Dream Signs

[kermitthefrog]

Hi. New to the board, but have been playing around with LD for about 10 years. Had an observation to make about dreamsigns. My biggest difficulty with dreamsigns is that typically the more subtle and intelligent part of my brain is a little sluggish while I'm dreaming. I'm like someone that has to read tabloids to find anything interesting to think about. I thrive on sensationalism. I tend to accept the most outlandish things as basically okay. I can be chasing an eight-armed alien through the subway with a machine gun and never think to ask myself, "Is this normal?" So what happens is, I've got all these dreamsigns lined up that I've determined from my dream journal will occur frequently (my brother will show up, I'll dream about a cat or a dog, I'll be at my grandparents house at some point, etc. etc.). But they are (by definition) not sensational. They are not (by definition) unexpected. If they were unexpected, they would not be on my list of regularly occuring dream events. So, being a sensationalist while asleep, I don't notice them. I just don't notice them. How can you compete with the eight-armed alien? The alien I notice. My brother, not so much. He's just sort of "there." I remember he was in the dream when I later wake up. But it's an after the fact sort of noticing. I don't notice my usual dreamsigns WHEN I'm asleep. Just later. What I notice when I'm asleep is the exotic stuff. The stuff I can't reliably predict dreaming about. I have a theory that if someone could induce a certain type of sensational dream reliably, say, a dream about a giant tiger, and make that the dreamsign, that would work.

[Ubik]

I find that dream signs work best when you use signs that you dream about all the time or most often. So if you see your brother in your dreams alot do a RC whenever you see your brother in waking life, then when you see your brother in your dreams you should remember to perform a RC. I too have some of the most bizzare dreams (6 foot Lazards running across mars) but because that never happens to me in waking life I never RC. The best thing to do is look at the things you dream about most often. For example I have quite a few dreams about looking in the mirror, so whenever I look in the mirror I RC. It doesn't matter whether my reflection looks normal or not the idea is to RC in waking life almost conditioning your brain to then perform RCs in your sleep. Dreams are like thoughts, if you imagine something that excites or frightens you, you don't usually question what is going on because its a fantasy. Hope this makes sense.

[kermitthefrog]

The best thing to do is look at the things you dream about most often. For example I have quite a few dreams about looking in the mirror, so whenever I look in the mirror I RC.[/b] Hmmm. That's a good idea. I suppose I would be getting myself into the habit of actually "noticing" specifically those things. Hadn't thought of that. Another thing you said that was interesting, that I've been thinking of lately, is that your dreams are basically like thoughts. You accept them. I find that my dreaming mind is overly influenced by fears. For instance, during several of my lucid dreams (if I forget I'm all-powerful), I have just had the thought, "I wonder if there are any lions in here?" No sooner than I have that thought, a lion (or something close) shows up. And I'm using my flying ability to get away from it (sort of absurd). But, I find, it's much harder for me to summon up other things in my dreams (friendly things). Threatening things are much easier to summon up. I think it's probably just that the more primal part of the brain is activated in dreaming and is highly suggestive to fears. Makes me wonder, though, whether someone might not use that. Maybe thinking about aliens during the day and then just as you go to sleep. The trick would be, of course, to train yourself to know that whenever you're being threatened by aliens, you are probably dreaming.