Help getting back into things

[Pinkey209]

Ive been slacking off the past few weeks. I wanna get back in the game. My awareness and Dream Recall arent so good anymore. I have my dream journal still, how can I get my recalls as good as they were? And what are some good techniques for increasing your all day awareness? Thanks my fellow dreamers!

[benni]

I think everybody knows this feeling of slacking off. You might want to start by just writing a little text (on your computer or in your journal). Just write down why you like lucid dreaming and dreaming in general. You should also note all the things you plan to achieve sooner or later Make a goal list. Look at it frequently and tell yourself "soon I will be able to do all those things." Be confident and trust yourself. Concerning your recall a consistent sleep schedule is important. Get a decent amount of sleep, go to bed at the same time and you might want to plan some WBTBs if you can afford to sleep a little longer... WBTBs are great to improve your dream recall and are also great to induce lucid dreams in combination with WILD or MILD I increase my all day awareness with SAT and most importantly: the right mindset. I kind of made it a habbit to just critically evaluate my surroundings whenever I can think of it (which has become quite often recently) and of course whenever anything strange happens. Don't forget to do your RCs! good luck. - Benni

[Pinkey209]

Thanks thats just what I needed. I put up a poster in my room right where I can see when I lay down that says, "I WILL LUCID DREAM." I also caught up on sleep. I ended up having a lucid dream. A very short one. WBTB is hard for me once I get up I cant go back to sleep for a while. How do youdo it?

[CHiLLEN]

Great information Benni. I have the motivation and love for lucid dreaming. Never actually thought of goal setting for lucid dreaming. Thanks, ill definitely do this to add to my chances of having more lucid dreams.

[CHiLLEN]

Pinkey, how long do you usually stay up for when you WBTB? Maybe experiment with shortening the time you're awake, and try not too wake yourself up too much. Avoid lights, and don't be too active.

[paigeyemps]

I agree with Benni. The dream recall will sort itself out, the most important thing is you TRY and INTEND to recall your dreams. The more you do that, the more your mind will be inclined to actually help you remember because it knows recalling them is important to you. Make a list of goals, short and long term. Short term goals with an expiration date help get things done faster too, if you tell yourself to "do this within the next month", your mind will be like "i HAVE to do this before time runs out" Remember why you wanna lucid dream, and reread/rewatch things that used to inspire you Good luck.

[Pinkey209]

Last night I had a successful WBTB but usually I dont. I stay up for like 15 mins.

[CHiLLEN]

Last night I had a successful WBTB but usually I dont. I stay up for like 15 mins. Congrats!

[realdealmagic]

And for more motivation, if the idea of lucid dreaming alone isn't enough, check out the 1000 Things To Do thread!

[jshumck]

Hi I've experienced the same problem until recently. Something that is really beneficial is getting a good night's sleep. NOW, I know that sounds overrated, but trust me. It is great for dream recall. I used to be a night owl going to bed at like 2-3am and waking up the next morning for school at 7. No dream recall whatsoever. But now I go to bed at 10-11pm and it has been wonderful. Dreams became more vivid and my recall became awesome. I haven't even used my dream journal, but I can still remember them. Good luck!

[FryingMan]

A regular schedule and getting enough sleep is critical! I started LD training on vacation, where I had full control over my sleep schedule, and I rapidly went from a few fragments to a few pages of details with multiple wakings and multiple dreams remembered per waking. Back to the daily grind with life distractions all around, and a highly variable sleep time, my recall has suffered some. And keep up that journaling: not only does it show your mind that you care about your dreams and remembering them, it is the ideal medium to record everything about your LD efforts: diet, exercise, sleep schedule, which techs you try, daily memory and RC practice, etc. Do this for long enough and you can start identifying trends and effects: what works well for you, what doesn't work well for you, and therein lies the path to true mastery! I also have trouble getting back to sleep after even very brief wakings to journal and do MILD reps. So then this means I need to concentrate seriously on: regular schedule, good diet and regular exercise, not to mention spending effort on relaxation for sleep, which is something I generally have always skipped, other than relaxing my forehead and jaw where I hold a lot of tension. Spend effort on those things that are limiting you, and when you break through you'll have even more success. It can be a blessing to become alert quickly: you do not need to spend a lot of time outside of bed in the middle of the night! The flipside is: you (like me) must figure out just how you can fall asleep more quickly. "Just empty your mind" is easy to say, but harder to do, so it takes study and effort to find out how you can do this.