Lucid Dreaming

[Ian]

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/20 ... #more-2178

Looks cool. I'm going to try this.

[canard]

lucid dreaming is cool.....
tim ferriss is an asshalf.

[neijia_boxer]

in Tibetan dream yoga- one of the major efforts is to constantly telling your self- "this is a dream", that you want build intention to realize your dreaming, and to try to meditate once your dreaming so you can tell yourself 'this is a dream" so that you will have a lucid dream.

[bigphatwong]

There's actually one recurring dream I keep having night after night. I'm rolling a big doughnut, and this snake wearing a vest...

Oh, LUCID dreams. Nope, can't say I have.

[cerebus]

I've had several lucid dreams in my life and found them to be fascinating and extremely enjoyable. They were all spontaneous though, none of them intentional.

[Steve James]

I guess there are two ways to look at lucid dreaming. One is simply a dream in which one realizes that one is dreaming. The other form is intentionally causing a dream or controlling it. For example, if you have a specific nightmare night after night, taking control can be good therapy. Creating positive dreams can also be helpful, especially for training and learning and even entertaining Of course, meditation, concentration and contemplation are also possible. But, ya gotta leave a bit of time for sleep, too.

[mrtoes]

I wish I could train in my sleep so I can hang around like a lazy slob during the day - guilt free! Might wake the missus if I start dragon stepping in my sleep though.

Seriously I might give this a go. I rarely have dreams I can remember, and I feel like I'm missing out on something! Actually, just being able to sleep would be a start...

Matthew.

[TrainingDummy]

lucid dreaming is cool.....
tim ferriss is an asshalf.

+1

I find the Tim Ferris philosophy of becoming wealthy through employing people in countries with weak currencies a disturbing trend.

[Steve James]

It really does, er... can, work. When I was in construction, I had to work up high (on beams, not drugs). The only problem was that I was afraid of heights. Well, not paralyzed by them, just uncomfortable. Anyway, every night I would have the same dream. I was working on the edge of a 200 ft cofferdam section, and I would fall just enough so that I was hanging on by my fingertips. You get the picture, and the nightmare. Naturally, the last thing that happened was that my fingers would slip --and then I'd wake up ... sweaty and unready for work. I don't recall how I found out about lucid dreaming; but, for whatever reason, I decided to try to take control. I knew that the dream was coming, anyway. So, the next time the dream happened, I tried not to let go. In fact, I tried to make sure I didn't slip in the first place. Surprisingly, it worked. In a few days, I began to mess around with it. I'd deliberately fall and hold on like before. Only this time I'd let go with one hand and turn around to admire the view. Then, like Neo in the Matrix, I'd use one hand to launch myself back up onto the ledge.

Okay, probably the more important aspect of the story is that I suddenly became more confident and comfortable on the job. I believe that the dream was a reflection of my lack of confidence --that I couldn't show on the job. The boss says "Go out there and ...." and if you don't/can't, you lose your job. I was competing with Norwegians and Mohawks, too (though I stood and still stand in awe of some of them). Now, I still don't like heights. I'll hire someone before I'll mess around on a two-story gable. But, I am pretty sure I could if I had to.

Btw, one of my partners was Owen Quinn, who some say invented base jumping (cause he was the first to jump off the Twin Towers. There was a big layoff that year, and for some reason he dreamt up the idea to go up one of the unfinished towers, dressed in his work gear, and take the jump. I'm sure he visualized it and dreamt about it. Owen was the guy who sent me to find a left-handed wrench and a sky hook. Anywho, apologies for derailing the thread. Here's a pic; call it flying.

[Chris Fleming]

lucid dreaming is cool.....
tim ferriss is an asshalf.

+1

I find the Tim Ferris philosophy of becoming wealthy through employing people in countries with weak currencies a disturbing trend.

+1 again.

Read his book a while back and it was just chalk full of shady stuff, technically legal, but morally wrong. He no doubt applies that to his business practices, as you point out there ^^.

Wasn't the very first thing he talks about is dehydrating himself so he could enter a much lower weight class and then filling back up for his san da matches? He then talked about exploiting the rule that apparently was there about pushing your opponent off of the mat three times thus allowing him to win every round. Oh yeah and then he calls himself a "san da champion". People who had one fight in Legends of Kung Fu and won it are "san da champions" too.

Again, not technically wrong but a person who is always looking to exploit and "follow the rules, wink wink", always looking for some angle, I don't trust.

Anyway, about lucid dreaming, hell I do that every night. If you want to do it, then you do it. That simple.

[Ian]

Pity this topic is getting derailed. I have Tim Ferriss' book and can't find anything morally questionable therein.

"I find the Tim Ferris philosophy of becoming wealthy through employing people in countries with weak currencies a disturbing trend."

Have you ever used elance.com or guru.com?

You post projects, people all around the world bid on them. That includes people from Karachi, Mumbai, Manama etc. who may be willing to work on your project at a cheaper price... and may be able to do a better job as well. Then again, the discount may come from someone in Vancouver or Berlin. Or from a local designer. None of this is exploitative - it's shopping around for the best deal, and just makes good business sense.

Another example - my Godfather works with precious stones. Apparently the average mark-up for a piece from workshop to showroom is 500-600%. That's the average. A series of clocks he made for Cartier cost 2,000 euros to produce and sold for between 38 - 45,000 euros. And he has a retail shop. Assuming you don't care about the brand name, from which shop would you buy?

It makes sense to look for deals. This is nothing new. Why pay $1,000 to have a website designed if someone else can (happily) do it just as well for $800?

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Steve, that's a cool story.

"Of course, meditation, concentration and contemplation are also possible. But, ya gotta leave a bit of time for sleep, too."

The strange thing is that I feel even more mentally refreshed after lucid dreaming compared to 'normal sleep'. Don't know whether there's any scientific backing for that.

I first learned how to do it after reading one of Richard Feynman's books in which he explained how he did it. I got up to being able to decide where to go, how to change landscapes, deciding what to say to people etc. Only sporadically had full control e.g. fighting with people in matrix time and deciding exactly which movement would come next.

Did taking control entail a specific set of practices, or did you just make a mental note before bed?

[cerebus]

Yeah, I have to say that I've felt better when waking up from a lucid dream than from other "normal" types of dreams. I've woken up smiling and sometimes laughing out loud...

[Steve James]

Did taking control entail a specific set of practices, or did you just make a mental note before bed?

No, they weren't specific. Then again, I just remember realizing or being told that it could be done. Hey, this was the early 70s, I was in construction; but I was also doing TCC, drinking ginseng and burning incense. All I can say is that I started doing it when I needed to do it. I didn't know it would work, or know how it would work.

Now, the exercise part is interesting. In my dream I was doing something physical, like walking on a beam. In my job, we landed beams. After they land, somebody has --er "had", I don't think they allow this anymore-- to walk out --on the unsecured beam-- to unhook the chokers. Then, you stand there, wave your index finger in the air, and the crane takes the hooks away, leaving you to walk back on the shaky beam. It wasn't necessary, but it sure helped to be confident. (And, one beer --just ONE-- beer during lunch did help). I didn't like to do this many times in one day. Otoh, I could dream about it. That's what I did. I only froze once in 6 years. I stupidly started to think about what I was doing, instead of just doing it. Lasted a second or two, in reality, felt more like dream time. But, I just did what I did in my dream. So, yeah, I sort of made myself do it; but it was forced, imo, by something outside my control. If I never have to do that again, it'll be too soon.

[cerebus]

If I never have to do that again, it'll be too soon.

And yet, your avatar says "Airborne"....

[Steve James]

For some reason, there's a big difference between flying, which I love, jumping, which I wouldn't want to do from a perfectly good aircraft; and walking on a beam. Can't explain the paradox, but it's safer at 20 angels than at 20 stories. But, flying and jumping came later, while I was married. Actually, my avatar is in honor of a unit that I admire, probably because of the way I feel about heights. I only started thinking about jumping in order to face my fear. I could only take flying lessons once I had a fairly stable life. So, I still wouldn't fix a roof antenna, let alone climb a rock face. It's genetic . I can force myself to cope. I don't want to or need to. I like it nice and calm and smooth.