Is lucid dreaming addictive? Well there's only one way to find out! let's get started
Hi dreamers well lucid dreaming is absolutely amazing you know that,
i know that, everybody knows that! It's the ability to do anything you want (essentially)
in your dreams, to have any wish granted, it is a virtual reality of the mind. So why then,
if it's so good, are people not completely hooked on lucid dreaming? Why is lucid dreaming not
incredibly addictive? Well there are many many reasons for that, but before we go any further,
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So let's get into the nitty-gritty of it, is lucid dreaming addictive? and if it is why? and if it
isn't why not? It's a weird one isn't it? because you would think that something as wonderful as
lucid dreaming the ability to have your wishes granted would be a major form of escapism for
almost everyone - why wouldn't you want to go off to a world where anything is possible,
where there are no consequences, where you can dream whatever you wish? why wouldn't you want
to do that all the time? Well sadly for some people that is the case, many people when they
first discover lucid dreaming think of it as a form of escapism, but weirdly enough,
it's absolutely the opposite! Lucid dreaming, if you're interested in lucid dreaming as a means
to escape your life, as a means to just indulge in selfishness and basically wish fulfillment,
then you're going to be disappointed! Because lucid dreaming acts as its own filter, it doesn't
allow you to become addicted to it. This is going to be one of those more rambly videos because
the question "is lucid dreaming addictive?" is one of the most common questions i'm asked, i'm
sure it's the same for any other lucid dreaming channel or lucid dreaming teacher, it's possibly
the most commonly asked question regarding lucid dreaming, and it's a good question, because you'd
think that it would be, but as i said lucid dreaming acts as its own filter for addiction,
and what do i mean by that?, well essentially the skills required to become a lucid dreamer
require quite a lot of dedication and focus and motivation, these are skills which are generally
lacking in people with addictive personalities, people who are looking to escape generally are,
for want of a better term, having a bad time they are somewhat weak willed, they've given up. Lucid
dreaming is the opposite of giving up! To get to a point where you're having regular lucid dreams
you need to invest a lot of effort, you need to be a really quite high functioning individual, so
the very nature of lucid dream itself, the very key to open the door of lucid dreaming,
requires you to be the sort of person who isn't prone to escapism or addiction. So that's not to
say that if there were some magical device or pill that would give you instant lucid dreams that they
wouldn't be addictive, i think that's one of the big worries with this subject is if someone cracks
the nut, if someone creates the perfect lucid dreaming pill that guarantees lucid dreaming,
that then will have a problem. Because if you could have lucid dreams on demand at any
time i think there would be a large portion of people who would choose just that. Fortunately,
the very fact that lucid dreaming is difficult to attain, difficult to achieve, is our saving grace.
It is that very thing that makes lucid dreaming non-addictive. In fact, if anything it
it counters addictive personality. Look at it this way, lucid dreaming requires focus, motivation,
and dedication, it requires not being distracted. It requires doing things you might not want to do.
Now addictive behavior requires being distracted giving up when your urges take control of you,
it's essentially the exact opposite of what is required to be a lucid dreamer. So if
you're the sort of person with an addictive personality what you'll actually find, if you
can really focus on this subject, if you can push yourself forward and through the requirements to
be a lucid dreamer, you will actually help to overcome addictive personality traits.
I think it's really important that we look at the idea of escapism and the motivations
behind escapism, because frankly i can see why a lot of people would want to escape their lives,
and lucid dreaming would seem like a really good way to achieve that - hide away in your
dreams and live in a perfect world with no consequences no problems - of course everyone
is going to find that appealing but again this is where lucid dreaming steps in and challenges us.
Because when you become a lucid dreamer, whether you're a beginner or a regular lucid dreamer,
what you'll notice about this subject is it's less about escapism and more about looking in
the mirror of your own soul, for want of a better term, your own mind, your own subconscious.
Lucid dreaming will not let you escape yourself, and let's face it that's what most people are
really trying to escape. If you want to become a lucid dreamer you have to face some pretty
gritty aspects of your personality, you warts and all, a lucid dreamer,
and and i've said this many times in other videos and check out the other videos if you
haven't done so already, a lucid dreamer is someone who is exploring themselves,
they are someone who is facing themselves and reality head-on, you cannot escape into lucid
dreams - that is unlikely - if you go into your dreams expecting escapism, you'll probably find
that you'll end up having nightmares, because your your fears, your worries, your anxieties,
they they come to life in your dreams, they're not something that you can hide from in dreamland,
you might be able to do it here in waking life, you might be able to distract yourself enough
to push those things down, but in the dream world they bubble up and they become monstrous.
So be prepared as a lucid dreamer, especially if you think that it's a form of escapism,
for that being a big slap in the face, because you will not find escapism in lucid dreaming.
You will find adventure, you will find self-understanding, and you'll find the truth
about who you are - and generally those are the things that people kind of want to escape from.
Ss someone who has been lucid dreaming for their entire life, and can lucid dream essentially at
will, am i addicted to lucid dreaming? do i use lucid dreams as escapism? well the answer is
mostly a resounding no. I'll admit that sometimes i'll just have fun in my lucid dreams you can use
lucid dreaming on small scale for a little bit of escapism, a little bit of fun and enjoyment,
and that sort of thing, but if that's all you do you will soon find that the dream starts to turn
on you, that your subconscious worries, anxieties, neuroses etc. will come to haunt you in your
dreams. But more importantly, what you'll discover as you become a more regular lucid dreamer,
is that your ability to lucid dream relies on variables that are out of your control.
So when i say i can lucid dream at will, what do i actually mean by that? i mean i can lucid dream
at will, when the conditions outside of my control all fall into place, and in general life,
on most nights that's the case, if i'm having an easy going time lucid dreaming is easy, but
the moment life becomes stressful or anxious or worrisome ,or there's a big problem in your life,
that you have to solve suddenly, your mind becomes distracted, messy, untidy, all of the things that
are the opposite of the requirements for lucid dreaming. So if you want to escape from a troubled
life into lucid dreams unfortunately all the variables that are required for lucid dreaming
are not in your favor, and your mind has been turned into a whirlwind that is not focused enough
for lucidity. So this is really important to remember, if you're suffering from depression, for
example, or anxiety lucid dreaming will be harder because the the power of that negative force will
override your critical thinking skills, your ability to stay focused, etc. Now there is one
other element to this which is really important: if you want to be a regular lucid dreamer and you
want to avoid one of the most common mistakes that beginners to lucid dreaming make, that is:
over focus obsession with this subject. Now i know some of you are going to say "Mr Love, you have
been lucid dreaming for 40 years, you've built a career around it, you've written books about it,
you have a youtube channel and a website all about it, surely that's close to an obsession?". No.
What i have for lucid dreaming is a passion for something very interesting, but what i've learned
throughout my many years doing this is that you need to treat lucid dreaming with a light touch,
if you become obsessive with it, if you're trying endless techniques every night,
if you're interrupting your sleep again and again, if all you ever think about is lucid dreaming,
you'll actually be doing yourself no favors, the lucid dreams won't come. You have to have
a kind of "doing without doing" approach to lucid dreaming, see it like a healthy relationship. So
imagine a couple that demands that they see each other 24/7, they need to know everything about
each other's lives, that kind of weird unhealthy overly obsessive relationship, would you expect
that relationship to last? would you expect love to blossom? of course you wouldn't. It's built on
an obsession rather than a romance, a respect, a true relationship. You need to look at your lucid
dreams and your your process of becoming a lucid dreamer in much the same way as building a healthy
relationship; you need to indulge in it when it's the time is right, you need to know enough
about your dreams, but not so much that you're obsessed with everything about it, it's very much
just a natural flexible flow that you build with dreams, if you become obsessive you're essentially
a stalker of lucid dreams, and that is not going to end well! When was the last time a stalker
ended up winning the heart of the person they were stalking? NEVER. don't be a lucid dream
stalker! Instead be someone that is genuinely well-rounded, exactly the same as if you want to
be attractive to someone you find attractive, make yourself someone that is worth being attracted to.
And i know this seems a little bit weird when talking about dreams. What i'm saying is
if you want to be an effective lucid dreamer have a well-rounded life, be someone you can
be proud of, don't be obsessive, don't focus only on lucid dreaming, have a very functional stable
well-rounded life. The more well-rounded you are the easier you will find lucid dreaming. In fact,
when i run my lucid dream tuition sessions, which you can find over at thelucidguide.com,
when i get students who come through who are highly adept individuals, people who are high
functioning with good careers, you know lawyers, doctors, scientists, people with a broad range of
interests and ideas, people who have their lives together, i know almost immediately that they're
going to find lucid dreaming easy. When i get sort of crazy, i don't want to say hippies,
i'm always acting as if i hate hippies - i don't hate hippies i think hippies lovely people - but
people who don't have their lives together, who are struggling to make sense of, you know,
day-to-day things, don't really have many interests, all they do is play games and nothing
else, (nothing wrong with gaming but if that's all you do there's something wrong) with that people
who don't have their lives together generally find lucid dreaming difficult. There is a correlation
between how effective you are as a human being and how effective you will be as a lucid dreamer.
So is lucid dreaming addictive? Well, no, no it's not, the very nature of lucid dreaming requires
that you are not a weak-willed individual, if you are weak willed then you shouldn't be
worrying about whether you'll be addicted to lucid dreaming, you should be worrying about
whether you've got the gumption, what it takes to become a lucid dreamer. So remember you need
to just stay focused and put the effort in, not to focused that it's obsessive, but not so
laid-back that you're not doing anything - healthy balance is all that's required. And if you want to
add a healthy balance to the channel here, hit the like button, subscribe if you're new here,
and leave your comments below! Do you agree with what i've been saying? what are your experiences
with lucid dreaming and addiction? let me know! Anyway, that's it for today. I'm Daniel Love,
the Lucid Guide, this has been Lucid Dream Portal, and until next time, stay lucid!
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