Reading

[kut_throat]

I have been told its really difficult to read in your dreams. I dont know this to be true or not. But I know I am able to read signs, room numbers, can reconize money, read boxes of what is in them. I not only can read these things but I also am able to process what they are and mean.

[Quiver]

Hi kut For many dreamers, reading is notoriously hard because the words just don't seem to stand still when you bring your attention to them. A common way to check if you're dreaming is to read something, look away, and then read it again to see if its the same (often its totally different). But its not unheard of to be able to read. I've heard claims of people reading (and rereading) two page letters. My own experiences are mixed. I can usually read what I write myself. But magazines and reading the time on my watch are often very capricious. I think your expectation has a lot to do with it. If you expect the text to change (because people on dreamvies said it would) it probably will. Welcome to Dreamviews - Q

[ForgottenDream]

hey welcome man. yeah i heard reading was difficult too. i never read anything during a lucid dream, but i've had regular dreams where i read. often the words are clear, but make no real sense. for example, while i was in a store i was reading the labels off of bottled water and soda, and some of them said things like "art supplies", and "bird food" lol.

[kut_throat]

Thanks for the Welcome. But In my dream the night before last there was room numbers written on a chalk board, I could read everyones room number and process them. Like there are two room numbers that I remember very well...Room 209 and Room 219. I walked away from board then couldnt remember my room number and went back to see what it was. Words, Numbers, Phrases dont move around. They are still and they are written in really clear and eligant hand writing.

[Shift]

My dream text is stable, so I don't usually use it as a reality check. The time usually remains stable, too. I'm more likely to realize that the situation's time is incorrect, rather than the time has changed. What I mean is that if I go to bed at 11, and see a clock that says 9, I will think to myself "Oh that's strange, but I went to bed at 11" and then realize it's a dream.

[apachama]

Reading is really mixed for me. Same with numbers. Sometimes I can do it, sometimes I can't. My RC is to do sums in my head. If possible I look at the time and add up the numbers. See if that task is harder than usual.

[Photolysis]

A lot of people like to say what's hard or impossible, or what you have to do in lucid dreams. "You can't fly high or fast because it destabilises the dream", "you can't change light levels", "you have to 'ground' the dream to make it stable", "you can't read" etc. The best thing to do when someone says anything about a limitation in lucid dreaming is to ignore it, because for the most part, these people are completely wrong. In fact, all these people who say X is hard is contribute to the perception of it being hard by convincing people that it is hard when it's perfectly possible. The only personal limitation I have seen is the behaviour of light switches; the one time I tested it, and even when I fully expected it to work (and was very surprised when it didn't; there was no expectation it should fail), the light would not turn on when using the switch, though it promptly did so when I 'thought' it on. Otherwise, despite my still limited experience, I have already done several things that people claim are hard or impossible, and have never needed to do things that others claim are essential.

[ray]

reading like everything else is fine in my dreams.i know because i have read several full novels. but i can never remember them!

[kut_throat]

Whatever I read I remember after Ive woken up

[ForgottenDream]

reading like everything else is fine in my dreams.i know because i have read several full novels. but i can never remember them! wow, that's amazing. how long did it take you to read the novels?

[Hukif]

Oh I has, I has read many games and school books, I like to learn things and read, in dreams only... I find it boring IRL lol

[kut_throat]

I dont see how you can read a novel in your dreams...Im too busy doing things to sit down and read a novel.

[Madysen]

I think what most people are talking about is the fact that if they look away for a second, the words will change completely and so therefore, they never get to finish what they started reading. That, and sometimes the words will literally fly away (or maybe that's just with me).

[Siddhartha]

For me it depends on how much information there is. Its easy to read a single word or number, however when ur trying to read a more extensive text like a book or something it gets rly hard for me. It's like its hard to remain focused and the text doesnt seem as stable anymore. Seems likely that it would be easy for the brains to keep a single number or word solid but to create and maintain an entire text should be much harder. First to create a text with words that makes sence, like follows a story or some other information and then to keep every letter in place once u've read it.

[kut_throat]

Ive never came accross any books or any other types of texts except for like boxes on a shelf or room numbers or money...those are the only things that Ive been able to read or make sense of it. Books are never in my lucid dreams.

[supreme]

Another thing for me to try next time!

[-Blakren-]

If I could read in my dreams, I would be afraid to do so, because I'm kinda messed up inside...

[supreme]

I know what you might mean.....what kind of crazy message would we conjour up for ourselves to read??

[Bizarre Jester]

I was able to read a couple of times. I wanted to remember what I read when I woke up, hoping to learn something about myself, or gain inspiration. But unfortunetly I didn't remember a word, just that I read a piece of paper.

[sora12]

I've heard reading is difficult when your in a dream as well. But that's not the case for me either. The text in my dream is very stable even if I turn my head to look back; it always reads the same thing.

[Sora]

^Nice Name =) On-Topic : It seriously depends on each person... The majority will have a hard time reading signs or books or anything else. But there's also a bunch of ppl like you which reads easily and understand what they dream inside their dreams. I guess it's a huge plus except you won't be able to use it as a RC.

[Naiya]

It varies with me. Normally I can read just fine in dreams, and I've read entire pages worth of stuff (and remembered the gist of what they were about). Sometimes though, the symbols on the paper are completely unrecognizable. Or I will read something once the first time, not retain it, and be unable to read it a second time, so I can't remember what it says.