by Rena Sherwood

Created on: February 19, 2008

There are about as many reasons to pursue lucid dreaming as there are dreamers. Some want to understand themselves better, some want to develop their mental powers while some aren't sure why, they just like the idea of lucid dreaming. Whatever your reason, when you get a taste of lucid dreaming, you want to take even bigger bites.

Each dreamer takes as long as they need to in order to consistently dream lucidly. Some are born with the ability, while some develop it in weeks and some take years. Don't pressure yourself. Your ability will come when you need it not necessarily when you want it.

If you have never kept a dream journal, I highly encourage you to start. You don't have to write down every single dream or dream fragment you can remember. That will drive you nuts. However, some people are able to do this and enjoy it. If you are one of those people, keep up the good work. For the rest of us, just pick one symbol you want to work with a symbol that occurs often in your dreams.

For example, in helping myself learn lucid dreaming, I kept a dream journal for years but only wrote down the dreams that had to do with British singer-songwriter Peter Gabriel. He's been and on and off presence in my dreams for more years than I care to admit. I could have picked dreams where cats appeared, or dreams about working in retail, but it was far more enjoyable for me to write about the Peter Gabriel dreams.

Then, I realized that if Peter Gabriel appeared, I was probably dreaming. That was when I had the illumination that anything was possible in the Dreamrealm.

Another trick to help you realize you are dreaming is to wake up a few hours before you need to. This is only recommended for those of us who can fall back to sleep quickly. I wake up about four or five in the morning, then fall back asleep. Many times, perhaps because of the reminder so soon to the time I have to wake up, I then enter another round of lucid dreaming.

To remember your dreams better, avoid all alcoholic beverages, over the counter sleeping pills and depressants (legal or illegal) of any kind. They can literally (as well as metaphorically) take your dreams away.

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