LukeSid

It was a short lucid event...as mine tend to be...but encouraging nevertheless (and anticipated). Yesterday, for the first time during the day, I managed to jerk out of my daytime “dream” on about 10 occasions (the “dream” that isn't “awareness”) I usually get so caught up in daytime living that I only manage a few.

I only practiced the awareness for a few minutes each time...looking around, thinking “this is a dream,” noting body sensations (particularly the feet) but the real breakthrough was the fact that the “trigger” occurred much more frequently. Maybe reading about the brain is helping...”use it or lose it” as the book says and I'm much more aware how neurons, axons and dendrites work and how critical it is to stimulate the brain by repetition.

I think I really pushed my brain sections when I first learned the dream routines. I remember how tired I often felt, how sometimes I awoke feeling really ill and (what I called) the “flashing” in my eyes. I now know that neurons were being frantically sequestered from other tasks to cope with my new demands. The basics are now firmly implanted so hopefully, when health problems etc are resolved I'll be even more back on track.

I was dreaming about a town and I had somehow entered a place where I sensed I shouldn't be and I was poking about in some equipment and I broke a piece off. I retreated apparently still clutching a bar of metal and decided to return to the (hall?) and replace it but I couldn't find the place again. That's a major DS for me and might have started the LD process. The dream was more vivid than usual and I remember tossing the metal into a nearby bush then thinking “I'm dreaming!”

By now, I can keep the excitement at a reasonable level and I resolved to look around and not dash off (another first really). Then I thought “RC” (good) and decided to levitate. I had resolved to try 2 or 3 RC's and maybe suddenly change the order (further validating the lucidity) but I'm happy that I full-filled most of my training.

I rose cautiously but started to go out of control a bit so I abandoned that and focussed on a nearby pub. It was beautifully clad in small bright green tiles and all there was a small war memorial alongside it. Then I felt the dream ending. Damn!

I have same old 2 problems...the shortness of my LD's and the fact that they are generally at the top of the night (usually after at least 7 hours sleep + a WBTB). I assumed it was lack of melatonin but I now have 1.9mg tablets which I've occasionally taken at various times throughout the night with no effect so far. I'm going to try 2 tabs one night (although the Spanish chemist was apparently shocked when asked for 4mg tabs and, knowing how even Spanish painkillers are at higher strengths than allowed in the UK, I'm understandably cautious)

Hopefully, the “awareness” trigger is here to stay and I can further extend the periods of awareness. So...a good result for me and maybe a sign of more to come

P.S. I had a “romantic” dream 2 nights ago...not sex...but hey! that's over-rated (I can afford to say that at my age) But, I'd rather have a romance with a good plot than a quick “wham bam thank you DC” but can I have it lucid next time?

Still suffering post-op problems (the hospital said at least 2 weeks of that and it's been 12 days so far) Nevertheless, I've managed to remember 2 dreams in the last 2 days.

The first was so numbingly uninteresting I won't bore you with the fine details...suffice to say I'm a student in a college/uni ?? (My grandson is) I don't seem to be a freshman but I mingle with a group of students (none of whom I apparently recognise.) The plot then revolves around me stereotypically trying to find a way into the main hall, where I'm convinced the rest are assembled. (DS Looking for something and/or lost.)

The up side of course is it would just need me to get back to reasonable awareness and there's Ed continually prompting me to recognise my main dream sign.

The other was a bit more interesting. I'm outdoors and there are 2 women in the distance...one with a pushchair. There's a profound air of menace about these two...evil maybe. (what's this Ed... "Mothers from Hell"?...and why???) I tell myself that I need to face this dream and I will banish my fears. (So I thought "dream"...am I inching towards LD again here?)

I move resolutely towards them, then loads of angels appear...they're clearly not real, just small metallic-looking figures and they're everywhere in the sky. Then the sky clears and the menace (and the demon moms) are no more. This is just not my style...If they'd been loads of Buddhist monks then maybe.

Admittedly I had a glasss of Faustino VII before I went to bed and the dream was at 01.30am (less than one hour later) I've said this before..a glass of wine does seem to pep up my early dreams so I must get down to Asda (it's on offer)

Talking of stimulants my son brought me the melatonin and, despite my still slightly delicate condition I risked one when I did a WBTB after the mum's dream. Result...nothing...zilch...bugger all...slept like a baby. When the time's right I'll try 2...and a Faustino chaser.

71 dreams recorded in 111 days and just 2 lucids…that’s my record since I backed away last August…that doesn’t sound impressive but I’ve done very little dream-work since then. The things that really work for me are lots of walking, whilst contemplating the Universe and running through the mantras, dream signs etc (viewed from a distance I maybe look like someone on day-release from an institution.)

But I have a workload and some deadlines and health probs and it will stay that way till later this year…so I not going out much this winter. But I am thinking (always too much thinking…not really good for awareness is it?) It’s my way to explore all possibilities.

How to maximise awareness…are there shortcuts? Still using pre-recorded mantras etc. For later use, I’m amassing paperwork on Buddhism, meditation, the mind, melatonin, DMT, “shrooms”…that’s another co-incidence…as well a using “lucidity” in my first book I used the word “shrooms”…I’m 99.9999% sure I hadn’t researched either yet they’re in the book and now I’m really interested in both.

B6, choline etc doesn’t seem to work for me…maybe beetroot tabs help but even that’s not certain…red wine imparts a certain “richness to my dreams (happy days!) My lucid events still only occur at the top of the morning (after 7+ hours of sleep ) and I take that as a sign that it’s maybe poor melatonin accumulation during the night?

I take comfort from the fact that I seem to have got over excessive excitement when I hit lucidity and I’ve finally put my self-doubts to bed by doing three successive reality checks during my last lucid event (plus I stabilized a wall, after my hand went through it, just by willing it to feel solid.)

But I’m still off, over the hills and far away, after the preliminaries (I must look at everything, taking my time to explore the absurdities of dreams…) I got over-confident and took to the sky for a short wiz-round which maybe brought my dream to a premature end...that’s me, I have the will but I currently lack the stamina…I actually felt my heart speed up as I was coming out of it…is that a normal side-effect of the end of REM?

Maybe my dream efforts will kill me but I can’t think of a nicer way to go (well…I can but that’s not for delicate ears like yours…)

Am I down-hearted? Nope. With every setback I've so far discovered another avenue of exploration. I had one small memorable dream + a potentially good one about a holiday camp...and I overdid "remembering" again and fell back to sleep.

7.00 ish I'm sitting on a chaise-longue with a group of people and we all had our legs outstretched and pointing towards a fireplace. The woman next to me put one of her legs on top of mine...then the other. That's it...it's not much, but it's enough for me...

I keep a record of the stuff I eat. Food must play a part in how we dream...else how would we get our main source of melatonin in the winter? On both lucid nights I had blueberries, coleslaw and a small coffee when I WBTB. I very rarely eat coleslaw and I've been missing out the coffee, the past few nights...in case it's been contributing to the difficulty in quickly going back to sleep

People my age tend to be deficient in melatonin but I'm reluctant to take too many substitutes because there are known health-risks. My age-group is likely to be the group who should perhaps sway their diet towards certain foodstuffs because we are most likely to be deficient in certain things that perhaps aid LD. Sour cherries are a good source.

Sour cherries are a new super-food (and, of course big business know this and they're relatively expensive and fairly difficult to get in the UK) Anthocyanins are the likely "helpful" ingredient. Fruits and vegetables rich in anthocyanins include blueberry, cranberry, bilerry, red raspberry,blackberry; blackcurrant, cherry, Concord and muscadine grape, red cabbage, and violet petals (you can eat violet petals! look out neighbours, I'll be like a rampant sheep) Stuff the cherries, most of these are cheaper...especially neighbours violets...I'll eat 'em in-situ

Coleslaw is presumably beta-Carotene. (again caution needed re amounts) Includes cantaloupe, mangoes papayas, carrots and yams. spinach, kale and superfruit Vietnamese Gac (10 times higher than carrots, for example.) I'll be out looking for Vietnamese neighbours...and definitely coleslaw's on the menu boys!

Most of my blather can be read elsewhere on this site anyway,. Ever onwards...

Everything You Need to Know About Foods High in Melatonin