Everyone I've talked to about lucid dreaming has either expressed ignorance, apathy or subtle annoyance. I must be the only one among family and friends that gives a damn about this subject. Pretty astonishing though because I expected everyone to be as fascinated as I was/still am. Has anyone else experienced disappointment in relaying dream experiences to others? There seems to be such resistance to new ideas. Many people have told me they think my interest in lucid dreaming is frivolous. It's frustrating when you want to share with someone a wonderful experience only to be stymied by narrow thinking.

Yeah, i kind of agree - i've told a few people about it and i don't think they believed it. But, what i plan to do is wait till i have a first LD, THEN tell everyone and i think they will all think it is cooler since it really did happen.

Mark, if something doesn't bring a person wealth, status, and dominance over others then it is pointless to most people. 20th century humans would rather work harder than necessary to amass wealth and impress the neighbors than improve themselves. Sad, but to an extent this is the truth. On the other hand many people just become way to comfortable and really don't care if there's something out there that could improve their lives. Change=work=discomfort.

Yes! I am also frustrated about not being able to talk with anyone about my dreams. I've tried talking with family members about what I've learned from books, online resaerch, and my own experience. The subject is always brushed off. I'm thinking about trying to locate a local dream group so I can meet some people with similar interests and beliefes in dreams.

Forget the LD'in, Besides my family not caring about LD, they aren't interested in anything I can do!!!!! I think I was freaking adopted or something. I have nothing in common. LOL, well, I guess i better get used to it then. I am not much of a people person, so it doesn't matter much to me. I'd take being locked in a room over going outside any day!!! Later

I get a wide range of responses (I talk A LOT about lucid dreaming!)
My dad is the worst. Its like he can't even talk about it, he's so grounded in 'real life'. He never tells me to shut up, but he never asks anything about it, comments, and usually changes the subject pretty quick.
Some look at me like I'm crazy. Which is really annoying. I just say something like "look, you'll understand if and when you do it" which kind of intrigues them into thinking about it (i reckon).
But, if you talk to enough people, you can find people who lucid dream but arent really up on the subject! A couple of my friends have at least partially lucid dreams every so often (usually sexually themed!) and one of my workmates is a MASTER lucid dreamer! He just didnt really know what it was called and stuff. Only problem with him is he sleepwalks a lot too.. sometimes while lucid dreaming (is this possible?)
Keep spreading the word. Once you have had at least one you will win more people over. The wonder in my eyes as I describe my lucid dreams usually makes people sit up and take notice!

I get varied responses. The trick is to not be overenthusiastic. Ever listen to an avid golfer go on about a great round he had?

Keep the detail to a minimum. Unless you are already into dreams, hearing someone recite their dream diary is not exciting(they don't remember how vivid it all was). If your eyes go wide as you describe the precise process in which you changed into a rainbow dragon,guess what? people might look at you strange. Details aren't important for getting the point across anyway, just that there are details.

I usually lead off by saying "you know how sometimes when you're dreaming you realize and wake yourself up",get some agreement, and say "this is just learning to stay asleep instead". They may not believe it's possible but they don't usually think I'm nuts either.

Later ------------- CloudHelmut

I told most of my friends about Lucid dreaming, they all were fairly fascinated by it. And 2 of my firends even decided to look into it further and like me are now trying to induce lds.

People fear what they dont understand, they are afraid things will happen that will affect them in a bad way. I was first afraid of Lucid Dreaming, but I said oh well and dove right in. Not everyone is like this. Just remember to be strong on the inside, and gentle on the outside. Peace

Yeah, I guess over-enthusiasm is bad. But you can't just mention it as in like "oh hey, you ever tried those slippers that are like socks? Yeah, they are pretty cool".
Its more like "Jesus, this is amazing... check out what I discovered..."

Or at least thats my way! Dont care who thinks I'm crazy anymore!

i was talkin to this girl in my art class about LDs.she thought i was a freakin psycho!no one understands anyhting im interested in and dont believe me .it sucks!

Yeah, I just got into Lucid Dreaming about a week ago, and since then I've only had one not-so-good lucid dream. Nevertheless, I was excited about it and told someone. She replied with feigned mild interest and changed the subject. I told my best friend about LD after I told the other person, and after my friend's unenthusiastic reaction I've decided to keep it to myself, which is a shame, because I think that LD is an amazing way to discover the power and creativity of your own mind.

3 cloud people? me,cloudhelmut and now cloudnine! when will the madness stop?

Let's see...I haven't talked to many people about it, but the people I have...well you see...ever since...oh 5 years ago whenever a friend spent the night, or I spent the night over at someone's house, We always talk about dreams. Yes, the reactions I've gotten...I told one of my friends about it and he said his dad, having taking a bunch of psychology courses in college, told him about it. I only talked briefly about it with another friend. I'll be sure to creep people out more than usual when ::shudder:: school starts...

Shibby!

My friends never understood what all my 'commotion' was about, untill I compared LD'ing with programming a holodeck.

Suddenly those horny bastards' eyes went wide open with anticipation..

Axé

Kahless

Lucid dreaming is a gift that very few have. I have been on this forum around 5 days and the joy of sharing thoughts of Lds with people like yourselves...is such an emotional relief. Test people out with the subject, If you can tell they can't hear, turn off the music and come back here! I told one of my close friends about lds and she said "Maybe you need more vitamin B, and they will go away". I said huh?! Sherlock

I gave 2 speeches in college about lucid dreams and a majority of the people were very interested. I had dreadlocks at the time so the other people probably thought I was some crazy drug user. One of the teachers was in disbelief. She didn't say it but I could just tell by the face she made when I was talking about flying to the moon and jumping through windows. After each speech though, a lot of the people were approaching me and asking more about it so I pointed them to this site and lucidity.com. A lot of my friends believe me and one of them says that he has them sometimes but not one of my friends want to put the time into waking their mind up during the day or starting a dream journal. I'm letting my brother borrow Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming. The other day I walked into the living room and was like, "I just had a 20 minute lucid dream where I flew all over the place" He asked how to not wake up and I basically told him not to think about not waking up while in the dream. I still don't know if he's had a lucid dream or not though.

I totally agree. My father thinks I'm crazy, and that LDing is a form of new age. Something that doesn't exist, and can't happen. He always changes the subject when I talk about it, he thinks this is a thing that will pass. He is absolutely closed for these kind of things. But at the other hand, my friends on the other hand are enthousiastic and interested.

Here's a tip: if you are talking to a student-type about it, compare it to a drugs trip only more intense and amazing, maaan! Or say (for cool-value) that it, obviously, originates with the Tibetan Monks and stuff like that.
We must spread the word! Humanity must be unlocked from the shackles of materialism!!!

Could we agree that LDing (to some) is a way of life rather than just a trivial subject of interest?

No wonder the main-streamers can't get their heads around it

D.

When I talk about lucid dreaming with my friends they think im a crazy drug user. Then when I tell them I dont do drugs they think Im completly psycho. What is it with most people they beleive the scientists when they say the average humann only uses 10% of their brain but they dont care about trying to further expand their potential except for financial gain.

Oh well my life improved alot ever since I learned to lucid dream thats my opinion on the subject. You may as well do something constructive with your sleep hours.

I think people's reaction is STRONGLY depends on how to talk about LDing. Tell them what they can do! Tell them about sex!

In the speech I gave in oral communications, the end was like, "In your dreams you can do anything you can imagine. You can jump through walls, fly to the moon, or have sex with your favorite movies star. Only your mind is the limit."

I got a 100% on that speech I think it's because the teacher knew it took guts to speak about such an unbelievable topic. It was cool because I could tell that he was very smart and would understand lucid dreams. He was talking about how we don't see with our eyes, what we see is what our brain interprets and it's actually interpreted in the back of our head. To prove this point, he made us close our eyes and talked us through visualizing certain scenarios that he described very well. So I knew that he would really enjoy my speech before I ever gave it.

Just about the only time I've known people to be receptive about lucid dreaming is late at night. This is usually during a sleep-over or like after a party when you're driving home.