Am I the only one that can do this?...
I have this wierd ability of being able to visualise things as though they are real.

It only usually happens when I'm really tired, but when I close my eyes, if I think of something, after a couple of seconds, I can 'see' what I'm thinking of, be it an inanimate object or even something as complex as a room, including the view out of the window. While this is happening, I am fully aware of what I'm doing.

The best way to describe the experience, is, if anyone has seen one of them 'magic eye' pictures - well, you know the moment when your vision 'snaps' to the image of the 3d object within the poster and you can see the picture 'move'? Well its kind of like that, except in greater detail and on a greater scale.

When I was younger, it used to startle me, but over the years I have grown used to it, I find it quite relaxing, and I can keep the resulting visions for what seems to be minutes at a time.

In some cases, I have even been able to 'walk round' said objects or scenery and look around.

Someone once asked me if we dreamed in colour or black and white, I myself was unsure of the answer, and some time later, whilst I was having another one of my strange visions, I remembered my friends question so the object I was 'looking' at, I imagined it was green, and in my vision, it was indeed green.

This also resulted in my sleepy visions becoming more colourful, this might also be because of my new found awareness of colour.

I can also sometimes change the outcome of my dreams too, usually when I'm under a lot of stress - although this happens very rarely, but when it does, I don't have many nightmares..
(danniekavanagh did nothing constructive on, Sat 25 Jul 2009, 11:55, 8 replies)

I do this
but I presumed everyone could.
( Peej, Sat 25 Jul 2009, 14:12, closed)

Hmm
I think most humans with minds can do 'this'.
(powervator and NONE SHALL PASS, Sat 25 Jul 2009, 16:57, closed)

I can't do this
But I CAN hear music in my head when I'm really really tired - it's as if I can actually hear it in my ears. Sometimes it's an opera man or lady, and once it sounded like UB40. I can control what they're singing, it's ace but quite odd!
(Zem flolloping floopily around Squornshellous Zeta, Sat 25 Jul 2009, 18:10, closed)

Funny you should mention that.
I have a thing where, when I'm slowly falling asleep, I can "look" around my room and see everything in it, even though it's dark and my eyes are closed.

As for changing the outcome of your dreams, that sounds like lucid dreaming - once you're aware you're dreaming, you can take control and do whatever you want. I manage to do it now and again, and have incorporated such highlights as flying down a staircase and walking through a brick wall. And I do quite often use it to wake myself up from unpleasant dreams.
( john3ners has relocated to the Highlands, Sat 25 Jul 2009, 22:17, closed)

wake myself up from unpleasant dreams.
You use lucid dreaming to wake yourself up from unpleasant dreams? Why would you do that? If it is a lucid dream, why take control and make it pleasant? :)
Actually, this goes to the heart of what I think lucid dreaming really is: you are just dreaming that it is lucid, the lucidity is as much an illusion as everything else you dream.
( Sextant goes to him is emotionally erect, on this day, Sun 26 Jul 2009, 2:55, closed)

Good point.
Thinking about it now, I think there are two reasons: (i) despite being aware that I'm dreaming, I'm often not particularly rational, so it doesn't occur to me that I can rewrite the dream's storyline; and (ii) I'm a lazy fucker. Easier to wake myself up than put thought energy into a rewrite.
( john3ners has relocated to the Highlands, Sun 26 Jul 2009, 9:21, closed)

I, too, do this
In nightmares, I'll sometimes stop and think -- hey, why aren't I blinking? Oh, that's because it's a dream. I'll try to change the dream, but if I can't, I just blink, thus waking up.
(FleetlordVT, Sun 26 Jul 2009, 11:44, closed)

The worst bit is..
..when you realise it's a dream, try and wake yourself up, and can't - thus making the dream even worse.

Then Freddy shows up..
(danniekavanagh did nothing constructive on, Sun 26 Jul 2009, 11:53, closed)