Friday, 11 November 2011

DayDreams And Dreams!

A mix of all my hard work.

Daydreaming is classified as a level of consciousness between sleep and wakefulness.  Studies show that you have the tendency to daydream an average of 70-120 minutes a day. It occurs during  waking hours when you let your imagination carry you away. As your mind begins to wander and your level of awareness decreases, you lose yourself in your imagined scenario and fantasy.   Click here for a more in depth look at daydreams.        
False Awakening Dreams
Have you ever thought you have waken up and gone about your daily morning routine: getting up, brushing your teeth, eating breakfast and going to work, only to wake up "again" and realize that what just happened is just a dream. That sensation is referred to as a false awakening.   
Lucid dreams occur when you realize you are dreaming. "Wait a second. This is only a dream!" Most dreamers wake themselves up once they realize that they are dreaming. Other dreamers have cultivated the skill to remain in the lucid state of dreaming. They become an active participant in their own dreams, making decisions in their dreams and influencing the dream's outcome without awakening.   Click here for a more in depth look at lucid dreams.     
A nightmare is a disturbing dream that causes you to wake up feeling anxious and frightened. Nightmares may be a response to real life trauma and situations. These type of nightmares fall under a special category called Post-traumatic Stress Nightmare (PSN). Nightmares may also occur because you have ignored or refused to accept a particular life situation. Research shows that most people who have regular nightmares have a family history of psychiatric problems, are involved in a rocky relationship or have had bad drug experiences. These people may have also contemplated suicide.  Nightmares are an indication of a fear that needs to be acknowledged and confronted. It is a way for the subconscious to wake up and take notice. "Pay attention!"   Click here for a more in depth look at nightmares.  
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Recurring dreams repeat themselves with little variation in story or theme.  These dreams may be positive, but most often they are nightmarish in content.  Dreams may recur because a conflict depicted in the dream remains unresolved or  ignored. Once you find a resolution to the problem, your recurring dreams will cease.  Click here for a more in depth look of recurring dreams..   
Healing dreams serve as messages for the dreamer in regards to their health. The Ancient Greeks called these dreams "prodromic". Many dream experts believe that dreams can help in avoiding potential health problems and healing when you are ill or when you are grieving. Research shows that asthma and migraine sufferers have certain types of dreams before an attack. Your bodies are able to communicate to your mind through dreams. The dreams can "tell" you that something is not quite right with your bodies even before any physical symptoms show up. Dreams of this nature may be telling the dreamer that he or she needs to go to the dentist or doctor. If you can understand the language of dreams, your dreams will serve as an invaluable early warning system. They can help inform, advise and heal
Prophetic dreams, also referred to as precognitive or psychic dreams, are dreams that seemingly foretell the future.  One rational theory to explain this phenomenon is that your dreaming mind is able to piece together bits of information and observation that you may normally overlook or that you do not seriously consider. In other words, your unconscious mind knows what is coming before you consciously piece together the same information.  Click here for a more in depth look at prophetic dreams.    
Signal dreams help you how to solve problems or make decisions in your waking life.   
Epic dreams (also referred to as Great Dreams, Cosmic Dreams or Numinous Dreams) are so huge, so compelling, and so vivid that you cannot ignore them. The details of such dreams remain with you for years, as if you just dreamt it last night. These dreams possess much beauty and contain many archetypal symbology.  When you wake up from such a dream, you feel that you have discovered something profound or amazing about yourself or about the world. It feels like a lie-changing experience.  Learn more on how to recognize an epic dream, by clicking here. 
Progressive dreams occur when you have a sequence of dreams that continue over a period of nights. The dream continues where you left off the previous night. Such dreams are problem-solving dreams and help to explore different options and various approaches to a problem, situation or relationship.  TOP  
Mutual dreams are described as such when two people have the same dream. Mutual dreams may be planned, meaning that two people actively work toward achieving one dream scenario or goal. It is a way to improve communication and build trust. Mutual dreams can also be spontaneous. You find out that a friend, a significant other, faraway relative, or someone has had the same dream on the same night as you. Not much study has gone into the phenomenon of mutual dreams, but there is a very strong bond that exist between these two people.  
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Athletic Running Dreams


"I'm Being Chased!"
Chase dreams are one of several common dream themes, stemming from feelings of anxiety in your waking life. Flee and flight is an instinctive response to a physical threat in the environment. In such dreams, the scenario often features you being pursued by an attacker, an animal, a monster or an unknown figure, who wants to hurt or possibly kill you. Consequently, you run, you hide or you try to outwit your pursuer. Your actions in the dream parallel how you would respond to pressure and cope with fears, stress or various situations in your waking life. Instead of confronting the situation, your dream indicates that you have a tendency to run away and avoid the issue. Ask yourself who is chasing you, so that you can gain a better understanding and insight on the source of your fears and anxieties.

The pursuer or attacker who is chasing you in your dream may also represent an aspect of yourself. Your own feelings of anger, jealousy, fear, and possibly love, can manifest itself as the threatening figure. Or the shadowy figure can symbolize the rejected characteristics of your Self. You may be projecting these feelings onto the unknown chaser. Next time you have a dream of being chased, turn around and confront your pursuer. Ask them why they are chasing you. What are you trying to run from?

If you are the one doing the chasing, then the dream may highlight your drive and ambition to go after something you want. Or perhaps the dream suggests that you are falling behind and having to catch up with everyone else.

Consider the distance or gap between you and your pursuer. This indicates your closeness to the issue. If the pursuer is gaining on you, then it suggests that the problem is not going to go away. The problem will surround you, until you confront and address it. However, if you are able to widen the gap between your pursuer, then you are able to successfully distance yourself from the problem. In essence, the problem is fading away.

A more direct analysis of chase dreams is the fear of being attacked. Such dreams are more common among women than men, who may feel physically vulnerable in the urban environment. These dreams are often brought about by the media, who magnifies fears of violence and sexual assault.
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Lucid Dreaming; Flying Dreams


"I'm Flying"

Flying dreams fall under a category of dreams known as lucid dreams. Lucid dreams occur when you become aware that you are dreaming. Many dreamers describe the ability to fly in their dreams as an exhilarating, joyful, and liberating experience.If you are flying with ease and are enjoying the scene and landscape below, then it suggests that you are on top of a situation. You have risen above something. It may also mean that you have gained a new and different perspective on things. Flying dreams and the ability to control your flight is representative of your own personal sense of power.Having difficulties staying in flight indicates a lack of power in controlling your own circumstances. You may be struggling to stay aloft or stay on set course. Things like power lines, trees, or mountains may be obstacles that you encounter in flight. These obstacles symbolize something or someone who is standing in your way in your waking life. You need to identify what or who is trying to prevent you from moving forward. Difficulty flying may also be an indication of a lack of confidence or some hesitation on your part. You need to believe in yourself and not be afraid.If you are feeling fear when you are flying or that you are flying too high, then it suggests that you are afraid of challenges and of success. Perhaps you are not ready to take the next step.In reality, we cannot really fly, of course. Thus, such dreams can be representative of things that are beyond your physical limitations. In your mind, you can be anybody and do anything. Another way of interpreting flying dreams is that these dreams symbolize your strong mind and will. You feel undefeatable and that nobody can tell you what you cannot do and accomplish. Such dreams are sure to leave you with a great sense of freedom.

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Causes Of Nightmares

Hurray! My tenth post. I'm gonna make this special.

Causes Of Nightmares
In general, stress, trauma, fears, insecurities, feelings of inadequacy, health problems, marital issues, etc may all be reasons for having nightmares:
Childhood and Family - Present nightmares can be rooted in past neglect and trauma from childhood. From lack of love, neglect, alcoholism, to severe abuse, family members can be the most destructive influence on a person's life. Nightmares may be a sign of such inner turmoil.
Life - The way your life is going and the larger society as a whole can contribute to nightmares. Your perception of the world, heath, natural disasters, criticism about politics, finances, crime in the streets and your inability to control such events may sometimes lead to nightmares. 
Relationships - Your intimate relationships and  your daily interactions with people can also be a source of your nightmares.  Marital difficulties or pregnancy are other possible causes. You may be paranoid about how your think others perceive you or fear that others do not understand and see who you really are. Isolation and unhappiness may appear in nightmares as abandonment and loneliness.
Stress - The way you handle and deal with stress can trigger nightmares. Nightmares are a normal response to unacceptable levels of fear and stress. People diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder frequently have nightmares about their traumatic event, like war, rape, death of a loved one, car accident, plane crash, terrorism, etc. 
Work - Since most of us spend the majority of our day at work, it is no surprise that work-related issues are a common source for your nightmares. Stress, job security (or there lack of), change in jobs, co-workers,  unresolved work problems, or general dissatisfaction with what you do can manifest into a nightmare. The nightmare may reflect feelings of frustration and an inability to control your work-related issues. People in high-stress level or high-risk jobs often report of having nightmares. Nightmares of this nature may appear as you being attacked, chased, or being out of control.
Having nightmares are normal, but a high frequency of nightmares is a sign of being overwhelmed and excessive stress. These things should be dealt with directly. Nightmares can be an important resource for self-knowledge and emotional discovery. They convey an important message and help clear up the conflict in your life. it is important to distance yourself and work pass the emotional content (fear, grief, anger, etc.) of your nightmare and analyze it from an objective perspective. The disturbing emotions may be a way for your unconscious to prevent you from digging deep into the meaning of your nightmares.  Sometimes rehearsing or reliving the nightmare while you are awake and then changing the nightmare's content or outcome helps to dismantle the nightmare, breaking it down. It also helps to write your nightmares down in a journal. Although it may be difficult at times, it pays to try and make sense of those darker dreams.
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Sexual Dreams


Even in this sexually ‘open’ age, people are often worried because they've had dreams with a sexual content. In particular, it can be very disturbing if, in a dream, you do something that would be totally shocking for you in real life! For instance, a woman who leads an extremely chaste and respectable life may be troubled by dreams in which she has rampaging sex with dozens of handsome males.
Similarly, a man who prides himself on being 'straight' and who actually dislikes homosexuals, may be quite shattered to find that he has dreams in which he is engaging in sexual fondling with some good-looking guy!
However, a lot of people are not disturbed by their sexual dreams and simply enjoy them for what they are. This is normally the best attitude to take.

Why do we have sexual dreams?

We dream because of the intense activity that is constantly going on in our subconscious minds. And since sex is one of the most powerful of all human drives, it's not surprising that so many dreams have a strong sexual content.
If we have deep urges to do certain things, they are highly likely to come out in our dreams – where our consciences cannot prevent them happening.

But isn't it true that our consciences 'censor' sexy dreams?

Yes. The mind has something called a 'dream censor', which tends to 'clean up' dreams.
So, if a person who has a very strict puritanical outlook starts to have a sexy dream, their dream censor may alter that dream so that very 'rude' things are replaced by symbols.
Thus, a man of strict sexual morals may have a deep, unconscious desire to have sex with beautiful women. Instead of dreaming about vaginas, he will keep dreaming about tunnels and subways. Instead of dreaming about breasts he will dream about pleasant hillocks and mounds - and so on.
Similarly, a woman whose sexual morality is very strict won't dream of penises. Instead, she'll dream of penile symbols, like:
  • church spires
  • rockets
  • cigars
  • tall chimneys.
However, in our experience, this kind of 'dream symbolism' seems to be less common than it used to be. People are less 'hung up' than they were a generation or so ago - which is why they tend to dream about explicit sex, rather than symbols.

Do people have orgasms in dreams?

Definitely! Women don't do this very often, but it does happen - especially at times when they're 'highly charged' sexually.
When we were writing our book The Big 'O' (Hodder: 1995), a sizeable number of women reported to us that their first ever orgasm was in a dream.
However, it's more common for women just to get very excited during a dream – and then to wake up on the brink of orgasm and 'finish themselves off' by self-stroking.

What about men?

Most males (though not all) have many erotic dreams in their teens, 20s and 30s. The frequency of these dreams tends to get less with age, but a lot of sexually-charged males continue to experience pleasant erotic dreams far into their 60s and 70s.
In men, erotic dreams are very commonly 'wet dreams' – in other words, ones in which the guy reaches orgasm and ejaculates.
This can be quite an embarrassment for a young man, especially if he keeps on staining the sheets. But there is nothing that can be done to stop wet dreams. If stains are a problem, it's not a bad idea to wear shorts in bed.
However, in the case of very young males who produce large quantities of semen, staining of the sheets is almost impossible to avoid. Sleeping on a really thick towel may be helpful.

Are wet dreams harmful?

A lot of young men who are of Asian extraction believe that they are. They have been told – often by friends – that loss of semen weakens the body or shortens one’s life. But this is quite untrue. Wet dreams are just the body's natural response to its hormones – much as periods occur in women.

What should you do about disturbing sex dreams?

Most sex dreams are fun, and should just be enjoyed. Sometimes they involve activities that you may feel you'd never get up to in real life – like lesbianism or homosexuality. But this doesn't matter.
However, some people do get very distressing sex dreams – about such disturbing subjects as incest, violence or rape. If this keeps on happening to you, then there must be some psychological reason behind it.
If you are upset by these dreams, and you want to find out the reason for them, then it would be best to consult a therapist. Traditionally, those therapists with analytic backgrounds have been more in tune with – and experienced in – people's dream worlds. But some hypnotherapists are adept at helping a person gain control of their dreams by 're-designing' them during hypnosis so that they end differently and are therefore less disturbing.
There are two articles on this site that will help if you want to find a suitable therapist.

Dreams of love

Sometimes people have dreams where they are being taken care of, or loved very deeply, or cuddled – dreams that are not overtly sexual but which leave the dreamer feeling very drawn to the person in the dream who was being so affectionate.
These dreams can leave an individual feeling very shaken up and confused because often the 'love interest' in the dream is not a regular partner.
In our experience, these dreams can tell us a great deal. We believe that they are often there as some manifestation that all is not entirely well with our current situation. They often express a hankering for a loving experience that is absent from a marriage or long-term relationship.
If you have this kind of dream and feel disturbed by it, you may want to see a relationship therapist to explore why you are having these dreams.
Of course we all have dreams in which incongruous things happen with people we are not attached to in real life, but when these dreams haunt our waking moments through the next day and beyond, it is wise to take note of the possible message behind them.
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Why Do We Dream?


Did you know that by age 60 you will sleep 175,200 hours, dream 87,000 hours with 197,100 dreams? There are a significant number of people who remember their dreams but a very small percentage who are aware of what their dreams mean. Our vision here at the School of Metaphysics is to educate people about their dreams through columns such as this one, books, the annual National Dream Hotline®, and through our classes. 
There are several questions that people tend to ask about dreams. For instance, why do we dream and where do dreams come from? Your dreams tell you about your present state of awareness, this is why we dream. Dreams come from an inner place we call the subconscious mind and are presented to you in images which, when interpreted in the Universal Language of Mind, become personally relevant to you and your life. The meaning of these nighttime messages can literally change your life.
When studying dreams and learning to interpret them, you need to know the two universal principles which apply to everyone, everywhere, at all times. The first of these principles is that every dream is about the dreamer. The second principle is that every person, place and thing in the dream is the dreamer. We as human beings are very multi-faceted. A great majority of us are only aware of a small part of who we are. You can learn to expand your awareness of yourself by learning to interpret your dreams.
People in your dreams represent aspects of yourself. An aspect can be defined as a certain way in which you think and express. When you are dreaming of someone of the same sex [for example a woman is dreaming of another woman] this person symbolizes an aspect of your conscious mind. These are the ways in which you express yourself while awake. A person of the opposite sex symbolizes an aspect of your inner Self. The way to identify these aspects is to imagine yourself describing them to someone else. Here is an example: You are dreaming about a co-worker of the same sex. In your daily life you perceive this acquaintance as being compassionate, generous, and strong. These are the qualities of self (your Self) which are being addressed in the dream. You might not use these qualities to describe yourself, yet they are being brought out in your dream because your subconscious mind wants you to see that they are a part of your character. This is one way dreams expand our awareness -- we learn that we possess qualities we may not have known we had. 
A question often asked is, “Why do we dream?” Some theories state that dreams are a way in which we release stress. If this were true, then more people (especially those who are stressed-out) would remember their dreams. Remember that dreams come from the inner you, more specifically they are communications from your subconscious mind. All day long we are busy moving through our waking lives, taking in sensations from all around ourselves. During our nighttime slumber our conscious mind is stilled, providing us with the opportunity to receive communication from our subconscious mind.
You might ask, “Why is it so important that we receive information from our subconscious mind?” Our subconscious mind holds all of our understandings which we have gained either through this lifetime or other lifetimes. It has messages to share with the outer self that are rich with knowledge and wisdom. Our inner mind is our best friend, revealing to us the truth of our present state of thinking and expression. 
Others have asked, “Do we dream every night, because I rarely remember my dreams?” Yes, we do dream every night. Actually we dream several times in one night, as you might have figured out from the statistics given at the beginning of this column. We dream in ninety minute cycles. Most people do not know how to release their attention from their day’s activities when they go to sleep. They find themselves restless, tossing and turning throughout the night. If continued this restlessness forces the person to remain in a shallow level of sleep. Dreams occur in the deeper stages of sleep which means that one needs to learn how to relax and remove attention from the worries and concerns of the day in order to receive from the subconscious mind.
If you are one of those individuals who suffers from insomnia, or if you wake up feeling more tired than you did before you went to bed, there is a solution. Practice each day in every moment releasing your attention from your past situations and people in your life. Practice saying to yourself, “I am here right now and will give my full attention to what I am doing.” It will also help to practice relaxation exercises such as deep breathing exercises. To do this you take in a deep breath, filling your lungs full with air, hold the breath for a count of six, then release the breath slowly through your mouth. Attempt to remain breathless for a count of six. Repeat these steps for ten minutes each night before going to bed.
When you wake up in the morning record your dreams. If you don’t remember a dream, record the first thoughts you had as you were waking up. This will stimulate you to capture those precious messages from your best friend, your soul.
Sweet Dreams.•
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Dream related questions

All of my fans have been asking, i should post dream related questions. Since i have nothing to do,i shall go with you.

It is not at all unusual for a person to have more than one dream per night. In fact, it is perfectly normal! The trick is remembering all your dreams. Some people have trouble remembering one single dream, let alone multiple dreams. 
No, a person does not spend the entire night dreaming. A person spends about two hours in the dream state per night. A person moves through the four stages of the sleep cycle throughout the night. The final stage of the sleep cycle (referred to as REM sleep) is where dreaming occurs. Each cycle of sleep lasts anywhere from 60-90 minutes and then repeats itself throughout the night.
Everybody dreams! This is a scientifically proven fact. Research has shown that all human beings in a study exhibit brain activity during their sleep. Just because you cannot remember your dreams does not mean that you do not dream. So why is it that some people don't remember their dream? This may be attributed to alcohol consumption, certain antibiotics, fever, lack of sleep or too much sleep, high levels of stress, and/or unconscious fears about the content of your dreams. Some researchers believe that certain people have a genetic disposition to forget their dreams as they come out of their sleep. 
Dreams often reflect our experiences and life concerns. For this reason, children's dreams are different then the dreams of adults. The dreams of young children (3-5 year olds) usually have no real story line or any strong emotional content. Children around this age also frequently experience nightmares relating to their fears (strangers, monsters, loud noises, etc.) By the time children reaches their teen years, their dream patterns are matched closer to that of adults.
There is no scientific proof that dreams can predict and foretell the future. Yes, many people have had dreams that eventually came true afterwards. This can be explained in how we unconsciously gather little information here and there and when you have a dream, it puts together all this unconscious information before you are consciously able to do so. In short, you unconsciously already know what was going to happen and it only appears as if the dream had predicted the future. Another explanation is that such dream are mere coincidences or is the faulty memory of the dreamer.
This is still an unresolved topic amongst researchers as to the reason we have dreams. One theory suggests that dreams serve as a means for cleansing and release. During the day, we may hold back our feelings and repress our anger. Thus dreams serve as a safe outlet for us to release our negative emotions. Another theory says that dreams is a biologically necessary aspect of sleep. Research has shown that people who were prevented from entering the dream state and woken up before they can dream were more easily irritated, jittery, and performed far below average.  I believe these are two theories summarize why we dream.

Yes, dreams have a significance. The images in our dreams always contain hidden meaning which goes far beyond the outer appearance. The language of dreams is symbolic and not to be taken literally. The significance of dreams is personal and dependent on your own personal experiences. However, there are many universal symbols.
Dreaming about the same person over and over again could just mean that you are thinking about that person a lot in real life. It is thus natural that they also appear in your dream life. Your dream is telling you that it is time to let this person know how you feel, especially if you are dreaming of him or her in a good way. Only good things can happen from you telling him or her. Even if he or she is not interested, at least you can move on from the crush.
Dreams that recur (or repeat themselves) is a clear indication that some issue is not being confronted or that it has not yet been resolved.  Your anxieties about a certain situation that you are struggling with may also cause you to have recurring dreams.
Most people do dream in color, but some may not notice or remember colors in their dreams. Because color is such a natural part of our visual experience, we sometimes overlook it in our dreams. Another reason is poor memory recall and how our dreams fade so quickly from our minds that we may only be able to recall the dream in shades of gray. Dreams that are in black and white are an indication of a depressed or saddened mood.
I have never heard that the more senses you experience in your dream is correlated with your intelligence. The way we process our senses varies from individual to individual and does not necessarily have to do with intelligence. However, it is correct to say that most people recall the visual and auditory aspects of their dreams. Touch, smell, and taste tend to be secondary unless it happens to be a central component of the dream, or unless the person is visually impaired. In this case, sense of touch and/or smell will dominate. 
Similar to humans, all other mammals exhibit the same brain activity during sleep.  But the extent and nature of their dreams is another question. For obvious reasons, we cannot ask an animal the content of their dream.
Yes, the REM stage of sleep is where you achieve your deepest sleep. It is also the final stage in the sleep cycle. REM which stands for Rapid Eye Movement is so called because in this stage of sleep, your eyes move rapidly back and forth under your eyelids. It is also in REM sleep that you experience all your vivid, and sometimes bizarre dreams.
Whenever you suppress your feelings throughout the day, it has a very good chance of showing up in your dream. For example, if you wanted to express your anger toward someone and then refrain from doing so, then your suppressed anger may show up in your dream in some symbolic form. Traumatic experiences also have a way to affect the content of your dreams.
If, by dream patterns, you mean brain wave activity while in the dream state, then the answer is no. There are no differences between male and female dream patterns. However, if your are referring to the content of the dream, then the answer is yes. Studies have shown that men tend to dream more about men, while women dream about both men and women equally. This makes perfect sense when you think about it. Dreams are often seen as aspect of yourselves. For a man to dream about a woman, indicates that he is acknowledging some feminine aspect of his own self, which may be difficult for men to admit that they have a softer feminine side to begin with.
It is not a question of whether or not it is normal to remember only your nightmares, but why you remember your nightmares as opposed to your other dreams. Nightmares are much easier to remember for several reasons. First nightmares are vivid, frightening, and often jolt you awake. Whenever you are awakened in the REM stage of sleep, you are much more likely to recall the events of your nightmare. Secondly, nightmares tend to occur in the early morning hours, when you are about to wake up. Remembering your dreams can take some effort on your part and not a question of normality.

Having a dream within a dream may be safer and more acceptable way to express material from your unconscious. The dream within a dream protects you, the dreamer from waking up. Such dreams often reflect a hidden but crucial issue which you need to acknowledge and confront.
Yes, it is possible to experience death in your dreams. Dreams of death often occur as a result of great stress caused by relationships, school, career changes, depression or by the approach of death itself.  Death in dreams may also be viewed as a metaphor - as a new beginning or a time of renewal. Judging from your question, I am assuming you never have had a dream about dying.
On a symbolic level, yes it is possible to connect and interact with people through dreams. The dreaming mind serves as a "rehearsal" for what you want to say to this person in real life. In this regard, your dreams definitely help you to better connect with the person. Your dreams can offer a way to help you and show you how to talk to certain people.

As for whether two people can actually to talk to each other through their dreams, that still remains to be research. This phenomenon is described as dream telepathy, a form of psychic or paranormal dreams.  There are stories of people who are extremely close, i.e. twins or mother/child, being able to communicate via their dreams.  
There is actually a term to describe what you are experiencing in your dream. It is called myclonic jerks. Many who dream that they are falling sometimes jerk or twitch their legs/arms and end up waking themselves up. There is no concrete reason as to why this happens. One theory is that it is our instinctive response for what the brain perceives as a potentially dangerous situation. Sometimes dreams are so real that the brain believes that you are really falling or in some sort of danger. And hence the brain sends signals to the body to start "fleeing".
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Number Of Dreams In A Night

The average person has about 3 to 5 dreams per night, but some may have up to 7 dreams in one night. The dreams tend to last longer as the night progresses. During a full 8-hour night sleep, two hours of it is spent dreaming.
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Dream Recall

Even though not everyone remembers their dreams,we all dream at night. On the other hand, many of us always remember our dreams, even though we may or may not write them down or give them much attention. The biggest culprit of bad recall is often too much stress. Even if you are actively trying to remember your dreams, being under a lot of stress and not getting restful sleep can impact your ability to recall anything. 

Developing dream recall is the first step towards having lucid dreams. After all, what is the use of having a great lucid dream if you don't remember it after you wake up? It's very likely that you've already had lucid dreams in the past but didn't remember them. Other than that, learning to lucid dream often requires you to know your dreams well enough to find any differences between your dreams and your waking life. For example, if you dream about a certain person, place or thing that you never see in your waking life, you can use that as a cue to aid you in becoming lucid. This is called a dream-sign or dream-cue, which is covered in more detail in the next section.

Getting enough sleep at night is essential to improving your ability to recall your dreams. As long as you’re well rested you’ll find it easier to focus your intent on recalling your dreams and your ambition won’t be clouded by fatigue. It's beneficial to sleep when feeling mildly tired at night and not when on the verge of crashing out of exhaustion. Also, if you’re able to get plenty of sleep during the night it'll be easier to wake up repeatedly to record your dreams, which is exactly what you’ll have to do. Finally, as discussed in the section onstages of sleep, the REM periods get longer during the latter hours of sleep; thus sleeping for longer periods will give you more of an opportunity to waken from your dreams and remember them, and will also give you more information to record.

A dependable dream recall will help in many ways, so it’s important that you don’t develop it in a half-hearted manner. Simply waking up in the morning and trying to recall the dreams you had throughout the course of the night is not enough. During the night you will have many different dreams—at least one per REM period of sleep. The brain tends to erase memories of the previous dream during the intermediate stages between REM sleep. Thus, to salvage the memories of your dreams you’ll need to wake during or immediately after the REM periods, while the dreams are still fresh in your mind. To become proficient with dream recall you’ll need to be able to recall a few dreams per night. Losing a night here and there to stress or anxiety is understandable, but be careful not to fall into a rut. Waking during or shortly after REM periods is tricky, but there are a couple methods to aid in this. The first method simply involves attempting to time your awakening via an alarm clock so that you’ll wake up during a REM period. As discussed in the section on stages of sleep, the REM periods occur roughly every 90 minutes. Aiming for the latter REM periods (about 4.5, 6, or 7.5 hours into sleep) is best because those are the longest dream periods. The second method is similar but not as easy to regulate: drink a lot of water before going to bed.

To be able to eventually control your dreams you’re going to have to focus your intent on doing so. Therefore a better method of recalling your dreams is to focus your intent on remembering them before falling asleep, since this will prepare you for eventually attempting to control your dreams. You must be determined in your resolve and you should attempt to prevent extraneous thoughts from attenuating your intent. Verbally stating your desire to remember your dreams while falling asleep is the best way to accomplish this. It may sound silly but all you really need to do is talk yourself into remembering your dreams. Our minds are powerful instruments and even though it may seem that we lose control of them when we enter sleep, that's not entirely the case. Focus your intent to wake from your dreams and remember them just before you lie down, and continue to repeat your intent to yourself as you approach sleep. Repeat to yourself over and over, “I will wake from my dreams and completely remember them.” If you find your thoughts wandering as you slip into sleep, reaffirm your intent. You want your last thought before drifting off to sleep to be of your intent to awaken from your dreams and remember them.


Keeping a Dream Journal

When you wake up, try to make it a habit to think back on your dreams. If you wake up and immediately start thinking about the day ahead, the memories of your dreams will often be gone forever by the time you think to try remembering them. For most lucid dreamers, keeping a dream journal is the best and easiest way to help recall.

No matter how clear your dreams may seem upon waking during the night, you’ll have almost completely forgotten the previous ones when you again wake in the morning. A dream journal is the most common way of recording one's dreams. A dream journal is simply a writing pad that should be kept within reach of your bed (although other methods exist, such as using a tape recorder or personal computer). Upon waking, don’t allow your mind to drift—immediately attempt to focus on what you had just been dreaming, and write it down in the journal. Contemplate what you just experienced and attempt to put events in order. Often reliving the dream backwards will help: after remembering an event, ask yourself, “What was I doing before that?” Although it’s best to record as much as you can, realistically you may not want to reiterate the epic novel that is your dream at 4:00 a.m.; instead write down key points, such as what you were doing, where you were, and who was around you. Also, note anything strange—anything that wouldn’t normally happen in the waking world. If you find these strange events recur in your dreams, then they are your personal dream signs—you may be able to use these to help you induce lucid dreaming eventually. From here you should read the section on dream signs.

If you’re interested in sharing your dream journal with others, or reading the dream journals of others, then visit the Dream Journal forum on our message board. You may find the Dream Signs and Recall forums helpful as well.
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    Guide to remembering your dreams

    Remembering your dreams is the starting place for learning to have lucid dreams. If you don't recall your dreams, even if you do have a lucid dream, you won't remember it! And, in order to be able to recognize your dreams as dreams while they are happening, you have to be familiar with the way your own dreams work. Before it will be worth your time to work on lucid dream induction methods, you should be able to recall at least one dream every night.
    Getting plenty of sleep is the first step to good dream recall. If you are rested it will be easier to focus on your goal of recalling dreams, and you won't mind so much taking the time during the night to record your dreams. Another benefit of getting plenty of sleep is that dream periods get longer and closer together as the night proceeds. The first dream of the night is the shortest, perhaps 10 minutes in length, while after 8 hours of sleep, dream periods can be 45 minutes to an hour long. We all dream every night, about one dream period every 90 minutes. People who say they never dream simply never remember their dreams. You may have more than one dream during a REM (dream) period, separated by short arousals that are most often forgotten. It is generally accepted among sleep researchers that dreams are not recalled unless the sleeper awakens directly from the dream, rather than after going on to other stages of sleep.
    It can be useful while you are developing your dream recall to keep a complete dream journal. Keep the journal handy by your bed and record every dream you remember, no matter how fragmentary. Start by writing down all your dreams, not just the complete, coherent, or interesting ones--even if all you remember is a face or a room, write it down.
    When you awaken in the night and recall what you were dreaming, record the dream right away. If you don't, in the morning you may find you remember nothing about the dream, and you will certainly have forgotten many interesting details. We seem to have built-in dream erasers in our minds, which make dream experiences more difficult to recall than waking ones. So, whenever you remember a dream, write it down. If you don't feel like writing out a long dream story at 3 AM, note down key points of the plot. Also write down the precise content of any dialogue from the dream, because words will almost inevitably be forgotten in a very short time.
    Possibly, all you will need to do to increase your dream recall is to remind yourself as you are falling asleep that you wish to awaken fully from your dreams and remember them. This works in a similar manner to remembering to awaken at a certain time in the morning. Additionally, it may help to tell yourself you will have interesting, meaningful dreams. A major cause of dream forgetting is interference from other thoughts competing for your attention. Therefore, let your first thought upon awakening be, "What was I just dreaming?" Before attempting to write down the dream, go over the dream in your mind, re-telling the dream story to yourself. DO NOT MOVE from the position in which you awaken, and do not think of the day's concerns. Cling to any clues of what you might have been experiencing--moods, feelings, fragments of images, and try to rebuild a story from them. When you recall a scene, try to recall what happened before that, and before that, reliving the dream in reverse. If after a few minutes, all you remember is a mood, describe it in a journal. If you can recall nothing, try imagining a dream you might have had--note your present feelings, list your current concerns to yourself, and ask yourself, "Did I dream about that?" Even if you can't recall anything in bed, events or scenes of the day may remind you of something you dreamed the night before. Be ready to notice this when it happens, and record whatever you remember.
    If you find that you sleep too deeply to awaken from your dreams, try setting an alarm clock to wake you at a time when you are likely to be dreaming. Since our REM periods occur at approximately 90 minute intervals, good times will be multiples of 90 minutes after you go to sleep. Aim for the later REM periods by setting the alarm to go off at 4.5, 6, or 7.5 hours after you go to sleep. Once again, when you wake up, don't move and think first of what you were just dreaming before writing.
    To remind yourself of your intentions and get yourself into the spirit of your dreams, read through your dream journal at bedtime. Learning to remember your dreams may seem difficult at first, but if you persist, you will almost certainly succeed--and may find yourself remembering four or more dreams per night. Of course, once you reach this level, you probably won't want to write them all down--just the significant or compelling ones. And, the more familiar you become with the style of your own dreams, the easier it will be to remember you are dreaming while you are dreaming--and explore the world of your dreams while still on the scene.
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    How to have lucid dreams EVERY NIGHT!


    We are normally not in control when we are dreaming. Our dreams are controlled by our subconscious. However, lucid dreams are a class of dreams which can be consciously controlled by us while we are sleeping! Uncanny isn't it? In lucid dreams you can control each and every aspect of the dream from the kind of dream you want to the person or thing you want in the dream.
    In lucid dreaming, you can get as creative as you want, almost living a dual life once you have mastered how to recall the dreams. You can be the star of a movie where you experience romantic fantasy adventures on a desert island or some action hero that saves the day in lucid dreaming.
    While normal dreams may make you feel that you are not in control, lucid dreams have you in the controller's chair. At times lucid dreams can be so life like that you need to check whether it's a dream or the real world!
    To check whether you are dreaming or not, all you need to do is trying getting something to read. If the words constantly change making reading absolutely impossible then you can be rest assured that this is a lucid dream.
    The possibilities are endless when you are lucid dreaming and many people will dream of lost loves or other people that they wish they could be with, but it is impossible in real life because they are dead in real life, but alive in the lucid dream.
    When you are dreaming and you know that you are dreaming all you need to do is change it. For instance you can dream about your favorite rock star falling in love with you and getting crazy about you. You can even choreograph your dream to the extent that your rock star talks to you, touches you and makes you feel loved. The only tool you need is your limitless imagination!
    Lucid dreams can be brought about by simple techniques. While your body rests and relaxes for another day, your mind can be conscious.
    There are various methods to invoke lucid dreams which can be mastered over time and with constant application and persistence.
    You can begin by recalling your dream. Recall the images and express and remember each miniscule detail as poignantly as you can. Your bedside table should have a pen and paper ready to record your observations and images. Initially you may not be able to recall everything. However, you don't need to dwell on that. With practice your dream will repeat itself and that will enable you to completely record it. This method will help you to record all your lucid dreams and compile a manual which can be referred to when you want.
    Certain people, especially dream interpreters, for example, may find this information helpful in studying patterns of subject matter or emotions in lucid dreams that are remembered. The dream ends the way you want it to since you control the scene and actions so many use lucid dreams to fulfill ambitions they may not have realized in real life by lucid dreaming.
    Recalling more each time you try. When you wake up during a dream, sit and try remembering everything about the dream. Once you do that, then go to bed again and then try returning to the point in the dream where you woke up and carry on dreaming from there. These dreams repeat often so more you recall the more vivid your dream will become.
    In the late hours of the night or the early morning when sometimes our sleep is broken, that is the time you can try lucid dreaming. On retrospection it may look as if you have been thinking but in reality your mind was dreaming lucidly and your body rested.
    Most people are amazed at the ease that this can be mastered with. Self hypnosis can enhance lucid dreams and help in a detailed accurate recall.
    Several other options, like binaural beats, for example have been used to help induce a semi-conscious state that resembles or can put the brain into lucid dream mode almost instantly by using sound waves to coordinate and stimulate the proper portions of the brain for lucid dreaming.
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    Lucid Dreaming

    For dreaming to ease your stress, lucid dreaming may be the best solution to your problem. Lucid dreaming is nothing to be laughed at though. Lucid dreaming may make you have worse dreams. But with my help you'll be dreaming about princesses and loyalty to your pleasure.
    STEP BY STEP GUIDE:
    tip: If you have a computer , look at videos that are related to what you wanna dream.
    1) Be very sleepy if you want to make it easy.
    2) Make sure the room is pitch dark.
    3) If it isn't dark cover your eyes with your blanket or a eye mask.
    4) Close your eyes for 5 minutes and try to sleep but don't.
    5) Think about what you want to dream and nothing else. ETC : Going to an amusement park with friends.
    6) Close your eyes and think.
    7) You would be dreaming your lucid dream.
    <3 :) Thank you for reading.

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    Dreaming Since Young

    Hello,i'm Anne a 6th grader. I may be young but i know almost everything about dreaming.
    Since i was 11 i mastered Lucid Dreaming in a glimpse. I can do it without sleeping. So now i'll past the knowledge to you followers.
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