Can you see your dreams?

[minimacker]

I hear many stories of people who can in detail talk about their dreams and how they interacted with different elements and experiences. Even those who can consciously control them.

I feel like I've been cheated by life, for I don't see my dreams. I can remember a single flashing moment, but that is it. Nightmares tend to stick around, but again it's merely a very short event that I can remember.
.

.

How about you? Have you ever seen your dreams? Have you ever had a lucid (Controllable) dream?
.

.

.
There are very few instances I can remember, most of them nightmares.


One I really want to talk about is one that I've remembered since I was a teeny lad. (first grade to be exact). The setting is quite a stormy evening, no rain. My class is standing outside and there are tornadoes roaming the roads.
All I can remember is that the kid who bullied me apparently went and wrestled a tornado.

When I think of that dream, I can only picture it in brown, for some reason.
.

.

.
Another one I can also remember (Which I'm guessing I was slightly awake during the time) is that I kept trying to open my eyes. I don't remember WHY, but I just remember that I had to open them, but I couldn't.

When I woke up, my eyes were sore, as if I tried to open them in my sleep.

.


But mine are nothing in comparison of what I've read, heard or seen. What's up, Escapist? Care to share your experiences?


(Yes, I demand to make larger paragraphs.)

 

[Isan]

if you want you can learn to lucid dream... its hard (i can't do it, but then i've not tried much) but I know a couple of people who can do it to a limited extent.

Google for it, there's a lot of chatter around it, but some techniques work for some people: if you're really determined you've prob got a good chance of managing it some day.

 

[Ubermetalhed]

I don't mean to make you feel bad OP but when you can control your dreams it's pretty damn awesome. You can imagine anything and do what you like and it feels real.

For me its infrequent that I'm able to control them but I tend to always remember my dreams.

 

[bobdonkey]

The only control I've ever been able to exert over my dreams is me going "Wow, wouldn't it be really horrible and terrifying if..." and then that "if" happens.

I've started remembering dreams less and less as I've got older, but I find that I tend to remember them if I've had a beer or two that night.

 

[Blue_vision]

I've had a couple instances of lucid dreaming in actually controlling what's going on, but that's it. But I have near-perfect memory while in a dream. It's almost exactly like watching a movie for me, in a comfy don't really care but still pay attention kind of space. So I get a bunch of whacky experiences, ideas, and thoughts from my dreams. I think it's contributed to my person, but it'd suck if the general pattern changed up

 

[Cpu46]

I can't always control them but I usually remember them pretty well. When I can control them its usually before I fall into deep sleep or when I'm slowly waking up.

 

[minimacker]

Hum. Well, I sort of haven't had an alcoholic beverage in my entire life.

Maybe I should pick up drinking. *Rubs chin*

.

Also,
this sucks! I want to be able to see my own dreams!

P.S, I wanted some examples, people! I won't take your word just like that!

 

[SovietSecrets]

I always have controllable dreams, since I was a kid. All actions and movements are done by me.

An example of mine was when I was 8 I had a dream/nightmare about someone trying to murder me. The entire span of the dream I was running and picking spots to hide and trying to get away from the guy chasing me with a gun. After I was shot the dream would restart from the beginning and it would go again. Sorta like an extra life. I had a bunch of these as a kid.

 

[Ice Car]

*snip*

Well, I now have the ability to remember most of my dreams in decent detail, but I can't control them even though I know it's a dream. I would have loved to have that ability, but I don't exactly feel cheated.

And trust me, there are some dreams you don't even want to remember but you do. Disturbing... You might be better off not remembering some. I've had one where my entire town got massacred. It came pretty random from there, going from disturbing, to even more disturbing and weird... It's these dreams that I want to forget that I remember for an eternity, which annoys me to no end...

 

[spartan231490]

I've had a couple of lucid dreams, but they are few and far between. As to dreaming in general, I don't often remember my dreams, and never for more than about 10 minutes after I wake up, unless I write it down.

 

[Anarchemitis]

I have the intention of being able to dream under my own will, which is why I keep a dream journal.

 

[demoman_chaos]

I can remember mine fairly clearly. Most dream memories don't last long, but some have stuck with me like real memories.
I've also often gain control over my dreams. I haven't mastered it fully, but I often realize I am dreaming and then try to influence things a bit (only minor changes so far).

Try writing down what you dreamt right after you wake up, you'll remember things better that way and you will start to have more luck in realizing you are dreaming and thus being able to gain control will be easier.

 

[kuyo]

all my dreams are lucid.

 

[XShrike]

I remember a lot of my dreams and the degree of control varies.

Sometimes I realize I am dreaming and can start to control what is happening. If I try to hard it won't happen. It is hard to explain outside of dreaming. I have found that flying can be really hard for some reason. Other times I am thinking but, don't realize I am dreaming until after I wake up. When this happens I often think something and it will happen. The rest of the time it is like I am watching stuff happen.

A problem I have found, since I remember many of my dreams, is separating the dream from reality. The people I know and the stuff that I do are dreamed about now and then. So rarely I will dream about something that I could actually see happening. I will have to go back and try to figure out what was a dream.

One of the most vivid strange dreams I can remember happened when I was something like eight. It was a dream where I was just watching stuff happen. It involved a black, perfectly calm, lake as far as the eye can see. The sky was orange/red. Not like a sunset or sunrise but, as if a distant massive fire was happening all around this lake. In the middle of the lake was this big block structure make out of red bricks. One side of this structure was dedicated to a large circular, safe door. In front of this safe, floating in the water, was a little boat. On the front part of the boat was a Carebear. I think it was a blue one. On the back part of the boat was Death. The two of them were discussing how to get into the safe. That is when I woke up, thought "That was weird." and when back to sleep.

 

[Tilted_Logic]

I remember a lot of my dreams, but I only recall being in control once or twice.

I've had this weird thing lately where I'll be aware that I'm dreaming, like aware I'm in my bed and if I open my eyes I'll wake up, but my subconscious mind still keeps the dream running. So essentially I'm awake/could wake up at any second if I wanted, but my brain continues these awesome stories/adventures that I have no control over.

It's weird how the subconscious (or whichever part of the brain is responsible for dreaming) recedes back into the depths of my mind the second I wake up. Being able to dream lucidly during boring days would be awesome.

 

[Fetzenfisch]

i learned to control my dreams when i used to have a lot of nightmares. I fought them like that and never had a single one in a decade. After that i havent really try to control them, because they are the most interesting now when i don't.
I remember them if i focus after waking up , or if they were especially spectacular or funny.
Sometimes i am pretty sure that i even continue or re-dream dreams i had before, sometimes even after a very long time.

Some examples of my mindcinema:

I try to get to university by bike, but its very difficult because the road is about a metre under water and orca whales are lying around everywhere and try to bite me when i am close, but because of the shallow water they are just annoying and not dangerous. At the end of the road i meet an police officer and i loudly complain about me paying taxes and stuff and the police can't even get rid of all these damn whales on the street (i actually talked while sleeping, giving my gf a perfect moment of WTF?!)

A few nights ago i was in a Zoo, talking to a mermaid, a very lovely person, that didnt minded at all that she lived in a pool in a zoo instead of the nearby ocean, because she liked to talk to the humans, plus her father the mermaidking went insane and dangerous. After some talking and swimming, her brother dimitriusz arrived to perform some kind of ritual and out of respect to their culture i left them alone, a little worried.

One of my favourite ones was, when i dreamed that a good friend of mine had a new appartement.
It was one perfect example of a great bachelor's place and the dream actually consisted of nothing more than me, him and a few other guys sitting on the couch, drinking and talking, and now and then another friend of ours arrived and joined our housewarming party. The fun thing about that dream was that it actually felt as if i spend about 6 hours there, conversing and drinking and having fun. Great way to spend a nights rest- Party in your head!

And once i lived through the beginning of a truly epic, if a little creepy, story. But it would definatly be to long to write it down now and i still hope that i will go past that prologue one day.

 

[minimacker]

All of you has made me depressed.

When you wake up, do you not get the feeling of how the dream is skippy and inconsistent? When I think about it, I can recall having a dream of going to school and attending class, etc.
When I woke up and immediately wanted to write it down, there were so many blanks in between "events".
How time was skipping and I couldn't remember anything in between, I could only recall "flashes" (Like I said in opening post)

 

[Hosker]

Dream recall and lucid dreaming are both skills that you can practice.

Dream recall isn't too hard with a bit of practice, but lucid dreaming is very difficult.