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rob you or do you bodily harm. You feel fear. You do a reality check and realize that you are dreaming.
Instead of being frightened you are now ecstatic to realize that you are lucid, but those assailants will
have none of your happiness in their presence. They come at you, and for a brief second you are scared
until you come to your senses and realize that you cannot be harmed in your own dream. Now, you laugh
at them and explain to them that this is just a dream, and they better look for someone who is afraid of
them because you are not. When confronted with your laughter they run away and leave you alone. They
may even apologize and attempt to befriend you, or they may join you in your laughter. This is a very
typical and simple way of handling of what could have been a frightening encounter.
The Power of Love
Another great way to combat fear is to use the power of love. It may sound silly but this is probably the
most effective way of dissolving any conflicts. It is true in both waking and dreaming worlds, and
although it is a little harder to practice in the waking world it still usually does the trick. Let s take the
previous dream situation and show how the power of love could have been applied. After you got scared,
did the reality check, and became lucid you would tell your assailants that you love them. Express to
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them that they are merely figments of your subconscious that are calling out for attention. Tell them that
you accept them and want them to feel the love you have for them and every other part of yourself. Odds
are that you will never see two assailants run off so fast in your life! In a best case scenario they will
become your steadfast dream friends. In either case, you have transcended the fear by turning a negative
situation into a positive one.
Your success will result from a proper handling of fear. Hopefully, by applying these tips you will be
more prepared than scared whenever fear comes knocking at your mind. You must also keep in mind that
fear is not the enemy. It is the inability to deal with fear that becomes your worst enemy. Fear itself is a
natural biological response mechanism. It is not an evil thing. It is merely a reflex that indicates that
some immediate action needs to be taken. Instead of having fear be a cue to panic, you should use it as an
indicator to take action. As you get better at dealing with your fears you will open yourself to a myriad of
wondrous experiences. The more you confront and handle it, the more courageous and fearless you will
become. While lucid dreaming you may have many wonderful moments characterized by fearlessness,
but also keep in mind that being fearless doesn t mean being reckless, stupid, or cocky. It means being so
accepted and secure within yourself that you have more faith in yourself than doubt.
Stabilizing Your Surroundings
When making your way through a dreamscape sometimes you will find that your surroundings are not all
that stable. It could be that the ground is not very solid. Maybe the background imagery is flat, or maybe
your surroundings are mutating. Having a stable dreamscape is important for many reasons. If your
dream surroundings are wavering and unstable you may find it hard to navigate through your dream, and
your lucidity may be compromised in the process. For example, you could be flying over a field as the
ground beneath you starts to gyrate and flicker at differing heights. Having an unstable ground can be
very disorienting for a dreamer. It can even lead to a complete visual blackout. It is hard enough in the
beginning to maintain your lucidity for extended periods without having to deal with a wobbly, wavering
dreamscape. Learning how to stabilize your surroundings will help you salvage many lucid adventures
that may have ended prematurely due to the instability of the dreamscape.
There are a few different reasons why your dream may destabilize. By flying too fast and violating the
Speed to Altitude Ratio the ground simply can t keep up with your flight speed. As a result, the whole
dreamscape becomes fractured into choppy visuals or grainy, flickering imagery. Another cause of
destabilization happens if you become overly excited. Many rambling thoughts coupled with an
unfocused awareness often leads to instability. The basic rule of thumb should be to slow down!
Whenever your surroundings become distorted just relax and take a few deep breaths. Collect yourself
and re-solidify your lucidity then once you are ready to proceed without losing your lucidity, you can
simply use your intent to stabilize your environment. You could say, "Stabilize surroundings, now!".
Once you follow these steps the foundational fabric of your dream should become more solid and begin
to take on a much more realistic nature.
To re-stabilize your dream surroundings, the idea is to focus your awareness, intend stability and then
ease yourself into the newly solidifying surroundings. Remember the idea is to slow down so if you jump
right into action before the surroundings have a chance to solidify you may have to repeat the process all
over again. It usually only takes a few moments for the dreamscape to become stabilized again. As long
as you are confident that you can interact in the new dreamscape without losing your lucidity you are free
to go about your dreaming. By using this technique you can prolong many of your lucid dreams and not
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The Lucid Dreamer s Manual: From the Basics to Beyond
fall into the normal trap of panicking and awakening. It will also come in handy when you start exploring
some advanced lucid techniques like dream reentry from Limbo-Land and especially when inducing the
heightened levels of lucidity that we will discuss in a later section.
OTHER THINGS YOU MAY ENCOUNTER on THE LUCID TERRAIN
Dream friends and Dream Guides/Teachers
You will encounter and interact with many different characters in your dreams. Some will be people you
know in your waking life like your friends or your family. Other dream characters will be people you
have never met aside from the dream, yet surprisingly you may often feel that you have known this
person for many years. Upon awakening you may find that you don t really share a waking past with this
person. This strange phenomenon even occurs in lucid dreams. I have had many lucid experiences with
people who I thought I had known, yet in retrospect I would realize that they were just dream friends. I
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