Hello, LD4all. I’m new here, and I found this site by Googling ‘lucid dreaming forum’ out of curiosity after reading about LD on another discussion board. Until recently I had never heard of this term, and needless to say it struck me as odd to find that most people do not control their own dreams. I have noticed, however, that I do tend to have a lot less nightmares than my friends and family–only a handful of times that I can recall since I was 14 (almost 6 years ago). Usually I end distasteful dreams or alter the outcome in some way, though it’s strange to explain how since I only have to think about it. I don’t know if this is LD, though. Here’s a brief history of my life as it relates to dreaming…
I’ve always had the ability(?) to recognize a nightmare as such since I was very young, and wake myself up accordingly. The first time I remember doing this was many years ago when I dreamed of being chased in a dark hospital by an insane needle-wielding doctor. When he appeared as a shadow in the corner of my eye, I screamed at myself to awaken, and that’s what happened.
The alteration thing is much more recent, starting around adolescence, and seems to have gotten better with practice/experience if that makes any sense. Basically I just take a moment (in the dream) to think about how much I don’t want the bad thing to happen, and that I absolutely won’t allow it, so my brain can come up with an alternate “plot twist,” if you will. Occasionally the offending dream character will simply stop dead in their tracks, strengthening my belief that I am still in the dream universe with complete control. For example, I had a dream this week that four strange, thuggish men followed me into the ladies’ bathroom with ill intentions, but as I walked to the door all I had to do was think “Stop. Don’t do that,” as one of them reached out to grab me by the arm, and he immediately took a step back. They followed me again after I left the restroom, in total silence. For the rest of the short dream I swore at them in front of my husband and my mom (we were in some kind of home improvement store), shouting all kinds of profane things as everyone watched. Even though the men were getting angry, the mental restrictions I imposed kept them at bay. However… Though I tried, I could not convince my husband to “kick their asses,” in my own dream-words. This seems to be a lifelong theme for me. In dreams, I seldom know how to articulate my thoughts in meaningful ways, which leads to my “character” often forgoing speech for the most part and relying on nonverbal communication instead. And whenever I try to control characters based on real people, nothing works. Not even explaining verbally (actually, that probably sets me back even further). It would appear I am not fully lucid, in this case.
Most of my dreams are characterized by a sense of removal from reality, and in a few rare cases I have used to this knowledge to engage in promiscuous behavior, or start physical fights with others unprovoked. I rarely think “This must be a dream!” in no uncertain terms, but the feeling is definitely there. I have had some number of dreams that involve the ability to fly or to run at impossible speeds; these are less common than the aforementioned, but feel so realistic to the point where I am shocked to wake up in a world where human flight cannot occur without technology.
That’s all I can think of for now, or at least everything that seems relevant as an introductory post. Some extra details: I am female. I don’t use recreational drugs or any other mind-altering substances that would affect my sleep cycle. I don’t always go to bed at the same time every night, but I experience and remember 1-2 dreams most nights nonetheless. If anyone could recommend some good literature on this topic, that would be super appreciated. This post took two whole days to finish, because I wasn’t sure what to say and every few hours I would pull up the browser to add or delete something. I’m a painfully shy person, but hopefully the hard part is out of the way now and we can enjoy a good discussion about LD experiences and tips. Cheers. 