So it's called a Lucid dream?

I think that I have been having lucid dreams for practically my entire life. As a liitle girl I remember that I could almost always tell when I was having a dream. As a teenager I did not remember many of my dreams but when I did they were always very vivid and I knew that I was dreaming. I am now in my early twenties and have been having very bizarre dreams every night practically! :help:
My dreams have actually progressed to the point that I am almost always aware that I am having a dream. At first it was really fun. I was able to control what was happening in my dreams and do all sorts of amazing stuff. Sometimes I will realise that I’m having a dream but it will be one of those weirdly symbolic dreams that never make any sense-so I’ll just change it. For example I once had a dream about a butterfly. I remember thinking,“this is soo stupid a butterfly? I mean how cliche can you get? Everyone knows that butterflys symbolize change” So anyway being aware that I was dreaming I decided to have fun. In my dream I went outside(it was like 3 am in socal-not a safe time to be out if your actually awake) and I started walking, I remember being very aware of the atmosphere and energy at night. It was so different from the smoggy, noisy daytime. So in my dream I suddenly decided that I was going to fly. I just sort of floated into the air and soared over the town. Then-this is funny, I got really cold so I went back home. So this post is kind of long. .
All of my dreams are super detailed- for example if I decide to fly in a dream, I now actually get dressed for the weather!
But … more recently I have been having scary dreams and even though I am aware it’s a dream and try to wake myself up I cannot. Some of the dreams relate to my childhood (which was not happy) but some are more futuristic. It is a totally terrifying experiance to be having this horrible nightmare and know that it is a dream but not be able to wake yourself up! I even try to change them or resolve conflicts in them but nothing works! Last night it was really weird because I was having this nightmare and was aware that it was a nightmare so I tried to splash water on my face to wake myself up. When I finally woke up, my hair was wet! So now I am thinking that I’m also sleep walking but my friend’s mom who is a psychologist told me that when your dreaming you cannot actually move your body. Ahhh! :confused:
Does anyone else have similiar experiances or know someone who does? My friend suggested that I look for information on-line and her mom told me I should see a therapist! So please reply if you have any information!

was your hair really wet, or did you just feel it wet?
It happens to me alot that when I wake up, I feel what I was dreaming, e.g. falling from a high place, being hit by a bullet, etc.

as for being a natural Lucid Dreamer, well, you’re lucky with that!! I’ve heared about natural LDers, but this is the first time I see a real example. (well, nothing on the net is real, but this is as real as it goes).

Hey, congratulations. You’re a lucky one :content:

Yeah, if you aren’t sure your hair really was wet, it could have been just a hallucination. If your brain is sure that your hair is wet, you’ll prolly feel it as well.

If it or something like it doesn’t happen again I think you have nothing to worry about.

As to the nightmares, there should be a way to get rid of them. Sorry, but I’m not an expert in these things. New here myself. :wink:

Well, first of all, welcome, and congratulations on being a natural LDer!

About the nightmares - if you haven’t already, you have to realize that nothing can hurt you in a dream (at least not physically). You can face your fears and conquer them. Just remember that it’s not real, it’s all a dream, and whatever frightful image is scaring you, it’s just an image created by your mind. None of it is real.

However, if you choose not to deal with the nightmares, another way to wake up is to lay down on the ground and “pretend” to be sleeping. Stephen LaBerge used this to wake up. Just remember to do a reality check when you wake up after this, because you might have a false awakening (when you think you’re awake, but you’re just dreaming that you have woken up).

About the wet hair, I’m going to ask the same question as everyone else. Are you sure it really was wet? Are you sure it wasn’t a false awakening? Or some kind of “hallucination”?
There might also be a possibility that if you had a nightmare, you might have been sweating, and your hair might just have been wet from that.

About your nightmare and wet hair, couldn’t it be simply explained by the way that you were in a sweat? Many nightmares are often related to too much heat in your bedroom and I remember I’ve sometimes woke up while my bed was totally wet.

If you know your dreams are dreams, then you can modify their content. If you can’t, you perhaps have a low lucidity level. Then you can enhance it by doing funny experiences, like stretching your finger, putting your finger through walls, etc. (they are called “reality checks”). You can also shout verbal commands, like “More lucidity!”

But perhaps it’s because you don’t really believe that you can modify your dreams, or you think it’s bad, etc. Some people who are vaguely interested in psychanalysis for instance may have such beliefs. Dreams reflect your beliefs. If you can’t do something in them, it’s generally because of a belief.

That’s funny, I just found a similar story while reading the old Alfred Maury’s book, “Sleep and dreams” (1861). :happy: He relates one of his childhood dreams: