this post was submitted on 13 Jun 2023
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Aphantasia π
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Aphantasia is the inability to create mental imagery.
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I suffered from sleep paralysis for a period of about five years (as an adult) that had accompanying vivid dreams of a horrible sort. So, after trying a few things to help, I kinda decided that the cure was going to have to be learning as much as I could about the dreaming process so it no longer could result in the negative experiences I was having.
To that end, I began to get really serious about learning to lucid dream. Started with dream diaries, and reality checks and went on a two-year journey of really mastering the art of falling asleep. It got to the point that with about a week of lead up time to get in the right mind frame, I could trigger a lucid dream pretty reliably about 3 or 4 times a week.
Now, I am out of practice, but I still get them around once or twice a month. Best thing of course is that the sleep paralysis no longer bothers me. So, I got that going for me, which is nice.
Ooh, yikes. I experienced sleep paralysis exactly once in my life and it was the most terrified Iβve ever been, especially not knowing at the time that any such thing exists. Sympathies that you had to deal with it to a much greater degree, and so glad for you that itβs not a problem anymore. π
Yeah it definitely sucked quite badly while it was happening, though I am oddly glad that I was forced to experience it.
Now I can kinda claim that I survived a demon sitting on my chest and torturing me for hours at a time. And I did it through science!
You have a great and commendable mindset! I'm glad you're doing better and you can freely talk about AND used it to improve yourself!
That's cool! Do you have any tips for reality checks? Or just the usual like counting fingers, checking clocks, etc?
Edit: I realize now that my comment "that's cool" may sound a bit tone-deaf, like I'm sorry about your horrible experience; I got a bit excited about the rest π«
Whatever it is, it has to be something that you do consistently. So, for me, it was holding my nose so I couldn't breath. If I was actually asleep, my hand wouldn't actually be pinching my nose and I would be able to breath. That and for some reason clocks reset themselves the moment I look away from them in a dream. That don't happen in real life.
The big thing though is to keep dream journals. This one is pretty big early on, as forgetting your dreams is the worst if you are trying to go lucid.