7 ms·

For people who don't dream lucidly, what are your dreams like? Do you experience them in third person? Is it like being on rails? My wife often tells me that, i

For people who don't dream lucidly, what are your dreams like? Do you experience them in third person? Is it like being on rails? My wife often tells me that, in her dreams, she's still herself but also not herself. Is it like a compulsion, where you know what's happening but you're not in control of yourself?

warent 9y ago
Most of my dreams aren't lucid, but I've had a few lucid dreams, so I can compare. Typically in my dreams it feels like normal life, except that for some reason I'm gullible to dream logic. If something strange happens and I try to make sense of it, a bad explanation--one that I wouldn't accept in real life--will perfectly satisfy my dreaming brain. However, occasionally dream logic totally breaks down and I realize it's a dream. In that instant I gain full control. But it doesn't take long before the control slips away, forgetting the revelation that happened moments ago. What about you? Are all of your dreams always lucid?
- teekert 9y ago
  For me it's more like it's all just a memory I suddenly have when I wake up, there does not really seems to be a "now" in the dreams. Sometimes there is some sort of realization of being in a dream but it's always at the moment I'm waking up. I'm pretty jealous of people with lucid dreams, it must be fantastic.
  - hssys 9y ago
    This describes exactly how it is for me, and I've never been able to put it in to words until now.
  - warent 9y ago
    > It's all just a memory I suddenly have when I wake up Same here, very well worded. That's the case for me in maybe 3/4 dreams. The more emotionally intense ones have that "now" feeling though. Search online for some practices to help induce lucid dreams. There are things that could help. For example, creating a habit throughout the day to check if you're dreaming. e.g. look in the mirror and ask if it's a dream, or look at a clock and ask if its a dream. If you create this habit in normal life, the idea is that it will carry over to your dreams. Just realizing a dream is a dream should propel you into lucidity. Dreams rarely seem to get reflections and clocks right.
  - emsy 9y ago
    I've learned to induce lucid dreams somewhat reliably. For this I need to be physically tired but mentally awake. This usually works 30 min after waking up in the morning or when taking a nap in the afternoon. I then try to stay mentally awake while I realize that my body falls asleep. At some point my mind slips into a dream like mode, but I'm not dreaming of anything. At this point if I move myself, only my dream body moves, not my real body. This is when I "stabalise" the lucid dream by spinning my dream body around quickly. I think this kind of gives my mind the time to make up a dream in which I can move around. Otherwise I will wake up or lose control over the dream. It's crucial that in the time your body falls asleep, you don't make any voluntary movements (just as if you were to fall asleep normally). I've also read about a trick that you can help you stay mentally awake. You have to pretend as if you were tapping with your index and middle finger, but only just so that they don't actually move. This also helps you realize when your body falls asleep. I'd say WBTB (Wake back to bed) is the most reliable method for lucid dreams.
  - pera 9y ago
    Wow it's the first time I heard of this type of dreaming. It's intriguing that people dreams in so many different ways, I wonder what causes that.
    - falava 9y ago
      I only remember one lucid dream, when I was a kid, and it was fantastic. I researched a little and found this book, may be you find it interesting, so here it is: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Lucid_dreaming https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Lucid_dreaming
  - zapu 9y ago
    Oh, wow, this is exactly how I dream as well. I could never have expressed this, though! Thank you for that post. I always wonder how "real" do dreams feel for people who dream lucidly, but then I realize that it wouldn't matter for me. The level of realism, details, the feelings - are irrelevant, since it would only be a memory, at no point in time I would ever be experiencing it. It would be just a faint, happy, memory of something that didn't happen.
sniglom 9y ago
I do both. When I dream lucid I'm aware of it being a dream and can think and choose. When I don't dream lucid, I'm not aware and instead of choices I have reactions to what is happening. I wouldn't consider it being on rails, rather you act without thinking or having a long internal monologue about it.
iw0 9y ago
I experience them in a first-person, just like in a real life. I have never had a dream in which I`m observing what happening as a third person, but it`s always on rails and can`t consciousness control the dream. In some cases, I even have real sensations like pain or physical pleasure. Sometimes the experience is so real that when I wake up for a short period of time I am wondering if that was a dream or something that actually happened before I fall asleep.
- logfromblammo 9y ago
  I once had a dream where I grew a second body out of my spine, then it separated and I was both. I saw what both pairs of eyes were seeing, and had independent motor control over both bodies. So I experienced that one in plural first-person, I guess, as an "us". As I recall it, the major problem was trying to decide which would be the one to go to work, and which would stay home, and whether making the obvious choice was sexist or not. The bodies were not identical. And they could have an argument of sorts. I eventually sent the "wrong" one to work, and I was disappointed when no one noticed that I was a different me that day. I spent most of my day at work playing video games at home. Even just remembering this one makes my head hurt. Our brains are definitely not designed for that kind of multitasking.
rightmess 9y ago
Sometimes it can be a dream in which you are mentally awake and have full recollection of going to sleep, mental presence and full control of the dream state, sometimes just a dream about the subject of lucid dreaming that often ends in a digression or false awakening. Sometimes I've had dreams where my thoughts are separate from the dream character I am acting as, like when watching a film. It doesn't occur to me then to affect events in such a case, since I'm kind of a passive observer even though I'm aware I'm witnessing a dream. Lucidity doesn't automatically guarantee full mental awareness, or dream control.
acobster 9y ago
I have had lucid dreams, but rarely. In "ordinary" dreams, yes, I am myself and also not myself. I often feel like a character in a movie that I'm watching passively at the same time. The degree of compulsion vs. agency varies over time within a dream, and from one dream to another.
psyc 9y ago
My dreams are all first person. I have no idea it’s a dream. I’m convinced that scenario has always been my life. It’s not quite on rails. I feel like it’s really me living another life, and I have about as much choice as ever. But I sort of inherit my motives from the scenario. When the scene changes, I don’t notice.
_greim_ 9y ago
My dreams are never third person. I'm swept up in a sequence of more or less bizarre events and happenings, and I don't question it, or otherwise bring my rational faculties to bear on the situation. It feels like passive participation; reflective deliberation is rare. Often, there's a strong emotional tone or undercurrent to it, and disproportionately often, I'm escaping or confronting some danger. Sometimes the danger gets me, at which point the sequence always ends, like a "game over" type of moment.
remir 9y ago
Depends on the dream. Sometimes, I'll wake up and "remember" the dream as a first person experience. Other times it's not so clear.
lobo_tuerto 9y ago
No, it's just like if you were living real life. Imagine you reading this paragraph at this moment, but in reality you are dreaming of it, it is not real. How can you tell? can you even ask yourself that question at a moment like that? will it make sense to ask that question since you "think" you are awake?
Havoc 9y ago
>people who don't dream lucidly, what are your dreams like? While asleep - no sensation whatsoever just black. Essentially passed out. After waking up there is either no memory (i.e. the time is completely missing) or small fragments of a dream that are more memory than sensation.

warent 9y ago

Most of my dreams aren't lucid, but I've had a few lucid dreams, so I can compare. Typically in my dreams it feels like normal life, except that for some reason I'm gullible to dream logic. If something strange happens and I try to make sense of it, a bad explanation--one that I wouldn't accept in real life--will perfectly satisfy my dreaming brain. However, occasionally dream logic totally breaks down and I realize it's a dream. In that instant I gain full control. But it doesn't take long before the control slips away, forgetting the revelation that happened moments ago. What about you? Are all of your dreams always lucid?

teekert 9y ago
For me it's more like it's all just a memory I suddenly have when I wake up, there does not really seems to be a "now" in the dreams. Sometimes there is some sort of realization of being in a dream but it's always at the moment I'm waking up. I'm pretty jealous of people with lucid dreams, it must be fantastic.
- hssys 9y ago
  This describes exactly how it is for me, and I've never been able to put it in to words until now.
- warent 9y ago
  > It's all just a memory I suddenly have when I wake up Same here, very well worded. That's the case for me in maybe 3/4 dreams. The more emotionally intense ones have that "now" feeling though. Search online for some practices to help induce lucid dreams. There are things that could help. For example, creating a habit throughout the day to check if you're dreaming. e.g. look in the mirror and ask if it's a dream, or look at a clock and ask if its a dream. If you create this habit in normal life, the idea is that it will carry over to your dreams. Just realizing a dream is a dream should propel you into lucidity. Dreams rarely seem to get reflections and clocks right.
- emsy 9y ago
  I've learned to induce lucid dreams somewhat reliably. For this I need to be physically tired but mentally awake. This usually works 30 min after waking up in the morning or when taking a nap in the afternoon. I then try to stay mentally awake while I realize that my body falls asleep. At some point my mind slips into a dream like mode, but I'm not dreaming of anything. At this point if I move myself, only my dream body moves, not my real body. This is when I "stabalise" the lucid dream by spinning my dream body around quickly. I think this kind of gives my mind the time to make up a dream in which I can move around. Otherwise I will wake up or lose control over the dream. It's crucial that in the time your body falls asleep, you don't make any voluntary movements (just as if you were to fall asleep normally). I've also read about a trick that you can help you stay mentally awake. You have to pretend as if you were tapping with your index and middle finger, but only just so that they don't actually move. This also helps you realize when your body falls asleep. I'd say WBTB (Wake back to bed) is the most reliable method for lucid dreams.
- pera 9y ago
  Wow it's the first time I heard of this type of dreaming. It's intriguing that people dreams in so many different ways, I wonder what causes that.
  - falava 9y ago
    I only remember one lucid dream, when I was a kid, and it was fantastic. I researched a little and found this book, may be you find it interesting, so here it is: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Lucid_dreaming https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Lucid_dreaming
- zapu 9y ago
  Oh, wow, this is exactly how I dream as well. I could never have expressed this, though! Thank you for that post. I always wonder how "real" do dreams feel for people who dream lucidly, but then I realize that it wouldn't matter for me. The level of realism, details, the feelings - are irrelevant, since it would only be a memory, at no point in time I would ever be experiencing it. It would be just a faint, happy, memory of something that didn't happen.

sniglom 9y ago

I do both. When I dream lucid I'm aware of it being a dream and can think and choose. When I don't dream lucid, I'm not aware and instead of choices I have reactions to what is happening. I wouldn't consider it being on rails, rather you act without thinking or having a long internal monologue about it.

iw0 9y ago

I experience them in a first-person, just like in a real life. I have never had a dream in which I`m observing what happening as a third person, but it`s always on rails and can`t consciousness control the dream. In some cases, I even have real sensations like pain or physical pleasure. Sometimes the experience is so real that when I wake up for a short period of time I am wondering if that was a dream or something that actually happened before I fall asleep.

logfromblammo 9y ago
I once had a dream where I grew a second body out of my spine, then it separated and I was both. I saw what both pairs of eyes were seeing, and had independent motor control over both bodies. So I experienced that one in plural first-person, I guess, as an "us". As I recall it, the major problem was trying to decide which would be the one to go to work, and which would stay home, and whether making the obvious choice was sexist or not. The bodies were not identical. And they could have an argument of sorts. I eventually sent the "wrong" one to work, and I was disappointed when no one noticed that I was a different me that day. I spent most of my day at work playing video games at home. Even just remembering this one makes my head hurt. Our brains are definitely not designed for that kind of multitasking.

rightmess 9y ago

Sometimes it can be a dream in which you are mentally awake and have full recollection of going to sleep, mental presence and full control of the dream state, sometimes just a dream about the subject of lucid dreaming that often ends in a digression or false awakening. Sometimes I've had dreams where my thoughts are separate from the dream character I am acting as, like when watching a film. It doesn't occur to me then to affect events in such a case, since I'm kind of a passive observer even though I'm aware I'm witnessing a dream. Lucidity doesn't automatically guarantee full mental awareness, or dream control.

acobster 9y ago

I have had lucid dreams, but rarely. In "ordinary" dreams, yes, I am myself and also not myself. I often feel like a character in a movie that I'm watching passively at the same time. The degree of compulsion vs. agency varies over time within a dream, and from one dream to another.

psyc 9y ago

My dreams are all first person. I have no idea it’s a dream. I’m convinced that scenario has always been my life. It’s not quite on rails. I feel like it’s really me living another life, and I have about as much choice as ever. But I sort of inherit my motives from the scenario. When the scene changes, I don’t notice.

_greim_ 9y ago

My dreams are never third person. I'm swept up in a sequence of more or less bizarre events and happenings, and I don't question it, or otherwise bring my rational faculties to bear on the situation. It feels like passive participation; reflective deliberation is rare. Often, there's a strong emotional tone or undercurrent to it, and disproportionately often, I'm escaping or confronting some danger. Sometimes the danger gets me, at which point the sequence always ends, like a "game over" type of moment.

remir 9y ago

Depends on the dream. Sometimes, I'll wake up and "remember" the dream as a first person experience. Other times it's not so clear.

lobo_tuerto 9y ago

No, it's just like if you were living real life. Imagine you reading this paragraph at this moment, but in reality you are dreaming of it, it is not real. How can you tell? can you even ask yourself that question at a moment like that? will it make sense to ask that question since you "think" you are awake?

Havoc 9y ago

>people who don't dream lucidly, what are your dreams like? While asleep - no sensation whatsoever just black. Essentially passed out. After waking up there is either no memory (i.e. the time is completely missing) or small fragments of a dream that are more memory than sensation.