Healing and Hypnotherapy Volume - 4, issue 9 1 March 2020 | Page 37

If I’m working on my car and try to repair something complicated… I give up
and go to bed.  I purposely dream about the problem.  Always before morning
I find a way to do the job, and when I try it the next day, it works!
–  J.R.  (Washington)
Here’s a simple lucid dreaming exercise for solving a problem:
1. Choose and memorize a problem you want to solve before bed. Turn this
into a question to focus on, e.g., “How can I meet more people like me?”
2. Use an  induction technique  (explored in the previous section) to create a
lucid dream.  
3. Once lucid, seek the solution to your problem. Look for or conjure up the
person or place you need to seek your solution, e.g., to overcome your
writer’s block it could be Hemingway that you talk with.
4. Once you’re satisfied upon waking, continue to reflect on the answer during
the day – often times you realize the solution was there all along (though
hidden).
3. Lucid dreaming can help you overcome nightmares …
If you’re like me, experiencing crippling nightmares can make sleeping a
horrible prospect. Lucid dreaming, however, can serve to completely abolish
the power of nightmares. Take this one  example:
I became lucid while being chased by a tiger, and I wanted to flee.   I then
pulled myself back together, stood my ground, and asked, “Who are you?”
 The tiger was taken aback but transformed into my father.
– from Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming by Stephen LaBerge
During lucid dreaming, the best approach to hostile dream figures is to
engage in conversation. This conciliatory approach usually transforms the