I'm easily scared, a tad paranoid and have a rather gothic imagination...should I be lucid dreaming?

[matiasve]

<<While writing this I imagined some evil being was sneaking up on me and was about to bite my head off. >> Id really like to lucid dream, id love to lucid dream, but I'm scared of what I could 'do to myself'. Im the kind of person who would - while in a dream - open a door and at the meantime wonder what would happen if an undead dragon was standing behind it, ready to attack me. I have this ... fear that if I were to lucid dream I would unleash every single type of nightmare unto my defenseless dream-self. Why defenseless ... let me give you an example: Something evil and scary runs towards me- I prepare myself to firebend/rocket-throw/laser-eye the **** out of him/her/it- I suddenly doubt my capability to do so and start thinking and anticipating my failure- I die a horrible dream death- I wake up- I imagine I'll have a sleep paralysis- I have one- Is there something I can do to prepare myself for lucid dreaming, like meditation or yoga or .... something Please help

[Tasca]

Ummm don't do WILD method that's for sure. It's not that scary when a monster is chasing you, but if it is scary, yell some magic thing, like FUS RO DAH or yeah. Or just tell it to cease existing. That worked for me when a police guy was about to shoot me.

[Zoth]

Hello matiasve, First of all, let's make some things clear: although dreams are influenced by our hopes, fears, expectations and likes, they still possess a huge amount of randomness due their intrinsic function of regulating our emotional state and organize our memories. This means that you shouldn't expect to easily face situations or scenarios that are being created by your will. That requires a good amount of focus and practice, and by the time you're capable of that kind of dream control, you'll most likely be much more clear about the "nature" of dreaming. Secondly, your personality doesn't determine the type of dreams you have. According to studies, many of our dreams present contexts which anxiety or fear dominates, but this is where lucidity comes. When you're having a nightmare, the only reason you're that scared is because you essentially believe the situation is real. Now imagine you watching a movie where a dragon shows up, even though the image looked extremely vivid, would you fear for your life? Besides, like I said above, just because you fear a dragon doesn't mean that thought will jump right at you while dreaming. If that was the case, you'd have reoccurring nightmares just by your present concern about lucid dreaming right? Lucidity alters our perception, for the good or the bad: you might even taste a certain dish with pleasure, but you know that it isn't real. In the same way, if something "evil" would show up, you would be able to consciously act, either by running, or by throwing a huge fireball! The more you experience lucidity, the easier it gets, and this is how people develop control: they train themselves to understand that dream content is nothing but a projection. Also, you don't experience sleep paralysis just by imagining you will, else many beginners would have a really bad time, since many of them initially think that sleep paralysis is a "required step" of lucid dreaming. I say you do the most simple thing you can: practice lucid dreaming, and visualize your goals of having fun and exploring, and ignore the bad things. This is actually how people plan ahead of time their activities during a lucid dreaming, and it's quite effective. Most likely you will understand with a lucid dream that you have nothing to fear, and the experience will teach you much more effectively than our advice Ummm don't do WILD method that's for sure. In all my WILDs, I have never experienced sleep paralysis or any scary feeling through the entire process. The experience of falling asleep consciously is exactly the opposite: it's a passing moment which you barely have time to witness anything but a smooth array of memories and sensations while your brain get's you ready to dream. Always left me wanting more

[PlanesWalker]

Yes, everyone should Lucid Dream. Have fun. I personally enjoy any nightmarish content. I see it as a test of my psychological state.