Lucid dreaming "not as awesome as previously believed", experts aver.

[pauraque_bk]

Many years ago I got a book on how to teach yourself lucid dreaming (that is, being aware that you are dreaming while you are asleep), and I guess I'm pretty suggestible because it was a great success. The book didn't actually say how to STOP dreaming consciously, so I am pretty much stuck with it, but recently I've progressed(?) to being not entirely sure of whether I'm dreaming, but strongly suspecting it.

So, I was dreaming that I was playing WoW (first time! I swear...), and when our new group member came on voice chat, I realized that it was either Dr Chase from House, or the actor who plays him. I also realized that since Chase is not real, if he was on voice chat I must be dreaming, but if it was only the actor who plays him, the question was up in the air.

You know, in the book that taught me this, the end result was supposed to be that you realize you're dreaming and then you fly, or have sex with Marilyn Monroe, or live out whatever fantasy you might have. In my dream, I decided that since I wasn't entirely sure I was dreaming, I'd better ask this person on voice chat a series of leading questions trying to figure out who he was, BUT make it sound like a normal conversation just in case I was not dreaming, because I really wouldn't want to embarrass myself in front of my gaming friends!

At last I got tired of this, logged off, and went into the other room where my mom was sitting, and I explained to her this entire dilemma of not knowing whether I was dreaming or not. Then I realized that my mom has been dead for quite some time, became fed up with this dream and woke myself up.

Comments

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's a good thing to remember about Lucid Dreaming. Whenever I realize I'm dreaming I usually do fly--which sometimes makes me think I might be missing something, because my subconscious is trying work something out and I always just fly. But your experience seems to have added another layer of stress to your dream. I've been known to dream that I've figured out that I'm dreaming without really being lucid if that makes sense.

This weekend I had a dream that involved sort of Wiffenpoof zombies in a time vaguely like the 1920s in the South. That was pretty interesting.

[undeadgoat.livejournal.com]

I have been similarly disappointed with lucid dreams.

[alya1989262.livejournal.com]

Hmm... I've been a lucid dreamer since I was about 7 or 8 (have progressed from just realising I was dreaming to being able to control my actions), but I'd always thought it was something everybody can do, until my brother told me about a friend of his who has lucid dreams and can fly. So, next lucid dream, I flew, and, since then, I've stopped having any. I miss it. It was fun, and it helped avoid the horrid nightmares.

[slinkhard.livejournal.com]

I didn't realise people could teach themselves lucid dreaming!
I occasionally have lucid dreams, when I'm tired or distracted, although they're usually pretty dull, like I'm on the internet or watching a movie or something.
Never been able to control it like that book says and then dream out a fantasy or anything, though, I normally just get bored/frustrated enough to wake up.
I can fly in my dreams, though, but not in a particularly fantastic way - in my head, it's a matter of breath control and breathing in to rise and exhaling through the diaphragm to sink, like swimming underwater.