Thread: I'm a newbie: Have I always had the ability to LD?

Hi guys, I stumbled upon Dreamviews two days ago and I have been captivated by the idea of LDs and the freedom of being able to take control of my dreams. For as long as I can remember, I have been the victim of frequent nightmares. During the course of each year, there will be periods where I have nightmares that involved me getting murdered (stabbing, etc), falling to my death, having to kill others to defend myself, getting chased by evil creatures with the intent of killing me, or family/friends dying before me. These periods of my life get so bad that I dread falling asleep because I know what will occur once I do. This is worsened by the fact that I have always had excellent dream recall, so when I have a bad dream, I remember it for life. I always thought it was kind of cool to be able to remember my vivid dreams, although my friends always roll their eyes when I tell them about the dreams I had the previous night, as I can usually go on and on, and flood them with unnecessary details. I never thought that being able to naturally recall dreams meant I would be able to gain lucidity a little easier.

My first real lucid experience was when I was about 11. I had a dream where I was being chased by an evil alien (imagine those corny little grey guys with the big black eyes and such). I remember fleeing from it on my bicycle, and when I thought I lost it, I went back to the bike rack and it was waiting for me. But for some reason, I knew I was about to wake up, and suddenly I realised I was dreaming. So I starting beating on the alien, and with every blow the image of the alien got blurry, as though I was defeating it.

After reading through this site and other resources, I have looked back at the dreams I have had, and wish I had known all of this way back then. These experiences were I guess semi-lucid, as usually when I'm getting chased by a monster, I come to the realisation that I know how to fly. I don't realise it's a dream, but I just know that for some reason if I think hard enough, I can fly away to safety. This has happened on multiple occasions, and only once did I just start flying for the fun of it. Some other dreams, I take a little control of it, but instead of flying I know that I have super-strength and can punch through doors and fight off bad guys. But again, never did I realise it was just a dream, as it all somehow made sense to me to have these extravagent powers.

I look forward to building up the skill of Lucid Dreaming, as after the second night of trying, I believe I managed to do a WILD, although probably not as perfect as what some of the guides have been describing. I'll write about that experience in the Lucid Experiences section to see if was indeed a WILD, or just a really vivid dream.