Ever Wanted to Control Your Dreams?
life·@kylek717·
0.000 HBDEver Wanted to Control Your Dreams?
 # Lucid Dreaming It’s estimated that most people will have a lucid dream (one in which they are aware that they are asleep and might have some amount of control over their actions) at least once in their life. For many people just getting a taste of what it's like to be in control of something as powerful and mysterious as their own dreams can be enough to set them down the path to wanting to learn how to truly master the skill of lucid dreaming. I'm hoping to give you an idea of how to get headed in that direction, but before we head down that path let's go over a little more info about what a lucid dream is for those who are a little fuzzy. # Definition Lucid dreaming in it's most basic form is the ability to be aware that one is dreaming and be able to exert some amount of control over what is happening. One common misconception about lucid dreaming is that it gives someone the ability to fully control every aspect of their dreams. In reality, only the most seasoned lucid dreaming veterans are likely to get to this point. Most experience varying degrees of control from almost none to almost complete, and everything in between. For example, if I were lucid dreaming it may not be possible for me to just dream up that every whale on steemit it gives me an upvote, maybe instead I just end up dreaming up a bunch of whales floating up into the sky, or maybe nothing happens at all. It can all depend on your level of experience as well as your level of consciousness within the dream. # Sounds Great, but how do I realize I'm dreaming? As you would imagine this happens to be one of the harder parts of the whole experience. There are various techniques to try and help induce lucid dreaming ranging from journaling, to waking up in the middle of the night. I'm going to go over a few of them with you and share my personal experiences with them. 1 **Reality checks** * The idea here is to constantly attempt to make sure you aren't dreaming in real life so that you may end up doing it in a dream and realizing that you are, in fact, dreaming. Reality checks usually involve attempting to phase your hand through something or looking in a mirror. My experiences with this technique were alright. It took quite a while to get into the habit of performing reality checks consisitently, and I only became lucid as a result of this once or twice in about a one month period. The redeeming qulaity of this technique is the constant thought about lucid dreaming. This ended up triggering more lucid dreams for me than actual reality checks ever did. I would be dreaming and think "wait, this doesn't make sense. I must be dreaming." I'd give this technique a 7/10 2 **Dream Journaling** * The idea here is to write down all of your dreams when you wake up to get into a habit of remembering them. This can help you to recognize patterns or maybe familiar dreams when they're happening to help you realize that you're dreaming. I did not directly have lucid dreams as a result of this, but I would still recommend doing this in order to further ingraine the thought about lucidity into your daily routine. I would gibe this technique a 6/10 3 **FILD Technique** * This is definitley the most complicated one so here's a more elegantly worded explanation from the internet "Get to a point where you’re really tired either by exercising and working a lot during the day, or by setting an alarm to wake you up in the middle of the night. Place your hand flat on the table or a flat surface in front of you, like this:  Now, lift your middle and index finger up and down separately to each other. Almost like you’re playing a piano and playing two notes one after the other quickly, but never both at the same time. If it helps you can practice this on a keyboard by alternating between two keys.Press them JUST hard enough so that they dip down a little bit but not actually all the way down. Now press even lighter than that so that you’re barely contracting the muscles, but you’re still sending a signal to your fingers that you want the to move. This is what you want to remember and do when you’re trying this technique in the morning. ONLY focus on your fingers So now that you’ve got the movement down, you can go to sleep. Wake up when you’re going to be tired, so maybe in the middle of the night. When you wake up, DON’T THINK ABOUT ANYTHING. Literally only focus on your fingers, and perform the movements. Remember, you’re trying to only send the SIGNAL that you want the fingers to move, it doesn’t actually matter if they move or not. Now, for roughly 30 seconds just move your fingers and only focus on the feeling of that movement. Don’t count how many times you move them Don’t focus on any thoughts Don’t open your eyes Let yourself just fall asleep Then after about 30 seconds, do a simple reality check like trying to push your finger through your palm." My experience with ths technique is **extremely** hit or miss. I usually end up either in a lucid dream or in sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis is pretty miserable for those wondering. Basically, you can see and breathe, but can't move your body. I give this technique a 7/10 because of that risk. # Conclusion It is absolutely possible to control your dreams. There are many people doing it very consistently. I've given a number of techniques a try with mild success, but It's certainly something I'm always trying to improve because of the wonderful benefits it can have. The most important thing to remember with any technique is patience. You can't force this stuff your brain just needs time to learn how to tell when it's dreaming. Good luck in your own endeavors to control your dreams! Further Reading http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/lucid-dreaming-techniques.html http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/ As always thank you so much for reading and I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments!