How can I keep my mind focused on autosuggestion?

[DJFisch]

When I try autosuggestion, I keep telling myself "I will know when I'm dreaming, I will know when I'm dreaming" and I can keep my mind saying that, however I have a very busy active mind, that will think other things over that, and other things over that too, so I am still telling myself I will know when I'm dreaming, but I'll also be thinking about up to 2 other things. How can I have my mind focus on just repeating that over and over? Is it as simple as just gaining mental discipline? Is it normal to be able to think 3 thoughts at once?

[sisyphus]

I experience this a lot. I've approached in a combination of two ways. The first is meditation, to help develop discipline and to let go of distracting thoughts. I could go on and on about that but it's a broad subject. The second is little techniques to occupy your attention so there is less room for distractions to enter. These are a bit more straightforward to try: - Combine the suggestion with counting and breathing. Hear the number as you inhale and hear the suggest as you exhale. Try to stay present with your breath: follow it all the way in and all the way out. - Count backwards from 100. Or count backgrounds from 300, skipping 3 at a time. It's less automatic than counting up, so it requires more of your attention. - Combine the suggestion with visualization. Visualize your previous dream or imagine a dream you want to have. Let it be dynamic and changing, not automatic. - Constantly mentally scan your body. Imagine a ball of light that rolls around your body. Check for any tension in your muscles and let it go.

[Carrul]

I always liked the progressive attention and tensing of muscles techniques. Focusing all your attention on one spot of your body, and actually noticing the feedback, as well as counting breathing, will keep you quite occupied.

[elucid]

Just keep your focus on it, and if it moves away, just simply take it and move it back to where you want it. At first it might move alot, but as you keep doing this, it should become steady and move less and you will achieve a greater level of focus.

[DJFisch]

I experience this a lot. I've approached in a combination of two ways. The first is meditation, to help develop discipline and to let go of distracting thoughts. I could go on and on about that but it's a broad subject. The second is little techniques to occupy your attention so there is less room for distractions to enter. These are a bit more straightforward to try: - Combine the suggestion with counting and breathing. Hear the number as you inhale and hear the suggest as you exhale. Try to stay present with your breath: follow it all the way in and all the way out. - Count backwards from 100. Or count backgrounds from 300, skipping 3 at a time. It's less automatic than counting up, so it requires more of your attention. - Combine the suggestion with visualization. Visualize your previous dream or imagine a dream you want to have. Let it be dynamic and changing, not automatic. - Constantly mentally scan your body. Imagine a ball of light that rolls around your body. Check for any tension in your muscles and let it go. I do meditate a bit, but I do it 5-10 minutes before bed, simply to help reduce stress, and sometimes I'll visualize the dream I want to have, however my mind usually wanders from that, I'm going to try your counting backwards method, it sounds like it will work for me, thanks.