Very simply put, a dream in which you are conscious that you are dreaming is known as a Lucid Dream. The expression lucid dreaming in this context means aware or conscious. But the extent of your ‘lucidity’ can vary according to how ‘stable’ the dream experience itself is, how much you manage to remember about the dream when you wake up, and also how much influence you have in taking control of the dream itself.

It is this last factor which is the most remarkable and amazing thing about experiencing a Lucid Dream. Being able to identify the fact that you are having a dream is astounding. You can decide which direction you want the dream to go in and there really are no limits to what experiences you can have!

Just imagine that for an instant. It looks feels and sounds exactly the same as ‘normal’ reality, except that you know that it isn’t. You know that you are perfectly safe; you cannot die or get injured in a Lucid Dream. There are no normal rules and regulations about what you get up to! It is truly your own ‘Individual Virtual Reality’, with a depth of realism far beyond the most sophisticated computer imitation.

More people than ever before are trying Lucid Dreaming for themselves. While most people experience a Lucid Dream at some point in their lives, just imagine how exciting it would be if you could have Lucid Dreams any time you want!

A Lucid Dream can be a doorway to some amazing experiences! Meeting and interacting with your favorite celebrity, having untamed erotic fantasies, taking a trip to distant planets, visiting fantasy worlds and touring them, conversing with a lost loved one, in fact anything at all; there are no limits to your imagination!

Being able to Lucid Dream whenever you want is an ability which people once had to spend a very long time to learn. People would spend months and months in training before they had their very first Lucid Dream. Some people found that no matter how hard they tried, they were never able to have a Lucid Dream.

So are there any simple ways of experiencing a Lucid Dream?

There are those who maintain that certain foods can foster Lucid Dreaming if eaten before bed; among these are mustard, dairy products and orange juice.

Others recommend popcorn, pickles, fish and ice cream. While these people say that these foods prepare your mind for Lucid Dreaming, it should be noted that many of them are also high in salt and fat, which won’t necessarily help you to get a good night’s rest.

Can Technology Assist You?

Technological developments have made it easier than ever for people to have Lucid Dreaming experiences. Devices which can assist you in having Lucid Dreams include sleep masks and eyeshades which flash a LED when REM sleep is detected, reminding the dreamer that they are dreaming and lets them take control over their dream!

Another of the new developments is an audio technology known as binaural beats. Different frequencies are played in each ear of the listener; this has been found to be helpful in achieving Lucid Dreams.

Binaural frequencies help to synchronize the hemispheres of your brain – listening to them helps the brain to reach REM sleep, which is the necessary state for Lucid Dreaming.

For anyone wondering what it is like to experience a Lucid Dream, then this is definitely the easiest and most reliable way of getting started!

Individuals who are telepathic and subjects of experiments have produced less than desired results and totally tantalizing. However, to be proven scientifically, the results of telepathy tests must be consistent, repeatable and measurable. And scientific investigation falls shore when it comes to telepathy. Results can’t always be duplicated because they are inconsistent. This, so some say, proves individuals aren’t Telepathic and still to other’s it proves we have a lot to learn to understand and need more developed procedures for testing for telepathy.

Science has not disproven the existence of telepathic people. But is it possible to communicate without using any of our five senses? Just by thought alone? The answer is somewhat of an obvious one. We would have to use a means that we cannot employ our senses to detect but the means exists nonetheless. Science and technology have already done it in the high tech way. Consider radio waves. True, we cannot see them, touch them, taste, hear or smell them, but we all know that they most certainly do exist.

..Or, is it? Electrical and magnetic fields generated by the brain have been scientifically proven to exist-and they are called ‘thought waves ‘. MRI technology and a lot of neuroscience investigations depend on these thought waves. To put it simply, this is the key that should open up the door on telepathy.

The thoughts of a human is a biochemical process. The process of nervous impulse being transferred from one neuron to another. This transfer of nervous impulses creates an electrical current - minute, but it can be measured. This current generates a very small magnetic field where the brain has thousands of these synapses firing.

So, now we are talking bio-electric and bio-magnetic fields-and we know very well that electrical and magnetic fields enable ‘mystical ‘ communications. But, within these electrical and magnetic waves, is there content or mere static? Is it possible to be trained to control these waves? Does something like meditation actually operate by shaping thought waves into meaningful communication?

There is also trouble with the weakness of the brain ’s electromagnetic field. The common, ubiquitous electromagnetic fields of modern devices like televisions, computers, stereo systems, refrigerators, microwave ovens are all larger than the brain’s; therefore likely interfere with the brains.

It might however be possible to give the brains a boost. It seems that in times of extremely high emotional intensity, which might be brought on by a sense that one’s life is in danger for instance, more neural synapses than usual fire simultaneously, temporarily spiking the brain’s bio-magnetic and bio-electrical intensity.

When a mother who is far away from her child suddenly knows that her child is in danger, her synapses are firing more neurons simultaneously and parapsychologists have been able to document these brief instances of telepathy. This raises the question then that if we detect a spike in bio-electrical and bio-magnetic brainwaves, does that mean that there is a link between that and telepathic communication?

As you have no doubt become aware as you have read this, no scientific research has provided evidence that telepathy is an absolute fact. But that is the science of today and it is beginning to change. With an increase in studies we are seeing that telepathy does actually exist. And anyone can learn how to be telepathic if they receive the proper training.

What if self help books just help the self which creates your problems in the first place? I’ll get back to that in a moment. First I want to say that many such books certainly can be helpful. A book on how to speak in front of a crowd can help with that, for example, and a book on how to eat or exercise better can be valuable as well.

But then there are the books that are meant to help you become a “better” person in general. These are the ones about self esteem, motivation, attitude and self image. Do these make your life better? Some are useful, but there is one glaring flaw in many of them.

The problem I am referring to is the excessive focus on the “ego” self, as though helping that grow stronger or “better” is somehow an improvement. Some books recommend affirmations, for example, which you use to convince yourself that you are strong, wealthy, or healthy, without reference to reality. But what a fragile sort of confidence you gain when it is based on this sort of posturing.

Wouldn’t it be better to have the capacity to be happy and at peace even if you are weak, poor, and ill? There is certainly nothing wrong with pursuing strength, wealth and health, but being attached to these outcomes as an important part of who you are creates a lot of unnecessary stress and suffering. Yet this is what many “self help books” encourage you to do.

Do we really want to encourage our ego self? This is the self that creates an image of who we “should” be, and reminds us (painfully) when we don’t live up to that image. This is the self which tells us we need to impress others, to be “great” and to rush to achieve as much as we can to prove how “important” we are. It is forever comparing us to an ideal it invents and then making us suffer for not living up to it.

Following the advice of this false self is a recipe for anxiety and mental pain. Why, then, would we want self help books which encourage us to build it up, and to embrace it even more strongly, when letting it go is what we really need? We don’t need such books.

This touches on areas that are commonly called spiritual, but the label isn’t necessary. Simple honest observation can show us that whatever our true self consists of, there are also parts of us that encourage chasing false values based on what this ego self insists is important. Peace of mind is certainly more valuable than any of the temporary emotional highs we can get through that sort of “self help.”

When choosing and using self help books then, avoid those which plainly encourage the ego self. These include any which suggest that success is about making lots of money, being better than others, impressing people, improving your “self image” through pretenses, or in any way building up a “self” that can be torn down. Look for those which help you let go of the nonsense associated with this “created” identity, and help you act from a deeper purpose and sense of who you are.

What do your dreams mean? This hasn’t been clearly answered by science yet. It is possible that they are a way to exercise the brain and keep it functioning efficiently. Some scientists theorize that dreaming is a way to categorize and “file away” things that weren’t sufficiently dealt with during the day. This would explain why daily events so often become a part of that nights dreams.

Dreaming seems to be necessary. In experiments, people have been prevented from dreaming by being woken up whenever they start a dream, as evidenced by their REM or “rapid eye movement,” which accompanies dreaming. This seems to cause mental distress, although this was often shown in nothing more than increased attempts to dream. Those woken an equal number of times, but randomly, didn’t seem to suffer as much.

We may need to dream, but we don’t know why, and we could argue endlessly about the meaning of the content of our dreams. However, despite this essential ignorance about what dreams mean, we do know that there are ways we can use our dreams. A couple examples follow.

Dreams Mean Entertainment

You may occasionally remember a dream you had that was better than most movies you’ve seen. Sometimes you may not even want to wake up from a dream, because it is so enjoyable. Perhaps you wish you could have more dreams like these.

You can, by waking up IN the dream, and taking control. Want to fly over that lake? Or join that party? You can direct your dream if you know that you are in a dream. That is the idea behind lucid dreaming.

Does it work? Many swear that they regularly are conscious and in control during their dreams. I have had more than one dream where I argued with someone that we were in a dream (and of course proved it by waking up). Without getting into an debate about what consciousness is, it is still easy to see how much fun such “controlled dreams” might be.

One common way to induce lucid dreams is to have a “trigger” that reminds you that you are dreaming. This trigger can be any common object you’re likely to see in a dream. If you choose a clock, for example, then whenever you see one during waking hours, you say “I am dreaming right now and can do what I want.” Once this is habit, you are likely to say it when you see a clock in a dream, thus “waking yourself up” to the fact that you’re dreaming. Then you can take control and have some fun.

Dreams Mean A Chance To Solve Problems

I have had a number of good ideas come to me in dreams. In fact many of the pages on my web sites started out as dreams. To have creative ideas or solve problems in your dreams, try some of the following.

1. Do some mental work in the area you want ideas or a solution. Think about it, write some notes down, and consider some solutions. This work signals the brain that the topic or problem is important, so it will continue to work on it below consciousness.

2. Turn off the alarm clock. If you wake up naturally, you are more likely to remember your dreams.

3. Keep a recording device or a pen and paper next to your bed. Note any ideas you have if you wake up in the night, and especially when you first wake up in the morning.

4. Lay still when you first wake up, and review your dreams. This process “sets” them in your mind, so you won’t forget them as easily. You can think back on them later, to search for any useful ideas.

These techniques are not yet scientifically “proven.” However, having had lucid dreams, I can say that they are least entertaining. Also, having used numerous techniques to get good ideas from dreams - and always with more success than when I do nothing - I am convinced that there is some value in this playing with our dreams, whether or not we ever completely understand what dreams mean.

You may have used affirmations before, writing positive statements on cards and repeating them every day. Hopefully you stuck it out and got the results that you wanted. More often, we find it hard to take the time to read them every day, and without that constant repetition, we don’t get the effect intended. That is why affirmation CDs and audios have become so popular.

The idea makes sense to anyone who has noted how depressed they get when they repeat certain thoughts or say certain things over and over. If repeating negative thoughts and beliefs “works” to produce a negative state, why wouldn’t positive affirmations work as well? And with a CD, it doesn’t even take time as with written affirmations. Just push that play button and go about your business while constant repetitions reprogram your mind for success.

But what if you don’t like the affirmations that you hear on the popular CDs? What if you don’t want to spend the money to buy eight different ones for eight issues you are working on? Why not make your own? Use a tape player, or get a microphone for your computer and make a CD. Then follow the guidelines below.

Rules For Making Affirmations

There are a couple “rules” for making good affirmations that are likely to affect your mind. The first is to keep statements in the positive form. Say, “I don’t bite my nails,” and your unconscious mind - which has a hard time with negatively stated instructions - may take it as “bite my nails.” Instead you would say something like, “I take care of my nails with a nail clipper and nail file.”

The second rule for making affirmations that work is to use repetition. This means not only listening to your CD as often as you can (and at least once per day for three weeks), but also repeating the statements several times each on the recording. A little trick to make them even more powerful, is to use inflection with each repetition to create a slightly different meaning. For example:

I create my future with the actions I take now.
(The basic belief you want to program in your mind.)

I CREATE my future with the actions I take now.
(Emphasizing that your future is created, and doesn’t just happen.)

I create MY future with the actions I take now.
(Emphasizing that it is your future.)

I create my future with the ACTIONS I take now.
(Emphasizing that your actions are what matter in creating your future.)

A final “rule:” Stick to one area at a time. Don’t try to work on losing weight, motivation, quitting smoking and making money all at once. Start with a clear goal, such as “Improving my relationships,” and make a CD for that purpose. Listen to that for several weeks before starting the second one.

Make positive statements. Repeat them several times. Use inflection to “squeeze” the most meaning out of each statement. Finally, listen to them often and consistently. That is how to make and use your own affirmations.

Ready to start thinking outside the box? You hear the expression enough, but what is the box, and how do you get outside of it with your thinking? Start with the following technique.

The Metaphorical Box

To play with the metaphor a little, imagine that you are actually in a box. Written on the cardboard walls around you is a description of the world outside. This may be a very detailed and accurate description in some ways, giving you a good idea what the world is like. You may even use this knowledge to come up with some ideas that could be useful in the outside world.

Of course the world is larger and more complex than any description can capture - no matter how detailed. Obviously, as long as you stay inside this box, your thinking will be very limited. If you want to really know the world, and if you want your thinking about it to be more productive, you need to be outside the box.

Getting Outside The Box Of Our Thoughts

All of us are “in the box” at times. The “box” consists of our habitual and limiting ways of thinking and solving problems. This is easiest to understand with a simple example.

Suppose Mary hates her boss. He has been unfair and rude. Her first approach to this problem was to go above his head and complain, in the hope that he would be fired. It didn’t work.

She thought about transferring to another department, or perhaps even quitting. That just made her angry. Why should she quit, when he is the one that causes the trouble? Then she started to think about revenge. The idea made her smile, but she knew it would only mean bigger problems.

Mary decided that her thinking wasn’t very productive, and she needed to start thinking outside the box. How did she go about this? First, she identified some key elements about her approach - some assumptions she was making -  and she challenged them.

She realized that she was assuming that her boss was the problem. You could say that this was part of the description written on the inside of her box. It may have been accurate, but it wasn’t helping, so she asked the question, “What if I was the problem?” What was she doing that she could do differently? Now she was looking outside the box.

Right away she saw that she was dwelling on his rude behavior and unfair decisions. If she could ignore those, she realized, she actually still liked her job. She stopped focusing on his behavior and found that things improved for her at work.

Also, she was making herself a target, she realized. Her visibly getting upset seemed to make her boss act even worse. She started answering his rudeness by smiling like she knew some secret. He seemed confused, and he stopped making as many rude comments.

Then, she realized that in her box, this situation was painted as a battle between him and her. Did it have to be a battle? she asked, challenging her approach. What if instead she tried to help him? She laughed, and mumbled to herself, “Yeah, help him find another job.” Suddenly, this seemed like a good idea. She found his resume and secretly sent it to a corporate headhunter. A month later he had a job offer and he left for good. She was even promoted to his position.

There are a lot of ways to start thinking outside the box, but one of the first to try is to challenge your assumptions.