Lucid Dreaming - A useful skill?

I haven't had much of them lately, probably because of exam stress and fatigue, but I sometimes have really cool lucid dreams where I'm able to control so much in my own dream world.

In one of my coolest lucid dreams, my uni friends and I were some agent with telekinetic powers, working for the king in a medieval kingdom. We finished a job (somehow we worked together), and made our way back to the capital city to report to the king, except we found the city under attack by a foreign army (swordsmen and archers). Our own army was pretty shattered since the generals were a little incompetent, so my fellow agents and I decided to command the troops (Total War style). Our troops eventually recovered their morale after the situation improved, so we decided to find the king. Turned out the castle was under attack by a group of necromancers. One friend decided to hold them back while the rest of us head up the tower to the king's chamber. We were in this corridor (which resembled one in my old music school) when we noticed chasing after us was our friend fallen into the control of the evil necromancer. With much regret we put him to eternal rest and carried on. We ended up in the soldier's quarters (my old tutor room) when we heard some enemy soldiers coming. We hid inside a storage room. I used my powers to sense where each enemy was and we rushed out and ambushed them. Soon after that I had too much control of what was going on I woke up.

The real cool thing was that I had so much control of myself in the dream. It was like a true virtual reality game. I find usually I can easily realise I'm in a dream. Once I know I'm in a dream I can start trying to take control, make myself do things that I can't do in real life, make things that doesn't happen in the real world happen. I think its a really useful skill to be able to control a dream. You are much more likely to remember the dream, and you can really explore the depth of your mind. Whether these bizarre dreams mean something is another question. :P Anyone has any bizarre lucid dreams to share?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Quote:

If you think about it, when not under alot of stress, or being overlyworked mentally or physically, your dreams seem uncontrollable. They path themselves as if fate were controlling you or telling you where to go, what to do.

But the opposite state of being, where you're stressed, you have overly used your mental capability for the day, your dreams seem so vivid and controllable. It's probably because of how you've grown up since adolescence.

For example, years of mental conditioning, such as learning how to solve a type of math problem, definately can prepare you for such an ability with dreams. You work and work at the problem, getting frustrated at not being able to solve it. FINALLY, at the end of the day, you understand how to solve it. But alas, you're tired, bored, and annoyed by the other problems. However, seeing there's only 15 left to do, you're mind takes control. You can do the math and get it done with some satisfaction for once.

Your ability to control your dream, choose where to go, what to do, may be a product of your struggle in what ever is going on in life. With exams and such taking place, just comming home and going to bed puts your mind to ease, but also gives a sense of dominance as, "Oh, calculuus can't touch me in here! God I'm through with THAT exam. Now for some fun of my own."

In the end, relief. Your mind is letting off pressure and steam from the days work.

That's a pretty in-depth analysis! I haven't really thought of it that way, I certainly don't remember if I worked really hard during any day and had a lucid dream at night. I suppose there is some sense in that.

Also, I was told that it is impossible to see writing in dreams. I swear thats not true, I have had two dreams where I saw writing, and I was reading them out very carefully. I also had one dream where I was writing my own name with a blue pen. my handwriting looked really horrible but it did spell my name!

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I've had numerous (non-lucid) dreams where the images are so vivid I remember them well and I remember what I was thinking during them. I think, the only step I need to take to make them lucid is to think against the natural flow of the dream. You need some kind of desire, some images in the dream that makes you want something or want to do something. If it comes true or if you can make it come true then you realize you are dreaming, and you can then take control. The hard part is to concentrate on what you want without regaining consciousness. It works for me anyway, strange that the little bit of logic stays with me, since most dreams lack any kind of logic and yet I can find them perfectly acceptable (at least when I'm in the dream).

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.