Lucid Dreaming

I was taught Lucid Dreaming by my son Mark Vollrath when he was six years old in 1986.
He taught me how to fly in my dreams.

"Dad, do you ever fly in your dreams?"

"No, I've always wanted to but I've never had that type of dream."

"Oh Dad you've got to fly in your dreams it's the best. When you go to sleep think of me and I'll teach you how to fly in your dreams."

That night six year old Mark came to me in my dream with a ball of kite string.

"Hello Dad, this is a dream and I'm going to teach you to fly."

Mark tied the end the kite string around one of my shirt buttons and then ran away from me letting the ball of string unroll in his hand. A strong wind blew on me as Mark grabbed the string.
High in the air I rode the wind being pulled by a kite string in my young son's hands.

"Don't be scared Dad, I'm cutting the string. It's a dream and you can fly in it."

I flew like Superman and awoke from the dream laughing.

Years later my then wife left me and I began to have Night Terrors, Nightmares times ten.
The Night Terrors would always play out the same way, I would be having a peaceful dream and would be attacked by a hellish demon born out of the darkest corner of my imagination.

The worst Night Terror was a black orb that would rip me apart with four claw like legs. I would jump out of bed screaming looking for a knife to cut the creature from my chest. The bed room door was jammed and the creature in my mind was clinging to my torso, cutting deeper into my flesh. I was trying to get to the kitchen to get a knife to kill the creature when I heard a pounding on the bedroom door and woke up.

"Dad wake up you're having a nightmare. The monster you're seeing isn't real."

My son Mark had saved me from getting a knife and hurting myself in my sleep.

A few weeks later Mark told me about a book he had read on Lucid Dreaming.
I never had a Nightmare or Night Terror at home again using the knowledge Mark had given me.

I didn't learn how to defeat waking dreams (hallucinations) on long road trips until last year.

I simply turned any negative vision into a positive one.

In January of this year I woke myself from sleep paralysis for the first time using Lucid Dreaming.

Last night I put myself to sleep by using Lucid Dreaming, another first for me.

I have never read a book or article about Lucid Dreaming. Everything I know about Lucid Dreaming I've learned from my oldest son Mark and my own imagination.

My "Then Wife" called me the day after this post and told me she had been able to Lucid Dream for many years. I was married to her for 18 years and never knew this about her. As I'm writing this now I realize I never told her I cold Lucid Dream either. I wonder why we never talked about this?