At an early age, although I have ALWAYS been a chronic insomniac, I had many vivid dreams. I remember my first verifiable lucid dream. I could see myself clearly in my dream and I called out to my 'dream body' to get 'my' attention. I kidded with myself that I was dreaming. This was the opening of a door to a world I have spent my life exploring on different levels.
Early on I realized that alot of the things I dreamed would come true in 'real' life in only a few days. Sometimes a week or two.
In the sixth grade I found that there were certain times of the day that I could program what I wanted to dream about the same following night. For some reason the best time of day seemed to be mid morning...around ten a.m. I was usually at school during this time of day. I would sort of loosely concentrate on what subject matter and enviroment that I would like involved in my dreams. There were times when this loose concentration would evolve into a mild trance and I would have trouble getting back to the matters of schoolwork at hand.
I could do almost anything during my lucid dreams. Run fast, fly, teletransport, visit favorite places and people, and entertain sexual curiousities and practices.
I went through a period in my early and mid twenties when I had a hard time with initiating what I wanted to do during a lucid dream. I would start to become aware that I was dreaming and could do as I wish. For some reason the visions in my dreams would start to deteriorate and I would dream that I was waking up. I would remain asleep but the initial dream would fade and I would be in another setting. Occasionally I still run into this situation.
One major setback with my experiences with lucid dreaming is that I don't feel as though I have slept very well after having actively participated in my dreams. I don't feel anywhere near as rested as I would if I would just 'sit back and watch' my dreams as if they were movies.
I never told anyone about lucid dreaming until early adulthood. I didn't even realize that it was something of a phenomena until I read an article in a Science magazine when I was in my early twenties.
Although I am still very aware that I am dreaming and still have the ability to lucid dream, I seldom participate in my dreams now so that I can feel rested after that illusive precious little sleep that I can get.
