Is it really that hard to do this “lucid dream” thing?
I have been able to control my mind and imagination my entire life.
Every dream I “participate” in (as in, the ones where I take an active role, rather than simply watch as one would watch a movie) I have been able to control.
Recently, in a forum I frequented, a dream topic came up where I learned this thing I thought everyone could do was something I was supposed to learn, not simply have.
Now I ask you, how is it so difficult?
When a monster chases you, when weird things are happening, when you are at a place you know is nowhere near where you live, a place you have never been before or couldn’t possibly exist. How can you accept these things as being even remotely real?
I don’t even need to notice my surroundings, I can feel my eyes closed, can sense that I am dreaming. I can just tell, even if the dream is absolutely normal-ish. If I tire of dreaming I open my eyes, it’s as simple as that. Is this really all that abnormal?
This seems like such a complex site for something I have never had a problem with; I just don’t know what to make of it all. How many other people can do this naturally?
Not many. And if they do, they seldom say things like “every dream I participate in I have been able to control.” They have their non-lucid dreams too.
Do you only become conscious during dreams or do you also retain consciousness during other stages of sleep. If so, do you ever lose consciousness during sleep?
On a very low-level, and only every once in a while, probably many people (having some control and some distant knowledge that this isn´t real)
1 in 10?
Real lucid dreams every night in which you are absolutely sure that you are dreaming, lieing in your bed, which day of the week it is and so on. LDs in which you can think logically, in which your state of mind is almost the same as in waking life.
Difficult to estimate, but I´d say less than one in 100.
1 in 500 perhaps?
No idea…
So, either you don´t yet fully understand what a lucid dream can be, or you are simply one of the really lucky ones. If you´ve read some of the lucids in the dream diary you probably know what LDing is, though.
Most people have a strange kind of logic in their normal dreams and don´t remember everything about their waking life. So, if a dragon comes chasing me I accept him as real for the same reason I accept the keyboard I am just typing with as real:
It looks real, feels real and I have no reason to suspect that it isn´t real.
i’m finding it difficult to tell if your made this post sincerely or just to brag
now i ask you, how is it so easy ???
That’s awesome. I guess it comes to you as easy as any of the people who appear on Guiness Book of World Records. Some people are born with a talent or ability that nobody else (or very few) has. You’re very lucky. Too bad you’ll never experience a dream where u don’t know ur dreaming. That could be fun too 
- Z
Well, I say “ability” because I don’t do it every time.
I can always tell I am dreaming, it is just a matter of whether or not I care to change my way of thinking. Usually my dreams are good enough as it is.
Not so distant for me, like I said, I can feel my eyes closed and can open them if I care to.
Honestly wanted to know. I’ve literally never had a problem doing it. I originally figured, after reading about this site, maybe it was only a few that couldn’t do it.
Sort of like rolling your tongue, tons of people can do it, but some can’t, so it can be attributed to being a special ability or whatever.
Lets see, usually in the dreams I don’t like so much I just sit down and make stuff appear by thinking it, or cause stuff to happen like making time stop, etc. I just have control.
I’m not special. I’ve never been special, not once in my entire life. There is always someone better that it came easier to.
And besides, like I said, the ones where I do not take for, and instead watch rather than be affected by, I don’t tend to recognize.
I just read more of your site.
My, what complexities your dreams have, my constant awareness of the dream has, I think, prevented me from experiencing so much that you have. I remember my dream sky being pale, grey, and cloudless, for example, instead of beautiful with planets or whatever.
Everything tends to be either too light or too dark, and I don’t often hear sound, because I’m just not that immersed.
On the other hand, the site appears to contain many ideas I hadn’t thought of before, like actually confronting an aggressor in a dream. I usually fight them back, rather than talking to them. I’ve never stepped through a mirror, or done many of those things. Maybe I shall try these things some time soon, if I can remember them.
My question:
Do most people, when trying what she suggests to try, see and hear what she has seen and heard?
As I have said, by grey and cloudless sky contradicts a fair amount with her beautiful one. I just want to know if I am even more abnormal 
You don’t always become lucid, actually. What is really happening is that you have maybe 6 dreams every night (one every 90 minutes) and only remember the ones where you do become lucid.
I have looked at the sky in a lucid dream hoping to see something good but it was just black with clouds (nighttime). The clouds had a slight reddish tinge but it didn’t look very special, and that was it. 
This is something which you are special in. That isn’t to say that other people don’t have this ability naturally too, or that you’re the best, but you’re a minority of lucky people, and that means you’re special.
So you do have non-lucid dreams, where you watch the world instead of being in a body?
395, you say that you can feel your eyes closed while dreaming. This could be an indication that you sleep very lightly. Most people can feel their eyes being closed when they are just about to wake up from a dream. So if you are in this stage of dreaming constantly, that would explain why your dreams are so dull and grey. The deeper you sleep, the more stabile and vivid your dreams become. On the contrary, the lighter you sleep, the more chance you have of becoming lucid.
I think that would explain a whole lot actually…
There goes my hypothesis (I’ll post it in the Theory of Lucidity section). Actually, it could still be valid 
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That’s interesting odd2k, I’ll put that somewhere in the wikibook and I’ll be checking it before it enters the main text…
That to me sounds like an ND from a 1st person perspective with the illusion of control, in which case nearly all my dreams are like that but it’s not lucidity. Could you be a little more detailed in how you mean?
Note the huge use of jargon here 
I don’t know about this “illusion of control” thing, could you explain?
All I can say is that I can tell that I am dreaming in the dream. I remember realizing I am dreaming. I have had fairly normal dreams in which I am in a class or something, but I can just tell that I an dreaming and start warping things. Changing walls to monsters or people into food, etc. Basically anything I want at the time.
I suppose that could be true, I don’t remember all my dreams…
No I’m not. I’m just another person. Stay on topic.
Yes. I can’t remember any of them at the time of posting this, but I know I have had them, and that is what they are like. I have no part in it, I don’t make any decisions or anything. I just watch stuff.
I also talk in my sleep. I don’t think this has to do with dreams, but I’m just throwing that out as a possible inclusion to this hypothesis.
Additional Question: How does one make oneself sleep deeper?
Try LD stabilization techniques, like spinning or rubbing your hands.
When you realise your dreaming and you can change walls into monsters and people into food, is there any sort of thrill?
I know when I have even the shortest LDs I get an amazing thrill from having unlimited control on the world I’m in. E.g. I became lucid in a dream when at a beach. I thought there was something strange about the waves washing up on the sand and thought to my self “maybe I’m dreaming” and then I looked at the sky (which was a normal sky blue but with no clouds) and thouhgt " If I am dreaming, I will be able to change stuff" so while looking at the sky, I made it change to a night sky with brilliant bright stars and the moon. When I did this I got a great thrill but then then I forgot I was dreaming and went on to other stuff.
Hey cool, my repeated posting of this site at Squidi.net finally paid off 
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In the (very) few Lds that I’ve had, I haven’t been able to feel my eyelids. And the sky was cool (purple and amber swirling into each other… though it made me feel sick to look at…).
I’m not sure how you could sleep deeper… maybe try the staberliserws (as mentioned) or try on of the Ld techniques (RCs, MILD, WILD, VILD, WBTB etc)?
Yea, despite it happening fairly often, there is always a thrill at being able to do absolutly anything.
I have no idea what that is.
I’ve had one LD that, at the end of it, a dream character kept yelling at me to open my eyes (I had them closed in the dream and, of course, in reality), so I did (in the real world).
Hey 395.
If you are capable of thinking “wow this lucid dream is great! I must remember it and post it on ld4all when I wake up”-type thoughts then yes I’d say you were having lucid dreams.
And yes it IS difficult for most people. I never had one until finding this site and training myself.
So you are very skilled at this, or at least lucky! To change and improve your dream scenes try different techniques: spinning, jumping into a tv, through a mirror, rubbing your hands etc. The possibilities are endless.
Yeah,you can definately consider yourself natural talent:)
Most of us got to do many fussy things to get even one a month.
As for the deeper sleep-alcohol and pot makes it deeper but that is not advisable for lucid dremer.I guess that if you`re so skilled in this field you wouldnt have much problems hypnotysing yourself into deep sleep.Just lread around if u neveer tried it.
good luck
Ps.I envy you as hell!!!
I don’t remember my dreams so well, though. Last dream I remember (yes, it was lucid) was a week or two so ago. I should try out the dream log thing.