A lucid dream is a dream in which the sleeper is aware that he or she is dreaming. When the dreamer is lucid, he or she can actively participate in and often manipulate the imaginary experiences in the dream environment. Lucid dreams can seem extremely real and vivid depending on a person's level of self-awareness during the lucid dream.
A lucid dream can begin in one of three ways. A dream-initiated lucid dream (DILD) starts as a normal dream, and the dreamer eventually concludes that he or she is dreaming, while a wake-initiated lucid dream (WILD) occurs when the dreamer goes from a normal waking state directly into a dream state with no apparent lapse in consciousness. A mnemonic-initiated lucid dream (MILD) can happen when the dreamer intentionally affirms to himself or herself that he or she will become lucid during the upcoming sleep. This can sometimes happen due to dream-signs or spontaneously upon remembrance.
Lucid dreaming has been researched scientifically, and its existence is well established. Scientists such as Allan Hobson, with his neurophysiological approach to dream research, have helped to push the understanding of lucid dreaming into a less speculative realm.
This is the type of dream that many people think of when they encounter or use the word "dream." These are the often puzzling and baffling inner world occurrences that visit dreamers when they are asleep. They are the vivid, yet seemingly irrational picture shows that motivate people to seek interpretations and explanations in dream dictionaries and from dream experts.
Many spiritual or soulful traditions have considered dreams as a source of information and wisdom. The Old Testament has numerous stories that involve dreams as prophecy, predicting the future. Perhaps the best known is the tale of Joseph of the amazing technicolor coat, sold into slavery in Egypt, who was able to correctly interpret the dreams of the Pharaoh of seven fat and seven thin cows as a foretelling of seven fertile years to be followed by seven years of drought. His interpretation set the course for Egypt's grain strategy whereby it was not impacted by the seven-year drought. The tradition of Islam is built upon words of their fundamental scripture, the Koran, which came to their prophet, Mohammed, in a series of wrenching sleep dreams. For these scriptural traditions, dreams were a way for God to speak to lowly man.
Native spiritual traditions the world over have viewed sleep dreams as voices from a transpersonal source, be it a god or goddess, a spirit or the earth itself. Shamans journeyed in dreams to supernatural realms, where they found banes to bring back to the tribe. For Australia's aboriginals, dreams are the ongoingly living essence of all creation. For them, the world dreamed itself and mankind into being. Humans can and must know these dreams in order to continually re-create the physical universe through songs and songlines. Dreamtime understands the entire world as emanating from dreams.
In the scientific age, sleep dreams have been explained as simply a function of brain chemisty or brain electrical circuitry, pereforming, at best, the function of flushing out waste or sorting out waking experiences, and, at worst, no function whatsoever. Sigmund Freud, who was the Viennese doctor who reconnected modern Western humans with dreams as significant events, explained them as part of an unconscious psychological mechanism that disguises and suppresses humans' all-encompassing, yet dangerous, sexual desires, but that has no other value. Carl Jung, Freud's protege for a while, understood dreams to have intrinsic value. He too conceptualized that they come from the unconscious of dreamers and serve the function of facilitating growth. For Jung, sleep dreams are meaningful, balancing waking attitudes, and their message is to be brought into consciousness. He postulated that sleep dreams speak in a symbolic language with the purpose of helping guide individuals to becoming fuller and more complete, "individuated."
Some people find it hard to sleep if they are in someone bed else, some only sleep comfortably if they are in their comfort zone their own room and bed. And no one wants a bed night's sleep after a long day. Imagine how difficult it would be for these people to sleep during their overnight camping trips if they only have a sleeping bag to lay into. Sleeping bags are ergonomically designed; it is soft and not hard on the back so why is it that some people are having difficulty sleeping in those things?
One theory is that the problem maybe located within the conscious mind of the person the brain of the person must have dictated to the body that sleeping bags are not comfortable; the person then will respond to the suggestion of brain therefore he or she will find it uncomfortable to sleep in sleeping bags. The cause of the problem is psychological; to solve the problem one must look within and change his or her manner of thinking. It is simply mind over matter. If you keep on saying to yourself again and again that Sleeping bags are comfortable, it will become automatic, your body will respond to your manner of thinking, and then you will now find yourself sleeping comfortably in sleeping bags , it will be like as if you are sleeping in your own bed.
Another way of solving your problem is to visualize that you are lying on your own bed whenever you are lying on the sleeping bags. Imagine how comfortable you are as you are lying on the sleeping bag, close your eyes visualize that you are in your own room, your head resting comfortably on top of your pillow, remove every stress that you are feeling by completely relaxing your body, let go of all the uncomfortable feelings that you are currently experiencing, you will then feel at peace with your environment, at peace with nature, and then you will now be comfortable lying on your sleeping bag. Again it is mind over matter, it just goes to show that the human brain can and will solve any problem that a person may encounter in his or her life.
One way these urges and impulses are released is through your dreams. Because the content of the unconscious may be extremely disturbing or harmful, Freud believes that the unconscious expresses itself in a symbolic language.
Freud categorizes aspects of the mind into three parts:
Id - centered around primal impulses, pleasures, desires, unchecked urges and wish fulfillment.
Ego - concerned with the conscious, the rational, the moral and the self-aware aspect of the mind.
Superego - the censor for the id, which is also responsible for enforcing the moral codes of the ego.
When you are awake, the impulses and desires of the id are suppressed by the superego. Through dreams, you are able to get a glimpse into your unconscious or the id. Because your guards are down during the dream state, your unconscious has the opportunity to act out and express the hidden desires of the id. However, the desires of the id can, at times, be so disturbing and even psychologically harmful that a "censor" comes into play and translates the id's disturbing content into a more acceptable symbolic form. This helps to preserve sleep and prevent you from waking up shocked at the images. As a result, confusing and cryptic dream images occur.
According to Freud, the reason you struggle to remember your dreams, is because the superego is at work. It is doing its job by protecting the conscious mind from the disturbing images and desires conjured by the unconscious.
Ok, let's stop dreaming start action