 Okay, so this is going to be a much better place to record these videos I think there's a probably a better sound quality in here just because there's a you know It's a softer room as the bed and everything and so the sound won't keep like bouncing off of the walls like it was doing in a lounge and so basically In this video I want to talk about the pros and cons of lucid dreaming I think this is this is different to when I have spoken before about the benefits of lucid dreaming and Also the dangers of lucid dreaming but this is going to be a video where I sort of Compare the two of them because you've got to understand that lucid dreaming is not something that you can just learn like It's not like rock climbing for example where you can just learn it fairly quickly and then you progress and then there are no real downsides to it and there's no real Warnings other than you might enjoy it too much Because with lucid dreaming there are some dangers and there are definitely some negative aspects of it So it's not just the case of learning this really cool thing doing it all the time and then that's it You know happy days from there on there are some Some things to be cautious of definitely with lucid dreaming and I think a lot of people tend to forget that and then they Fall into this trap of just trying to learn as much as they can about it without really thinking about the negative aspects and Certainly without weighing up the pros and cons now when I say pros and cons I mean what's good and what's bad about lucid dreaming and then hopefully by the end of it You'll be able to make up your own mind and sort of understand a bit more about how it works, maybe So obviously let's start with the pros So lucid dreaming is good in terms of you can improve your confidence You can get the chance to dream about what you want as opposed to just what you randomly happen to be thinking about It gives you the chance to work on emotional issues like fear for example trauma Lack of confidence low self-esteem. It gives you a chance to work on these issues in a subconscious level So there's that side of it There's also the side of it where you can just have fun. You can experience whatever you want whether that's sex fantasies exploring alien worlds or climbing skyscrapers, you know doing these incredible things You could also use it for practical aspects like learning physical skills faster, you know There are various benefits like that But more than anything else but more than anything else It's gonna give you the chance to sort of delve into your subconscious mind Because really that's what this stuff is about You know lucid dreaming in general is about being more in touch with your subconscious mind Because most the whole dreaming process happens when you're asleep when your conscious mind is not there You know when your conscious mind is turned off and you're unconscious or sub you're experiencing a subconscious experience So lucid dreaming, you know has always given you the access to your subconscious mind in that way And I think that's why a lot of people tend to just skip over that They don't consider the implications of messing with your subconscious mind. It's perfectly safe, right? And there's nothing inherently dangerous about lucid dreaming But if you do it without considering the cons, right? And I'm gonna get on to those in a minute then you can fall into some trouble later on So we know that it's to do with your subconscious mind. We know that it involves entering your dream and you know your dream space and Directly in interacting with I guess you could say with your subconscious mind the part of you that you normally don't have access to And because you're able to do that it gives you some remarkable abilities You can sort of talk to the most hidden aspects of your psyche and that's something that really is interesting to me And certainly to a lot of other people However, there are some negative sides to this so That stuff's all great Okay, and you can really have a lot of fun with that you can experience some some huge personal growth with all of those tools But there are some bad things so the main one for me is Forced memories if you have a lot of lucid dreams You know if you're like me and you have several a week and you write them down in your dream journal But sometimes, you know the other one slips through and you forget to write it Maybe you're excited to wake up that day and you know do whatever you were gonna do Maybe you just completely forget and you remember the dream later for whatever reason if you don't write your dreams down every morning you can find that you have these sort of Ghost memories or these false memories where you think you've done something because in a lucid dream, right? You're aware of the fact you're dreaming you it feels like you're awake and because you can make your own choices and decide what to do and say It really is hard to distinguish that memory from a memory in waking life that you've actually done something you've actually experienced especially and I say this to warn you guys a little bit especially if you have lucid dreams about Normal everyday situations things that you could realistically do in waking life Let me give you an example if you lose a dream about flying around a mountain There's a good chance that you can't do that in waking life, right? So you know that that's a false real memory. You know, that's a lucid dream memory as opposed to an actual memory However, if you have a lucid dream in which you have a conversation with your boss or your friend or spouse or family member Now that's something that you do you could do in waking life and the chances are you do that stuff in waking life You have conversations with the people you know, right? The danger is when you have lucid dreams about that You can end up having common memories of conversations that you've never had in waking life And that can lead to massive confusion and embarrassment You know if you bring up something with your partner that you you're sure happened because you remember the conversation But if the conversation happens to be in a lucid dream a few weeks ago It's very hard to distinguish, you know after the fact between a lucid dream memory of something fairly normal like a conversation And a waking life real memory of the same conversation. So there's that that's one of the main cons for me there's also the the I Guess the concept of becoming too attached to the dream world now This is something that I've never personally really had a problem with like except when I was very young and I when I'd first Discovered lucid dreaming I was quite obsessed with it But it's something that I know a lot of people struggle with especially new lucid dreamers They get so excited about this stuff and it tends to be I don't want to stereotype or you know Put anyone into any sort of molds or or cliches it tend but it tends to be the people who are interested in video games There tends to be a lot of weed smokers who are who get sucked into the lucid dream world You know through the spirituality approach and through reading forum posts and that sort of thing and I'm not saying this makes up the majority of lucid dreamers by any means because it's her You know lucid dreaming encompasses a huge variety of different personality types and people and cultures and societies but in my experience from what I've seen online there tends to be a lot of video gamers and When you have a video gamer coming into you know an approaching lucid dreaming They tend to be the people who like escapism obviously right games are about escapism and experiencing something new And I'm not saying escapism is bad What I am saying though is that if you come into lucid dreaming and you expect to just be able to Completely exit your world experience something completely new and forget about all of your life's problems It doesn't work like that that it won't work like that because lucid dreaming brings up all of your memories and your Subconscious issues that you're dealing with in your waking life and it makes them like very vivid for you It makes them very easy to see So I think a lot of people especially video gamers who are learning lucid dreaming for the first time Just be aware that it's not the same type of escapism that a game can give you you You can't forget about all your problems in a lucid dream You can to some degree and you know you can experience things and for the most part when you have a dream You're not thinking about that essay. You've got a right on Monday for Monday morning, right? But the real problems the subconscious like self-esteem issues the trauma the interpersonal relationship issues and all these sorts of things that you normally bury or You know, most of us tend to sort of bury and forget when we do things like play video games They will be brought up in a lucid dream. It might not be something you've planned It might not even be every time but they will from time to time pop up and it can be stressful You know, it can be traumatic for you to deal with especially if you're used to escapism in sense of video games And you're not used to confronting these issues. So To summarize there's a lot of good stuff about lucid dreaming really lots of stuff There is also a dark side of lucid dreaming. I wouldn't say dark side, but a Side which you might want to be careful of and that involves escapism You can't really use lucid dreaming for complete escapism like you can with a film or a game and The issue of false memories where you don't Remember things accurately, especially if you lose to dream about normal situations now this stuff You can fix this stuff right you can that's there are things you can do which will lower the risk of those Of those negative aspects, but for the most part just enjoy the ride Like there's good and bad stuff about everything you can't control every little detail of everything you do So just enjoy it. See you tomorrow