Do you think anyone can control their dreams?

Yes, sometimes people realize they’re in a dream.

I can take control once I realize it’s a dream. However the longer I take control the more I truly realize its actually a dream and I wake up. Some times I will just wake up from the excitement of whatever I’m doing with said control.

Having said al that, it is a very rare event for me.

@Blackberry
That I can do and I can force myself to get up. I remember changing the direction when I was a child.
@poisonedantidote
I have been mediating and trying to relax but I have been unable to stop the upsetting dreams and they wake me up.
Any suggestions?

I do when I want to. I’ve changed the outcome of my dreams. Flying is SO FUN!!

@Dutchess_III
How can you do this without waking up?

I have no explanation. It doesn’t wake me up unless I’m ready to wake up. If a dream is getting too hairy and I can’t fly away or change it, I’ll command myself to wake up and I do.
I’ve changed my dreams from nightmares to fun dreams. I flew across the solar system when I was in college, visiting all of the planets. And the moon.

I can control it sometimes. I don’t know how I do it, but I’ve been pretty much able to do it since I was five or six. Like @Dutchess_III , I fly a lot. When I was a kid I used to do more creative stuff, like color the sky with special crayons and switch “characters” in a dream. Like if I were being chased by a witch, I could turn into the witch and start chasing the person who was me earlier. Or I would turn into someone who was standing on the side of the road and just watching the chase.

Yes, I’m a lucid dreamer for the most par too. I become aware of my dream state and wake myself up. It happens more so than not,

I’ve heard it’s possible, but I was never able to do it, nor was I ever given a chance to do so. Or so it seems, anyway. Sometimes it seems I can, but I really can’t. The best I can do, is returning in dreams I liked after waking up from them, and falling asleep again not long after.
However, I do suffer from nocturnal paralysis, (haven’t been experiencing it much since I started drinking though) and I find that, despite what those are, I have more power in them and am more cognizant of what’s going on than I do in normal dreams.

@keobooks
Do you think your level of control relates to your stress level?
When I was a child I could control my dreams.
My dreams change depending on my stress level and when I am calmer I have greater control.
Does exhaustion and stress create bad dreams? I think they do but I wonder if others experience this too?

It’s possible. Happened to me a few weeks ago. Usually if I become lucid enough to realize I have any control I control a bad dream by waking up from it. A few weeks ago, though, I dreamed I was being arrested (lol) and I was sitting in the police station for a long time before thinking to myself, “I don’t want to be here anymore.” And so began a sequence of my dream in which I broke out of there and moved on to dream about nicer things.

I don’t think it was just the natural progression of my dream. I remember noticing just how unpleasant it felt to be thinking about that, and realizing that I didn’t have to continue doing so, and deciding to change it.

@Mariah
I do the same but recently I keep waiting up. The result is a lack of enough sleep. I wish I could control the dream but not have to wake up

@philosopher I think you are right about the stress. Sometimes, when I’m really stressed out, I control the dream, but in a bad way. I will realize I’m dreaming, and be such a pessimist that I turn the dream into a nightmare because I’m expecting bad things to happen.

@keobooks
Thank you at least I am not the only one.

Stress affects my dreams too. I have more trouble remembering my dreams when I’m stressed and when I do, they’re usually very scattered and anxious. Less controlled, if anything.

@Mariah
That is how I have been feeling.
The things we fear worst come alive in our dreams especially when we are highly stressed. The only escape that works for me is to get up and I am exhausted.
I do not remember what I dreamed only that it upset me.

@philosopher I hope you feel less stressed out soon.

@Mariah
Thank you, LOL me too.

@Symbeline What do you mean you were never given the chance to (lucid dream)? Everytime you dream, that’s your chance!

Well, how do you, anyways? I can’t seem to control much, nor does that chance come up since I never realize I’m dreaming. So I was thinking that maybe there are certain factors that need to be triggered…or maybe my willpower isn’t strong enough. XD

@Symbeline I have heard that a good way to learn how to lucid dream is to always touch the doorframe each time you go through and ask yourself if you’re dreaming. Then when you get really into the habit of it you might do it in a dream sometime and voila! Never tried this myself though so I can’t vouch for it.

@Symbeline Ok…just, when you go to bed tell yourself over and over that you will know when you are dreaming and you will control your dreams.

Oh, it’s true, btw, that if you pinch yourself when you’re dreaming you can’t feel it. It’s weird…you can feel the pressure but not the ‘pain’.