It is a waste of good dreaming time if we don’t get to enjoy the odd lucid dream now and then. So what exactly is a lucid dream?
If you’ve ever had one, you’ll know instantly. If not, then you don’t know what you’re missing! Lucid dreams have a super-real quality, but the main difference between a lucid dream and a “normal” dream is that at some point in the dream we actually realize that we are dreaming, and, so long as we don’t pitch ourselves back into the real world at the excitement of it all, we can control those dreams to a certain extent. Flying is a favorite pastime for those lucky enough to have frequent lucid dreams.
To paraphrase Carl Jung, when our subconscious mind knows that we want to play, it will play back with us. Here are some tips which should help you to dream lucidly—but keep trying if it doesn’t happen the first time. It’s seriously worth it.
1. During the day, take time out to really notice your surroundings. Look around closely; notice anything that might seem unfamiliar about a familiar environment. Make a deliberate effort to take a mental snapshot of a particular aspect of wherever you are; look at things as though you were a tourist in your own life. Do this 4 or 5 times a day.
2. Find a strong scent or any distinctive smelling substance—ground coffee, cinnamon, whatever. Concentrate on a particular object at the same time as inhaling the aroma of whatever it is that you’ve chosen.
3. The first rule of dream analysis is keeping an open notebook with a (working) pen by your bed. Make sure this is ready before going to sleep.
4. Before drifting off to sleep, recall the snapshots that you took in your mind earlier that day. Then think of the object at the same time as inhaling the aroma.
5. Go to sleep, and see what happens next. You may find that you snap into lucidity immediately; you might not. Keep trying though. This is something you can practice to achieve.
This account is from Alex, born in North Carolina but now living in Scotland.
The only time I ever really remember dreams is when I write them down. A few days ago I came across an old dream diary that I’d kept when I was in my teens. In the notebook, I wrote in great detail, about a rug that was beside my bed. The rug was a photograph of a moving landscape.