When I was a teenager I had terrible nightmares.
I had dreams about a dog that would bark at me while I was walking to school. In reality, he was held tight by a big chain, but in my dreams, he would get loose and attack me.
I had dreams about atomic bombs being dropped on me.
I had dreams about evil creatures attacking me.
I would wake up at night drenched in sweat and unable to go back to sleep. Something had to change.
One of the things that always served me well is having an open mind and being creative. I did some research on lucid dreaming and was convinced that I could do it.
The breakthrough happened when I started setting myself up for lucid dreaming shortly before I went to sleep. I told myself that if something bad happened while I was asleep that I would remind my subconscious mind that this was all a dream and that I had nothing to be frightened of.
That recurring dream where the big dog would attack me? I responded by turning into the Hulk and screaming at him. The dog ran away, and I learned how to control my dreams.
I never had a nightmare again.
The act of setting myself up to be in control before I went to sleep, coupled with keeping a dream journal that I filled out religiously when I woke up, led to me using my dreams as a breeding ground for stories.
I had a recurring series of dreams where I solved problems by using the power of creativity and my love of science fiction and fantasy to keep me from harm. I wrote a comic story about those experiences, and had an entire story arc based on those dreams.
I’m not as disciplined as I once was about lucid dreaming and it definitely takes “the set-up” for me to do it. But occasionally I still have lucid dreams and I use those moments to explore whatever weird thing my subconscious comes up with.
Recently I had a dream where a cat welcomed me to a house that traveled through space. He gave me a book that was a guide to the starship. It was wrapped in yarn.
I remember lucid dreams far better than the dreams where I’m just along for the ride.
Discovering lucid dreaming solved a big problem for me. But more importantly, it unlocked a well of ideas and entertainment that has been a wonderful gift.
Dirk Hooper
Dirk Hooper is a professional writer who has done work for many high-profile online magazines, has won the Top Writer Award at Quora for the past two years, and a Moore Award for copywriting in 2017.