Well not the studying part... The creative part! People occasionally tell me i have strange or unusual ideas. That's because a lot of the time, i take influence from my dreams. So if you want to break out of the old elf or sci fi soldier circle, here's a possible solution.
Dream Journal: Something by your bed to write down your dreams, no matter how mundane or strange they may be. Write down EVERYTHING you remember, no not like an essay, but just a word or two to jot the memory of the dream. That's a minimum, doing more will help train dream recall even faster.
Dream recall: This is the ability (Skill) to remember dreams. People who make the effort to remember more dreams, through activities like taking notes, will naturally remember them easier. Over time, since the content of dreams are irregular and spontaneous, (and in this field of art that is a good thing) you will inevitably come across some interesting ideas!
Lucid dreaming: Training dream recall will increase your likeliness to have lucid dreams. These are where you awaken inside your dream and can experience whatever you can imagine! Of course, that is an entirely different topic, but the things that worked for me the best were reality checks, writing A's on the hands, and spinning.
If you're interested in lucid dreaming, that information is surprisingly easy to find and all the websites on it say essentially the same things, so just a search away!
I once even had an idea of making a thread to record my dreams just to see if it could inspire others with the other worldly things that happen. Eventually it seemed like too much work and some things were very personal, so i didn't, so that's why i'm making this thread. Crimson Daggers! Do it yourself!
Its cool to see someone else into lucid dreaming on here. I spent like a year hyper focused on dream recall and lucid dreaming. I've fallen out of the habit of writing down my dreams but I still have a decent passive recall built up just from practicing it. I came up with this name actually right around when I was heavily into dream stuff. Hypnagogia are these quick little hallucinations that flash by as you're falling asleep. In retrospect its not as cool a name as I thought at the time XD
I had this idea a while back of starting a study group based around dreams. We'd collect ideas from a dream journal and work out a finished piece from it. I even thought of a name for it... Dream Warriors complete with an 80s theme song.
haha cool! yea i'm pretty much in the same shoes you are, though i'm trying to get back into it. Though i used to be REALLY into it, like doing the whole setting alarm clocks at random times and stuff, it was killing my brain haha; nightmares got super intense so i just quit.
I bought one a few months ago and it's like an air purifying night light, really helpful and calming i sleep so much better.
Damn now i'm starting to sound like an advertisement... Yea, i think if we can get more people in the art community into this stuff, we may have a revolution on our hands!
Cool thread, Fedodika! Dreams are fascinating, particularly the kind of "narratives" they can follow. I've had an on and off habit of recording my particularly interesting dreams over the past few years. Dreams have been something of an influence on my work.
On the subject of dream narratives, here's a really cool animated short film by David Firth that is based on the very loose, abstract narratives of dreams. Give it a watch if you haven't already.
Interesting idea. I could try this but my dreams in those last years doesn't seem very unusual or imaginative. For some reason lately I entered phase where all have a common theme of spy or crime fiction (even though it's not entirely my thing). One time I'm sort of agent on some mission of assassinating someone, other times I'm held as prisoner by some gang or try to avoid being tracked by police. Out of those dreams I could probably make another movie in the Jason Bourne series :D.
Wow lucid dreaming! In one unemployed phase a while back I trained myself to do that, for making music its incredible you can just think 'orchestra' and there is such an intricate and harmonious piece playing right out of the sky! Only ever managed to capture little pieces of it when awake but a great source for ideas. It eventually led to a few terrifying experiences of sleep paralysis and after a while I just couldn't do it anymore. I had been keeping a dream journal like you mentioned, I never connected that stopping the journal led to not being able to bring on lucid dreams anymore, this is quite a revelation. But yea, I wrote a number of short stories from my dreams, real crazy stuff that'd never have come to me while awake. Thanks for posting this! Gonna start a dream journal again!
Fedodika, have you ever tried a WILD (wake induced lucid dream)? I did it a couple times though it took a lot of patience and determination. I used this guys methods https://www.youtube.com/user/LucidDreamTricks His timer method is really cool. Its basically the method that hypnotists use to get people into a trance. You keep yourself right at the edge of sleep and awakeness for like 20 minutes and it keeps you conscious while falling asleep. The first time I tried it I was just about to say forget it and give up when my roommate comes in the room and says theres a lunar eclipse happening outside. I dont even question that its still day time and that my roommates still at work. I got outside and look up and notice theres two moons in the sky. At that point I become totally aware as Im staring into the second moon and I realize its not a moon at all. It starts to light up and I feel this intense feeling of oneness with the universe as cheesy as it sounds. I later read about Buddhist monks who practiced lucid dreaming. They described seeing a bright glowing white orb like the moon that wasnt really a moon from my dream. They said it was the rational part of the mind snapping awake suddenly, which is exactly what it felt like.
Jyonny, its not really keeping a journal but just thinking about your dreams a lot that makes you able to have lucid dreams. When you think about a certain thing a lot it filters into your subconscious as an important thing. So if you think about your dreams you're subconscious will get the message that dreams are important and that you should remember them. Just reading your old dream journal if you still have it daily and picturing them in your mind can make a huge difference. Also reality checks throughout the day will keep you on your toes. The subconscious is a tricky bastard and will always throw you a curve ball so be observant about your surroundings as much as possible.
Thats interesting you say about just thinking 'orchestra' can summon music like that. I've also had similar experience though im not much of a musician. I've read about people writing songs and painting while in their dreams. They say their creativity is extremely enhanced while in a lucid dream. It made me want to train myself to create awesome art ideas while asleep and then wake up and recreate it. It would be no easy task to get that good at lucid dreaming but I have the rest of my life to get better at it. Its basically like riding a bike too I think.
Also the thing about sleep paralysis is that if you realize theres nothing to be afraid of you'll be fine. I had it happened to me once and I realized what was happening so I just went with the flow and it was a pleasant experience. Its just like in a dream that if you start thinking dreadful things are going to happen they will happen.
Funny story, after watching the movie Insidious which is inspired by peoples experiences of sleep paralysis and seeing "shadow people", my brother had that exact experience. He woke up and said he couldnt move so he started to freak out. He looked up and the old woman from the movie was hunched over the foot of his bed screaming with glowing red eyes. He later met the actor who played the old woman(it was actually a guy playing a woman) and told him about it, to which the guy said "thats awesome". XD
Anyways, I could go on and on about this stuff but I havnt gotten much drawing done today.
haha yes, i have accidentally astrally projected before, yes I've tried WILD and MILD both a lot, i didn't like WILD because it killed my sleep cycle and didn't feel healthy.
It was just an average day and i went to sleep, woke up in sleep paralysis and felt myself become like a form of wires. I was super tingly and felt myself move from my bed and look in the mirror next to my bed and saw myself sleeping. I started panicking and went back into my body but i could not wake up until i did so.
Jyonny yes, i was a musician before doing art, and even tried being a writer. I still collect musical ideas for my dreams on a digital recorder when i get one! When you're super into music like i am and have just thousands of different songs and techniques memorized music is sooo rich and beautiful in dreams its indescribable!
For anyone new to dreaming, this takes a good bit of time, maybe two or three months before you start getting decent results. and in years the years will have a semi permenant effect if you keep it up!
I find that the habits I've developed from practicing lucid dreaming also happen to be good for my mental and physical health. Sure you could try the methods that force you to wake up in the middle of the night but I find all that unnecessary. All I do is make sure I get some exercise each day, go outside and get some vitamin D, eat healthy and dont stay up late. Coupled with the usual things like reality checks, keeping a dream journal and taking note of dream signs. Something that makes a bit of difference in remembering dreams is get some choline in your daily diet. Choline is a essential nutrient that helps improve memory among other things and most people dont get enough of it.
Lucid dreaming has also given me deeper insight into myself and allowed me to cope with lifes challenges more easily. Its not just for living out sex fantasies and escapism. I found often times my dreams are manifestations of my subconscious working through problems that my conscious mind hasnt even realized yet. Analyzing your dreams can make you realize all sorts of things about yourself. Its not as cryptic as people think either. Some people think they need to refer to some books on what dreams mean. The only person who can figure out what your dreams mean is you though. Symbolism in dreams is more often a personal thing than a cultural thing.
Lastly, doing all this will help you become a better artist and a better person too. By living a healthy life style and exploring your own minds inner workings, you get depressed less often and can deal with it better when you do hit those lows. In the end you will be more productive and able to stick it out for the long road of development. I see a lot of artists struggling with this as I did for a long time. Many of us think the only thing that will make us a better artist is getting technical skill, but what do you do with that skill once you have it? Cultivating the mind of an artist can be an even bigger climb than cultivating the eye and hand. Lucid dreaming will allow you to develop your creative ability and live a deeper more fulfilling life.
ahh yea lucid sex fantasies; man those get weird. Flying and killing people gets old after a while lol.
Umm yea, my first lucid dream i flew down the road to this lodge and started making out with this bizarre looking old woman with lime colored lipstick, draggy eyeliner, and a cupcake looking blonde hairdo; she also wore a lime coat and had tons of wrinkles.. but man it felt awesome for some reason!
I think miles J was talking about this in "things get metaphysical with Sam and Miles" on Dan warrens YT channel. Miles says like, ones i realize i'm dreaming i start humping the nearest thing. Like i could be hanging out with sam and just start humping him and just thinking, hurry up and turn into a woman! and sam will just say, "AHHH WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!?!"
Yea only a handful of my lucid shagging has been with the ideal cute girl, but 90% of the time it just isn't that. Oh well feels good man.
i mean what if you dont get dreams anymore?
at least thats what i think ive been experiencing for quite some time now.
or maybe im just too bad at recalling my dreams. either way its been a long time since i hav[/font]e remembered i had dreams on my sleep
Well we all dream, just whenever you have one and you're sure of it, write down what happened and it will snowball and you will be able to remember more dreams :). just keep writing them down whenever they come to you.
To add to that, a big part of remembering dreams is to not move right away when you wake up. If you have the luxury of not having to jump out of bed in the morning to an alarm and race to work or school take a bit of extra time to stay as still as possible. Theres some kind of neurological thing that happens when you move. The brain just dumps all the dream memories. At first you might not be able to remember anything for a week. Then you might remember just a color or a feeling. Write it down no matter how vague it might be. It snowballs like Fedo said.
Fedo, thats hilariously disturbing about the sex dreams. I've only managed enough control in dreams to have sex a couple times. Since you made this thread I've been writing down dreams and gearing up to get back into it. One thing I've been fascinated with is false memories in dreams. Where you have these spontaneous memories of past experiences that you never actually experienced in real time. Like you might be walking down a street and see a house and suddenly you have a false memory of going in that house years ago and seeing some freaky shit so you avoid it.
I've had dreams where I had layers of false memories built up to where it seemed like the dream lasted months. I've read people even having years worth of experiences in a single dream. Once you wake up its almost impossible to remember all of it but a lingering feeling of having gone on some epic voyage sticks with you. If I could figure out a way to induced dreams like that on purpose that would be freakin amaze-balls.
Thank you for this thread! Made me remember that I wanted to start doing this ages ago, but never did.
I started a dream diary three nights ago. The first night I half remembered a somewhat strange but unremarkable dream. The second night I remembered two dreams, both of them with vivid details, both of them I would watch if they were movies. So naturally I was very excited when I went to sleep last night ... and then I woke up this morning only remembering one dream about my day-job and one dream about going to lunch with my co-workers. I felt cheated. It's like doing unpaid overtime, but during my dreams.
Despite this setback, I still highly recommend the experience!
Awesome thread ! I was just talking about that with a friend. Fedo and Hypnagogic_haze, are you lucid dreamers ?
I was into it a lot during High School but trying to get into it again. but actually remembering too much dreams a night can be quite.... annoying haha, like the more you are remembering, the more you'll get to write the next morning and it can take...hours....
Foxfire : If you try to remember them and writing them down every morning, you'll get to remember at least one in quite a short time so don't worry, we all dream =D
Good to hear Chris. Its really cool to be excited about going to sleep I think. Your dreams are usually about things you were thinking about that day and especially right before bed. So it helps to notice the repetitive thoughts running through your head throughout the day. As goofy as it sounds chanting a phrase over and over to yourself before bed has a strong effect on what happens in your dreams that night. The more you repeat a thought the stronger its resonance in your mind.
Tien, yes I've been lucid dreaming on and off for the last two years and I've had them by accident all throughout my life. I know what you mean about remembering too much. When I first started I tried to write down as much as I could because of how little I could remember. But then when I started remembering almost everything about dreams the dream entries went from a few short sentences to several pages long. I try to summarize now since I dont want to spend all morning writing down dreams. As long as I have enough information so that I can go back years from now, read it and remember the dream. Its fun going back and reading through them once you have a large collection of dreams in your journal.
Important thing I learned today: even if you only remember the most unremarkable and boring dream, write it down anyway. The act of writing it down will make you remember the more interesting and weird stuff you had already forgotten when you woke up!
I don't know if it was just daydreaming while half asleep or not but today I had a pretty unique dream. As I was waking up in the middle of the night, at the same time in a dream I passed out and fell to the floor. Then after going back to sleep I regained consciousness. It's as if reality and dream existed independently. Weird.
