I have some question that I wanted to ask, but before asking them I will give you some background.
I am 24 years old. When I was in high school I was into lucid dreaming for a while, then left it probably because I felt I was not ready enough.
Now I am a med student with the tendency to go to brain research and surgery in the future.
The first question is about lucid dreamers and serious problems - more and more people telling me recently to stop exploring the world of lucid dreaming because people they know had really messed themselves up, ending no knowing when awake or in a dream and doing dangerous stuff in the waking reality, believing it was a dream. What do you think?
Second thing - when I’m really tired, especially when I’m trying to get some afternoon nap, I find myself quite aware when arriving to the stage of the sleep paralysis. The problem is that in the exact moment the sleep paralysis starts, my body fights it - like an INSTINCT or a REFLEX. I try to work hard on myself, convincing myself not to fear this situation, but it seems my resistance to the sleep paralysis comes from some place in the unconscious. Any advice?
I’ve heard this before, and I can’t help but think of it as a bit of a paradox. I mean, lucid dreaming is all about knowing the difference between dream and reality, so how can you possibly confuse the two? Even when I’m able to recreate this “OMG I’m dreaming!” feeling IWL because of LL for example, a dream just feels different, it’s something about the atmosphere. Also if there is still the slightest doubt that this is reality, always do a RC. It will a) prove whether you are awake or dreaming and b) make you more aware and lucid if you are dreaming.
No WILD expert either, but it does seem to me like you are trying too hard or overthinking SP. Don’t really think about the SP, it’s possible to do WILD without consciously experiencing SP. It’s like trying to fall asleep and continuously thinking “I have to fall asleep, I have only X hours left, I need to get some sleep”, that doesn’t really work. If you have a hard time falling asleep because your body is fighting SP, maybe distracting yourself with daydreaming would work.
Ive had too many LDs to count, and never once have i had a single negative effect
I personally have never entered SP while awake, might just be me maybe have that tested sometime anyways, i want to enter SP, i want to finally get into that feeling. but i have not yet. And possibly your mind is too awake to enter SP, i am no expert but you also have to keep your mind relaxed and tired to enter. if it is in absolute awareness it could stop the SP because of that, but just a though.
Sounds like paranoia to me, or maybe even an attempt to put people off because of stories they’ve read. But honestly, the stuff that happens in lucid dreams is just too abnormal to be able to confuse it with real life. I can’t imagine someone getting ‘messed up’. Beginners would be too excited about it, and experts would be experienced with controlling their dream environments and noticing the oddities of their own dreams.
With regards to your sleep paralysis, maybe you’re too aware? It’s weird that your body would be fighting it since sleep paralysis happens naturally as you fall asleep. Do you have trouble getting to sleep at night? If so, maybe it’s natural that your body fights sleep paralysis. Otherwise, it might be because you’re too aware and your body is confused. That’s my best guess… Anyone else?
maybe have that tested sometime