Hi!
Let me begin by saying, I’m so happy to have found a place where I feel comfortable talking about what I’m about to talk about.
As a child I had tons of LDs. I remember flying was my favorite thing to do. At the time I didn’t know what they were called and I didn’t realize everyone else in the world wasn’t doing the same thing. Because I just thought that’s how dreams were, I never talked about them with anyone. Time went by and the dreams eventually stopped and I really forgot all about them.
Last year I woke up compelled for some reason to write a book. I have never written a piece of fiction in my life! I didn’t tell anyone about this. Three months later I had a friend I hadn’t talked to in years (who lives very far away) FB me and tell me a psychic told him I was writing a book that it would be very successful. I did NO research on lucid dreams at the time I wrote this. My fingers just flew at the keyboard. The book is now done and has been picked up by a publisher. It is being released in March 2013.
The weird thing is, I’m going on sites NOW to see how close to reality this piece of “fiction” really came. I found this site and my jaw about hit the floor. The techniques you talk about here, the stages, the experiences you’ve had. It’s mind-blowing how much of my book hits on all of these. NOW I’m starting to have that sleep paralysis that I’ve read about on here –actually just found the name for it today. I’ve never had that happen to me before! It happened BEFORE I read about it. I’m also having this REALLY weird déjà-vu feeling on here.
I’m not sure what I’m tapping into or what’s going on here. I’m not even sure what my objective is on this site. Maybe I’d like to learn more? Maybe try to do some of the same things I did as a kid again? Maybe more?
Maybe I just want reassurance and actually writing out what’s been happening to me will be enough?
However it goes……thanks for listening and I’d love to hear your opinion on any of this.
Natalie
Hi, Natalie.
I’d say something pretty awesome 
I’m not sure what to say… I love anything involving dreams. A book about the personal experiences of a natural lucid dreamer sounds very cool.
There are many people like you, that have always dreamed lucidly and thought everyone else did too, without realizing how special they are. It will probably be really really easy for you to get back into it. I’m looking forward to reading any dreams you want to share, or any techniques or tips on getting and remaining lucid.
Oh, and welcome to Ld4all 
and good luck with your book!
Thanks so much for the warm welcome. Anywhere else I’d be called a total weirdo- not that I take offense to that;)
I’d like to try to lucid dream again. Today I started the self-checking. I was doing it the whole way home in the car. We’ll see what happens. I do have a question about the “paralysis” state. When I take a nap in the afternoon it’s been happening. I know I need to wake up and have this intense fear that someone is in the room. I try to get back in my body but can’t and I let the dream take me back- but it’s not lucid when I go back to the dream. The strange thing is- when I am trying to get back in my body, I can see every angle of the sofa I’m sleeping on all at once. Like I have eyes in the back of my head. I see a full 360 at one time. Is that common?
Oh and thanks on the book! It’s from the perspective of a young man, not mine. I hope it brings more fans to this fascinating topic. I’m also donating some of the sales to bullying prevention efforts;) Please check out the website- jointhelucid.com. I’d love the support of the lucid dreaming community. When youre on the site, please click to follow on FB and Twitter. The more fans I have following the more bookstores will carry it!
Can’t wait to chat more with everyone! Is there like a major expert on the subject that likes to chat? I’d love to pick their brain!
Welcome!
Sorry but I dont know much about SP. I just got interested in LDing recentlyso I really dont know a whole lot about any of this. everything I know came from experience and I havent had SP yet. If you want to talk to someone you can try private messaging pasQuale. He should know a lot about this.
Hope I helped. 
Since it sounds like you have friends who are paranormal enthusiasts, I think that I can comfortably tell you that yes, that’s common, especially with (but not, obviously, exclusive to) people who have achieved bridging sleep paralysis into out-of-body experiences… though I’ve done that, and kept my tunnel vision, it is common.
Welcome on board, that’s quite an interesting story you’ve got 
All I can say is some events fall into place in certain peoples’ lives when they do certain things, and it appears to me you did that certain thing. As far as the possibility goes of “other people saying your crazy”, chances are they probably will. The fact of the matter is, not too many people can think of dreams as anything other than events their lucky to remember, or even “have” (a statement that’s a contradiction in itself -every dreams every night, but very few ever remember them-).
I would say not to share your lucid dreaming philosophy with many others that you don’t trust or know completely, but you never know, some people are more open-minded than others
I like your philosophy, Insomniac. Def keeping this just on this site. I work a very public job in a very conservative area. I think they’d run me out of town with pitchforks 
Thanks Elly and Belgarion!
I appreciate the contact and the confirmation that the 360 vision is indeed common. So are OOB experiences and Lucid dreaming the same thing then? Sorry for all the questions
Double posts edited together. 
Maybe, sometimes. It’s up for some quite impassioned debates Though, we do have a sub-forum for OBE’s here in our LD forum, so take that as you will: ld4all.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=6
Interesting, thanks!
I forgot to mention that after finding this site yesterday, I took a nap and tried saying the mantra of, “I’m going to have a lucid dream. I know I’m dreaming.”
It started to work, but then I’d get frightened and would jar myself back awake. How do you get over the fear?
It sounds like you were attempting a WILD. Perhaps DILD is more compatible?
If you’re afraid that someone is in the room, perhaps create a hope that someone more personable is also in the room? Or, I remember reading somewhere that Stephen King used a Rocky & Bullwinkle figurine to keep the horror that he was writing at the table, so that he wouldn’t take it home. If you have anything like that, like a paperweight or something, and think to yourself that nothing fearful can get into your room while the paperweight is lodged in the door.
Personally, I just had to keep telling myself that it was my imagination.
What is a DILD? I’ll totally try to imagine someone kind in the room today. Good tip.
WILD = Wake Initiated Lucid Dream, telling yourself while you are awake that you will remember that you are dreaming
DILD = You already are dreaming nonlucidly, but somehow you remember that it is not an ordinary waking experience that you’re having. If letting your guard down is what you most fear, then this would probably be a better way to get lucid because by the time you get lucid the dream’s already happening
Some of our most common terms are turned into aconyms, that should show underlined in broken lines, and you can just hover your mouse cursor over it to see what they stand for: IWL, AP, OBE, SC, DG, EWLD… things like that.
Terrific! Thanks!