When I sat down to write this post, I thought about what had inspired me to learn to lucid dream about a decade ago. At the time I think I thought I was exploring a new topic because it was something I had read about when I was a teenager. If I’m completely honest with myself I’m quite certain it was the opportunity for escapism that was enticing for me. I was really struggling with ill health at that time and my social life and mobility had been greatly reduced. Also I was going through an intense time of trying out different treatments, so I imagine a chance to escape to not only a world where I had control but was able to do anything would have seemed really appealing. It’s not just me though; escapism is definitely one of the reasons many people choose to learn lucid dreaming. This can be a great stress reliever, but can be bad if you’re using your dreams to escape facing and dealing real problems. Even I had to deal with the emotions about my changed circumstances eventually, but the dreams helped me to do this.
One of the benefits of lucid dreaming is discovering who you are. What scares you and why? One of the recurring dreams that I have had several times a year for years is where I was in my parents’ house and a huge lion would come padding around the corner from the kitchen towards me as I entered the dining room. In the dream I would turn around and run up the stairs and I could feel myself shaking from fear and from the adrenaline pumping in me and I just knew the lion was right behind me ready to attack me. This dream scared me so much and even after I learned to lucid dream, it was a while before I felt comfortable enough to be lucid in that dream. To cut a long story short, from first not running from the lion and then proceeding to interacting with him I realised that the lion represented a part of me that I was terrified of. Since I did the work with that dream five years ago, I have never had it again.
So, that’s bad dreams, but what about the good ones? In one of my first lucid dreams, I found myself standing on a street I did not know. I decided to explore the area and found a museum with the most bizarre and wonderful art work in it. I began to think “What if I could write this picture?” and so much of my creative writing was inspired by those types of dreams. So lucid dreaming can enhance creativity. Just ask people like James Cameron (‘Avatar’), Christopher Nolan (‘Inception’) and The Wachowski brothers (‘The Matrix’) all of whom are self-confessed lucid dreamers that have drawn on their dream work for their creative ventures.
Other people have been known to use their lucid dreams as a safe environment to practice something they would not feel comfortable doing in real life, and in doing so they increase their confidence levels. Or some people even have conversations with themselves either face to face, or they call themselves on a phone in the lucid dream and they have reported receiving some great insights. The lucid dream world can be a place where you can control everything that happens, but that doesn’t mean nothing unique or different happens there. It just means that you have that level of security to know that if you walk down that street at night or open that mysterious door or speak to that person, no matter what happen, you’ll have the power to deal with it.
I firmly believe that in our waking life it is our fears that stop us from exploring or trying different things. How much can we achieve and learn if we weren’t forever hindered by our own fears? Yes, a certain level of fear is healthy, but not when it comes to tackling problems in our relationships, or making that career change, or looking at who we really are. So, lucid dreams definitely give you the environment and the tools to do that.
Lucid Dreaming Series:
- Read ‘Part 1: What is Lucid Dreaming?‘ →
- Read ‘Part 2: What Are the Benefits of Lucid Dreaming?‘ →
- Read ‘Part 3: How to Lucid Dream‘ →