per week.

Glad to have you here. I'm sure that some others will post more detailed replies to your queries. Whatever you do, don't give up!

When I said "dreaming you are controlling your dream", I meant not actually controlling it, but having a dream so real about yourself controlling it, it seems you really are, but in reality, you aren't

but anywho, thanks for the reply

Originally posted by Underfinger
When I said \"dreaming you are controlling your dream\", I meant not actually controlling it, but having a dream so real about yourself controlling it, it seems you really are, but in reality, you aren't

but anywho, thanks for the reply

Hi.

I had a dream like that and after I woke up I wasn't sure if it was a lucid dream or if I just "dreamt that I was lucid dreaming."

I had my first lucid dream last night, and I can see a clear difference between the two dreams. So I'm going to go ahead and invent an acronym to describe the first dream: DAD (Dreaming About Dreaming)

So, in my DAD dream, it felt just like any other dream. In the dream a bumblebee flew up my shirt and I didn't seem to care because I knew I was dreaming, then soon after it stung me and I woke up. That was it.

In my lucid dream that I had last night, as soon as I suspected I was dreaming, I consciously decided to do a reality check which passed, and then I was consciously contemplating what actions I should do next (rub hands? spin? increase clarity? modify scene?). I was also reminding myself that I am actually asleep in bed right now, and I could even feel my physical body lying in bed. In my DAD, I didn't contemplate any of this. I just casually accepted that I was dreaming and went along with the dream.

So there you go. If you didn't make any conscious decisions to carry your dream, but instead just accepted you were dreaming, then you very likely had a DAD.

D

I still don't think I've made this clear enough.

The point of the question is:

How can we be sure that lucid dreams are what we perceive of them?


I have never had a lucid dream, so maybe once I do, I will understand. But until then, how can one know that what we call lucid dreaming is in fact controlling your dreams? In reality it may be what I stated: Dreaming of being conscience and controlling the dreams when in reality the dream is so much like being aware of your dream, you think of yourself as being aware of it.

I basically just summed it up because I was tired.

Can anyone answer the questions about the weird noises, and my dream about my bed being at the fair?

Originally posted by Underfinger
I still don't think I've made this clear enough.

The point of the question is:

How can we be sure that lucid dreams are what we perceive of them?


I have never had a lucid dream, so maybe once I do, I will understand. But until then, how can one know that what we call lucid dreaming is in fact controlling your dreams? In reality it may be what I stated: Dreaming of being conscience and controlling the dreams when in reality the dream is so much like being aware of your dream, you think of yourself as being aware of it.

I basically just summed it up because I was tired.

Lucid dreaming is the conscious perception of one's state while dreaming, enabling a more cogent (\\"lucid\\") control over the content and quality of the experience.

One way of putting it is that your body is asleep, but your mind is awake--though this is not completely accurate, but it lets you grasp the idea.

After having my own lucid dream, I truely believe that my mind is quite aware in the dream. Once you have your first lucid dream, not DAD, you will understand it too. It's much like if you were to suddenly realize that right now that you are dreaming. You would think to yourself, \"Wow, I'm dreaming! What fun stuff should I do right now? Hmmm...\" Right? That contemplating is solid proof that you are aware of dreaming, and not just dreaming about being aware, in my opinion. Your mind would be working very similar to how it works in waking life, except all your senses are being fuelled by your imagination, instead of physical reality.

I hope that cleared it up.

Originally posted by Underfinger+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Underfinger)</div>

Can anyone answer the questions about the weird noises, and my dream about my bed being at the fair?[/b]

I'll try...

<!--QuoteBegin-Underfinger
Then, my ears started ringing. Not the usually ringing you get when there is no sound, this was LOUD. And every 2-3 seconds, there was a big \"wave\" of ringing that was so loud, my eyes watered. The best real life relation I can think of is feedback on a microphone/guitar etc... but it was a higher pitch. Then I saw these orange lines kind of moving in rythm... hard to explain.

That's normal. I think they call that white noise that your brain generates to induce sleep. You hear this, not so loud, when you're in a completely silent area. It gets much more noticeable when the REM-period starts, which is typically accompanied by the hypnagogic imagery you described. This happens several times throughout the night without you noticing it. As you practice lucid dreaming more, you will notice this more frequently because you're training your brain to stay aware which is why you're hearing/seeing these things.

Originally posted by Underfinger
Just a few minutes ago, I thought of a dream I had one night after going to the fair (one of the few dreams I can remember past 2 weeks or so... Its over 3 years old). It had me waking up in my bed that was on the fairgrounds with people all around me. So I told them to shutup and I went to sleep.... They woke me up again o_O and that was when I realized I was dreaming (hadn't ever even heard of lucid dreaming). And as soon as I thought of that, I woke up.

This is just false awakenings. It's "fairly" common (pardon the pun ). You simply dream about waking up. This used to happen to me all the time in high school. I dream about waking up, having my shower, eating breakfast, then going to school, then I'd wake up for real! I might drift off to sleep again and have the same dream...it got quite annoying. You said you realized that you were dreaming then you woke up. That's quite common if you didn't know what lucid dreaming was. I had a few dreams in which I realized I was dreaming and woke up soon after, but that was before I knew anything about lucid dreaming, so I don't count those. It's impossible to say if it was a lucid dream or a DAD because at the time you didn't know the difference anyway so it didn't matter.

Hope that cleared things up,

D!

Thanks for the answers.

Tonight is my first night that I will get enough sleep to maybe remember my dreams (I can't when I have to start doing something immediately after I get up) :happygolucky:

Welcome to Dream Views

1) How can one be sure that he is controlling his dream? How does he know that he isn't dreaming he is controlling his dream?
[/b]

How can we be sure we are not only thinking we have free will right now, but do not? It doesn't matter really. If you though you were in control then you were in control, that's just the way it is.

2) Is lucid dreaming possible with a TV on? I usually sleep with mine on, because it kind of serves as a night light, and I get bored in bed. For some reason, I find it harder to sleep when I am bored...[/b]

Having a TV on can even be helpful. It could provide a distraction to keep you anchored to the real world from in your dream. You would be able to hear it and be forced for your body to be more aware of its surroundings.

3) Should I work on dream recall before I even start trying to lucid dream?[/b]

You really should. The reason is that you could have a Lucid Dream and then not even remember it. You could theoretically have Lucid Dreams every night, but not remember them because you have poor recall. Recall is very important.

4) I am curious if people on this site have lucid dreams on a regular basis.
[/b]

Yep many of us do here at DV. I have a couple each week.