Hi All -

I have just Stumbled upon this forum. I post a fair amount on-line. I haven't looked through the forum much; but this seems like a well run forum & the homepage is good.

I will be candid. I used a lot of alcohol & street drugs for 17 odd years, & I have a history of MH (Mental Health) issues. Mt present situation is that I have made very good recovery from addiction (7 years clean/sober) & very good recovery from the MH "stuff". I have a good life really, productive, & live independently in a nice place. On to the Dreams;

I have always had very vivid & real dreams. I dream in colour, they are often very nightmarish, although the nightmares come in phases. I have a very good dream recall on the whole. I attempt to keep dream diaries, but usually only keep it up for a few days. There are dreams I had when I was a kid, which I remember as well as my "real life" memories, from that time. Things often remind me of dreams I have had years earlier.

Dreams have always fascinated me. At college when I was 17, I found a very comprehensive book on Dreams & the different Cultural explanations & relationships to Dreams. There was a large section on Lucid Dreaming. I started practising the technique of looking at my hands in sleep, to induce, conscious awareness inside the Dream state & Lucidity. I started to experience Lucid Dreams, although sporadic. Shorty after college I was sectioned under the MH act & spent around 4 months on a locked ward. I was placed on some strong psychiatric meds. The dreams became so vivid as to be "real" or as real as waking life. Fast track to now, & my situation is that since my earlier college days; I have not even practised techniques to induce Lucidity in Dreams. But I have them. They come & go. Although I know when I am dreaming (Lucid) - I cannot distinguish between them & waking reality in the vividness of them, although the content obviously is more bizarre. I also dream these hyper real dreams, & often I am not aware I am dreaming. I am wary of practising lucid dreaming techniques, given my history of extreme altered states & psychosis. The subject however is of great interest to me; as is anything connected to the study of consciousness.

I take a low dose of a med, which appears to keep me functioning, on a level. Does anyone else on here have experience of "MH" difficulties with the practise of lucid dreams?

The associated practise of "astral projection" or OBE's is also of great interest, as are NDE's. I also have an interest with the work of Robert Monroe & the work of some of his contemporaries.

Hope that tells you a little about one aspect of myself. I will post again below about some certain dreams I have had this year & a strange effect.