TLDS Guest Article:
Self Awareness in Lucid Dreams
Self awareness is essential to every lucid dreamer. Self awareness for lucid dreaming is defined as being conscious of feelings and emotions throughout your dream. Having the ability to become self aware in a dream is what makes lucid dreaming possible. You can become aware of your surroundings, your feelings, and your desires - enabling endless possibilities within the lucid dream. I am going to share with you 5 methods you can use to become more self-aware in both waking-reality and in your dreams. |
Method #1: Observe Your Surroundings
As you dream lucidly, the task of becoming highly aware of the dream-scape is far easier than when not lucid dreaming. When entering a lucid dream, set yourself a goal of making detailed observations. Take into consideration the colors of everything being discovered, the things you may encounter, and even the different smells you observe. Taking all these things into consideration will allow for you to become more self-aware in the lucid dreams you have. For example, if you enter a scene which seems to be unrealistic, deeply observe every detail you possibly can for an increased awareness. From the floor color to the smell of the air. Don't be afraid to spend a significant amount of time making observations of the scene - it can be fun! |
Method #2: Observe Yourself
As you enter a lucid dream, strange things may happen - things out of the ordinary, things which would not likely happen in real life. Now, how does it feel to watch and observe those things? Feels pretty strange, correct? That is completely expected, and is very common for lucid dreamers. However, what many people don't do is observe feelings during these moments. Take a deep breath, and for a few moments you should observe your feelings. Are you feeling numb? Is your body aching? These are the sorts of things you need to ask yourself within a lucid dream. For me, I found that when I become lucid my body has a numb sensation although I am freely allowed to move. It's a strange but pleasurable feeling that can only be understood once experienced - this was one of the first things I noticed about these dreams, and this allowed me to instantly differentiate dreams from waking-reality with further lucid dream experiences. As you observe your physical state, you should then move on to more emotional aspects of your dream. Are you feeling anxious? Scared? Stressed? As you begin to open up to these feelings, you will allow for yourself to become more aware of your situation and can enhance the lucid dream experience. |
Method #3: Imagine Impossible Scenarios
Being lucid in a dream gives you the opportunity to do whatever you please (within the dream environment). This means you can explore fantastic scenarios which may definitely make no sense in real life (this is closely related to reality checking). Take any item you can think of, then imagine something impossible happening to that item. For example, a glass full of water can be used to demonstrate the impossible scenario. Throw the glass against the wall and imagine it bouncing back into your hands. As you experiment with impossible scenarios you will automatically have a more vivid memory rather than if they all made logical sense. Of course, a glass is one of the infinite amounts of scenarios you can come up with to establish an impossible scenario. |
Method #4: Imagine a Dream Scene
Each night before you sleep, imagine a scene where you would love to be, and eventually you will be situated in that dream. This may sound easy in theory, but it will take time and practice for it to work. The more established a lucid dreamer you become, the easier it will be for it to happen. A scene, for example, is essentially anything you can think of - whether or not it makes sense. Because, as you know, most dreams don't conform to waking logic, this is how they can be differentiated from reality. One scene which could be imagined would be bouncing on the clouds. Because of the impossibility of this ever happening in reality, it will increase the amount of awareness gained in the dream, which is the goal of this method. To enhance this method further, as you visualize the dream scene, a good idea would be to add emotion to the dream. A dream is more than likely going to be memorable if particular emotions were emphasized and magnified in the dream. That being said, negative emotions can cause conflict in the dream. This includes watching a scary movie before attempting this dream-scene method, or if you had experienced trauma at some stage in your life. Unfortunately this can also lead to recurring nightmares which you generally won't want to remember. From this, using positive emotions for the dream will allow for a more memorable lucid dream opposed to some negative experience. |
Method #5: Practice Self-Awareness
Once you're in a lucid dream, a combination of techniques can be used to reinforce the fact you are dreaming, and not awake. As soon as you become lucid, begin exploring your surroundings by looking around you and choosing a target of interest. This can be accomplished through doing a 360 from whatever position you're in. As you observe shapes and objects, you will find that the objects may begin to either shrink or grow, which is not uncommon. As you expect to see the impossible it will happen, which will assure you're in a dream which consequently will improve yourself awareness. Conclusion From these 5 different methods used to improve self awareness, you can be confidently assured that each holds benefits you can use to your advantage. I personally found that looking at my hands made me instantly know I was in a dream, and from then onwards using the 5 different methods I was able to remember my dream vividly and was completely aware of my lucid dream throughout. |
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Bio: Kerry McGlone is a Lucid Dreaming enthusiast, and creator of http://www.dreamlucidly.info/ As a frequent researcher, she has attained knowledge and experience on lucid dreams, resulting in an enhanced understanding and having the passion to share knowledge with others. If you're interested in becoming a lucid dreamer, feel free to give Dream Lucidly a visit! |
Commentary From The Lucid Dream Site
McGlone is absolutely correct in this article to highlight the importance of fostering self-awareness. When we focus on a thing - anything - that focal point of our consciousness becomes more vivid. When the mind aims the light of conscious attention onto itself, the very nature of Mind and its operations become brighter. Lucid. It is interesting to consider just what it is we are talking about in regards to the dream self…
Normally, we identify the physical body as “our-self.” The boundary between I/Not-I can be fuzzy if we strongly identify with our possessions and loved ones and work, but usually it is understood that what you really are is the skin-bag and all of its contents. However, in a dream the question of “what/who am I?” is a different animal. Obviously, we are not one and the same as our dream-bodies - the dream-body is a mental representation of the Self just like it is when waking, except while awake the impressions we have of our bodies in space are more or less veridical to an actual being moving around in a shared, objective reality. The dream-body impression is almost entirely hallucinatory. So, who and what is the dreamer?
The answer to this identity enigma is that the Self in dreams is not confined to a typical meat suit. Yes, there is usually the “You” of waking familiarity in your dreams, but the Dream Self is really comprised of every thought, emotion, and perception which occurs in the dream. The reason you can move objects with your mind in dreams, or change complete scenes or summon new characters is because You Are the Dream! All of the Dream Matter, every foe and friend, it’s all You. The implications for this are only limited by your own imagination.
In McGlones Method #4: Imagine a Dream Scene, she touches on the affective valence (emotional direction) in dreams and how paying attention to and attempting to facilitate emotions can be a powerful tool for lucid dreamers. I want to add that we should not be surprised if things get more than a little weird when practicing lucid dream induction, maybe even scary. As brought up repeatedly on TheLucidDreamSite, the Dream Generation System (DGS) evolved as a means to prepare for situations which threaten our well-being. When people are stressed-out the DGS is more active and knowledge of this relationship allows for the deliberate modification of REM-Sleep. The only way to predictably instigate the DGS to become more active is by challenging your comfort zones in waking life or otherwise stimulating the REM circuitry (by way of sleep-cycle disruption, dietary supplements, etc.). And dreams will be strange, lucid or not. My advice is to expect a little bit of uncomfortable situations surrounding your lucid dream experiments. This can manifest as frightening dream imagery, negative emotions in dreams, Sleep Paralysis, Sleep Talking, and more. But no matter what happens, what is ultimately important is how you deal with any of these issues when they come up. And how should you deal with these? - Bravely. Rest assured that dreams are simulations. And you are in control. (You will really feel more in control if you have a pre-meditated plan on how to deal with the epi-phenomena of lucid dream practice, as described on TheLucidDreamSite and elsewhere).
- D.L. of TheLucidDreamSite.com