Thread: MILD help

Hello LittleStar.

With MILD, the aim is to fall asleep. It is not completely necessary to visualize, a simple mantra will do. However, visualizing your dream can also serve as a mnemonic. What you want to achieve in MILD is for the mnemonic (mantra, visualization, etc) to be the last thing on your mind AS you fall asleep so that it may be easier to pick up once you are dreaming, and thus achieve lucidity. Do not force yourself to stay up late just to keep doing the mnemonic, just try to normally fall asleep with it in your mind. Also, you can verbally say the mantras for a bit if it helps you internalize it better, but after that, you do them mentally (or else you won't fall asleep ofc). You may visualize the dream scene while thinking of the mantra, though i would suggest doing one or the other so that you have more focus on it rather than divide your attention between the visualizing and mantra.

As for the dream recall, that is pretty normal to space out on the earlier dreams. You can try to backtrack your thoughts of the dream, and figure out what came before something, step by step. Another thing which I recommend is, if you know what your dream signs are, go through them in your head one by one. Try to recall if that particular dream sign was in your dream that night, which it most probably was. Once you figure out if it was present, you can connect the dots and find out what happened around that time.

Autosuggestion would also work for dream recall, btw You can do mantras like "i recall all of my dreams" or "my dreams are vivid and i recall them", etc.

Good luck!

My second question arises from my recent string of complete dream recall meltdown. I usually, right from the start and before, remember 2-3+ dreams per night, however the last two or three nights my journal has been completely blank. Usually with my dreams are very long, and are probably more like 3 different dreams mixed into one without waking up (fully at least). That may sound good, but it poses a problem of remembering the early parts. I recall the end fine most timers, but the beginning is hazy at best, maybe a thought or feeling, or a vague idea that there was a car involved. A great deal of my journal entries have the line, 'I know there was so much more, but I just can't remember it's or something similar.

I was wondering is t his normal? Does everyone have the same problems with long dream recall, and is there something I can do about it? I would love to remember a few of these dreams in full.

Hi there LittleStar! Before I started journaling in DV, I would usually just sleep and occasionally record whatever I could remember if it was interesting enough. After reading around, I became more conscious of the fact that I actually wake up a number of times during sleep. I found out it is a matter of choice whether I want to put some emphasis on that. What it has done is to increase the recall for some dreams. When I have a natural wake, I would go to the restroom, take a few notes and review the dream for more extensive journalling later on. I don't always do this, but I have found it helps recall more dreams. If you are willing to do that, you can train yourself to notice those micro wake states, which happen to most people but some are less conscious of them and can immediately resume dreaming, which feels like one long dream. You can use a mantra like " I wake up after each dream".

Still, I have been trying to keep a consistent DJ for about 50 days and saw and confirmed for myself that recall does vary. I always though I have super recall but when I saw some of my entries, I got disappointed, because on some days the recall was rather bad. From what I have read around this is actually pretty normal and not much cause for concern. I also read and noticed that my recall gets worse if I mess my sleep schedule. My decision how to deal with this was just to keep journalling and it turned out to be the right one. I don't have 30 perfect dream journal entries per month but I have a good number of detailed dreams recorded, which is still great! So, to conclude, no matter what your recall is keep journalling, and always have a positive attitude, it helps a great deal! Good luck!

Thanks for the replies.
Paigeyemps, so separating the visual from the verbal/mental mantra would be best then? Or just completely taking away the visual. I shall try both of these definately. I think then the biggest problem for it is keeping it in my mind until I fall asleep. My mind is usually very active, and I know I need to keep it in check, but even if I do... Umm, i don't know How to word what im thinking:s I feel like I lose like the last ten minutes or so before I fall asleep, I never remember falling asleep or what position etc. (I haven't thought about asking anyone else if that happens to them, but I assume it's fairly normal, no?) I feel like if I forced the mantra as much as I could, it would interfere and stop me from falling asleep. I guess a few nights experimentation are needed. I shall try tonight...
Ps. I'm not sure if there's any question there, by the way, just a rambling to help get my bain around what it's thinking

NyxCC, that's what I assumed was happening, your 'micro wake' states. Several dreams fused into one, as far as my brain is concerned.
My brain has come up with quite a novel way of dealing with this sometimes though... Instead of forgetting the earlier parts when i wake, i have some kind of False Awakening and immediatelly begin to write down the dream in my journal... At which point i wake up, irratated that i have to write it all again, but with a very clear memory of the dreams. The only problem here is I don know then if the dreams I wrote down the first time were dreams I actually had, or if thy were made up for the purpose of journalling. It messes with the head when thinking about it, but has happened 5 or 6 times since I started in jan lol.
I know I wake up a lot during the nights, I always have done, but it was only when starts my journal that I realised quite how often, and quite how many dreams I actually had (even if they weren't crystal clear, or just a flag of an image remembered). I will try the auto suggestion for waking after each dream, haven't got round to trying that one yet.

Thanks again for the replies, and I hope I not need more questions answered

You can try it out separately or together and see what works best, though I personally recommend doing the verbal thing. Whenever you find yourself starting to drift off into a dream, repeat with the mantra again. Dont worry too much, you will still fall asleep, as long as you dont force it, just do it naturally. If you dont notice yourself drifting off, well no problem there since you're starting to dream already! good luck