the stuff dreams are made of

So I've been having some intense dreams lately.  I'm paying even more attention to them after I watched a documentary about dreams and that they are a way for our brains to learn and 'practice' things.  we generally have positive dreams during non-rem sleep, and more negative dreams during rem sleep.  According to a scientist in Montreal, who catologues a huge dream database, about 3/4 of all dreams are negative.  This is kind of a relief to me, who has had disturbing messed up dreams my whole life.  Apparently its NORMAL.  Someone in the thing also said that 50% of people are able to consiously think about something the night before, and then dream about it.  I have been able to do this occasionaly but I think I need some more practice.  I also maybe need to pick easy topics since I pick abstract things I want to get better at.

I've always wanted to keep a dream journal, but I just can't do it.  When I wake up from a dream I always think I will remember it all, OR I really want to get back to sleep and I can't be bothered to write shit down or I wont be able to sleep as easily.  I really like sleep, but I regret times like saturday morning when I dreamt about something funny and woke up laughing uncontrollably.  I'd probably be rich off whatever that was, but oh well I'm sure my brain can come up with something funnier.

Scary dreams, as I was told, are supposed to be to prepare us for the dangers that our ancestors used to face, but we quickly thought/invented our way past.  Mostly wild animals, I expect, but my bad dreams, like last night for example, often involve ghosts.

Last night I dreamt I was staying in this one room cabin with like 4 other people, all sleeping in sleeping bags on the floor, and for some reason the cabin was on the stilts (i think it was in the swamp) and so was 2 or 3 stories up.  We knew the cabin was haunted, but it was the only place we could stay.  While we were all sleeping, someone woke everyone up because the ghost had brushed past them.  Soon enough, a bit later, I felt the ghost brush past me (for some reason i knew it was an old lady, and she hobbled and walked slowly).  Finally, at one point, the ghost grabbed me by the shoulders and slid me clear across the room, almost sending me out the window except i managed to roll out of the way at the last second.

Now thats all well and good, but how does that help me?  Does my brain think I deal with ghosts on a regular basis, and that's something that I need to be wary of?  I think I just watch to many horror movies.

Lucidity, I hardly knew ye

Don't ask me how, but by some miraculous event, as I trudged through the high school which also seemed to resemble a run down factory, complete with grating walkways and large metal silos (probably reminiscent of the Vancouver Island breweries tour last week) a thought did not escape me: I AM DREAMING. Of course then all hell broke loose, if you consider hell to be a place where I can shoot lightning from my hands, fly and seduce beautiful women with a charming wink. I will say this as a tip for aspiring lucid dreamers: think and talk about it as much as possible, your afterlife may depend on it.

In this documentary series I'm watching, Magical Egypt, they talk about death as a crossing over (assuming ancient Egyptian knowledge might actually be true) and that when you get to the gate or door, there is your spirit guide watching over it. Apparently he asks you what his name is, and either you know it or you don't. I already know mine is Time, since I met him a few years ago when I passed out for some unexplained reason at my friend's place.

The difficult part however is not knowing its name - it might very well accept whatever you think its name IS. But, the important thing being you are in a dreamlike state when you are crossing over, and unlike the majority of dreamers who seem to passively watch it all happen, you have to have the presentness of mind to be able to interact properly.

I've lucid dreamt a handful of times before, and its always the same problem. Either everything seems really contrived (although with the way I bitch about that in waking life you'd think I'd be used to it by now) or I get bored and can't think of anything to do. Maybe there is another level to it that I havent' figured out yet, and the solution is to go seek someone or something out, because I only seem to think about doing something, not go somewhere. And somewhere is really where I should be trying to go.