Thoughts turning into HI ??

the Stuff Dreams are made of...
1

Hi there, people! :wave:

I’ve been wondering what are the actual boundaries between a HI and an image which is being mentally visualized.

I came up with this question last night. Let me tell you, I am not into WILD right now, but I certainly “see” tons and tons of images and scenes while I’m MILDing…

So, I was wondering, are those images that pop up in my head HI or mere visualizations, or visualizations that turn into HI? I cannot tell the difference between my actual thoughts and random images (when I’m on the verge of falling asleep, I mean :lol: ).

Last night, for example, I saw a whole scene unfolding in front of my eyes. The thing is, it started as an actual voluntarily thought of which I seemed to eventually lose control.
What I mean is, I started thinking about something (I was remembering a night out) and my mind sort of grabbed the mental image I was visualizing (i.e. the actual memory) and modified it into a nonsensical scene (I don’t want to call it a dream since I was not in REM or anything.)

Before even starting my trip towards lucidity, I used to amuse myself with this before going to sleep. I would voluntarily visualize objects (for example, a buch of apples) in my mind to see “what happened to them”, see what modifications my drowsy mind made to them and how they could trigger stories (dreams?). Now that I’m much more conscious of the dreaming process, I’m wondering what all this is about.

Maybe visualization-induced HI? Thoughts that are turned into HI which are, in turn, turned into dreams? :uh:

2

I’m no expert at WILDing, but from what you just said I would guess that you would be amazing at WILDing. I’m jealous :smile:

Edit: Oops, I guess I didn’t answer the question. The way I understand it, visualization is entirely a conscious act while HI is out of the control (at least mostly) of your conscious mind. Therefore, I would guess that your visualizations are turning into HI. Again, very jealous.

3

This happens to me a lot (even before I started trying to LD). I’ll be lying in bed thinking about something then my mind takes it and it’s not really under my control anymore. It’s not quite a dream because if I really tried I could take control back and change the direction of the scene and I can feel that I’m still awake (though in the process of falling asleep).

4

Exactly, Applecake! That’s what I meant in a nutshell!

Maybe I should start practicing WILD more often, as you said, Graech. :hmmm:

5

This made me smile, lucho :cool: I recognise it so much! It is the easiest way for me to WILD: to visualise something similar to the HI when I notice it, and pay attention to ‘what happens to it’, as you put it so nicely :cool:

It is maybe not possible to control the thoughts when they start to get their ‘own life’, but it is often possible to add to them.

6

Yeah, the difference from visualization and HI is mostly the amount of conscious control you put into it. So it’s very possible that either of them can slide into the other, and there’s of course a large margin of intersection (like you could control only a part of what you’re seeing)

With this amount of awareness over the mind’s eye, all it takes to do a WILD is in most cases just entertain yourself with the (spontaneous) images while your body falls asleep. :wink: