Step Out Of The Plot

[lenscaper]

I have just realized a few things very early on in this journey. I have always had very real dreams. They almost always feature me interacting with someone very specific from my past....occasionally from my present. I very rarely have fantastic dreams. In fact, the dream that put me on this path just a short time ago featured a hippopotamus that spoke to me. That resulted in a sudden lucid experience that definitely caught my attention. Since then I have been definitely lucid a number of times but more often than not I have been with someone specific and I have been part of a very real plot. I have just realized two things. 1. People are my major dream sign 2. I need to forcefully "step out of the plot" in order to attain lucidity. I intend to work on that, starting tonight. Anybody have any tips for that?

[dolphin]

When going to sleep, set an intention to tell the next person you see that you need to go so you can focus on a dream goal. Try to remember this intention.

[lenscaper]

I like that idea, dolphin....but I have yet to set any dream goals. I guess I have not got that far along this path yet. Hmmmmm....need to consider that aspect. I have yet to achieve real stable lucidity. Everything is still happening pretty fast. The idea of engaging them is a very good one. I thought about setting myself the intention that when I realize that I am seeing them as a dream sign I could say something like, "STOP! STOP EVERYTHING! THIS IS A DREAM!". I could address that directly to the person in the dream. Perhaps that would be a way to achieve stability.

[ZAD]

If you're looking for some goals or examples to draw from to decide on your own goals, the current and historical tasks of the month/year are a good start. From there, I'd say just get a piece of paper and jot down some ideas. What's the most amazing thing you've ever seen in a movie or read about in a book that you'd like to try for yourself? As dolphin mentions, DCs can become a hindrance if you're looking for length and stability; they're almost always a dead end (in that whatever path they lead me is usually going to quickly wake me up) so it's sometimes better to just ignore them. For your broader question of how to "step out of the plot", I'd say try to bring one idea over from waking life to dreaming life: "The entire dream is me". When I'm able to contemplate this within a lucid, I find that the environment and DCs don't tend to distract me as much.

[lenscaper]

Thanks for that, ZAD. Hmmmmm.......I can see how a dream character could easily be a distraction. In my second LD, which was not all that long ago, I was ...ah...propositioned (pretty directly) by a woman that I was walking by in a crowd. It caught my attention and i got lucid immediately. I pretty much stammered something like, "I'm not really sure about all this", and she gave me a strange, quizzical look. As I walked away into non-lucidity, I actually distinctly remember her saying, "well, you look pretty good still for all those years." I did not recognize her. I woke up thinking....welcome to the world of lucid dreaming. Perhaps I'll look to find a better way to step out of the plot.

[Darkmatters]

Have you discovered techniques for stabilizing the dream yet? The first thing to do when you realize you're dreaming is a couple of reality checks. I generally use a nose pinch (try to breathe whole holding it shut with mouth closed) and trying to push a finger through the palm of my other hand. As soon as you do something like this in a dream you'll find that you can indeed breathe, and if you persist for a moment with the proper intent, your finger will go right through your palm. This confirms that you are definitely dreaming to your complete satisfaction, and greatly strengthens your lucidity. Then you can use a stabilization technique. The one I prefer is to run my hands over any surfaces near me and feel their texture. Sometimes in a dream there is no surface near you, so in that case I run them over my own body (assuming I have one). Activasting different senses like this in a dream also strengthens your connection to the dream and makes it become more 'real' for you. Things become much clearer and seem more solid and real. I practice for this while in bed - I'll say my mantra for a while, and then actually run my hands over myself and anything nearby, paying attention to textures or smoothness or any other features you can notice. By this point, having already gotten myself to become initially lucid in dreams fairly regularly, I changed my mantra to "I go lucid, reality check. and stabilize". Later I added whatever I wanted to accomplish in the dream, for instance "I go lucid, reality check, stabilize, and walk through a wall" or whatever my current goal might be. One nice stabilization trick that worked wonders for me was when I 'woke up' in my bedroom but it didn't look quite right, and I was hearing a song, the lyrics of which told me to punch out the window and then to eat the glass on the floor. Normally I would do no such thing of course, but a couple of quick RCs confirmed I was indeed dreaming, plus the room just wasn't right- the window was way too small. So I punched the glass out, reached outside, and felt the brick which was very rough, just as it should have been. That really strengthened my connection to the dream. Then it told me to eat some glass, so I picked some up off the floor and it felt like flat pieces of clear licorice, which is actually what it felt like as I chewed it too. It had no flavor. But that really pushed clarity and stability over the top and led to what I consider my highest l level lucid dream yet.

[lenscaper]

Have you discovered techniques for stabilizing the dream yet? Very helpful post. I have discovered a few stabilization techniques, including the ones you mentioned, and I have been practicing them constantly...during the day...as if I was in a dream. I just have not had the chance to do anything that focused in my few LDs. I guess the whole thing is just still too new. I feel as though an initial stabilization has to come....I think it's just around the corner. At this point I tend to react to lucidity with too much excitement instead of stopping to take stock of things. i'm just going to be diligent about establishing the intent to stabilize during my many daytime state checks. I like that mantra. Last night I ended up with "my dream, my control". Of course, I never really got into a classic lucid dream scenario last night as my lucidity kind of took another form. I am fully engaged in this process now and I am extremely appreciative of all the help I am getting here.

[Darkmatters]

You're definitely approaching this the right way, and with the right attitude. Your lucidity will get longer and more stable little by little and you'll get over the initial excitement. Well, not completely, at least I never did. But it will just become a momentary blip and you'll be able to stabilize and do what you want. I wouldn't try for control yet - it's too soon, In fact even trying to do too much too soon can quickly destabilize the dream. It's best to just do some RCs and stabilize and sort of go with the dream for a while, though maybe as people suggest get away from dream characters, they're generally there to try to pull you back into the dream script and make you lose lucidity. When you're able to get good stability then it's time to go for more, though even then I'd try for things like phasing through windows and walls by pressing yourself against them gently but firmly while intending to go through. When I did that to a window once the glass became like plastic wrap and sort of tented out as I pushed against it, then suddenly I was outside and could hear and feel the night - birds and crickets, and the wind etc. Very cool! In other words, when your'e able to stabilize go ahead and start making your own choices about what to do, but don't try to manifest things or make things change form just yet. Take it stage by stage, like progressing through the belts in T'ai Chi (I assume they use a belt system like most martial arts?)

[lenscaper]

That's just excellent advice all around...thanks. I am definitely not in a hurry. No belts in T'ai Chi, btw. As Mr. Miyagi once so eloquently said, "belt mean no need rope to hold up pants". I did go through a few belts while studying Aikido, though.....actually handed a few out as well.