h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A lot of my dreams have "come true" - and not just in a sense of deja vu, either.

It's not an entire dream most of the time, but details (like certain friends are dating in a dream who end up dating a few months later, that sort of thing). And I write down the majority of my dreams - began that when I started getting interested in dream interpretations and so forth - so it's not like I've misremembered a dream or something.

Very odd.

I kept a dream diary for some time. It was very strange how some things - really obscure things - came true, but I didn't actually make the connection until I re-read the diary.

Apart from that, a dream diary can be hilarious. It's also strange how you actually remember the dreams very clearly when you go over them again, no matter how long ago the dream occurred.

There's a good, but very old, book about dreaming true: "An Experiment With Time" by J.W. Dunne. His theory is that when dreaming, our consciousness is outside the space-time continuum, so tends to drift around, picking up stuff from past, present and future. The only way to keep track of all this is to keep a dream diary that you write in first thing in the morning, and also if you wake in the night.

Whatever. It's kind of fun for a while.

This is all pretty interesting, and I've started a dream diary.

Re. Lucid dreams. Any more info.?? Sounds interesting. Is it possible to train yourself to become aware in dreams, or is it usually a spontaneous thing??

it is possible to train yourself to remember them

Don't forget, we all dream every night. It's just that we don;t always remember them.

First step is a dream diary to help you remember.

For lucid dreaming, well, there are various techniques. I believe sensory deprivation tanks are good for it, but so also apparently is training yourself to go to sleep lying completely still on your back, arms at side. I.e. in a totally relaxed position. Anyone who has ever tried this knows it is quite difficult! But it does apparently work.

The next step is learning how to know you are in a lucid dream (ref. light switches, clocks etc) and how to stay in them, but also how to get out!

For me, not knowing what was happening, the thoughts went 'Oh, I'm dreamin' and then 'how do I wake up now?' !

Some people claim they have had negative experiences whilst lucid dreaming. Since your mind is controlling the world you find yourself in, this is possible, but most people report normal, good or just odd expedriences.

Treat it carefully though like you would any exploration. It isn't that well researched, although there's a lot written on it by fairies and gods brigade.

I'm always aware that I'm dreaming in my dreams, but i don't really consider it whilst its happening. If something bad happens, I decide to pull out. I thought everyone was like that?

Erm, no. Well, not me anyway! But then do you find you remember a lot of your dreams? If I dont keep a diary, then I very rarely remember dreams.

Lucid dreaming is being conscious and aware,indeed awake, inside the dream. Just like walking around whilst awake.

I have had dreams where I knew I was dreaming but didn't quite make the transition to being fully aware. But true lucid dreaming is just like being awake in the real world. This, btw, is one of the issues (especially if you already have a problem with reality) in that it can lead to a blurring of the edges of reality, not a good thing.

I have prophetic dreams about my sister.

And she returns the favour.

My (deceased) grandmother visits me in some dreams, and we have a chat. It feels real at the time, I never know I'm dreaming!

I also always remember my dreams, they come to me bit by bit through the day, or sometimes I quite clearly remember the whole thing.

I guess I never really have complete control when I'm dreaming, but I never really try or see the point to. I might try it one time.

Well, lucid dreaming is a real physical thing. Obviously everyone puts their own interpretation on what happens therein.

Personally I am willing to believe there is symbolism in there, but I must say that my only encounter with mythical entities was rather disappointing.

I don't think there's anything mystical or spiritual about it. That's just to set the record from my pov and make the point that lucid dreaming is a real phenomenon of the physical world.

there was a film about lucid dreaming I think, christopher reeve falls in love with an old picture of a girl, dreams about going back in time to meet her, which he does, she looks at him when the picture he fell in love with back in the future was taken, then he sees a penny and his dream ends, or something. very mills and boon, but strangely compelling stuff

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Wow! I've had that experience three or four times, with my Mum, once each with my father and brother. In the latter case, it was awesome!

I don't think ten percent of all uncles die every night...

I've been aware in dreams, never lucid, justsome bad dreams I'd wake up by imagining myself in bed. also good dreams that I'm waking from I try to remain in. it only works for a minute or so. Though now I'm 21 and rarely even remember dreams.

I've had a dream where my Nan visited me, but she only asked about my Aunty. Very frustrating

I get lucid dreams sometimes but I can never get out of them... I also have two or three recurring dreams I've had since I was little, but the annoying thing is I can never remember what they're about!--even when I wake up i'm thinking "i've been there -- where?"! I had a dream last night that I really hope is going to come true -- about being friends with my ex again -- going to work on that one! On the other hand, my best friend dreamed a bit ago that my sister died, so you know...

I used to have a recurring nightmare about being in a pub where there was a bald landlord, going out into an alleyway and a black cat jumped out of a bin.

Then there was another recurring nightmare wehre I was surrounded by fields that were on fire.



I've not had those in years though.

When I was a child, I had three or four recurring dreams, one of them episodic. I dreamed that I was in a car with a man and a woman and a boy, (he and I were children) and we were driving a long way into a road through a forest. Each night I had the dream, I'd get a bit further along the road. I stopped having the dream before we ever reached the destination, however.

I wish last night's dream would come true.

The only dreams that have come true for me are the ones where I dream I wake up

My attempt at a lucid dream last night failed, I dreamed on as usual.

Perhaps someone should write a guide entry on dreaming.

took me about a week of dream diaries to have a lucid dream when I tried. Couple of false starts.

My first one was spontaneous though. I think it has a lot to do with being calm before you go to sleep. Really calm and just float off.

But one thing this thread does show is just how different each individuals experience of dreams is.