I have seen a lot of talk recently about what has come to be called lucid dreaming, a concept which can be defined as ‘any dream in which you are aware that you are dreaming and in which you experience a feeling of great clarity and understanding about your life’.

While I find lucid dreaming to be a subject of great interest [^1], even more important is the related idea of wakeful lucidity, any moment in which you suddenly become aware that you are actually and fully alive. This is often accompanied by feelings of great clarity about who you are, where you are going and how to get there. You feel unusually clear about decisions that must be made, an awareness of obstacles to be overcome, and confidence in your ability to focus on achieving those desired outcomes.

Unfortunately, wakeful lucidity is usually fleeting, an incredibly fragile state of consciousness. It can vanish in seconds. It is unlikely to survive a temporary self-indulgence (I’ll just have this muffin) or the briefest distraction (I’ll just wash these dishes, check my email, answer this text). You must learn to avoid these mundane intrusions on your precious moment of clearness. If ever you wish to practice self-discipline, this is that time. Your moment will not last and may not return for days! Seize it!

“[^1]: My introduction to the idea of putting your nighttime dreams to work came from Ann Faraday’s marvelous little book Dream Power published in the early seventies. Faraday distils what is practical from Freudian and Jungian analysis and Gestalt therapy in a way that is useful to anyone with an introspective cast of mind.”