butterflydreaming: "Cris", in blocks with a blinking cat (Parsol Girls)
butterflydreaming ([personal profile] butterflydreaming) wrote2006-03-02 04:48 pm
Entry tags:

Something like Lucid

Last night/this morning I did something I have wanted to do since I first heard it could be done: lucid dreaming. Or something like.

I frequently have dreams where I am intensely thirsty. It becomes the focus and goal of the dream, no matter how it starts, to quench that thirst. They are very active dreams where I try to solve the problem; I think of places where I can find water (always water, nothing else) and look for them. I remember one where I went to a bar that was closed, cajoled a waitress to bring me a glass of water, then when that didn't help, to let me into the restroom. Because no matter what I drink -- tap, rainwater, water from a stream -- nothing relieves the thirst because I really am physically thirsty. I don't wake easily from these dreams.

When I wake up, I feel extra tired and just awful. Usually my mouth and throat are like paper. The last time this happened, I thought to myself that I really need to realize the cue and wake up.

This morning, the thirsty dream happened between when I got up to take care of the cat and before the alarm, so I don't think my sleep was as deep. I was in a small, cramped public restroom. I could feel the slightly colder than room temp water pouring into my cupped hands from the sink faucet, and before I even tried to drink it, I was aware that I was dreaming. That the water couldn't slake my thirst confirmed it. I thought to myself that I needed to look for the exit, and then I would wake up.

There was no outer door to the restroom, only several stalls, but I told myself that if I decided that the way out was beyond the stall door that it would be -- and it worked! I imagined a hallway. What I found was a dark, short hall, with the sense that it would lead me not to another room, but to consciousness.

For a brief moment the hall became a large space empty of everything (light, walls, up, down) and then I was awake!

I was so excited. I *knew* that I was dreaming, and I made myself wake up! That's lucid dreaming, from what I understand, or at the very least, the beginning of learning how.

I was going to write this in my private journal, not here, but I didn't have any time this morning and I won't be home until late tonight.

[identity profile] adventurat.livejournal.com 2006-03-03 01:22 am (UTC)(link)
That is very cool!

Also, maybe you should drink more fluids?

[identity profile] butterflydrming.livejournal.com 2006-03-04 12:48 am (UTC)(link)
LOL. I don't know why I sometimes get so thirsty. The last few days here have been drier than usual.

[identity profile] laurus-nobilis.livejournal.com 2006-03-03 01:39 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, that's great! I've always wanted to do that, too...

I did realize I was dreaming once, but I woke up immediately (not because I tried to wake up - it just happened).

[identity profile] primal-shout.livejournal.com 2006-03-03 03:44 am (UTC)(link)
congrats! that's very cool :)
i used to lucid dream a lot but haven't done so lately... it's fun though

[identity profile] cyberwuzzle.livejournal.com 2006-03-03 12:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Cool! Lucid dreaming can happen anytime, but often it happens nearer the time you wake for the day.

In the years I pursued lucid dreaming very seriously, (and events related to lucid dreaming), what worked best was if I'd get up at around 5am and do something to wake myself up a bit...go sit in the living room for a few minutes, get a glass of water, whatever. Then I'd return to sleep, holding the intention to go lucid as I drifted to sleep.

*shrug* Worked for me, anyway.

[identity profile] amheriksha.livejournal.com 2006-03-06 06:58 am (UTC)(link)
Sometimes I manage to realize that I'm dreaming, and then are trapped in the dream. I try to wake up, but each time I wake up in another dream that always has something off about it from the real world. Was weird. ^ ^''