I recently used similar reasoning during an episode of sleep paralysis about a week ago. My sleep paralysis episodes are always very similar: I hear someone calling out to me from the next room, but I can’t respond because I’m paralyzed. I have them often enough that I usually realize what’s going on. In this one, I heard my brother (who had been visiting earlier in the day, but who doesn’t live with me) calling out to me from the other room. I knew I was experiencing sleep paralysis, but at first, I tried desperately to wake myself up to go answer him anyway. Then I remembered that he probably wasn’t there and that hearing people call out to me that aren’t there often happens when I have sleep paralysis. I ended up converting the experience into the longest lucid dream I’ve ever had, which I’d highly recommend if you can pull it off.
Amusingly enough, the experience almost came full circle, since near the end of my lucid dream I actually encountered my brother and my first thought was that I needed to let him know that it was just a dream so that he could be lucid too. It took me a good minute or two to realize the problem with that line of thought, and as it was I told him anyway.
As far as applying that reasoning to dreams about sitting in high school classrooms with unfinished homework, I think with enough practice it’s entirely possible! I haven’t fully mastered the art of doing so, but most of the lucid dreams I had as a kid, I had because really awful things were happening, and I’d trained myself to realize that it’s pretty rare for real life to be as bad.
I’d trained myself to realize that it’s pretty rare for real life to be as bad.
That reminds me of one of those “You gotta see this!” type of shows where a motorcycle racer crashed at about 110mph and did a few flips in the air before coming down. In the interview, he said “I just remember thinking ‘I hate these kind of dreams’”.
I had a personal experience that was very scary during which I was questioning whether it was really happening or if I was just dreaming.
I kept on doing what needed to be done (and never really believed it wasn’t happening), and the guy on (err.. off, I guess) the motorcycle didn’t really have a chance to do anything, but it seems worth mentioning that you need to be pretty darn sure that you’re dreaming before you decide to do something else.
I recently used similar reasoning during an episode of sleep paralysis about a week ago. My sleep paralysis episodes are always very similar: I hear someone calling out to me from the next room, but I can’t respond because I’m paralyzed. I have them often enough that I usually realize what’s going on. In this one, I heard my brother (who had been visiting earlier in the day, but who doesn’t live with me) calling out to me from the other room. I knew I was experiencing sleep paralysis, but at first, I tried desperately to wake myself up to go answer him anyway. Then I remembered that he probably wasn’t there and that hearing people call out to me that aren’t there often happens when I have sleep paralysis. I ended up converting the experience into the longest lucid dream I’ve ever had, which I’d highly recommend if you can pull it off.
Amusingly enough, the experience almost came full circle, since near the end of my lucid dream I actually encountered my brother and my first thought was that I needed to let him know that it was just a dream so that he could be lucid too. It took me a good minute or two to realize the problem with that line of thought, and as it was I told him anyway.
As far as applying that reasoning to dreams about sitting in high school classrooms with unfinished homework, I think with enough practice it’s entirely possible! I haven’t fully mastered the art of doing so, but most of the lucid dreams I had as a kid, I had because really awful things were happening, and I’d trained myself to realize that it’s pretty rare for real life to be as bad.
That reminds me of one of those “You gotta see this!” type of shows where a motorcycle racer crashed at about 110mph and did a few flips in the air before coming down. In the interview, he said “I just remember thinking ‘I hate these kind of dreams’”.
I had a personal experience that was very scary during which I was questioning whether it was really happening or if I was just dreaming.
I kept on doing what needed to be done (and never really believed it wasn’t happening), and the guy on (err.. off, I guess) the motorcycle didn’t really have a chance to do anything, but it seems worth mentioning that you need to be pretty darn sure that you’re dreaming before you decide to do something else.