Jill and I were talking about lucid dreaming this week (she went to a seminar about it). In case you aren't familiar with the concept, lucid dreams are those in which you realize you're in a dream. Sometimes you can control your own actions within the dream.

Some people deny that they're even possible, and one of the interesting things about the phenomenon is that it is wholly subjective. I believe lucid dreaming is possible because I've had a handful in my lifetime, mostly when I was younger. I haven't had one for several years now.

But talking to Jill piqued my interest in it again. Back in high school, I'd read an article in Omni about lucid dreaming, and it provided a number of different things you could do to possibly increase your ability to lucid dream. They included:

--Keeping a dream journal, most importantly capturing details of dreams just as you wake up and remember them

--Doing "reality checks" throughout your waking day (e.g. reminding yourself that you're not currently dreaming, double-checking written text, which often changes in dreams, etc.)

--Telling yourself repeatedly as you go to bed at night that you will realize when you are in a dream

I remember trying some of these techniques, but I quickly lost interest when the results weren't immediate. Most of my lucid dreaming experiences were far apart at seemingly random times.

But I'm giving it a shot again. I started a dream journal this week, and already I'm experiencing better recall of my dreams, which is apparently a sign of progress.

Last night I dreamt I was taking some sort of IQ test, and a female researcher showed me three cardboard shadow boxes with the same three items in them (though now I only remember a hammer was one of them). The items were all in different positions, and I was supposed to look at all three, then describe how each items was moved to get to the next arrangement in the sequence. Then Elaine from Seinfeld walked through the door, and the dream ended soon after that.

A little strange, but really that weird for dreams in general. It wasn't a lucid dream, but I did remember the details better than most I've had in the past year.

Anyway, anybody out there dream much? Have lucid dreams? Ones where you could control your actions?