Thread: Dreams help to resolve emotional issues...

I had my first LD about 8 months ago. Then school and living in rez got in the way of regular night sleeps and dream journals and I all but forgot about the lucid dreaming world.

I started doing some online seaching about it again the first time a couple days ago. After 2 days of just reading about lucid dreaming (barely practiced the reality checks and didn't keep a journal) I had another lucid dream.

Typical newb experience: tried flicking on and off the lights, tried kissing the girl standing next to me, tried flying, got too excited and woke up.

But what was more important was the dream I had BEFORE I became lucid. I was sitting in a movie theatre with my dad. The movie on screen was supposed to be Men in Black II. Instead, the movie was these really nice images, and there was orchestra music playing along, and my dad and I both commented on how good the music was (miracleous how the brain can be so mysterious yet so forthcoming with its beauty).

Fragments.....

I'm still in the same movie theatre with my dad, but now we're arguing. For some reason I think I'm going to die, as if i was going to be given the electric chair. I was arguing with him because he didn't seem upset and wasn't doing anything to try and help me. He said something about me wasting my time and pissing my life away.
I then started a rant about "I've only been smoking pot for 1 year, its not like i've been sitting on my ass doing nothing for the past 5 years. I own my own small business, I'm passing my classes, I'm an honest person, i'm still productive.....

Then I woke up (probably because my frustration was at its peak).

Now here is why I think this dream is worth discussing.

I have been reading that :
'When you enter REM and the brain's emotional memory system suddenly kicks into high gear, it calls the shots, constructing the dream by pieceing together images that are in some way associated with whatever the predominant emotion is at the end of your day."

Well, my predominant emotion for the last couple weeks has been associated with my smoking marijuana.
Well, as much as I deny it in public, I know I smoke marijuana too often. However, I have been convincing myself that its okay for me to be smoking as much as I have been, since It doesn't seem to have affected my regular daily life. But even I know i'm just making excuses for being too psychologically addicted to want to stop.
A process also known as cognitive disonance.

It is interesting to learn about the science behind dreaming as well as the lucid dreaming experience, and try to find personal applications.

It is also nice to know what my subconcious is doing its job in trying to help me resolve my personal issues. Now if I only gave it some concious effort I'd get things worked out.

THE PURPOSE OF THIS POST?
To encourage people to learn about dream science as a whole, and not just lucid dreaming.


1 question: How many lucid dreams would an experienced lucid dreamer (lets say 5 years of practice) be able to have in a week?