can one willfully continue a dream?

[wolfgang]

I had a dream last night that felt unfinished or rather I'd like to spend more time in that dream. Is there a way that I can have this dream continue tonight or some other night soon?

I imagine I'll make suggestions or requests throughout the day and while I go to sleep remember the dream more and such but what else could help?

I dream journal once or twice a month - don't remember dream too often.

[dor]

Originally Posted by wolfgang

I had a dream last night that felt unfinished or rather I'd like to spend more time in that dream. Is there a way that I can have this dream continue tonight or some other night soon?

I imagine I'll make suggestions or requests throughout the day and while I go to sleep remember the dream more and such but what else could help?

I dream journal once or twice a month - don't remember dream too often.

Lucid Dreaming - yes you can

in fact i think steve, or steve's wife, erin has a podcast on it as well - I tried lucid dreaming and was able to be aware i was in my dream right away. Possibly beginner's luck because i haven't been able to duplicate it but ludic dreaming is "clinically proven'

[Erin Pavlina]

I wrote an article about this very topic.

Erin Pavlina’s Blog » Blog Archive » Dream Continuity: Picking up where you left off

[Dating Specialist]

Originally Posted by Erin Pavlina

I wrote an article about this very topic.

Erin Pavlina’s Blog » Blog Archive » Dream Continuity: Picking up where you left off

Read this post Erin. I'm totally amazed that you can actually do this??!!!

Pardon me for asking me, I admit I haven't been reading on lucid dreaming, but wouldn't dreaming cause you to compromise on the quality of your sleep?

Thanks for enlightening me in advace lucid dreamers!

[Dave Kaminski]

Originally Posted by Dating Specialist

Pardon me for asking me, I admit I haven't been reading on lucid dreaming, but wouldn't dreaming cause you to compromise on the quality of your sleep?

I'm almost positive that the answer to this is NO. Dreaming is an activity of your mind, not necessarily your brain. When you sleep it recharges your physical body, but your mind is still active. That's why you can dream and actually have it be better for your sleep.

[aznandyboi]

Originally Posted by Dave Kaminski

I'm almost positive that the answer to this is NO. Dreaming is an activity of your mind, not necessarily your brain. When you sleep it recharges your physical body, but your mind is still active. That's why you can dream and actually have it be better for your sleep.

are you sure? i am not positive myself but i noticed that whenever I dreamed, i would wake up very very groggy the next morning, regardless of how many hours i had the night before. I tend to only dream when I am stressed maybe this is the reason.

[dor]

Originally Posted by aznandyboi

are you sure? i am not positive myself but i noticed that whenever I dreamed, i would wake up very very groggy the next morning, regardless of how many hours i had the night before. I tend to only dream when I am stressed maybe this is the reason.

you probably dream all the time but only remember dreams when you have difficulty sleeping and wake up in the middle of the night.

[Erin Pavlina]

Everyone dreams. Everyone has 4-6 dreams per night. Most people don't remember their dreams. One of the big reasons I learned lucid dreaming was because I wanted to know where I was all the time. Why allow a total break in my consciousness for 8 hours a night? I wanted to know where "I" went, where my consciousness went, so I kept track of it and in so doing, became a master lucid dreamer.

I don't lucid dream every night or every dream, even though I might be able to. I allow some dreams to come because they need to, to tell me something. But I also can't resist a nice superhero dream at least once a week. A girl's gotta have a little fun now and again right?

[Liara Covert]

I decided to learn more about how to recall my dreams and how to explore lucid and astral dreaming because I read improving dream recall can reinforce and strengthen your conscious memory. (Eating blueberries also help!) Over time, I have been amazed at the adventures I continue to discover!

[JoannaC]

Wow, that would be fun. I had a dream once that I was at this beautiful spa, and my favourite exercise video instructor was there. We hung out by the pool, had lunch and then she gave me a private lesson. It was a really good lesson, too I would love to do that again.

[openeyes]

Great article. I'd often intuitively gone back into dreams immediately upon awakening, either to continue them or change things around if I didn't like what happened (rewriting the history of the dream), but had never considered continuing a dream from night to night. I did have a friend with narcolepsy that always went back to the same "dream" whenever she passed out, a dream that seemed just as real as waking life. She eventually went on meds to stop it though, as she was entering medical school.

Many of my dreams seem about as real as waking life, if not more so. It's surprising if most people really only have 4-6 per night, as I have 1-4 in the average 7 to 15 minute nap, usually somewhat lucid. In the past I wrote dreams down upon awakening, but that soon meant writing several pages. Now if there's a special dream that I want recorded, I keep a digital audio recorder by my bed to speak into, and it can be plugged into my computer for automatic transcription if I care to get that advanced.

[stormpsyche]

I see this is an old post. I am a new poster.

Years ago when I was very young this first happened to me by accident. I dreamed a tv show. A "To Be Continued...." sign came up at the end of it. The next night I dreamed the rest of it. It was unexpected and fun.

The next time I forced myself to continue a dream. I woke up at a bad part before my nephews were rescued. I forced myself to go back to sleep to rescue them. The dream continued and I got them out of the water where they were caught to safety. The next day my sister told me she was up with her boys all night long holding first one of them then the other because they both had high fevers.

[Deimos]

Yes. I've experienced this most of my life with no effort on my part. I'll have a dream and like most folks when I wake I quickly forget what I was dreaming. Then in the evening when I'm at the edge of sleep, I'll recall what I was dreaming the night before. Sometimes when I'm up late goofing off, I'll remember my previous night's dream, and I usually tell myself it must be time for bed.

I've always thought this was normal but whenever the topic of dreams comes up no one has the same experience that I do. There are nights when I have what I call "stand-alone" dreams. But it is not the norm.

I actually found this post, because every so often I search the web on the subject. I'd really like to know if this is being researched or if it has a name.

Also, I should comment that it's a blessing and a scourge. When I'm having adventurous or sex dreams it's awesome. When I'm having nightmares or stressful dreams it's a curse. I have to admit to sometimes self medicating to break the cycle of the latter.

[joyfully]

Originally Posted by Deimos

Yes. I've experienced this most of my life with no effort on my part. I'll have a dream and like most folks when I wake I quickly forget what I was dreaming. Then in the evening when I'm at the edge of sleep, I'll recall what I was dreaming the night before. Sometimes when I'm up late goofing off, I'll remember my previous night's dream, and I usually tell myself it must be time for bed.

This is EXACTLY what I experience every night as it starts getting late and around bedtime. I start remembering whatever my last dream was even though I didn't think about the dream through any part of the day earlier. Doesn't every normally do this?