Controlling your dreams at night

I had a lucid dream once, but for some reason I was having a difficult time controlling things. I was wondering what I should do, and every idea I had happened before I decided that's what I wanted. I ended up fighting a lion, going on a rollercoaster, and flying around before I woke up. The funny thing is, those aren't really the things I wanted to do, but like I said, I was having a hard time controlling it!

I can't do this, but my SO can. I think he is somewhat unusual in that he only EVER has lucid dreams - he can ALWAYS control them. Once he was having one of those "falling dreams" and mid-fall he managed to change the dream completely so that he was walking around in a shopping mall.

He doesn't always remember the dreams the next morning, but can't ever remember a time when he couldn't change a dream if he wanted to.

It's weird, but sort of cool. I can't do it, though.

Kate

The only thing I can do is if I wake up in the middle of a really good dream, I can make myself fall back to sleep into that dream...but only if I can fall back asleep within a few minutes.

Yup I can. If I'm having a nighmare I can tell myself to wake up. If it's something really good and I feel I'm about to wake up I can stay in the dream longer. I have even had some dreams that were so cool that I wanted to dream about them again and I can make myself.
 
so yeah, I've got talents.[]

This reminds me of the time when I kept having my dreams pick up where the last one left off. I had a storyline that I kept following for about a week! It was about my future and it ended with the apolcalypse![&:]

I've been doing this for a long long time.  While in a dream I'll say something like "hmmm it's my dream you can't do that" or I'll just take control of the dream. 
 
However when I get night terrors or what I call "vision dreams" I have no control at all of them.  I have to go with the flow.

I have lucid dreaming episodes once and awhile.I either am flying around or...well...playing around..lol

ORIGINAL: TheSchmee

The only thing I can do is if I wake up in the middle of a really good dream, I can make myself fall back to sleep into that dream...but only if I can fall back asleep within a few minutes.

 
Yes, I do this too! []
 
If I'm having a bad dream, I invision myself closing my eyes within the dream and I wake up. Really handy when the flesh-eating zombies are about to get you! [8D]
 
I can put myself into a pre-dream state and control that in a variety of ways, but once I'm "out" it takes it's own course.
 
I have an entire map in my dream world. It's a distortion of real places, but I've often thought I could draw it out on paper. My various dreams seem to stick to this map pretty closely too.
 
Flying dreams are my favorite. When I was a kid I used to dream if I ran fast enough on the playground I could take off. In my adult dreams I just levitate. I come from three generations of pilots and often have dreams where I have to land an out of control plane. Tricky...

espencer! There must be something in the air ... I've been working on this very thing, but hadn't been successful till last night! I was able to make choices and change things without waking up. I'm glad I remembered it this moring when I awoke.

The only other times I've had that kind of control during altered consciousness, was ... well, when my consciousness was altered []

I, too, have maps of my dreams! My nighttime dream maps are more like freeway maps, with interchanges and alternate routes. Unfortunately they sometimes involve being stuck in traffic with my mother. [&o] But my maps of the non ordinary reality I visit in shamanic journeywork are beautiful and 3 dimensional. Shaman, in fact, make beautiful maps of their journey worlds, and sometimes paint them on their drums. Bruce Chatwin wrote a delightful book, "Songlines," explaining the aboriginal Australian dream time images, which are a kind of map.

I have lucid dreams frequently.  Depending on what I'm dreaming about..it can be really nice ^_^
 
Other things I force myself awake, but it doesn't always help me "Escape" as I can see "imprints" of the last image in the darkness of my room