Lucid Dreams by Liz Russo

A few weeks ago in my Human Body Systems class we were learning about the brain and about dreams. When I was younger, I used to believe dreams were some sort of messages that had a deeper meaning or that they predicted the future (I had a very active imagination). However, in my class we learned that dreams occur because while you are asleep, your brain is processing memories, emotions, and information that has been absorbed throughout the day.

We watched an episode of the Netflix documentary show called "The Mind Explained" about dreams and it discussed lucid dreaming. I didn't know much about it other than that it is consciously influencing your dreams. They interviewed Allison McCarthy who is a lucid dreamer and she explained her process of learning how to do it. She said that the first step is to practice remembering your dreams and write them down. Next, she said to recognize when you're in a dream- look for dream-like qualities in the day and then ask yourself "is this real, or is it a dream?" This is because the more you ask yourself that question while you're awake, the more likely you are to ask it while dreaming and once you realize you're in a dream, you can influence it.

I was so fascinated that it seemed that easy. I knew it was a skill that you had to practice, but I had no idea that anyone could attempt to do it- and I became determined to learn. I went home and researched more into it to find the safest way to give it a try. I started with McCarthy's first step and began recording my dreams in a journal. Some mornings, I couldn't remember if I even had any dreams. However, when I did wake up and remember them, I would keep the journal right by my bed so I could write the dream down before I forgot it.

I find it funny that during the dream, everything that is happening makes complete sense, but when I would write it down it would be the most random things. For example, one dream I had I was by this pond with my dad and we had to cross it, but weren't allowed to swim in it and Justin Timberlake came and told us we had to step on the alligators to get across (that honestly wasn't even the weirdest one somehow). I did google some of my dreams, and surprisingly some of them meant something. For instance I dreamed that my two front teeth fell out and I was told they would never grow back. When I looked this up it said that teeth falling out is a sign of being anxious- which made sense because I had a math and bio test the next day that I was super nervous for. I also had a few dreams where I was falling off of something and my body jumps awake. I researched it and discovered your body does this because your brain is falling asleep too quickly.

The next step was to question if I'm in a dream or not. One of the most effective ways to do this is a reading test- as you read something, look away for a moment and then back to the book to make sure if its the same text. This is because in a dream, the text usually morphs into something else. I tried doing this almost everyday. Another way to question reality is to count the number of fingers. Experts say that you never have exactly ten fingers in a dream.

Last week, I think I may have experienced my first signs of being able to lucid dream, but not much happened. I was dreaming I was on a beach with my family and we were flying kites. Suddenly, I got the urge to count the number of fingers and for some reason I wasn't able to because every time I looked at my hands, my vision became blurry. That's all I remember about the dream, but I count it as progress. It definitely is not an easy skill to master and takes time and practice to learn, but I am still determined to try.