No psychedelics, too much family history of mental illness. I've always been a YOLO type person in and outside of work.
Risks are often greatly overestimated, and appealing to the corporate mindset disgusts me. I'm the type that loves risk and doesn't hesitate to call bullshit as long as it wont get me canned. Figuring out if you're in a dream is superficially similar to realizing someone is screwing with you lol.
It's one of those weird personal secrets, things that never come up. I realized years ago that lucid dreamers are fairly rare, and most of those that have had lucid dreams don't have many.
It makes for a really awkward discussion most of the time. And it's impossible to explain well to somebody that hasn't experienced it.
Might be generics or wiring, or just figuring out how to recognize dreams, who knows. Its real weird that some people can have this otherworldly incredible experience with no drugs, and yet most of the population never experiences it. I'm lucky I guess, but to me its normal
Sometimes things don't end up like I wanted either, but I've gotten pretty good at "ejecting" those situations rapidly, a few seconds, in favor of what I'm looking for. Not absolute God Mode, more like browsing an unlimited movie collection for what you want
Yes. Once you're fully lucid you can do anything. I've flown across the US, into space, banged movie stars in the white house, drove Ferraris off cliffs, etc... Since your thought process is a bit disorganized the hardest part is deciding what to do on the spot, knowing you've only got a few minutes to an or so hour max
If I think about the dream right after waking up I can generally recall most of it. Working 9-5 these days I sometimes just don't have time to make sure I commit it to memory though :( .
I don't do a certain reality check, but I've been lucid dreaming on and off since early teens so I just notice sometimes. Most often when I remember noticing its because I look away and things are different when I look back
Many REM sleep studies are done on lucid dreamers because they can signal the researchers by moving their eyes during sleep. Most muscles are paralyzed, but its been found that eye movements match the dreamscape. They've used this to determine that "dream time" matches real time for instance, by having lucid dreamers count with their eyes.
Two way communication is theoretically possible by measuring eye movements and signaling back with light flashes, but not sure its been done.
And yeah I have a feeling it affects sleep in some way, especially because being lucid for long periods of time tends to wake you up randomly at night
I think staying asleep is just experience. I remember my lucid dreams when I was really young were rarely longer than a few minutes. Sometimes seconds. Its really all about staying calm from what I've learned. And trying not to focus too much. If you put too much effort into control it seems to increase awareness to a point where you wake.
All conjecture of course because we know startling little about how dreams work :)
Hahaha, most of my flying is leaping off/out of whatever I'm standing on/in. Usually immediately after I become lucid. Could get interesting if I did psychedelics lol
No, mental illness runs in my family so I consider it too risky. But I've been told by a friend that lucid dreams occasionally, that lucid dreams are different from LSD/mushrooms in that you have much more control over the experience and it seems more real.
There's definitely other psychedelics that produce "real" seeming illusions but I'm not aware of any that give you direct control over them like lucid dreaming can.
Its a LOT like the matrix. Perception of your ability to alter reality makes reality altering possible, with the only limitation being your own faith in the extent reality can be altered. Very meta.
I never consciously do reality checks, but I'm a very inquisitive and skeptical person. Easily distracted by cracks in the wall type.
I wouldn't let one bad experience stop you from lucid dreaming :( . I might be an outlier, but my experiences have been overwhelmingly amazing. Yes, I still have nightmares are the lucid ones are waaayyy worse. But lucid dreaming is such a great experience I would never wish it away
I could believe it ruins sleep quality definitely. Even with experience it's hard to keep your mind from fully waking during periods of lucidity. I've managed to go an hour or two many times but it invariably ends with me waking at a random time in the middle of the night
Its pretty clear to me at least. I can sometimes remember the moment I figured out I was dreaming. With some great ones being jumping through a closed window and off a skyscraper.
Almost always exceedingly wonderful, better than anything 'IRL'. Except for lucid nightmares which seem to start out as regular nightmares anyways. Sometimes I'm able to overpower the nightmare and go fully lucid, other times I can't and its horrible. Way worse than a regular nightmare because I'm fully aware of whats happening.
Its definitely unsettling at first. I started lucid dreaming by chance at ~11 so I guess I'm used to it. I don't think much of it when I look away from the window and it turns into a flock of birds, just roll with it ya know :)
I think the false awakenings are part of lucid dreaming. The awareness that you're not actually awake yet is a small step from control of your dreams.
The only times I've had trouble telling the difference is immediately after waking up. Especially after the false awakening lucid nightmares mentioned below. Turning the lights on and walking around for a minute is enough to dispel any doubt. Dreams are a different reality, and being so familiar with this one its easy to figure out when you're "home"
same, I can't think of a single false awakening outside of trying to end a lucid nightmare. Maybe the same "your wish is my command" type control you get over reality perception is a double edge sword. You want to be awake so you "wake up" into a fresh dream world, because your mind has no way to take you to reality. Kinda terrifying.
yes, or get in the habit of ruminating on the dream for a while still in bed. Whenever I have a nice lucid dream I lay in bed and run it through my memory over and over for a couple minutes. Otherwise some mysterious process will clear any figment of the dream from your memory within an hour or so
It's not pleasant. Sometimes intense enough that I'm in a state of shock through much of the next day. Most of the pain I remember has been in the form of lucid nightmares. Usually snake bites, gun shots, knives, etc. Almost never from environmental realities like hot surfaces, crashes, or falls.
Self-aware nightmares are way more terrifying than the regular variety, a lucid dream where I sometimes can't take control. I usually try to wake myself immediately, but sometimes this leads to repeated false awakenings. The worst I remember is 5 false awakenings before waking up for real.
Just throwing this out there. I've had hundreds of lucid dreams and it's the most amazing experiences I've have in my life. It takes practice to
1) figure out you're dreaming with some level of reliability
2) learn to take control
3) train yourself not to get too excited so you don't wake yourself almost immediately.
I believe the first step is to train yourself to recognize a dream. It becomes easier once you've done it, so I assume a few lucid dreams can lead to many more. There are devices that supposedly trigger lucid dreams in many that have never had one, I highly recommend trying it. Example of one of these products: http://sleepwithremee.com/ . They detect REM cycles and signal you in-dream with light through your closed eyelids, since vision isn't actually suppressed during REM.
I've hit the point where I've had lucid dreams the seem to last over an hour. Its insane, not even something I can describe to someone that hasn't lived it. Like closing your eyes and thinking about flying, but with the same level of detail as the real world. The sound, sights, feeling of the sun and wind, even pain. To be a little inappropriate, sexual experiences also feel just the same as the real version. I've had hyper real dreams too, especially with vision. Colors that are impossibly bright and saturated, or impossible acuity.
Risks are often greatly overestimated, and appealing to the corporate mindset disgusts me. I'm the type that loves risk and doesn't hesitate to call bullshit as long as it wont get me canned. Figuring out if you're in a dream is superficially similar to realizing someone is screwing with you lol.
Could be related to lucid dreaming but who knows.