Lucid dreams hover where reality transcends into dreams. Lucid dreamers are not uncommon. A study shows an estimated 55 percent of people have experienced one lucid dream in their lifetime. Having a lucid dream is like a form of metacognition.
WHAT IS LUCID DREAMING?
In a lucid dream, what happens is that we are aware of the fact that we are dreaming. Thus, because we know that we are dreaming we are eventually able to control it. Basically in lucid dreams, the dreamers decide for themselves what they are going to dream about.
“As humans, we innately search for meaning in life, constantly seeking answers from outside ourselves. But true meaning comes from inside us – specifically, in the form of dreams.”
Lawren Leo, Horse Magick: Spells and Rituals for Self Empowerment, Protection and Prosperity
WHAT ACTUALLY DOES LUCID DREAMING INVOLVE?
Many researchers have very recently come up with the study that lucid dreams don’t take place in an unconscious state but in a conscious one. This is because people are observed to remember dreams which practically cannot be explained.
This lack of explanation comes with the reason that how can something that we experience in an unconscious state be remembered. Lucid dreams just add the dimension of us being conscious of the fact that we are having dreams and being able to control them.
WAYS TO HAVE LUCID DREAMS
Methods to induce lucid dreams will differ from person to person but it has been also observed that some methods are common. Some of these methods that have been observed to work on most people are:
- Reality Testing-This is when in the middle of the day you stop and try to do something that you wouldn’t in a dream or something impossible. This could include anything from reading a text message to walking through a wall.
- Wake back to bed-In this method, you wake up after a full sleep of 5 hours. After that, you go back to bed to enter a REM.
- Drugs– Drugs also help trigger certain people’s mind to have lucid dreams. But this way is not advisable.
MERITS OF LUCID DREAMS
- Lucid dreamers can usually work upon solving their nightmare issues and their phobias.
- People who have lucid dreaams are likely to be more creative than the people who do not.
- It also usually gives the people having it a sense of empowerment.
- They feel less anxiety and are more self-confident.
DEMERITS OF LUCID DREAMS
- People having lucid dreams are very irritable and generally have a really bad quality of sleep.
- They are also seen having hallucinations and being confused about the stuff that is happening around them.
THINGS TO AVOID WHILE LUCID DREAMING
- We shouldn’t involve in something too exciting. This fact has to be kept in mind especially while we have just become lucid. Stabilize your dream before attempting something too exciting.
- You shouldn’t kill anyone in your lucid dream. You just don’t want the vivid memory of killing someone. Also, the characters of your dreams are just extensions of yourself so technically killing someone in your dream is just killing parts of yourself.
- You shouldn’t dream about real-life memories. This is so because this might cause you to mix your real life with that of what you have in the lucid dream and that isn’t a pleasant situation to be in.
SOME FINAL THOUGHTS
“By embracing your subconscious, you gain a different way of seeing and experiencing—an expanded perception that opens a doorway, not only to lucid dreams, but also to the mythic dimension. As in lucid dreams, you see yourself or others with new eyes; your senses awaken and grasp an experience more fully than ever before; suddenly, you find your ears are open to hear with a deeper understanding.”
Jenny Davidow
Having a lucid dream helps you become aware of things that you fail to notice in your day to day life. These dreams help you understand that there are things that are bigger than you. You start believing in things that you can not necessarily explain to other people. These are things that are so obvious yet so unexplainable.
For instance, the presence of an entity that is bigger than humans themselves. People know that it exists but you cannot understand it until you experience it for yourselves.
Do check out our other blogs.
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By Vishesh Tiwari
