Try shouting and screaming. Might be old hat to many of you, but I'm writing this mainly to get the excitement out of my system. Biog. stuff and rationale follow:

Yesterday: after talk with friend re: positive lucid dreaming experiences, decided to start again, this time very innocently. Simple self-suggestion before bed: "I will remember my dreams. I will control my dreams." Tonight, I relaxed my body, steadied my breathing and just followed the flow of images. As I was seeing fantasy elements such as Gothic ruins, an idea struck me: "To realize you're dreaming, try shouting!"

Well, I continued drifting. Then I found myself in a dream. I was in a room that had elements from my previous flats, a place I felt was my "home". I was browsing the web and thinking about music (was there also a podcast about paranormal?). There was some stuff about one of my teachers and his girlfriend. I moved around like I was still wearing my stupid real-world headphones that need to be charged constantly, and hence are always attached to a cord. Limits my movement from computer to chair! Anyway, a slight shift occurred when I pulled out a set of LP sleeves. Now, I don't own any LPs, and as I flipped through the pieces (many classics, Pink Floyd's Meddle and Dark Side were there for sure), the room began to grow dark.

I could see the tiny light give out and moved to try to make it work (wonky lights — a familiar sign, anyone!!!). I couldn't. Oppressive atmosphere. I moved to the main switch, which was located in the part of the room that was modeled after the flat I'm staying right now. Pressed myself against the wall. I toyed with the switch, but nothing. Darkness, fear of demonic shapes or invisible forces barging in. I started to shout! The vibe began to change. Comparable to previous lucid experiences. As I continued to scream, everything began to turn white, with tiny sets of busy rainbow colors. I tried to hold on, could for a while, tried suggesting possible images, too many, nothing solid, woke up.

Wondered at the speed of my little self-suggestion technique and cursed that I stopped keeping my dream journal after a few dry weeks (last entry before this is dated May 11...). OK, two major observations, i.e. why I think this worked:

1. Self-suggesting lucidity brought about a nightmare situation. This is consistent with my other LDs, esp. those in early childhood (the ability to pull out of a nightmare at will).

2. Shouting or screaming as a means to induce lucidity. Now, I'm not sure if this should be called a Reality Check, per se, because I see no point in enforcing it while awake. And there's its power: I (we all do!) enforce it anyway: whether going on about our lives among other people or enjoying a bit of solitude in isolation, screaming and shouting loudly for no good reason at all is not something we would do. A huge social no-no = a major mental resource. In my case, a real showstopper. The nightmarish vibe reminded me of my promise to try out this technique, and its effect was immediate. And the act of shouting is very natural, progressive: all you gotta do is open your mouth and release just a little bit of noise. Your dream body will pick it up from there.

At least I hope mine does when I get back to sleep.