My Latest Lucid Dream was Last Week
Photo by Anna Nekrashevich from Pexels
I looked over my square basket and realized I had forgotten to buy eggs, so I hurriedly walked back to the city market. The clouds were unusually red, but I paid it no mind. Sweats ran down my face but were left unattended. I was focused on the forgotten eggs. When I finally reached the egg store, I told the lady to give me a dozen. She nodded and ran to a room behind the counter. I waited... and waited… and waited until I had enough. My momma will be mad to see I haven’t cooked yet, I thought. I looked for my phone to check the time, but I couldn’t find it. I raised my head and searched for a clock on the wall and found one above the entrance door. To my surprise, I couldn’t read it! I recognized the numbers, but they were not in their proper order. Then the thought came to me with exciting energy – I was dreaming!
I put the basket down and headed to the exit. The streets were filled with people, and my skin felt sticky from all the sweat, so I decided I wanted to dream of a peaceful beach day in the summer. As I checked my surroundings, I found a big coconut tree. It is better to turn an item into a portal rather than change the whole setting in just a snap. The latter is incredibly tiresome.
A few steps before I reach the tree, I already decided that I’d find a door beneath it, and there it was! It led to a dark narrow road surrounded by big black rocks. Not long after, the reflection of the sun on the water could be seen shining through the exit. Before I stepped out into paradise, I took off my dress after imagining a yellow one-piece swimsuit underneath it. Magically, there it was, the cutest high-cut halter swimsuit I’ve ever seen both in my dreaming and waking life.
Photo by Alice AliNari from Pexels
After a short stay under the sun, I got more excited that I could turn myself into a mermaid! I went into the water, walked until the sea covered my chest, and told myself "I have a purple mermaid tail". The water glowed as light surrounded my legs. When the light was gone, I already had a purple tail gracefully moving in the sea. It had pearl ornaments on the waist and mesh-like fins of different shades of blue. I swam slowly at first, getting myself to breathe underwater. I did not want to overwhelm myself and wake up in the process. When I got the hang of it, I let the dream take me anywhere in the deep ocean. I wanted to be surprised.
I Started Lucid Dreaming When I was Seven
Lucid dreaming is the ability to dream while still being fully conscious. When you are aware you are in a dream, this gives you infinite opportunity to create, change,or control the dream.
My lucid dreaming started one scary night in my 7th year. For two consecutive nights, I had a recurring nightmare. The sky was pitch black, but it was just in time to go home from school. Doesn’t make sense right? I’d find myself walking with my head looking down at my black shoes and laced socks. Before my feet reach the tip of the school’s shadows under the moonlight, screams would be heard from behind and suddenly everyone was running away except me. I’d be frozen as I watched a black figure rise from the now-ruined school. The appearance of gigantic tentacles from the figure was my cue to escape the death spot, but it was always too late. A tentacle would swirl around my tiny body, and in an instant, I’d find myself awake, sweating, but relieved to know it was only a dream.
I could not take more of the scary place. I had to save myself or else I might die at a very young age due to the nightmare, I used to think. Because of my firm resolve to escape the monster in my dream, the next night I said to myself "Remember, it is only a dream". I closed my eyes and for I don’t know how long, I’m back to looking at the familiar black shoes and lace socks. The dream progressed in the usual order of events, but that changed when I broke free from being frozen. I did not run. Instead, I held my ground because I remembered that every element of that frightening place was just part of the dream.
Surprisingly, although I realized I was dreaming, I stayed asleep. Somehow, I knew my physical self was sleeping on my bed. I didn’t think long. I knew I wanted revenge!
I dropped my backpack, opened my hands, and concentrated on my palm. Fantasy movies were my favorite back then, so I was full of ideas as to how to defeat the tentacle monster. A fireball was my first choice. I could even make it bigger if I concentrate more. A bow popped into my hand and I thought I wanted to shoot icy arrows. Water blade? A swirl of a tornado on my command? I did everything I could think of. That night, I became a 7-year-old girl who can use the four elements. No, I became a girl who can lucid dream, although I didn’t know it was scientifically called that way.
I Had Sleep Paralysis for Five Consecutive Days
The initial years of my lucid dreaming were magical. Want to ask if I get to fly? Most of the time! Although the flying experience might be for another blog. Sleeping just became my favorite activity. I was always excited for the night to come because I’d have another adventure to go. It was like every day I get a present. I even loved my dream world more than my waking world. However, as I was growing older, lucid dreaming gradually became difficult. What I mean by difficult is that I still become aware that I am dreaming, but I cannot proceed to control my dreams. Instead, I get trapped in what they call sleep paralysis. It is like reality and dreams fight over my body. I'm not sleepy enough to dream and not awake enough to get up. When the fight gets a little longer, neither wins my consciousness. Instead, I am left in the middle where your every horrible imagination can happen.
My worst sleep paralyses happened every night for five days when I was in high school.
When I am sleep paralyzed, the setting in my dream is the same as the place where I am sleeping in real life. The only difference is that there are scary hallucinations added to my simulated world, and I could not move my body except my eyes.
On the first night, a black hairy figure appears behind my slightly open bedroom door. I was scared to close my eyes because every time I did, the figure came closer to me. On the second night, a demon covered in red and black fire destroyed the door and shouted "Worship me!" After those two, I was afraid to sleep alone even in broad daylight, so I slept in the living room to take a nap. Unfortunately, the sun did not save me from the horror of sleep paralysis. On that day, A short-haired woman in a dirty brown dress snuck into the living room to steal. She saw me and approached me with the creepiest smile. She whispered something I never understood and put a powdery substance in my ear as I was sleeping on my side. On the 4th night, my room had a big mirror opposite my bed, and there appeared a Centaur with enormous horns visible through a layer of smokey green light. He was waving his hand to say I should follow him through the mirror. For those four nights, I did not feel the urgency to do something about my sleep paralysis. I did not even tell my family about it. I was convinced I could manage...until the fifth night came. A ceramic doll sat in my closet. Contrary to most ceramic dolls I saw, this one was ugly; torn white clothes, cracked cheek, uneven eyes, and a missing shoe. She was holding a katana. The more I looked, the more I became aware that the katana is pointed at me. When I blinked, the doll vanished from the closet only to be found above my head shouting "I’m going to kill you!"
When I finally escaped from the clutch of that 5th sleep paralysis, my fear brought me to my knees. I was crying in my bed. I prayed deeply, asking the Lord for help and rebuking sleep paralysis. I clenched my fists and put them on my chest as I desperately asked for protection and forgiveness. After that prayer, the hallucinations during sleep paralysis stopped. Now I rarely experience sleep paralysis. When I do, there are no more hostile creatures, only the heavy sensation and discomfort of being unable to move.
Those are pieces of information about my lucid dreaming experience. Have you decided already which ones are true and which one is a lie? Let me reveal it then! The last two pieces of information are true. I lied at the first!
After the prayer I offered to stop the sleep paralysis from coming back, I think my ability to lucid dream went away with it. I had a lucid dream once again n my college days a few years ago, but that was it. No matter how many times I condition myself to remember I am only dreaming, it always slips my mind when I’m in the dream world.
I still do hope to lucid dream again, but if it was taken from me for a good reason, then I understand and I accept. Perhaps it was the only way to protect me from the unseen danger that is not native to our reality but only in another dimension.
I noticed that you do really like mermaid hehe. I never tried lucid dreaming tho.
Hmm, speaking about sleep paralysis, it is really common for me. It occurs like every time I sleep in the afternoon. The worst was a full month, hehe. I got used to it already. Perhaps it is because of stress and too much thinking about stuff. 😊
Congratulations, @cloflo!
Your story has been chosen as one of the best stories of the week and is part of the 90th Highlighted Authors Magazine.
https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/the-ink-well-highlights-magazine-90
Thank you! Truly a great news for me!
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My goodness, you have been through a lot.
The hallucinations you had scares me too.
I agree with the last paragraph, maybe it's a good thing you don't have lucid dreams anymore.
I actually believed everything from the very first line until you wrote that the first story is a lie. 🤭
Thank you so much for sharing.
Those five terrible nights really marked me. Good thing I overcame it.Yes, I agree with you. Perhaps lucid dreaming made me vulnerable.
Thank you for believing. LOL. I'll take that as a compliment.
You're welcome. 🤭
Sleep paralysis for seven days straight sounds a bit too much. Maybe that's the lie? 😅
It was only for five days tho, not seven, but still I can't blame you. Five nights is still too long. How I wish it did not happen, but unfortunately it did. When I try to look for explanations, nothing satisfies me. Now, I'm just thinking lucid dreaming maybe made me vulnetable to "other wordly" attacks.
😂 haha I mistaken "at seven" as seven days. I had some lucid dreaming and the experiences you had but I never had it too long like that. I used to also experience sleep paralysis and I did some research but much like you, I guess I wasn't too satisfied but I kinda stick with some science-backed prevention. Anyway, sleep foundation is usually where I found some answer to sleep related problems. Have you ever read this one? https://www.sleepfoundation.org/parasomnias/sleep-paralysis.
Thank you for sharing me this! I've checked it out and I agree one of the major causes of sleep paralysis is bad mental health. My high school years is one of the most problematic times of my life. There are details I'm not ready to share yet in this blog and I suspect those were major factors of my having sleep paralysis.
Recurring sleep paralysis? There's an info about it here. I had that too. Two episodes in one night. But I had worse: one night I woke up from a sleep paralysis only to find out I was still in another dream, then another episode happened.
Anyway, wishing you the best health. Thank you again for the link.
Sleep paralysis is something scary! I was not terrified of it until someone told me about it and after watching Insidious 🥲
For straight days?! That’s insane!
But actually it could be possible.
It.is.terrible.
I wish you don't experience it. It was something I thought I could handle because I already had sleep paralysis even before the "five hell days". I'm just happy it stopped haunting me.
Tbh, I had this sleep paralysis before too but I couldn't remember the details anymore. That time I was bothered by it but well, now, I've totally forgotten about it which is good so I won't get so scared sleeping.
I never had this but I often have false awakenings and sleep paralysis due to stress. Maybe, there's a trauma left at your subconscious that it keeps haunting, or maybe exhaustion. You should consult a doctor, clo.
If it continued, I would have gone to the doctor, but since it stopped, I didn't bother to anymore. If it happens again, I'll definitely seek help.
Waaah that's too much! Sleep paralysis is something I don't want to experience huhu that must have been really scary. Ask for help if it happened again, cloflo!
Hoping you won't! Yes, C. Will do. Thank you!
I think this one is a lie. And I really want this to be a lie. If this is true it is a terrible truth for someone's life.
Unfortunately, it happened. First two nights I didn't mind it. But when it happened still for another three nights, I became scared for my life.
It is terrible, yes, especially I was still in high school back then.
I understand how scary and traumatic that must have been for you, especially at such a young age. It's important to seek support and help to process what happened. If you haven't already, consider speaking with a therapist or counselor to help you cope and move forward. Take care.
It was indeed scary, but I did not think to ask for help then. Maybe I was embarrassed. Back then, mental health is a taboo topic. Also, there were circumstances that I wanna keep and sharing about my sleep paralysis would mean I lost and would have to stop what I was doing. It was a combination of pride and embarrassment. When I think about it now, it doesn't make me proud, but still I am grateful I overcame it. I promise when it happens again, I will sure ask for professional help. Thank you!
It can be difficult to ask for help when you feel embarrassed or ashamed about something, especially when it comes to mental health. But remember sis that seeking help is a brave step to take, and something to be proud of.
What an incredibly collection of dreams and memories, @cloflo. And it's amazing that the least frightening one is the one that is true. You did so well with this. Thank you for joining this week's creative nonfiction adventure, and for reading and commenting on the work of other community members.
I loved reading this piece, @cloflo. Wow, that must have been so frightening having all of those lucid dreams. I can imagine why you begged for them to stop after the last ones. Even so, it sounds like there is something about it that you miss. And I can believe that. After all, to experience the true power of the mind that way, and to enter other worlds like you have your own Narnia just waiting for you each time you close your eyes, really had to have been incredible. If only it was a little more fantasy than horror!
Indeed, it was Narnia to me. At first it was all about flying, adventure, magic. I even loved it more than the real world, but as I was growing up, my growing anxiety accompanied me in the gates of my dreams and manifested into sleep paralysis. That is just one of the many possible explanations.
Thank you so much for reading. This is a very precious memory to me even it gave me both extreme happiness and fear.
second ka kay den mag sulat ng english na mahirap kong maintindihan eh, hahaha my brain is bleeding for the deep english charot…
clo don’t think negative thoughts before sleeping kasi it triggers sleep paralysis, also drink water din and put a water beside your bed, i get sleep paralysis a lot because of my anxiety…
wag kana sana magka sleep paralysis
Di naman masyadong malalim yan. Hahaha. Ikaw pa ba.
Thanks sa concern, jude! Fortunately , 7 years after those five consecutive SP, two times nalang ako ulit nagka episode and it wasn't that bad anymore.
WoW - I thought the first story was not true. I felt the sleep paralysis was true but felt sorry for you that it occurred for 5 days. That is a lot. I would have hated the hallucinations - it is so scary. Sleep paralysis is enough. It has happened to me but I am happy it doesn’t anymore.
I think you prayers worked although you are now seemingly less enigmatic - you have power over your own mind. You last paragraph says it all. Great story.
Thank you very much for giving my piece your precious time. I am happy you don't get sleep paralysis anymore. I do agree that we have power over our own mind. I eventually realized that. Maybe that's why when I get sleep paralysis now (only rarely like twice a year), it is easier to break through it.
Aww it is great that you can break through it. You story is still with me as I was thinking how terrible it must have been for you when the hallucinations started. I also had a lucid dream once but I prefer to just dream - so i told my brain that. It hasn't happened again either.
At first I couldn’t tell which one was a lie. I can tell how scared you must have been experiencing sleep paralysis, I also experienced a lot when I was younger, sometimes someone would pinch my nose together and I would not be able to breath. I thank God that phase is over and I am glad for you too. Thanks for sharing.
Although I had those frightening hallucinations, I never had one where I couldn't breathe! I was only not able to move. I can tell you had it rough too.
Yea, thank God that’s all past now.
To most looks your truths would seem like fiction, @cloflo. Yet the human mind remains incomprehensible, amazing, evolving with each new generation, helping us to pull from our depths the illusions and terrors we cannot process in reality with our meager logical resources. It is a gift to have the memory to remember our dreams. Someday we will know what we created them for. In the meantime, let me tell you that you describe them very well and lead us to revisit our own oddities.
Thank you very much for the appreciation, @gracielaacevedo! No matter how long it has been, the memory of my lucid dreaming always seems like it just happened yesterday. Truly it is a gift, althought a double-edged sword one. I agree on how the mind is so mysterious and incomprehensible. Despite the current technology we have, we cannot fully understand it still. That's why lucid dreaming has been a subject of many researches regarding the mind and sleep, correlating it to creativity, problem-solving, even paranormal matters. Someday, we'll understand it more, not only lucid dreams or sleep paralysis but the mind in general.
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Nice read! I didn't know this was a prompt haha so I assumed everything was real.
I also dream a lot and become lucid quite often as well. It's also the same with what you're describing, words and numbers are so jumbled that I always feel so stupid about it but still I didn't realize I was dreaming hahah. There was this one time I had to solve a VERY simple Math problem (addition) and I can't do it and I was like WTFFFF is wrong with me but I didn't become lucid. When I woke up I was like "thank goodness I'm not that dumb".
I also have sleep paralysis pretty often, like maybe 2-3 times a month? I first had it when I was 15 or something and it was so scary. Now it happens so often that I am not afraid of it anymore and in fact I enjoy it by going out of my body and explore the other dimension through astral projection. I am still a tiny bit skeptical whether it's just my mind or an actual different dimensions that I'm exploring but there were a few proofs that made me believe more that what I'm experiencing is real.
If you get sleep paralysis again, remember to not be scared. What you feel is so important since you can literally hallucinate scary stuff if you're scared. Don't panic as well and remember it's just your mind pulling tricks on you. If ever you get out of your body, you can still go back and wake up and you have full control over it. Asking for help works too (prayer or whatever) if you're into that but remember those things you see can't hurt you.
Good luck and hope you can lucid dream again (if you're still into it lol). :D
Oh my! It's a different feeling when I meet somebody with the same experiences with me!
That made me laugh!
I haven't experienced astral projection tho. Kinda scares me, but yes won't panic if I experience that or sleep paralysis again. Have you written something about your out-of-body experiences? Wanna know more about it.
Yeah I wrote some about it but only maybe 3x haha. I even had a dream journal but got too lazy now to do it. 🤣
Here was when I had my first conscious out of body:
https://peakd.com/astralprojection/@hiddenblade/i-just-did-an-astral-projection
After this I continued to have them and ever since I read and learned things, I am not afraid of scary shit I see and encounter in my dreams (or in other dimensions) anymore. I’m now even exploring space and saw a black planet with no trees (just plain land) and with a lot of lights that looked like a very advanced civilization.