What is Lucid Dreaming

What is 24/7 lucid dreaming? To answer this we must ask ourselves, "what is lucid dreaming"? Lucid dreaming is becoming "conscious" while in the dream state. Most people sleep through their dreams with no conscious understanding or control of what is occurring to them in the dream state. This is looked at by many as being *unconscious*. There are a few who will argue this point, but for now we will stick with this definition. The question arose by many that if we seek to become conscious in our dream time, why are we not seeking to become conscious in our *waking* time?

Many will immediately argue that they *are* conscious in waking, but truth to be told most of us pass through life almost as unconscious as we do in the dream state. How often have you found yourself drifting off in thought, and not focused on the here and now of the moment? Lucid dreaming has taught us that our conscious interaction with the moment has great impact on the result of the outcome we experience. If we view the dream scenario from a point of fear, we are met with that which we fear. If we meet the dream situation with the intent of learning and negotiation, we learn and resolve conflict.  Several ancient cultures believe that this experience we call *waking life* is no different from our nightly dream world, and all that we are experiencing is a dream within a dream.

The cultivation of consciousness in our night dream seems incomplete if not also cultivated in our waking state under these premises.  One interesting analogy I heard was this: If when we die we can take nothing with us, then what difference has life from the dream we awaken from? We take nothing from our sleeping dream to waking of the physical world, and when we die we take nothing of the physical from this world into the next. Many of us have experienced interesting phenomena that supports this view, and science has discovered the world is not solid as we first perceived it to be. Those of us who follow the path of the 24/7 lucid dream, perceive all to be a dream, and work toward cultivating consciousness in both waking and sleeping. This concept is not as unusual as you may at first think, and many lucid dreamers are discovering this path as a way to enrich their life and expand themselves as people. At the end of this paper will be a list of books currently available with 24/7 lucid dreaming techniques. I will state here some of the methods I have read and created:

1. Begin to focus in the moment whenever possible, and *see* yourself and your experience as being of a dream. One way to remind one's self of this is to wear something you constantly will take notice of, such as a digital watch. Every time I take notice of the watch I repeat several times "I am dreaming". Then I see an imaginary message going across the digital face that says "I am lucid right now", and I repeat this several times also. If in a public place, just do so in your mind.

Then I tune into the moment fully, becoming aware of sounds, sights, smells, textures, feelings, etc. I just allow myself to fully experience everything that is happening as it is happening. This technique is excellent to resolve feelings and issues when they occur or surface, do not deny any of the experience. A good opportunity to begin practicing this technique is while doing something simple, such as washing dishes, cooking, working on the car, walking, etc. As you practice this technique you will begin to experience an altering of consciousness and perception, and you will indeed notice things appear very dream like.

Mind you I have never confused the two to the point. I literally could not tell the difference from the waking and the sleeping dream. However, you may at first find that things in one dream or another will get confused at first, and think someone did/said something in one dream that really happened in the other dream. This seems to go away after long term practice, due to an increase in consciousness and awareness. One of the best things I have found about this technique is that when in a dream I never say "am I dreaming?", but instead say "I am Dreaming!" Never have I been confused in the sleeping dream state as to whether I was dreaming or not. Remember this: If you ever bother to sincerely ask yourself if you are dreaming, you are. Once again, they may both be a dream, but one does not really confuse the two states. Meditation helps one to learn to master this if you have the time and the inclination.

2. Another method I truly enjoy is to keep two dream journals, one day journal, and one night journal. At the end of each day, record the highlight events that have occurred. If any strange *dreamy* types of things have happened, or synchronicities, record these also. Look at your day as if it were a dream, and interpret it as such, especially those things which stand out or really draw your attention. Then go to sleep with the intention of being conscious in your dreams. Repeat over and over something like "I am dreaming", or "I am conscious in my dreams". I personally listen to a programming tape I personally created that states all of my desires for my LD experiences, and programs me into being lucid/conscious. If you desire, go to sleep with a conscious intention for your dreams that night. Even if you are not lucid, record all the dreams you can remember in the morning (or at night when you have them). Look for similar themes or ideas from your waking journal. It is a good thing to get into dream interpretation with this method, as one can become conscious of what one's dreams are saying in their unique language. This language exist in the waking world also, and will help you decipher all of your experiences. In technical terms it is called Qualia, or Quale. Qualia is the composite of the symbols that form our perceptions and our consciousness, Quale are the individual perceptions that make up the whole that form how we view the world/ourselves.

The idea is create a seamless flow between the two worlds, so that we begin to experience it all as *one* experience of self and life. When we realize it is all a dream, we feel more control in our lives, and see greater possibility to resolve issues and create a better life.

3. Dream signs. Dream signs can be very useful in 24/7 Luciding, as we take objects/ideas from both worlds and integrate them into the other. For example let us say you dream a lot of water, every time you see water you remind yourself that you are dreaming..."I am dreaming", and remember to be lucid in the moment. Then, when you see this item in the sleeping dream, you also remember to be lucid. Also, it helps to take objects from your waking dream that appear in your sleeping dream, and create them into dream objects. Know that every time you see this object that it connects you to the sleeping dream, and once again be sure to validate to yourself when you see this object "I am dreaming".

4. As you go throughout your day, be sure to really get into the moment of the senses, go out of your way to have sensual experiences. Stop and feel the roughness of the concrete, explore the way the TV and computer appears in pixels just like your night dream, use your hands instead of a spoon the next time you stir something, really just get physical with the things and life around you. This reminds you to do the same when in a sleeping LD, and experiencing things on this level helps you maintain lucidity. In truth, it helps you maintain lucidity in the waking dream as well.