Brag: Had my first lucid dream (poker was involved) - long

[ApeAttack]

(The dream is in the second to last paragraph)

For those of you who don't know, lucid dreaming is when you are conscious of the fact you are dreaming and have some (or total) control over what happens.

I recently bought this book that discusses how you can train yourself to lucid dream.

The book instucted me to write down my dreams RIGHT when I wake up. To my surprise, I found out that I was having many detailed dreams every night, but I would quickly forget the dreams if I didn't think about them as soon as I awoke. I looked at my notes to see if there was a common pattern in my dreams and to see what items in them were odd.

After recording many dreams, I was instructed to constantly ask myself during the day, 'Am I dreaming?' and then to justify my response. I would look at text somewhere in the room to see if changes when I look away and then look back (text has a tendency to change in people's dreams). I would do something similar for digital clocks. Also, I would ask myself, 'What did I do a few minutes ago?' since people will often not be able to remember the immediate past in dreams. If I asked these questions a lot during my waking hours, I would likely ask myself these questions while dreaming (since we often dream about events that happened while awake).

A few days ago, I had a dream in which I was playing omaha. My good hand kept changing to a bad hand during every betting round, which I thought was odd (and distressing). After I woke up, I made a mental note to lookout for cards changing in dreams and if that occurred, I should ask myself the above questions.

Last night, I had a dream in which I was playing holdem. I called a raise with 75 of diamonds. The flop came down 763 and I raised the flop (the betting amounts don't matter). My opponent reraised huge all-in and I looked back at my cards and the board. My hand had changed to 87 and the board was slightly different. In addition, I suddenly had a LOT of red ($5) chips, which made my decision much more difficult. I realized that I might be dreaming, so I looked at a cardboard box with some text on it. After looking away and looking back, the text started spinning and melting away and I KNEW that I was in a dream and that I had control over the dream. I decided to test out this theory by jumping up and flying away. I leaped into the air and kept going. Unfortunately, everything became black and I don't remember what happened next (if anything).

It was so exciting to be aware that I was dreaming (in the dream and after I woke up). In my next dream, I will attempt to make a pastrami sandwich appear out of thin air and eat it (I am vegetarian, but miss pastrami sandwiches).