Controlling your dreams

So I read this article about people being able to control their own dreams. It said that you have to think about and focus on what you want to dream about during the day. So if you want to dream about flying, think about flying and look at the sky, notice things that fly like birds or planes, kites, etc. Then, before you go to bed you have to sit on the edge of your bed, take deep breaths and relax. You tell yourself "I'm going to dream, and I will remember it." When you wake up, immediately write what you dreamt in a dream journal, even if you wake up at 3 am or right before you have to leave for work. After a few days your subconscious will get the message that dreams are important to you, and you'll be able to manipulate your dreams. So, if you were able to control your dreams, what would you want to dream about?

I would personally enjoy dreaming about flying. I've had flying dreams before, and they're amazing.

No, I can't control my dream even if I wanted to. I tried that once and failed.

While the whole idea of being able to control what dreams you have sounds interesting, I don't know if I'd ever want that. I kind of enjoy how spontaneous and random my dreams can be, and how they can reveal some subconscious thoughts.

But if I had to pick, I guess I'd want to relive some of my best childhood memories, or dream about exploring some unknown lands. That whole process you explained sounds too tiresome though, I don't think I'd ever be able to stick with it, lol.

I haven't been able to dream for a long time now or maybe I just can't seem to remember my dreams.

It's called Lucid Dreaming. I have that ability naturally.

Once you learn to Lucid dream it becomes tough to maintain your dreamstate though. Think about those falling dreams or the dreams where something really bad happens and right before you die you wake up. It's because you realize you are dreaming. Once your realize you are dreaming you usually wake up. Once you know that you are dreaming it becomes easy to manipulate, but then again tend you wake up. It's an odd trade off.

It's tough to get yourself to keep dreaming.

I can do it here and there. Once your realise your dreaming it's easy, just think or say what you want to happen and it happens, problem is my dreams usually change alot without me thinking about it so I get focused on the dream and forget i'm dreaming. Leading me back to a regular dream state.

As long as you can still think rationally while dreaming then I think anyone should to do it, just look for stuff that doesn't make sense. (e.g. weird people/places, remembering going to sleep but not waking up, time of day etc.)

Keet in mind that my question in the poll is separate from my actual question. My question wasn't "Can you control your dreams?" it was "If you could control your dream what would it be about?"

No I cant control my dreams if anything my dream starts off well then I intervene and send it spiralling down into a pit of dispair!

I just try to feel my way around my dreams now, In the words of Bruce Lee "Dont think, Feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeel. Its like a finger pointing towards the moon... Dont concentrate on the finger or you'll miss ALL that heavenly glory!"

Do you understand?

There was an episode of American Dad about lucid dreaming. Apparently it would be horrible if you thought you were lucid dreaming when you were actually awake.

I bet it would be. Imagine the shit you'd get in... *shiver*

To find out who was the son of a bitch that pushed me in the "Creepy dream I had" thread.

The moment I realize that I'm dreaming, one of two things happen.
1) I realize that I'm dreaming and I attempt to manipulate my dreams in failure.
2) I realize that I'm dreaming and every attempt that I make at manipulating my dreams, I slowly lose my dream and start waking up.

If I could control my dreams I'd probably have flying-like dreams.
Such dreams that I recall was: once I was flying a kite-like hang glider and crashed into the floor; being able to jump in midair (double/triple/etc... jumping); being able to transform into a bat; being able to rapidly jump off walls like a ninja.
Or maybe dreams that are like H-doujin situations.

Oh the fun I would have if I could control my dreams
( even though l myself like that ability)
I would have a lot of sex dreams. To put it bluntly. But then again I'm sure a lot of us would.
I would also love to have dreams about love, loss, epic battles, fighting evil.
But I guess I will just have to wait until someone figures out how to do it properly.

Here is an interesting article about it, not sure if it's the one mentioned. I haven't tried any of this stuff so I can't speak for its validity, but it is interesting.

http://www.slate.com/id/2222931/

One night i was really thinking about pokemon i don t know why it was probably because i had just bought a new pokemon game(it was a long time ago). When i fell asleep i saw a dream that i was a pokemon trainer and it felt real. I was battling and catching pokemon and it lasted a long time. About a month later i was thinking of this dream of mine and wanted to see it again. And guess what? I saw part 2 of my previous dream. It was great and it started right from the point that the previous ended. Sadly i haven t seen it again. I guess it was only 2 episodes

I think I managed to do it once. There was this girl I liked, and one night I had a dream that we were a happily married couple. I dunno if it'll come true (cos that girl is now my girlfriend), but I may have sub-consciously controlled the dream.

I still can't understand lucid dreaming 100%, but I can still "control" myself in my dream, but any other events or persons is all still controlled by my subconscious.

I once had a dream of your typical zombie apocalypse, I remember I opened the closet to search for something, but all in the closet are just Arrows and Bows... >_> lol

I can only control my nightmares or simple dreams where I have a power (it's often flight/weightlessness or speed) and I'm just goofing around.

I feel pain in my dreams that can't be normal the pains even still there for a few seconds after I wake up. The pain is often things to do with being burned, shot, or getting cut.

Does any one multi dream like having 2 or more dream at the same time that you are conscious of?

I some times have 2 dreams at the same time that I can keep track of I think I was just incontrol of keeping the dream from ending. I had 3 going once I had some control, but they were splicing together and it ended in nothing like a limbo dream.

From time to time, I can control what I dream of... even choosing what and when to dream, though it doesn't happen too often... lately even less.

But in all seriousness, I only control certian aspects and not the whole dream itself. Two examples:

1. I had a dream where my family and a few close friend were going to be assasinated by one of my dickhole neighbors and dumped into the ditch across from my apartment. So in order to freak him out, I thought "fly" and I did. I was up about a good 50-60 feet off the ground. I looked at him, reared up like I was going to charge him, but he just raised his hand and said "Nope." I lost my ability to fly and plummeted into the sharp rocks in the ditch and [presumably] died.

2. Had a dream where I was on the Going Merry with the Straw Hats and whatnot. After some details that I can't quite remember at the moment, I end up in a room with Nico Robin. We start fooling around a bit until I hear some moaning coming from the room next to us. I was in control of my dream up until this point. I go to see what it is and lo and behold, MY FUCKING BROTHER IS HAVING SEX WITH NAMI. I asked what the hell he was doing and he just replied "Being awesome. Oh, by the way, I had sex with Robin, too. In a threesome." and then I woke up, pissed, went downstairs and told him what just happened. He laughs.