Breaking from "How about a game of FWS.net Survivor?":
You can kick-start a dream in the black hole period (the waking paralysis that occurs just before you switch over from conscious to asleep). It takes some practice to get a black hole, though, and they're very scary if you're not ready for it, but if you use them correctly you can formulate the start and structure of dream while your awake as you descend into the blackness. Once you hit the bottom it begins. You can abort and struggle your way back out and wakeup if you haven't gone down too far, but that's as tiring as though it were real life and you'll be exhausted once you awake.
If you're in a dream and don't realize it I often have a hard time remembering all the details afterward. Entering though a black hole you do know you're dreaming, so no problem there, but if not and you just start dreaming by conventional means, you can search for the key. The key is an element in all dreams (well, at least all mine). It can take on different forms but it always leads to realizing your dreaming while your in the dream. In your surroundings, which are always familiar in one respect or another, most things will be as they should but one element will be out of place, out of time, or both. This isn't a subtle difference, were you awake you would notice it immediately, but in a dream you tend to overlook it unless you're trying to see it. Find that and you realize you're asleep. This has one of three outcomes, you either skip to another dream, you wake up, or, and this is the most fun, you remember everything that happens in the dream and you have somewhat of an influence over the action (you don't control the dream, but you can sway certain events).
Example of a key: My night normally has a couple quick dreamlets then the feature presentation dream. Sometimes one of the quickies is a nightmare, dealing with one specific element of fear or anxiety. Paranoia is a common one for me, and my paranoia dream is always exactly the same. I wake up (in my dream) and find the room dark, with a thin stream of light coming from the ajar bathroom door. In the bathroom (this is third person, so I see myself push open the door and enter) the light comes from a nightlight on the vanity-- this is all correct, so far, the layout of the room, the position of items in it, nothing out of the ordinary. I attempt to turn on the overhead light but it it just glows a bit, it's not bright. I try the green banker's desk lamp, but it doesn't work at all. Then, if I'm looking for it, it hits me that my banker's lamp is milk white, not green, and in any case there should be no desk lamp in the bathroom. Dream abruptly ends.
Dreams are the fun part of being asleep. If it weren't for them, what's the point of sleeping?
The House dream is my favorite one I've ever had. I could type it up, but it's pretty long and gets fairly abstract at points. I guess you could classify it a nightmare, but it's not scary as in horror, it's more suspenseful and filled with second-guesses, some of which correct and other that prove false in the end. I wasn't afraid while dreaming it, but it was exciting. A very breif sysnopsis, I and two others and are imprisoned in house with six odd people and search endlessly for why we're there and a way to get out.
Sleep with your feet raised so your brain has excess blood. If that doesn't do the trick, sleep with your face in your pillow to inhibit breathing. The less oxygen your brain gets, the more lucid your dreams will become, right up to near death hallucination, then up to dying, them up to dead. You probably don't want to go that far, though, I'd cash out once I got a dream. Don't take any sleeping pills, I've never dreamed in a drug-induced sleep. Sleep as long as you can, dreams occur in the last hours of the night. If you want a nice dream that's not just random images but actually has a storyline of sorts, sleep a good 12-14 hours.
You can kick-start a dream in the black hole period (the waking paralysis that occurs just before you switch over from conscious to asleep). It takes some practice to get a black hole, though, and they're very scary if you're not ready for it, but if you use them correctly you can formulate the start and structure of dream while your awake as you descend into the blackness. Once you hit the bottom it begins. You can abort and struggle your way back out and wakeup if you haven't gone down too far, but that's as tiring as though it were real life and you'll be exhausted once you awake.
If you're in a dream and don't realize it I often have a hard time remembering all the details afterward. Entering though a black hole you do know you're dreaming, so no problem there, but if not and you just start dreaming by conventional means, you can search for the key. The key is an element in all dreams (well, at least all mine). It can take on different forms but it always leads to realizing your dreaming while your in the dream. In your surroundings, which are always familiar in one respect or another, most things will be as they should but one element will be out of place, out of time, or both. This isn't a subtle difference, were you awake you would notice it immediately, but in a dream you tend to overlook it unless you're trying to see it. Find that and you realize you're asleep. This has one of three outcomes, you either skip to another dream, you wake up, or, and this is the most fun, you remember everything that happens in the dream and you have somewhat of an influence over the action (you don't control the dream, but you can sway certain events).
Example of a key: My night normally has a couple quick dreamlets then the feature presentation dream. Sometimes one of the quickies is a nightmare, dealing with one specific element of fear or anxiety. Paranoia is a common one for me, and my paranoia dream is always exactly the same. I wake up (in my dream) and find the room dark, with a thin stream of light coming from the ajar bathroom door. In the bathroom (this is third person, so I see myself push open the door and enter) the light comes from a nightlight on the vanity-- this is all correct, so far, the layout of the room, the position of items in it, nothing out of the ordinary. I attempt to turn on the overhead light but it it just glows a bit, it's not bright. I try the green banker's desk lamp, but it doesn't work at all. Then, if I'm looking for it, it hits me that my banker's lamp is milk white, not green, and in any case there should be no desk lamp in the bathroom. Dream abruptly ends.
Dreams are the fun part of being asleep. If it weren't for them, what's the point of sleeping?
The House dream is my favorite one I've ever had. I could type it up, but it's pretty long and gets fairly abstract at points. I guess you could classify it a nightmare, but it's not scary as in horror, it's more suspenseful and filled with second-guesses, some of which correct and other that prove false in the end. I wasn't afraid while dreaming it, but it was exciting. A very breif sysnopsis, I and two others and are imprisoned in house with six odd people and search endlessly for why we're there and a way to get out.
