Have you ever been in the middle of a dream and something kept niggling at the edge of your unconsciousness alerting you that this couldn't really be happening? This is what is known as lucid dreaming, where you know that you are dreaming while in an actual dream. Once you have been able to identify that you are in a dream, you can consciously explore your dream world and even impact parts of your dream.
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Ask yourself "Am I Dreaming?"
One of the best ways to get started on the path towards lucid dreaming is to teach your brain how to determine a dream from reality. Start by asking yourself "Am I dreaming?" at different points during the day. You will be teaching yourself to answer "no" when you are firmly awake. The surprising thing is that your subconscious will start to ask this same question when you are dreaming, potentially allowing yourself to lucid dream.
Keeping a Dream Journal
Keep a blank journal and pen near your bedside, and get into the habit of writing down notes upon waking. The notes may not make a whole lot of sense at first, but over time it will help you to see patterns. Perhaps you find that your sister often joins you in the middle of a dream or that a certain event enters your dreams, but has a different ending every night. These dream signs may change over time as you yourself make changes in your life, and your journal will help to identify these shifts.
Create a Targeted Dream
You can prompt your mind to take a certain path by creating a targeted dream scenario. While you are awake and relaxed develop a scene that will create a state of lucid dreaming. Imagine the sights and sounds that would make sense in the targeted dream. Think of the people who might join your adventure. Now write that down in your dream journal. Right before you go to sleep read what you've written about your targeted dream. Read it a couple of times and your brain, which is getting ready to go to sleep, will start to interpret what you might want. Be prepared, when you first start out, what you are experiencing might not really fit your idea of what you read. Keep going with the exploration and wait until you can start to identify your requested dream. Use the next page of your journal the following morning to capture what you experienced.
Build Up to More Interactions
As you get more experienced in recognizing when you are in the middle of the dream, and you've had some success with leading the action, you can start to build up to more interactivity. Have you always wanted to fly? Give it a try in your next dream. If you can't find a door or window, try testing out a structure that would be solid in the real world to see what is on the other side. Remember in dreams amazing new things can happen.
Watch Your Journal for Advice You Didn't Know You Needed
In addition to trying to guide some of your dreams, also keep watching your journal for advice or notations that could be trying to guide you to a change that would help you. Not all dreams are easy to understand, but paying attention to your journal will make similarities stand out as something to give further thought to.
