What Lucid Dreaming Means to Me
I am always interested in mastering different aspects of life, and being able to be consciously participating in my dreams seemed like a great thing to be able to do.
My Lucid Dream Experiences
I had a repetitive nightmare where a man was chasing me laughing hideously. He never caught up with me but I would always wake from these dreams feeling absolutely terrified. One night, I woke up from this dream in the usual cold sweat. Without waking fully, I decided that I would go back into the dream and confront him. I allowed myself to slide back into sleep, and there he was behind me. For the first time, I turned round to face him. He immediately dissolved into nothing. I never had that dream again.
Later I learned that in order to facilitate lucid dreaming, I should practice looking at my hands as soon as I became aware that I was dreaming. So one night I almost-but-not-quite-woke up, and thought to myself, I need to look at my hands. I concentrated for a moment or two and then found myself looking at my hands. It quickly got boring, and I wanted to return to the interesting dream I'd been having. I never felt the need to do lucid dreaming again. I realized that what occurs in my dreams does not need to be under my conscious control, and if it is necessary for me to remember a dream, then I will always be able to do so.
Tips and Tricks
- Whatever you decide to do in life, you must set the intention of doing it. Intentions set before you go to sleep at night are often very effective, and certainly so when you intend to participate actively in your dream. However, you may find, as I did, that it isn't actually useful.
