Thread: Lucid dreams

During a lucid dream the cognitive and thinking parts of the brain are active, so it is just like if you were awake, but your subconscious is still doing whatever it is to cause dreams and certain parts may be turned off. You can be semi-lucid where you know that you are dreaming, but you can't necessarily control your actions 100%. This has happened to me before where, for instance, I was in my basement, knew I was dreaming, but for some reason I grabbed a clock on the wall and threw it. Now, I knew I was dreaming, and I could control the majority of my body, but for that bit I couldn't help anything. Almost like when you are about to sneeze. You know you are going to sneeze and, even if you don't want to, you do it anyway.

Back on the vividity of LDs, they vary from dream to dream. One night you may have a lucid where it's in all black and white and you can't do anything about it. Obviously this is not as real as waking life but you are still lucid. Then there are times where you have a very vivid dream in which all the colors and everything just seem to be so bright and you are extremely happy. Compare this to when you have a head cold or are very grumpy. Everything seems stupid and dull, right? Like you don't care about anything. Then, one day you walk outside and the sun is shining, the birds are singing and you are just living life. It's the same with dreams.

Basically, dreams will vary, and semi-lucids can confuse you, but normal LDs are on par with waking life (for me) and some are more dull/boring, while others are quite vivid and beautiful.

In my experience, it varies depending on the dream. In some lucid dreams, it's not very realistic. In other dreams, it is almost as real as waking life. I have read dreams of other lucid dreamers that are extremely realistic, and some say it is more vivid than waking life.

Same thing with control and awareness. In some dreams, I know I'm dreaming but that's about it. It is a bit like I'm drugged, and I can't think clearly or control things. In other dreams, I know who I am and what I'm doing just like when I'm awake. But even if I am fully lucid I don't always have full control. These things take practice and skill. I'm still just a novice.

It can really be a huge difference. Some or practically garbage and are about as vivid as a drawing made by a 2-year old. Others are fantastic and are indeed more vivid than waking life itself. And yes, you have to experience them to understand that.

So if we are that aware, why do some people tell us to think about what you want to achieve when you go to sleep because if we are really that aware surely we must be able to think and remember them whilst in dreams rather than thinking about them as we fall alseep.

Indeed, most of mine are far more vivid than waking life (the lucid ones). This is easy to illustrate if you've ever had to wear glasses, except that the facilitatory effect on vision is greatly amplified in the LDs. The same occurs for the other senses.

Originally Posted by xxdanxx

So if we are that aware, why do some people tell us to think about what you want to achieve when you go to sleep because if we are really that aware surely we must be able to think and remember them whilst in dreams rather than thinking about them as we fall alseep.

Simple enough: In times of joy, we often forget what we came to do. Thank emotions.