The Coolest Thing I Know Of

Aaaaaaaaand I'm back! Sorry about the lack of posts recently, I've been busy as hell recently, but that is college I suppose right? Expanding horizons, robbing me of sleep and whatnot.

Anyway, I'm here today to share, as the intensely worded title says, the coolest thing I think I've ever done: lucid dreaming.

So here's the basic concept. Everyone knows what dreaming is. If you don't you're either a psychopath or an elf (because they don't sleep...get it? Crap my geek is showing).

So about 99.9-100% of the time, most people won't realize that they're dreaming. Things just make sense in dreams. You enter the dream, and the fact that you're a pig is about as interesting as a week old bowl of oatmeal. 

If this were any less exciting it would have Larry King's voice.

So you go about your dream business for a few minutes, the dream ends, and you're a more mentally stable person because of it.

Now, as illustrated in the point made above, the rules of our reality don't apply to dreams. So how cool would it be if you could recognize when you're dreaming and then do whatever you wanted? And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what lucid dreaming is.

I encourage everyone reading this to go read some of the great pages on the interwebs that have to do with teaching yourself to lucid dream, because it's really worth it if you can make it happen. Taking a few simple steps in your daily routine (namely reality checks, a short mantra before bed, and a dream journal) can have you dreaming lucidly in just a few weeks if you're lucky, which I was.

Really, you can do anything you want when you go lucid in your dream. I tried this lucid dreaming experiment this past summer, after I had graduated high school. I was having a dream that I was back in a math class from 11th grade. It seemed normal, except it was with a teacher that I didn't much like.

I was thinking about how it sucked that I had to go through two more years of high school, when the whole situation struck me as odd. Something wasn't right. For instance, the class looked really different than I remembered, and I could swear that I had already been accepted to college. And just like that, I was lucid.

I knew I was dreaming. It was exciting as hell. Imagine suddenly realizing that anything you wanted, anything at all, was a thought away. I was practically ready to explode from anticipation.

Mind blowing POWER!!

So what did I do? Well if you know something about me from reading my blog a bit, you know that more than pretty much anything I want a superpower. And where else was I gonna get this chance? I jumped out the window and took off into a thunderstorm.

And this is what it looked like.

Now I know it sounds cheesy when you think about it, but just imagine it. You know how real a dream feels while you're in it. Everything is as realistic as your brain can produce it. Imagine being able to do this. Imagine how it would actually feel if you could fly among the dark, crackling clouds of an oncoming tempest.

It was terrifying.

It was awesome.

And it was easily the most amazing thing I've ever done.

So if you ever get a chance and feel like performing an experiment for yourself, try getting yourself to go lucid. It's pretty easy to take the steps toward it, and the payout literally could not be potentially larger. I've only managed to do it once, but it doesn't make it any less worth it. I plan on going back to the routine soon so that I can experience that again.

Finally, I'll share some of my favorite ideas for a lucid dream:
1. Fly in a thunderstorm - I can personally recommend this. It's amazing.
2. Take our your phone, and call yourself. You will answer. Have fun talking to your subconscious. Ask it something.
3. Sexy time?
4. Visit somewhere you might never get to see. Don't limit yourself to Earth either.
5. Seriously, sexy time.