Tuesday, March 11, 2014

ASAP Tuesday: Lucid Dreaming

Last week was pretty busy for me. Extra hours at work and extra hours at play were both contributors to my exhaustion come Friday night. 

Usually when I have a week like this, my weekend has a strict agenda of the following:

- Zero alarms
- Quality workouts
- Expensive almond milk latte's
- All of the internet time on the couch

Something I also notice happening on weekends like this is that my mind is finally allowed to detach from the worries and the pressures and just gets to wander. Which, thankfully, leads to a ton of un-interrupted rest. In bed sometime around 10pm each night then waking up to party texts and snapchats in the morning. 

Uninterrupted rest also leads to dreaming.

Dreaming is a funny thing to me. I don't always feel like I remember my dreams - but the ones I do remember often bother me. I'm bothered that I'm smarter and richer and funnier in my dreams. I'm also bothered that I'm often chasing something I can never quite catch which according to a few sources means that I feel like I've fallen behind or am missing something from my life. When you're trying to get over someone or something, the most counterproductive thing you can do is find yourself creating a fantasy world in your subconscious. 

Enter Lucid Dreaming! The phenomenon of being able to train yourself to realize that you are dreaming and control the scenes that play out in your sleepy memories. 

Set pen and paper by your bed, and begin to record what you were dreaming about the moment you wake up. This way you can train yourself to remember more from the dream, and ultimately reach the point where you can recognize that a dream is a dream. From there, you can eliminate a character from the story or at least not think that you will always have harry potter magic when you wake up. How cruel, dreams! 

Wanna try it with me? 

13 comments

Kathy@MoreCoffeeLessTalky said...

i haven't dreamt in a LONG time. i'm usually so exhausted by 9pm that i when i sleep, i sleep like the dead so no dreams.

-kathy | Vodka and Soda

Kym @ Travel Babbles said...

I hardly ever have dreams - the only time I do is basically when I'm having nightmares after having dairy before bed or if I watch too much 24 or CSI lol

Rachel Sedaker said...

I always have really vivid dreams and remember most of them. Sometimes it would be nice to control them (when they're scary or involve people I don't want to think about), but some are so zany I wouldn't want to change them at all. The other night I dreamt I was at the Vatican with my dad and he was messing with a mechanical sculpture and some Italian guard was yelling at him and he was trying to sneak away. And then there was a huge buffet of chocolate and cookies.

Tracey said...

This is such a cool post! I have really vivid and weird dreams most nights.

brooke lyn said...

if i could control my dreams Ryan G would be in them every night.

BLovedBoston said...

I always get really upset when I have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the dream - I literally run back to bed and will myself back into the dream!! I've never heard of lucid dreaming, but it's super interesting!!

Jordan said...

I dream every night and they are very random. I dropped out of college when I was 19 or 20 and for the last few years I had the recurring "back in school" dream where I couldn't find my classroom or realized everyone was turning in some huge assignment that I didn't know about. Upon looking it up, it was my subconscious telling me how much I regretted not finishing college. I'm back and have only had the dreams a couple of times! Strange how that works.

Amanda Elizabeth - Meet @ the Barre said...

I have never heard of lucid dreaming. I don't like remembering my dreams....you think I'm odd in real life...the things I dream about....bizarre!!!

Kate @ Another Clean Slate said...

I rarely remember my dreams but I'd love to be able to "control" the ones I do remember!

Katie Elizabeth said...

I've heard of this before but I rarely remember my dreams! I usually only remember them when my husband is out of town because then I'm dreaming about people breaking in and kidnapping me, ha!

his little lady said...

I've always wanted to keep a little journal about my dreams. They are always the craziest! Love this idea :)
xo TJ

http://www.hislittlelady.com

MacKensie said...

I've been having all kinds of dreams lately and they're never ever good ones. I dreamt I let Ziggy drown on accident by leaving her on a floaty in the middle of a lake... :(

Amanda - Voyage of the MeeMee said...

I have CRAZY lucid dreams! I can tell myself to do things in them... it's BIZARRE!