Hello, I guess

[Lukelawson]

I recently found out about lucid dreaming, I just have some reservations about it. The whole concept seems awesome but frightening at the same time. What if I come face to face with a nightmare? Or if I look in the mirror I don't want to see a monster. And I have tried listening to binaural waves but the sound creeps me out. Any help?

[Puffin]

Hi and welcome to the Dreamviews forum! A lot of people have concerns about the fact that it's a dream, and anything's possible - they ask, sure, you can do amazing things in a dream, but what's stopping that dream from turning into a nightmare? What do you do? Well, it's pretty simple - if you get a lot of LDs, you'll probably end up having a lucid nightmare or two. It's just the way dreams are; sometimes they're good, and sometimes they're bad. So if you end up in a nightmare, just remember that you have total control over the dream. It's actually easier to deal with a nightmare when you're lucid, because you know that what's happening isn't real (whereas in regular nightmares, you believe it's all actually happening, so you wake up in a cold sweat and with a fast heartbeat). Controlling your dreams is exactly like watching a movie you've seen before. You know what's going to happen. You know 100% that a certain character is going to do something. Apply this to dreaming - in your particular situation, lucid nightmares - for instance, you see a monster, or something scary that you don't want to be there. What's to stop you from calling it off, or tell it to "stop messing around, it's getting annoying"? If I end up in a lucid nightmare, that's what I do. I once saw a dark shadow-like hand reaching up from underneath my bed, and I pointed my finger at it. "No!" I said in a commanding and authoritative tone. I actually got a "sorry..." out of the hand and it disappeared. The mood of the dream improved, too, not to mention I was taken aback by the relatively dark, humorous response from the hand! As for looking in the mirror, I've never seen anything different than myself before. Sure, my hair may be longer, the color of my eyes may be off, or I could be shorter, but from my own experiences if you don't think about scary images, you won't get them. Just expect to see yourself in the mirror, and visualize what you'll look like. If you do find yourself constantly seeing disturbing images when looking into mirrors, it can help to look at yourself in a mirror in waking life, so you get a better idea of how your reflection behaves and stuff. But mirrors don't always have to appear in dreams. I find that if I'm in my house, I'm never in a room with a mirror (specifically the bathroom); either that or I'm outside. If you don't want to get mirrors at all, just don't expect them to be there. Same goes for summoning dream characters, having super powers, doing a bunch of other cool things - expectations. Know fully that you'll be able to fly, that your friend will be around the corner, etc. Binaural beats aren't necessary to lucid dream; I tried them and I thought they helped, but it turns out that was just a coincidence. I wouldn't recommend them. Instead, just focus on awareness (if you want to use the DILD technique). If you haven't read it yet, I have my own guide all about awareness. KingYoshi also has a great guide, here. Then there's the Dreamviews DILD guide itself, located in the wiki under "DV Tutorials".

[DeletePlease]

What if I come face to face with a nightmare? If you're lucid, you'll be able to face it without worry because you'll realize that it's just a dream and it can't hurt you. Lucid dreaming's a great way to reduce the number of nightmares you have. Anyways, welcome to DreamViews.

[Evolventity]

Ah, well the good thing about lucid dreams is you can stop nightmares. Don't worry. Welcome to DreamViews!

[Lukelawson]

Thanks for being so welcoming everyone! And thank you for the guide Poffin. It was very helpful and hopefully, I will be having my first DILD soon.

[Marm]

to DV! I can tell you from experience that the GavinGill is right in saying what he said. Since I started to have lucid dreams around 12 years ago to the best of my knowledge, I've been having a lot less nightmarish dreams because I can now shape the dream world the way I see fit. So yes, lucid dreaming is able to help someone conquer their fear of nightmares, or any other fears for that matter. Good luck!