I totally agree! 
and the “phase” thing, argh… the word “phase” is terrible 
I try not to say “lucid dreaming” because it sounds new-ageish. I describe them( Realizng that your dreaming and controling it) Most people can understand that.
Lucid Dreaming is pretty far removed from many people’s experience. Dreams are nothing to be concerned with it seems. It’s like meditation. I try to make my friend understand that he can use if to reduce and eliminate his anxiety. He knows about it, I told him all about it. He still refuses to try it. Though sometimes after much discussion, he will try it. Every time he tried, he says it works. Then he doesn’t do it again, even though it worked. So, even with the understanding, it’s still not interesting to him, because he thinks it’s boring. The obvious benefits are not enough. I imagine it’s the same regarding lucid dreams, as I told the same friend about it, he thinks it seems cool, but he does not want to do the work. Nobody does. I think it is simply too far removed. It’s not something they see themselves doing. Not part of their self image.
All I can do is present it to people who will listen, and hope I do a good enough job explaining it. Like a presentation at the university, is an opportunity if you get to choose your topic. Using text from EWLD in text analysis class. I just figure I’ll put it out there, but I wont go to any lengths trying to get the word out. Talk about it like it’s the most common thing in the world. I hear people hesitate when they talk about it, like they are a bout to say something completely new to people. Pretend they know about it already and see how they react! They may feel like they have missed something and ask about it. They they are yours! Muhuhahahah!
I excitedly described LD’ing to my friends when I first learned about it (though I’ve still only had two short ones), and they didn’t seem too interested. I tried to get them to see that you can do ANYTHING in an LD, but one of them in particular wouldn’t listen. He said that he can do the same thing by daydreaming in school, and refused to believe that an LD could be much better than that. (This is the same guy who insists that he does not dream every night, despite how many times I tell him that EVERYONE DOES.)
I now avoid the subject with just about everyone I know IRL, although I do have one RL friend who has natural LD’s regularly, without trying.
i don’t tell a lot of people about lucid dreaming. i mean i don’t just go around spewing stuff about what i do while dreaming, it’s not a topic that comes up easily. but sometimes i’ll talk to closer friends and my family about dreaming and lucid dreaming. they won’t think i’m too weird, although a lot of people find it odd that someone would spend so much time thinking about their dreams and actually consider them important. maybe that’s just western culture, though. i do get crap from some people about keeping something called a “dream journal” though. i just tell them it’s kind of like a scientific journal, to which they say “rriiigght…”
My brother yesterday asked me what I was reading about.It was a book by Stephen LaBerge.
I explained to him what it was all about. He seemed to think that because it’s not real it is a pointless activity.
I explained how computer games are not real but he enjoys them and its eight hours a day added to your life effectively.
He showed no interest and remarked how he almost never remembers dreams and I suspect he’s never remembered one vividly.
So I think it’s a simple case of some people have at all have no interest simply because they have no idea what a dream is really like.
Whilst we probably all have some vivid memories before we heard about LDs thus we understand the possibilitys.
i think when it come down to its just better to let it come to you in the begining. who knows maybe God chose each one of us for a reason call it probability or whatever…but ld came to me and it has made it so much better i normally just ask somone if they have ever been in a dream and suddenly bc aware that they were dreaming. what if you scare them off and they never lucid dream but what if they experience it and then come tell you and you get in a true discussion about it… it would be so much more exciting to me…after all that being said i need to read it again and apply to myself! lol it is just so hard knowing that you have gotten a hold of something that not many people know about…and you just wanna tell everyone about it
It’s funny. I brought it up to a group of drunk guys tonight. And exactly what you thought… yah that happened. I got looked at. Questioned? And ridiculed. They couldn’t even imagine, much less grab the waking life applications. I mean anyone should immediately pay attention when the figure “1/3 of your life!” comes into the discussion. But, as we all know… they don’t. Buttt heyyyyy I learned something about myself tonight. DON’T HANG OUT WITH DRUNK PEOPLE EVER AGAIN! I heard a story about someone shi***NG on a rag literally 5 times. Sometimes on a general scale I think people are retarded (You know if you don’t apply…)
For the longest time everything we had on Lucid Dreaming here in our big bookshop was stuck in a little corner of the New Age section, then eventually misplaced in Sexuality until ending up in Self-Help for a while and then finally getting a proper place in Psychology. although they’re still hard to find (basically on the floor. Nobody ever looks down there)
also EWLD isn’t in the collection. In fact there’s nothing good at all there anyway, I’ve read them all and learned nothing, then I came here and found more info in an hour than I’d read from four different books.
You can probably guess how people where I live react to all this.
That being said I did have one positive reaction, but that’s a close friend and he basically forgot all about it in a week
I definitely find that have to be very careful how I angle any such conversation.
People I know are intelligent and not to judging however there are plenty of new-agers and other pagans here in england and people’s minds immediately associate lucid dreaming with those religions.
So I like to talk about it as a scientific interest. I say that I’m interested in dream research before I say “lucid fun” I try to be as quick as possible to state how lucid dreaming it’s simply a key way of exploring sleep science and how it is being developed as a treatment for nightmares and depression.
In other words I effectively tell people that I’m interested in psychology. Which is not strictly true 
I never told that to anyone, too.
Even if someone asks me what lucid dreaming is, or what is this site about, I say ‘‘nothing.’’
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im a member of a fraternity and i tell all our new members about it each year. i receive mixed responses. some people find it strange, most have no interest, but there are always a few that are really interested and i have 2 copies of EWLD that i loan out. i also refer people to this site. many people are successful as well in the LD endeavours.
nonetheless, there are people out there who are interested and it always makes me happy to find someone that is. i may get a few strange looks in between, but it doesnt bother me
-eyegug
I don’t get weird looks as in “you’re sick” but still people around me seem to find LDing a weird, if not downright hilarious hobby to pick up. A question that comes up many times and that I never really got was: “but what if you hurt yourself or end up in a bad situation?” Apparently, people don’t take into account how knowing that it’s a dream actually makes it way more harmless than a dream in which you do believe you’re being chased by angry, pointy-toothed aliens.
Had fun reading all these.
anyway, if i ever get really rich, I’m going to make a TV add for Lucid dreaming, and it will tell you to do a reality check 
Oh man, I remember when I told my mum and dad about it; we had a looong discussion if Lucid Dreaming was dangerous. I went really pissed, and was like ‘How the hell can a dream be dangerous?!’ but they knew they couldn’t make me stop from trying to have one 
. Lucid Dreaming is a free hobby 
Now they think it’s okay.
I have three friends whom I hang out with the most, and one of them has nearly completely the same interests as me, so it’s natural that she starts to like these kind of things. We two love to piss the other two off with talking about LD!
Normally, I never speak of Lucid Dreaming to anyone outside my circle of friends. But today I did it! In school, we had something called “Girlchat” (Just one hour when we speak about things; Pretty obvious 
) and you had to interview your friend. And of course, Iget my LD-friend and we both say that it’s time to let the world (Class Lol) know that we LD. And everyone got curious; they asked if that was really possible, and we were like Heck yes girl! So now they know.
That’s pretty awesome that you were able to get people interested. I guess it works out better when you have two people talking about it.
I never really have a lot of the problems other people are having here in the exception of my family. They know about LD’s and get the rare spontaneous one every now and then, but aren’t really interested in working to get more.
All of my friends are very open minded and always pretty interested when I talk about LD’s. Some of them are even trying to get LD’s themselves. It’s pretty cool.
hahah Aelyissía, I loved reading your post
it’s cool to see parents aproving, friends interested and telling the world!
oh man, if I had a friend that was interested I wouldn’t shut my mouth about LD’s 
I barely do the way it is!
We, myself included, aren’t doing enough to spread the word. Really. I need it to reflect in my waking hours more. Show some tangible evidence of improvement or enlightenment. Distancing oneself of this world of “unnecessary-convenient-material-goods”. My life has only begun to turn around. At 20, I’m thankful it was so young. God is love, can’t touch either… here : )
Talked about it in a cople of conversation, and got one interested and applying ^^ but until the first round of exams he’s stuck at trying to get a DJ working.
I found out that there IS a best approach to get people interested:
First, don’t throw the topic on people’s faces, as their instinct will be to dodge (thus reject the subject as a whole, despite what you will say). Don’t mention the words “Lucid dreaming”, ever, before convincing them - that sounds so Newage-ish to any non-LD’er, and people easily tend to associate this practice with occultism/hippie stuff/etc.
Instead, after having found a worthy audience, bring forth the subject casually, diagonally, like when talking fantasy: “Eh, i did a thing like that in a dream”. Don’t rush things, interest must spring naturally from them. Usually this will suffice to switch subjects, and then you will say “But the best part is, i knew it was a dream! Man, it really is so awesome when you do.” By then, if you’re in a group of 6 or more people, often 1 or more has already experienced a spontaneous LD or two, and you can start sharing. Tell them your best adventures. Get them interested.
Someone will say they don’t dream that often, if at all. You can tell them REM phase is the dream phase, and we all have 4 a day, we just forget them in the morning if we’re not quick enough to recall.
THEN you can actually start telling them that you’re using techniques to increase the chance to recognize you’re in a dream. I didn’t get this far in conversation, but I would advice mostly LL and meditation, as they’re my fav way of getting lucid. But you can do it on your own from there you got them hooked if they followed till here.
Good luck sharing the wonderful world of LD’ing ^^