Discussion on Dream Control

Lucid Adventures
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[center]Want to Better Control Your Dreams?[/center]

 I think all of us, at some point, has understood the frustration for things just [i]not[/i] happening no matter how much you want it to in a lucid dream, often falling victim to losing lucidity as a result. I know I've definitely struggled with it and it definitely resulted in a lot of frustration from my end. So I thought it would benefit a lot of the new users here to post my experiences and what has worked and what hasn't.

A Guide to Expectation and Proper Reality Checks
What I’ve noticed is the biggest hinderance to lucid dream control (Especially for newcomers) is doubt. Dreams, being what they are, feed immensely on your imagination. This means that if you look up in the sky, expecting to start flying but you have even the slightest inkling that it won’t work? Trust me, it won’t. If you want to fully control your dreams, the first step is expectation.

For instance, have you ever seen a bird flying and wondered - even if for just a moment - what would happen if the bird suddenly perched on your shoulder? I’m a visually minded person so this goes on a little further into an image flashing in my mind for a split second of the bird actually flying onto my shoulder . In a dream, that split second image gets taken as an expectation - and the image then becomes reality. I’ve had a lot of dreams turn into nightmares because I tend to expect the worst and it will actually happen.

Applying this to lucid dreaming, you have to fully expect that something will happen. This is why, if you are doing reality checks - you have to expect the test to fail. While awake, you have to fully expect your finger to go through your hand or to be able to breathe while plugging your nose. Like tests in programming, reality checks are designed with the expected false outcome to fail. If it passes, and what is expected occurs, you know something is off. I can’t count the number of times I have had reality checks actually not work in dreams because of this principle. I have had times where I was not able to breathe through my plugged nose in a dream because I expected not to be able to.

Applying Expectation to Dream Control
Now that you have the basic principle of expectation down, you have to learn how to apply this to doing actions in dreams once you actually become lucid. The main thing you want to do now to supplement this expectation is to start simple. Don’t try to do anything to crazy like summon DCs (Dream Characters) until you are at a much more advanced stage of mindfulness and control, because the result is more often or not an empty husk (Practically a lifeless cutout) of the person you are trying to summon (I call these figures “Echoes” and I will discuss them at length in another thread).By trying to do things more above my skill level, I end up having to rely on the dream too much (i.e. asking the dream, relinquishing control, etc.) and things become much more difficult and I end up losing lucidity very quickly.

What I mean by simple is more like saying you want to do things that are more fluid and organic. Probably what works best for me is simply doing basic telekinesis because that is an image and expectation very easy to reproduce. The next step up from that would be flying, which has many more variation and personal preference attached to it. I would say just to follow whatever method you feel most comfortable with and are most able to confidently visualize (Some like the iron man or superman method, I personally just prefer to glide or float like a fish).

Since I’m huge into cartoons and anime, I can even supplement the actions further by using what I like to call “call-phrases”. This is basically a fancy way of saying something similar to what anime characters yell before unleashing their big attack. Since it’s something so rooted into my waking life, it’s easier to visualize and confidently use in a dream. For instance, in a lucid dream I had just a week ago, I actually successfully locked a door about 10 feet away from me by just reaching my hand out and firmly saying “lock”.

I really hope that helps any new people who are going through the same frustrations I did in my early days of lucid dreaming - PM me or post here if you have any questions!

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So you think dream control can be trained, like any other skill? I would love to hear more about how your (or anyone else who stumbles on this post) dream control has improved over time.

I sometimes worry that dream control is a talent you’re born with, and can’t be trained. Then again, I’m always trying to jump right into the advanced stuff, rather than slowing down and trying simple things.

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Since a child I always had lucid dreams, later often induced via SP, sometimes OBE’s.
I really learned a lot of things through dreams and dream-figures and never ever used one of the techniques as taught by specialists or as discussed in books or around the internet. I just playfully found out my own ways, sometimes indicated and helped by the people in my dreams. Well, everybody has to find out for themselves what works best, but my consideration is this: we were born naked, without nothing, no tools, no methods, without paper and pencils to keep dream journals, without totems or talismans. So I like to stay free and independant of anything outside my Self. Everything you need you already have. Just relax without hurrying to “get” something or to gain from your dreams. Just be aware, choicelessly aware in daily life as well as in your dream reality and everything will come to you exactly how and when it should.

If you really want to improve your ( lucid) dream recall incredibly consider this:
Don’t keep your dream journal in waking life ( this gives our daily reality more importance than alternative realities) . Instead keep your " reality" journal in your lucid dreams. Turn it around. The moment you are lucid in your dream, the first task is to remember your daily life and make a journal of what you did last day in waking life. You don’t even have to write it down, just use a magic automatic pencil that records everything you remember, or an imaginated voice recorder.
Then put your journal in your pocket or so and continue your lucid dream.
Then , instead of performing reality checks throughout the day, do " dream checks" in your lucid dream. Let the dream tell you what to do or perform ( e.g. In your dream you take a gemstone and mould it in your hand like chewing gum ) and try to do this impossible act, with total conviction, in daily life. This way instead of convincing yourself that you are in a dream, you convince yourself that you are awake. (Even if it would be necessary to purchase a gem stone… If the stone was a red one in your dream, then don’t buy a blue one.) If you do it this way, you give the dream reality the foremost respect and importance.Let the dream give you tasks to perform in daily life and try to do them as close as possible. You’ll find out that the dream will give you mostly tasks that will prove your are in waking reality, as in the above exemple of the gemstone. In fact you start interconnecting the two realities naturally , making them as one whole movement of reality.
This way you turn things around; you get more lucid because you train your awareness that you are dreaming (while remembering daily life reality) and in the meanwhile make this dream reality more real and useful than just a “dream-reality”.
This way it doesn’t cost you time and effort in waking life and gives you a goal and purpose in your lucid dreams.
Try it and let me know how it works for you smile

P.s. everything has always an alternative mirrored 180 degrees

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That’s a very interesting perspective Toba! I definitely encourage people to experiment and try to find what works best for them - I’m still learning and as I’ve reached a massive roadbump in my lucid dreaming experiences due to many factors, I am constantly branching out and trying to adapt my strategies around trying new things like this!

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Thank you so much. I’ve been having this exact problem, and actually just made a thread about it but deleted it when I saw your thread.

I have frequent, vivid lucid dreams (once every day or 2 usually), and there’s ALWAYS events taking place during the dream that I can’t control, and like you mentioned, they eventually force me to wake up.

What made me really frustrated was that in a dream I had this morning, I could have sworn I was dreaming, but all of my reality checks passed (or failed? you know what I mean). I’ll be trying out your tips ASAP. Thanks and I’ll keep you updated on the results!

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Well just an update. I’ve had a handful of lucid dreams since my last post but their frequency slowed down quite a bit since then.

I had a lucid dream a couple of days ago, and in it my sister reminded me to really expect the things I do to work. So I looked at a poster on the wall with a bunch of writing, and tried to flip the writing backwards. And after truly expecting it to happen, it did. :happy:

But the thing is after that I felt the dream fading a bit and forced myself to say “increase lucidity x100!” But it didn’t work at all. So maybe I wasn’t fully expecting it there, as I should have.

Regardless now thanks to your tip I’m more excited for lucid dreams than ever before. :content:

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Hey Bradley,
if your dream collapses try to rub your hands, this should stabilize your LD :smile:

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i dont know if this whole “increase lucidity” thing helps. At least it doesnt help myself. If I feel that my dream is collapsing I try to concentrate on my senses. What do I hear, what do I see, what do I smeel and so on. This is really powerfull.

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I’m actually the same way to an extent Ruiter! In one of my longest lucid dreams, I actually focused on more on my senses in relation to what I am feeling or seeing in the moment since those are my strongest senses in real life. I would run my hands along a stone wall or focus on the details of buildings.

Now that’s to say that doing the “increase lucidity” technique doesn’t work for me. I see my mind as something very mechanical and computer like so I will start small, saying something like “Increase lucidity factor 41%” or something like that because I feel that if I start too big, it will collapse the dream much faster. all in all a combination of both techniques helps me best.