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Growing up, Laura Joy thought her dreams were normal.

When I was talking to friends at school as a kid, you know, we talk about our dreams and things like that.

And, you know, I sort of said to other kids that I knew that I was dreaming and I thought that was a normal thing.

And then I, you know, I was kind of met with looks of like, oh, wow, that's different. Or that's crazy.

Or, oh, I don't know that I'm dreaming. I wake up and I don't even know that I've dream some nights, you know.

And that's when I kind of realized that perhaps my dreams were a bit different. She was eight, maybe nine years old,

and this ability to be aware that she was dreaming felt completely natural.

My earliest dreams always consisted of flying,

being able to feel myself flying over, you know,

whether it was oceans or countries or cities,

but also with the feeling that I was getting pulled

sort of out of my dreaming state into the lucid dream by a hand. So a hand would sort of come down from

my forehead and sort of like, you know, grab me out of my dream and then take me on an adventure.

Over time, Laura began to realize that she wasn't just out of my dream and then take me on an adventure.

Over time, Laura began to realize that she wasn't just aware of these dreams.

She could influence them, even control them.

I picture myself doing something that I found, you know, difficult in dance class and I'd practice doing it, you know, jumping from

the tops of buildings onto other big tops of buildings and just picture myself doing, you know,

these jumps or these turns so that I wouldn't feel as anxious or nervous about the upcoming

performance or the dance or the routine or something.

You're listening to All in the Mind.

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