Broderick Grimshaw

Marci Campbell
Psychology 1010
June 9, 2015

Lucid Dreaming
Introduction
When I was very young I was plagued by a reoccurring nightmare. It was bad
enough that I would be afraid to go to sleep at night. I remember very well one
night my grandfather came to tuck me in. I told him I was scared of having a
nightmare. He smiled and told me, I have nightmares too, but when it gets to
scary, I just switch my dream to something happy. Its like turning the channel on
the TV. I was perplexed but assuming my grandfather knew everything (like
grandfathers do) I went to sleep determined to attempt to change the channel of
the bad dream. That night was the last time I ever had that nightmare and the first
time I remember having a lucid dream.
What is a lucid dream? When we dream we seemingly have no control of
wherever our mind takes us or the things that we do. However, when an individual
reaches lucidity in a dream they are able to take some control of the setting, dream
characters and the dream itself (Kahan & LaBerge, 1994). In my example above I
realized I was dreaming and took control of the dream; changing it to something I
found more pleasant. In this paper we will delve into the psychological benefits of
lucid dreaming and how it can help improve the self.
Literary Review
In 1913, Dutch Psychiatrist Frederik van Eeden published an article called A
Study of Dreams. This article is where the first recorded use of the term lucid

dream came from (Eeden, 1913). There is an immense history of what dreams mean
or where they come from. Only in recent history have we began the process to
understand what dreams are and why they exist. We all know that dreams can be
scary, funny, inspiring or even meaningful. But where does the lucid dream fit in
with all that? Some may think that it is wrong to force control over a dream because
the dream manifests for a reason. Robert Waggoner, President of the International
Association for the Study of Dreams had this to say Lucid dreaming provides us a
means to explore, experiment, and question the nature of dreaming and, as some
might say, the nature of the subconscious- the largely unknown part of our selves.
For this reason alone, psychologists, therapists, consciousness researchers and
dreamers should have an intense interest in the experiences and experiments of
lucid dreamers. (Waggoner, 2009)
Application
As I mentioned in the introduction, I used lucid dreaming to alleviate
nightmares, but I believe there is so much more that it can do. When I first started
lucid dreaming, I was so focused on playing in the dream that I didnt really try to
dive deeper into the sub-conscious. In fact, this is very common among lucid
dreamers. They become so enamored with the pleasure of lucid dreaming that they
never develop their skills further (Waggoner, 2009). It was a challenge posed to me
on a Lucid Dreaming website years ago that led me to try and dive deeper. The
challenge was simple; try to find my spirit animal. I should note that I am not a
particular spiritual man and I am very grounded in my religious group so this
challenge was more about seeing what my sub-conscious would create. It took
some time but I did eventually meet this goal. Here is a section from my dream
journal of that night. I was driving my car. It was early in the morning and as I was

driving I saw the sun rise. It looked like I was in Brazil with houses stacked on top of
each other and jungle all around. I was so focused on the sun that I hit a speed
bump at full speed. My car shoots into the sky. I am panicking and then I realize that
I am dreaming. I think to myself Im dreaming. Ill fly the car. I focus and the car is
flying but it is very turbulent. I try to focus but everything shakes and I feel like Im
losing the dream. I think I need to stay in the dream so I can find my spirit animal. I
lose control of the car, it falls and everything goes black. I think that I have woken
up but as I open my eyes, I see that I am on an old ship on the ocean. There is a
single bearded man looking at me. I tell him, I need to find my spirit animal. He
points to the water and says Dive to the depths boy. I am nervous but jump in. I
sink to the bottom. It is dark. Then I hear the call of a whale and a giant blue whale
slowly swims towards me. I wake up.
It was this dream that sparked my desire to test what lucid dream can really
do. I dont see the blue whale as any sort of spiritual guide or phenomenon. I see it
as a manifestation of my sub-conscious. I have had a few other dreams where I find
the whale and I have even spoken to it. Communicating with the whale as helped
me overcome some very difficult struggles. I have always been very nervous about
what the future holds. I have been so immensely stressed about what career path to
take and what will be best for my family that it has kept me awake and even put a
strain on my marriage. I overcame this by finding the blue whale and talking it
through. Lucid dreaming has been a way for me to cope with anxiety, to face fears,
and even a way to explore my inner-self. I truly believe that it can improve anyones
life, as it has done for me.
Conclusion

While doing research for this paper, I found that there are not very many
studies on lucid dreaming. Given the fact that all lucid dreams take place in the
dreamers mind, I imagine it is difficult to ascertain the necessary observations to
study it more thoroughly. I was surprised to learn how many people have had a
positive improvement to their lives from practicing lucid dreaming.
Lucid dreaming has so many applications in psychology and selfimprovement. I believe it can be a way to cope with anxiety and depression. I think
it can be a way to help with the grieving process and so many other challenges we
face. There are similarities with lucid dreaming and meditation. Many who meditate
feel refreshed or uplifted after a session. I almost always feel the same after lucid
dreaming.
It is true that many see lucid dreaming as just another new age type of
spiritualism, but I argue that there is real psychological science behind the practice.
We all can benefit by opening our minds to the world of the sub-conscious; the
world of dreams.

References

Eeden F. (1913). A Study of Dreams. Proceedings of the Society for

Psychical Research 26.
Kahan T, LaBerge S. (1994). Lucid dreaming as metacognition:
Implications for cognitive science. Consciousness and Cognition 3: 246264.
10.1006/ccog.1994.1014
Waggoner, R. (2009) Lucid Dreaming: A Gateway to the Inner Self. California.
Moment Point Press.