![\"lucid](\"https:\/\/restonic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/lucid-dreaming-1024x710.jpg\")
<\/p>\nEver wonder why we dream? What if we could control them, or guide them to do what we want?\u00a0Dreams are powerful. Sometimes they leave us with smiles on our faces after we wake up. Other times they leave us absolutely dumbfounded trying to make sense of what happened and whether or not our dreams were real.<\/p>\n
How would our lives change if we had the power to access the part of our mind we normally only access during dreams? If we could control our dreams, could we control the rest of our lives?<\/p>\n
To help us understand our dreams better, let\u2019s look at the brain a little closer. The three main parts of the human mind as defined by Star Over Sky Counseling & Psychotherapy:<\/p>\n
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If you\u2019ve ever had a dream where you were aware that you were in a dream, you\u2019ve had a lucid dream. Lucid dreaming is your chance to play around with the extraordinary abilities of the normally inaccessible part of your brain. It\u2019s an opportunity for you to face your inner demons, to travel to the planet Saturn or be absolutely anything you want to be.<\/p>\n
Fortunately, lucid dreaming is a skill that can be learned. Like anything it takes practice, but once you get better at it you can use it much more often.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve had my own experiences lucid dreaming. I became aware of it years ago, but only decided to start practicing it recently. Lucid dreams are some of the most restful nights<\/a> I\u2019ve had. I not only wake up feeling refreshed, but I actually wake up happy. It\u2019s so much fun to lucid dream and it helps me to challenge misconceptions I have about myself or defeat my self-set limitations.<\/p>\n I read somewhere that one trick to lucid dream is to look at your hands or into a mirror during your dream. When you realize that these things are not exactly as they should be, you can become aware that you\u2019re dreaming. Once you realize you\u2019re in a dream, you\u2019re lucid dreaming. \u00a0That\u2019s where the fun begins!<\/p>\n As a kid, I was bullied a lot. It isn\u2019t something that I consciously think about as an adult, but those experiences are stored up in my unconscious mind. For years I\u2019d have dreams that I was that 6 year old kid being teased for being a girl or for being terrible at anything athletic. In my dreams I felt the same as I did back then: ashamed, scared and just wanted it to stop.<\/p>\n One night I had a dream where I was being bullied as a kid. I looked down at my hands and they were blurry. It didn\u2019t make sense. That\u2019s when I realized I was dreaming. I chose to stand up to the tormentors and I felt so incredibly powerful \u2014 both in my dreams and the entire next day. It was like I took back a part of myself and my life that I didn\u2019t realize was missing.<\/p>\n![\"lucid](\"https:\/\/restonic.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/lucid-dreaming-2.jpg\")
<\/p>\nEmbracing nightmares<\/h2>\n