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How to have a Lucid Dream

How to have a Lucid Dream
Lucid dreaming allows you to have complete control over the events that occur while you dream; you are able to experience anything you can imagine without any consequences. Since emotions and everyday, logical thinking are more relaxed and less interfering in dreams, lucid dreaming can even serve as an aid in overcoming mental blocks.

Now, think beyond these words and really take in how phenomenal it is that you have the option to go into your mind and create a universe that is completely autonomous. The visions you construct are not hazy, distant landscapes that you must focus on to remain a part of; they are vivid scenes to interact with that feel exactly how you would in real life.

 
(Thanks to the people on deviantART and random people on the internet for the pictures)

The following is a great tip from AFuriousPenguin:

A few more tips for Lucid Dreaming that i have found to work quite well:
When you want something to happen in your dream, sometimes it wont just happen JUST because your thinking about it. In my first lucid dream, i tried to start off with something simple and change the grass around me blue instead of green, and nothing happened. I found that by imagining in my head what that same grass would look like if it had already been blue turned all the grass blue immediately. So give that a shot if you have troubles creating your scenario.
Alternate reality check: Wear an analog watch (with hour/minute hands) and make a habit of checking the time multiple times each day. Check it, and then double check it to make sure it is still the same time. In your dreams, not only do things like text change as alternativeinsanity mentioned, but you will also have no concept of time passage. You watch may say 3:15, but then say 12:45 when you double check it. bingo :)
 
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Step 1Dream Journals

Dream Journals
The first thing you should do when learning how to lucid dream is to keep a dream journal. This basically means that you write down what you remember of your dream when you wake up in the morning. Along with text, you may also want to draw pictures of what happened to help stimulate your memory. The ability to remember your dreams makes it easier to achieve reality checks, as explained in the next step. (It's also a lot of fun to go back and read the strange things that  had occured in your sleep).

The following is a small portion from the end of one of my non-lucid dreams. The sentence that is written were actually the words of an unseen person who was narrating my dream.

"Richard, which usually meant Richard the third, which was followed by the swarm of bees that my mother refused to believe weren’t real even though she wound up in the hospital last time."
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198 comments
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May 4, 2011. 2:28 PMqboo123 says:
Draw a symbol on your hand or put a stamp on your body somewhere, and check if its there in your dream. If it isn't then your dreaming. But change it every other dream because you will soon know that symbol and it will appear... This works very well for me.
Dec 19, 2011. 8:02 PMmaboy says:
For some reason when I was little I had a little red dot on the back of my hand from a fall or something, like a wound that healed but left a small mark, but not really a scar.... Anyways so I had this little red dot on the back of my hand. And when I was little I always seemed to have dreams/nightmares where someone was chasing me and the only way I could get away was to get to my house and lock the door behind me. (The person/monster chasing me though always got me at the last second...) Anyways When I was around ten or so I relized there had to be a way to figure out if I was in a dream or not and I remembered the red dot on the back of my hand. So when I was in my dreams I looked at my hand and if the dot wasnt there I knew it was a dream. Eventually I started standing in place in those dreams and the monster/person would stop chasing me. Ever since then I stopped having dreams like that. I'm now 13 and haven't had a dream like those since.
Aug 1, 2011. 12:50 PMbushman916 says:
what if you pick ur nose... nothing then pick again and get one huge buger
i guess that would be a dream ez reality check because sometimes i pick my nose
May 23, 2011. 9:15 AMtinker234 says:
what about an object that only you know like a whetied die or top
Jun 15, 2011. 10:02 AMxc1024 says:
You watched Inception, haven't you?
Jun 15, 2011. 5:48 PMtinker234 says:
yep
Oct 1, 2010. 6:48 PMCr4zy_Dud3_0n_F1r3 says:
I heard that if you have a dream and its the last dream you had/remember you had, you can "re-live" or "continue" the dream if you don't move when you wake up. I think it was because that your brain associates your position with your dreams or something...

Idk I just thought that was interesting.
May 23, 2011. 11:45 AMzack247 says:
i think youre right about that, whenever i wake up, i ususally lay in my bed until im fully awake, and strangely enough, my dreams keep... dreaming.

it could be possible that the position might make your body subconsiously think its still asleep or something.
Jan 21, 2011. 11:41 PMvandal1138 says:
Your body position definately plays a roll. I'm no expert, and i could just be an anomoly, but i can only lucid dream while i'm laying on my back.
Apr 25, 2011. 1:34 PMCr4zy_Dud3_0n_F1r3 says:
I just had a lucid dream this morning by accident. I woke up and took a shower, I didn't feel good and later I had to call in sick and I've been home all day. I went back to sleep about an hour from when I woke up. I had a lucid dream then.

I was thinking and this may be an easy way of inducing lucid dreaming: get up an hour earlier than what you normally do, follow your morning routine for an hour (shower, get breakfast, etc.) then go back to bed for an hour. This way you can have a lucid dream on a weekday, and its a bit easier.
Jan 25, 2011. 7:19 PMraja681 says:
will i get zombies in my dream im fretfully scared ofzombies
Feb 16, 2011. 9:31 AMraja681 says:
there was a zombie but he was nice
Apr 10, 2009. 4:10 PMStephen304 says:
Hmmm, the RC will be the hardest part for me, i have a hard time making a routine of things.
Jan 21, 2011. 2:16 AMvandal1138 says:
Just checking back in, I've gotten quite good at this now. I've made a habit of pinching my nose closed and trying to take a breath through it while I'm awake. About 2 months ago the habit carried over into my dreams, except you can breath through your nose, even though it's pinched in a dream. Instant fun times hahahaha
Oct 29, 2010. 12:40 AMIkkalebob says:
Will having more lucid dreams and keeping a dream diary make your dreams better, ie more vivid and more exciting when they arent lucid?
Jan 5, 2010. 5:35 PMM4industries says:
 Warning:

Do not look into a mirror. This is an instant nightmare. The image is usually distorted and scary.
Oct 11, 2010. 5:30 PMsharkstun97 says:
i actually see a version of my self with a different hair style and clothes every time i look in a mirror
Jan 14, 2010. 4:27 AMagent harmsy says:
Thanks for the heads up! Whenever I have a nightmare I can NEVER get back to sleep :|
     Although I guess this could be used as a reality check? Just find a mirror?
Oct 1, 2010. 9:43 PMCr4zy_Dud3_0n_F1r3 says:
So during REM, most of your body is paralyzed, and your body sort of goes out-of-whack, but can I still talk during REM? Cause that would pretty much destroy my want to do this, cause if I'm doing something, chances are I don't want someone else hearing me while I do it.

Oct 2, 2010. 6:18 PMCr4zy_Dud3_0n_F1r3 says:
Okay, thanks, I don't think I usually talk in my sleep (I'd be dead).
Aug 26, 2010. 4:42 PMtoogers says:
umm.... do you have to dream at all to have a lucid dream? i never really have dreams. is something wrong with me? also, if i never do reality checks, will i screw up my brain and become a crazy person, never knowing if something is ordinary or not?
Sep 23, 2010. 5:00 PMtoogers says:
ok, thanks.
Jan 11, 2010. 5:53 PMvandal1138 says:
I read this ible about 6 months ago. The only thing I started doing was the RC ( i have ADD ok?) bit about reading stuff. The easiest way is to just REALIZE how much stuff you actually read in a day. Signs, menus, text messages, the wrapper on your royale with cheese... EVERYTHING. SO.... Just make it a mental note to think of how much you read things, and always read it twice. I would almost garauntee that if make that habit and say you read the name of the store you are walking into, read it again and it will change (in your dream of course). This worked for a while for me until I guess the simple things like a CVS sign wouldn't change so I've started to try to make it change. Easiest way to explain: Look at CVS sign, look away, look back. If it still says CVS I think to myself "its not CVS, its Walgreens". If it changes.... It works for me!
Feb 18, 2010. 3:08 PMdeathsmileyinc says:
A royale with cheese, why is it called like that, brad? the metric system! check out brads big brains!

i love pulp fiction
Sep 20, 2010. 1:58 AMvandal1138 says:
It makes me happpy that someone caught that. Best movie ever.
Jul 22, 2010. 9:12 PMsammowhammo18 says:
i tried to do this last night and i remembered 3 of my dreams. it was great.
Jul 20, 2010. 9:25 PMZachattack1 says:
I once had a dream. At one point i realized it was a dream and went to a door wanting it to be filled with quads. It was a broom closet. I soon forgot the dream was lucid. I just realized a few days ago (the dream was a few years back) that later i WAS riding quads through the exact same area! 0-:
May 11, 2010. 8:10 PMkirstinholland says:
During the day i will ask myself if im dreaming and pull my finger. 

My first lucid dream i was standing next to a car and about to get into it and i check if i was dreaming. So i pulled my finger and it stretched. Buuut i got too excited and woke up >.<
Mar 29, 2010. 7:20 PMeulaliaaaa! says:
I am trying to be lucid. I am not, so far, but last night was really weird.

I went to sleep, and woke up again in the middle of the night, not remembering any dream at all. I tried going back to sleep, but I realized for some reason I was so hungry my stomach was hurting! After a while, I finally manged to go to sleep. The dream was, imagine that, about food! When I woke up, after I jotted it down in the journal, I realized something. I wasn't hungry!

Now, I don't sleepwalk, sleep eat or anything. How is that possible?
Mar 29, 2010. 7:21 PMeulaliaaaa! says:
And I have a friend who automatically controls his dreams. Can some people do it better than others?
Jun 14, 2009. 12:29 PMmacneal says:
ones i found out a was dreaming and i didnt no what to do so i just asked an owl if i would wake up soon and it said yes, then i woke up.
Oct 15, 2009. 2:29 PMorangewolf22 says:
lol that happened to me too except i asked a cat
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Author:alternativeinsanity