Do you keep your interest in lucid dreaming a secret from others?

Hi All,

I recently had my first lucid dream. I'm so happy my work has paid off. It only lasted about a minute as I got excited and woke up but it was amazing, the dream world is so real. I hope to have more in the future.

Anyway, after waking up and starting my day I was so happy. I wanted to tell the whole world but was reluctant in case people thought I was crazy. I told my wife in the end and she seemed interested, especially as she happened to be in the dream. It was the first time I had talked to her about my lucid dreaming 'hobby'. She had never heard of lucid dreaming. In the past when she asked me why I was writing my dreams down in a journal I told her it was just for fun. I don't have any plans to tell anyone else. I'm not embarrassed, I'm proud. It's just I live in a small village and I might get burned at the stake hehe.

I'm interested... Do you tell others about your lucid dreaming life? Weather you're trying to have your first one or are having them regularly. How do people react when you talk about it? Do you wish you had kept it to yourself?

Thanks for your feedback

Jess

No. Infact, most of the people I know are lucid dreamers, prospective lucid dreamers, and I don't think any of them believe lucid dreaming is witchcraft. I talk about it often and it's quite cool.

My family thinks its interesting, but to be honest they don't care. :P

First, congrats on the first lucid dream. It's always empowering and helps you to have more in the future. Now that you know you can officially do it, the rest will be easier.

As for your question, you just have to be confident if you chose your friends well. Are they the kind of friends you would be to someone? I know if someone told me about lucid dreaming, I wouldn't immediately condemn them, especially if I didn't know anything about it. That said, I share the topic of lucid dreaming sometimes with people I know. But I don't go out of my way to mention it often. It's not a 'hobby' you'd mention in casual conversations like being a musician or artist.

I don't think it's necessary to keep it a secret from people you trust. But as for your average Joe? I don't think they'd really care, which is why I'd never use it to break the ice, if you catch my drift.

It's not a secret to my mum and my brother. Well, mostly my brother. Mum usually blanks out when I talk about it, but my brother has had a few spontaneous lucids so he's a little interested. I'm hoping to tell more people about it when I get the courage to. For now, I'll sit on the sidelines and wait for lucid dreaming to get more into the media, haha.

As soon as I got into lucid dreaming, I told the people I normally talk about my dream life with because it just made sense to tell them. My really close friend and my mom both have very interesting dream lives (like me, my mom also has sleep paralysis and false awakenings...so does my brother. Hereditary?) My close friend has had lucid dreams before, but she doesn't actively try to induce them. She finds it cool that I'm doing this and asks me questions. But it'd be nice to have someone in real life who is into improving their lucid dreaming skills.

My husband thinks it's a weird niche! I mean, he's fine with it and all. He listens to me sharing my dreams and will tell me his dreams, but I don't think I could ever convince him to get more into dreaming.

I post about it on facebook, twitter and my blog, but I wouldn't just share it with a friend randomly unless we were already talking about dreaming. I shared about it in my online anthropology class about dreams, but no one seems to know what I'm talking about.

My tip is: share it with anyone.
There will be some people who will be skeptical (like my father), people who will think you are crazy (like my mother), people who will mock you when you stress them to much about it (like some friends of mine :D ) but there will also be people who will sincerely listen to you and some of them will even join you in your journey. I have both friends who listen to me with interest but don't try it and friends that try it for themselves.

It's a win-win situation: either they shrug it off, but that's cool because at least you tried and you expressed yourself about a passion of yours or they get interested and try for themselves and you've just made some new lucid dreaming friends ;)

I talk about it to some people and never mention it to others. It depends on the person. My wife knows about it (and has actually had 1 lucid dream triggered by us discussing it one day) but isn't interested in pursuing it so we rarely talk about it. Not to mention, many of my dreams have “sexual elements” that I prefer not mentioning to her because she would be offended.

I never mention it to my parents or siblings because I know they wouldn’t be interested. I don’t mention it at work because I don’t want to be viewed as being “weird” and gossip travels quickly at work. I have a few friends who know about it, but aren’t interested in pursuing it. I was once on a flight to Ireland for business and sat next to a guy who was into “out of body experiences”. We spent much of the 7 hour flight discussing OBE and LD.

I talk about it to people. I can't help it. Most of them probably think I am crazy or they don't care or both. And I don't care that they do think I am crazy. My husband cannot help hearing about it, and I know he would rather I talked about it less. The problem is that when I am excited about something I have to talk about it with others, that's what I am like.

One time I met in real life a person who actually is a natural lucid dreamer, and if I did not have this habit of talking to others about it, I would never have found out that she is a lucid dreamer too. Unfortunately she is more of a friend of my mom's and just an aquaintance of mine, and I seldom have the occasion to talk with her. I am still hoping to someday meet another lucid dreamer in person. Aside from my son that is - my eight year old son is a lucid dreamer and it is nice to share with him.

Of course, my situation is different from yours: I do live in a major metropolitan area which is very diverse and fairly open minded, so having crazy hobbies is not socially unacceptable, even if it is a hobby that most people think weird, one is just weird in a different way, but enough people are weird in some way or another, so weirdness is socially acceptable.

People know that dreams are a "thing" of mine, but it is usually considered one of my very many bizarre quirks. I don't mention lucid dreaming by name, but those who've heard of lucid dream often bring it up with me.

Well, um, I don't have an interest to hide it as a secret, but I am certainly sure people around me unfortunately will have no interest in them (I know them very well), so I won't mention it to others :)

I tell people, but nobody really cares.

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for replying, I enjoyed reading through the comments. I don't know much about the subject of lucid dreaming so I think I will do some more research before going out of my way to talk to people about it. Then it will be much easier to have a conversation about the subject. I'm reading Stephen LaBerge at the minute. I suppose you could always just start talking about the film 'Inception' and then see where the conversation goes from there. You don't NEED to tell people about it I guess, but it would be good if you did as it increases you chances of meeting another LD'er and maybe you might get other people interested in the subject.

Well at least you've tried :)

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Originally Posted by splodeymissile

I tell people, but nobody really cares.

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Yeah dreams are a more 'normal' thing to talk about. It will be easier to talk lucid dreaming if you're already having a conversation about dreams.

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Originally Posted by Soulless

People know that dreams are a "thing" of mine, but it is usually considered one of my very many bizarre quirks. I don't mention lucid dreaming by name, but those who've heard of lucid dream often bring it up with me.

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:) You see lucid dreaming popping up now and then on TV. I recently watched an episode of 'American Dad' where the character 'Steve Smith' was practicing lucid dreaming and got himself into a bit of trouble haha.

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Originally Posted by AstralMango

It's not a secret to my mum and my brother. Well, mostly my brother. Mum usually blanks out when I talk about it, but my brother has had a few spontaneous lucids so he's a little interested. I'm hoping to tell more people about it when I get the courage to. For now, I'll sit on the sidelines and wait for lucid dreaming to get more into the media, haha.

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That must be nice for you and your son. He may not understand what its all about so at least he can talk to you about it, especially if he ever has a scary experience.

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Originally Posted by JoannaB

I talk about it to people. I can't help it. Most of them probably think I am crazy or they don't care or both. And I don't care that they do think I am crazy. My husband cannot help hearing about it, and I know he would rather I talked about it less. The problem is that when I am excited about something I have to talk about it with others, that's what I am like.

One time I met in real life a person who actually is a natural lucid dreamer, and if I did not have this habit of talking to others about it, I would never have found out that she is a lucid dreamer too. Unfortunately she is more of a friend of my mom's and just an aquaintance of mine, and I seldom have the occasion to talk with her. I am still hoping to someday meet another lucid dreamer in person. Aside from my son that is - my eight year old son is a lucid dreamer and it is nice to share with him.

Of course, my situation is different from yours: I do live in a major metropolitan area which is very diverse and fairly open minded, so having crazy hobbies is not socially unacceptable, even if it is a hobby that most people think weird, one is just weird in a different way, but enough people are weird in some way or another, so weirdness is socially acceptable.

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Thank you :) Yeah I have some good friends and I know two family members who may like to take it up (One of these family members is a dream sign of mine). Yeah I agree, it's not a good ice breaker though.

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Originally Posted by Screen

First, congrats on the first lucid dream. It's always empowering and helps you to have more in the future. Now that you know you can officially do it, the rest will be easier.

As for your question, you just have to be confident if you chose your friends well. Are they the kind of friends you would be to someone? I know if someone told me about lucid dreaming, I wouldn't immediately condemn them, especially if I didn't know anything about it. That said, I share the topic of lucid dreaming sometimes with people I know. But I don't go out of my way to mention it often. It's not a 'hobby' you'd mention in casual conversations like being a musician or artist.

I don't think it's necessary to keep it a secret from people you trust. But as for your average Joe? I don't think they'd really care, which is why I'd never use it to break the ice, if you catch my drift.

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Originally Posted by JessBurn

:) You see lucid dreaming popping up now and then on TV. I recently watched an episode of 'American Dad' where the character 'Steve Smith' was practicing lucid dreaming and got himself into a bit of trouble haha.

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Oh yeah, I've heard of that episode! Never seen it yet. What's the ep called?

I was careful about the people whom I speak about lucid dreaming with, but now I tell to almost everyone. I've opened myself to everybody and lucid dreamer is simply who I am and who I want to become. What others think about myself is their business. Sometimes people think about you that you are crazy... Your job is to persuade them to change their opinion and start to think about them self that their are crazy becuase they don't practice this amazing skill, whitch is completely natural and so amazing!!!

Well, not exactly. It's funny because this is very relevant for me! I was attempting to lucid dream last night (I've had two lucid dreams so far, the first years ago on accident) and I was trying to talk about it to one of my friends as we were leaving school. However, she's not one for extensive conversations really, especially with a subject matter such as this, and I don't think she really understood what I was even talking about, much less cared. I've only really talked to two others friends about it, but they're not that interested in it I don't think. I keep it to myself for the most part, since it's not something that seems to appeal to just anyone. I would love to share, however, when I get the chance if someone wants to listen!

Hi, I think the episode is called ''Merlot Down Dirty Shame''

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Originally Posted by AstralMango

Oh yeah, I've heard of that episode! Never seen it yet. What's the ep called?

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I tell certain people, like if they ask what my hobbies are or if we're talking about sleep/dreaming in general. Most people think it's weird and I don't think they understand the concept (I do live in a state with a lot of stupid people, though).

i understand how you feel like it's something to be kept secret. typically i'll talk about dreams or my near obe experiences when the convo steers in that direction, but only with someone i know well and won't think i'm weird when i tell them i once popped out my 'second arm' when i meant to move my flesh arm lol. my brother as well whose had 2 ld's, his first describing it as so real that he thought he died and was in heaven. i'm just trying til the day i have my first ld and share it with him.

Family I tell (not my mom as she is 90). But now that they know, they don't care. My wife thinks it is unhealthy. Only 3 or 4 at my Church know as this would be hard for many. So now, it's mostly you all I share with and I keep my fantastic voyages to myself. Unfortunately you can't share your experiences, really, and words don't do it justice anyway. So most find you boring or bragging. Seems to me you can't win in sharing with others except for rare individuals. I am over 60 so my peer group is different from most of you all I suspect.