Tiktaalik

Fighter jet and the talking duck:
Lucid - DILD

I’m walking through a quiet housing estate and stumble across a large, black military jet with a distinct triangular shape parked in a drive way. (I looked it up, it was an F117 - Nighthawk fighter jet). It’s completely out of place and I really want to fly it over the city, so I jump up on the wing and look for a way to get in. Lucidity starts to build as I know I can get in if I expect to find a latch at the side of the cockpit which I do and open it. I climb inside onto the seat and take the aircraft steering wheel. I realise I have no idea how to drive one but again knowing how dreams work, I tell myself I can just drive it how I would expect to. So I put my foot down on a car accelerator and turn the wheel like I’m simply driving a car. The jet pulls out of the drive and I turn it around a corner and proceed to take off down the path. I simply pull the wheel down and back, as I’ve seen pilots do in movies and the aircraft lifts off the ground and takes off effortlessly. I rise into the sky, just above the roof tops at a gentle speed, more like a helicopter then a jet. I have a nice Birds Eye view and I’m in awe of what I’m seeing, now fully aware I’m lucid within a dream. I see Roads that seem to connect logically. Housing estates, busy and lived in. Cars, signs and lamp posts too. It’s a fully realised place.

Suddenly, I’m grabbed around the waist by two arms that grip tightly. I look down and see I’m no longer in the jet seat but appear to be dangling from the bottom of it like a paraglider. An adult woman with a brown pony tail is wrapped around my hips, holding on for her life. I seem to recognise her, as if she’s a dream character I’ve met before but I’m unsure if I have. “oh! Pauline!” I say, with delight. “I need your help with something” she says with a serious tone. The weight of her body brings me down to the ground and I let go of my jet, now standing on my own two feet with her still hugging me from behind.

I’m now on a cobbled back street with a row of old terrace houses to my side. “What are the lyrics to the song 14 inches long?” she asks as if interrogating me. I have no idea what she’s talking about so I make up some lyrics. “Four-teen, inches, long! Baa, Baa, Baa!” I sing and make the noises of an electric guitar as if it’s some rock song. She doesn’t respond so I grab her arm and try to pull her to my front but as I do I realise she’s light, almost weightless and I accidentally throw her across the street and see she’s now taken the form of a small mallard duck! The duck lands with a bang on the floor ahead and I hurry over to see if it’s ok. “Sorry, you ok?” I ask feeling guilty. The duck jumps up and rustles it’s tail feathers and says “I’m fine” in a rather sweet, innocent voice (like Olaf from Frozen).

Talking to an animal was my goal but now I’m here I’m not sure what to do with it so I decide to do some experimentation. “Run through this house and I’ll meet you at the other side” I tell the Duck as I want to see if a DC can follow me to a destination successfully even without my eyes on them. The duck complies and hurries into one of the houses. It’s then I notice the house number is “13”. This brings feelings of fear, due to 13 being an unlucky number and I worry something nightmarish will happen within. Sure enough, a window smashes and the poor duck flies out of it and lands on the floor in front. “An elf tried to stab me” it chuckles as if it’s funny and not something to be worried about. I look to the window and see a small elf, one of Santa’s by the look of it with a green uniform and angry expression. “Ok, come with me” I tell the duck and hurry away from the horror house. I dash down the cobbled street and think “this has been a long dream” and that thought rather nicely brings the dream to a close.

Analysis:
Funny little dream and low-level despite good dream control. Some interesting and subtle influences here. Read a flying dream before bed, I also saw an advert for Top Gun: Maverick and the fighter jet within the dream was one I had a toy of as a kid. Pauline and the 14 inches long song was random, though I have done some measuring recently in my house and maybe it had some connection to the band “9 inch nails?” My goal tonight was to talk with an animal. I was hoping for a deer due to the competition but received a talking duck instead. Interestingly the duck appeared and talked without me consciously making it and shows that something in the background of my mind was working toward this goal even if I wasn’t consciously doing so at that time.

Winter competition entry:

Night: 08/12

Talking with Tipharot:
Lucid - DILD

I’m in a laundromat’s when suddenly Matt from the lucid dream YouTube channel “Tipharot” walks in and casually starts doing his laundry next to me. It’s a bizarre coincidence and I wonder if I should say hello. “So I’ve heard you’ve started lucid dreaming?” he says first, initiating a conversation as if he knows of me. “Yeah, who told you that?” I ask, wondering who are mutual friend is but he doesn’t tell me. “I’ve actually been doing this for over 2 years now” I say, explaining I’m not a beginner. Matt laughs as if that’s nothing in comparison to him and I can tell he still sees me as a beginner. Suddenly I realise I’m talking about lucid dreaming, one of my major dream signs! I start doing a finger palm reality check and Matt begins to do the same. The finger palm isn’t working and I know it doesn’t always so I get out my phone instead and look at the time. I look away and back and see the time has changed! I do the check again and once more it changes. “Surely not” I think, finding it hard to believe this is all a dream. I do the check a 3rd time and once more the time changes. Matt has finished his check and starts talking to me again but I ignore him and step away. “My results aren’t adding up” I tell him sternly, now believing I may actually be dreaming and he is trying to distract me. I do the check one last time and confirm. I look back at Matt with pity, now seeing the truth and that he is as an unaware dream character. “This is a dream” I tell him bluntly. His expression turns to one of confusion, then fear, as he realises the devastating truth that he’s just a figment of my imagination. Sadly the dream ends quickly here.

Night: 01/12/

Fly to the tree:
Lucid - DILD

I’m on my childhood street. I can’t remember how I became lucid but I think I noticed the strangeness of my situation. I don’t remember my goal so I simply jump up and fly into the sky. My flight it successful but I feel heavy, like my dangling legs are dragging me down and I fly into the bare branches of a large tree and cling on. I look around and then have some fun swinging from the branches like a monkey until eventually I wake up.

The Door portal attempt
16/08/20
#Lucid 17 - DILD

I’m sat in my parents bathroom when suddenly I see a fine rain coming down from the ceiling. “It’s raining?” I note with surprise. I know that it’s an odd thing to occur indoors but for some reason it feels acceptable that it could happen. “Acceptable because it’s a dream?” I wonder. I stand up to investigate and though the room looks exactly like the bathroom from my memory it doesn’t feel right. I walk out onto the upstairs landing and feel a strange, shuddering sensation to my body and my surroundings and conclude it must be a dream.

I look into my Childhood bedroom and see my bed and wonder if I’m asleep in it right now in waking life. I then recall my goal to use a door as a portal and find a closed bedroom door for the experiment. “On the other side will be a forest” I tell myself and then run at the door and swing it open, expecting to find a lush, green forest on the other side but instead I’m greeted by the bedroom that should be there. I feel as though I rushed it so I try again with another door but this time the dream collapses before I reach it and I’m left floating in darkness. I notice a blue ball of light in the distance and know I’m still dreaming and have the opportunity to re-enter. I try to remain aware whilst the new dream forms but I enter the next dream without lucidity.

Lucidity: Medium
Trigger: Dream oddity
Reality check: none
Length: 1 minute (approx.)
Goals: Door portal (Fail)
Lucid count: 17

The Castle oddity
07/08/20
Lucid #16 - DILD

I’m in the back seat of a car driving down the road through my childhood village with my friends. I suddenly become aware this is odd, and feel as though what I’m experiencing isn’t real. “It’s time to move into the second act!” I chuckle to myself, feeling as though my current situation is a movie and things are going to get interesting. The car starts moving up a hill and I look out of the back window and see the familiar village from my childhood but in the distance there is a medieval kingdom and a large castle!? I know that shouldn’t be there and start to slowly become aware it’s because I’m dreaming.

Lucidity is low but I sense the dream is unstable so I start to feel the fabric on the car seats and look at my hands, concentrating on the realism which is very lifelike. Things get a bit vague here but I’m floating or flying down the road after and trying to grab a moving truck that’s coming my way. I grab the truck and hold it for a moment and then try to fly to another car but it’s then I notice my vision is failing and the dream ends.

Lucidity: Low
Trigger: Dream oddity
Reality check: none
Length: 30 seconds (approx.)
Goals: None
Lucid count: 16

Alone in the house
01/08/20
Lucid #15 - DILD

I’m laid on my old childhood bed in the dark. Everything feels completely normal and I’m simply relaxing and scrolling away on my phone when I see an image of the actor Donald Glover wearing a red suit and shades. I remember dreaming about him recently and decide to do a quick routine reality check. I do this with no real suspicion of my reality and I’m convinced this is waking life. I decide to try my vanishing ring check as the text change failed last time I tried. I close my hand and as I reopen it I’m astonished to see my fingers have become stubs and are twisted and bent in a mangled way. It is a dream! I can’t believe it and I had no doubt I was awake before! I count my fingers to double check and count 6! I’m rather excited as it came as a complete surprise.

I jump from my bed and walk onto the upstairs landing and feel a sort of rumble run up my back? The dream is trembling around me and it feels unstable and on the verge of collapse. I remind myself to stay calm and engage my senses as planned. First I listen and hear a faint noise in my ear like wind is passing by. I realise it must be my bedside fan which I remember I have on in waking life. I then try to turn the light on, not expecting it to work and sure enough it doesn’t. I try again and this time the light does flicker on dimly. I keep twisting the knob and gradually it gets lighter and lighter but with a struggle. Things feel more stable now so I head downstairs slowly and feel the smooth, wooden banister as I do. It’s dark in the house and I appear to be completely alone which gives it quite an eerie atmosphere as if at any moment something scary is going to jump out at me. I see the light is on in the kitchen and I head toward it, wondering if the dream is trying to guide me there for some reason. The kitchen is also quiet and empty but I see cereal has been spilt and scattered all over the floor? I look around for an explanation but there isn’t one? It’s as if something had happened here long before I arrived and maybe what did it is still lurking somewhere nearby. Again, it gives me the creeps so I decide it’s time to get out of here.

I head to the front door to see if I can use it to change the dream scene. I decide what I want to see on the other side and really focus. “I will see a forest, I will see a forest” I repeat and really try to expect it is behind the door. I’m ready and just about to open the door when... I’m shaken and wake up in bed. My wife has just turned over and shaken me awake! I manage to keep my eyes closed and hope I can get back into the dream but I am too awake now and unable to do so.

Lucidity: High
Trigger: Dream sign
Reality check: Ring vanish/ Finger count
Length: 1.5 minutes (approx.)
Goals: Change location (Fail)
Lucid count: 15

The House Tsunami
26/07/20
Lucid/ 14 - DILD

I’m stood in a large living room in a spacious, modern house. It looks like a show home and all the rooms are empty and in pristine condition. They have high ceilings, bright white walls and the wooden floors have a polished finish. I walk through the room slowly and feel like I’ve been here before? As I reflect upon my surroundings I casually become aware that this is all a dream. I know I should stop and reality check to make sure but my mind is still wrapped up in the dream and I want to finish what I’m doing first. It’s then I stop myself and realise how silly that is as none of this is real and I don’t even know what I’m doing here in the first place! My lucidity grows stronger now but I don’t feel overly excited as I usually would and instead feel rather calm.

I walk across the living area and turn on the light. Though they never usually work in my dreams I’m surprised to see it comes on as normal with no struggle? I then look around the empty room for something else to do but feel a little uninspired. Not wanting to waste the whole dream trapped in this empty house I decide to pursue a dream goal and change the location. I find a door to the right which I can use as a portal and stop to think about where I want it to take me. “Somewhere peaceful” I decide on the spot. “Maybe a forest with a nice gentle stream running through it”. With that decided I reach for the door handle but notice water is gushing out of the cracks in the frame? I look down and see it’s starting to flood the room and has created a small stream across the floor like the one I imagined on the other side of the door. I’m a little hesitant now to open it as clearly a lot of water is on the other side. I look across the room and find a second door at the opposite side I can use instead but when I reach it I see water is also spraying out of the frame! Before I can react the door is blown off it’s hinges and the walls collapse as a cascade of water comes bursting through! “Oh no” I think as it comes crashing toward me. With no time to escape the thundering waterfall, I simply turn my back to it. The foamy water hits my back, wraps around me and sweeps me off my feet. I’m taken forward by the fast torrent and then thrown high into the sky by a large wave.

I see now the rest of the house has gone, washed away with the tsunami and now I’m hurtling through a dark abyss with a vast, roaring ocean below me. I feel completely helpless, with no control over the dream and suspect my unconscious mind is behind this and trying to expel me from the dream. “Whoa!” I yell out as I reach pinnacle altitude and begin to fall down towards the large, rolling waves. I’m glad the water is there to break my fall but at the same time I believe the impact will surely wake me up. It doesn’t and instead I plunge into the ocean like a projectile and torpedo through the dense, dark water until suddenly, I land flat on my front on a solid surface?

I peer up and see I’m no longer underwater but laid on a wet, stone floor in some kind of cave? The space is dark and vast and I can see some grand structure in the distance. It looks like some kind of ancient, underwater temple carved from stone and reminds me of something you’d see in a Tomb Raider game. I only glimpse this for a brief moment and then my vision turns to complete darkness. My sight has gone but I can still feel the floor below me and cling onto the surface, hoping my sight will return. “Stop now! I want to keep going!” I plead with my unconscious, believing it’s behind all of this. I wait for a response and I soon get one in the form of a thundering wave which I can hear rushing toward me. A powerful surge of water throws me across the space like a rag doll. It consumes me and I’m left disoriented and spinning under the water, my hearing muffled and my limbs thrashing. I try to breath in oxygen but instead I gasp and choke, unable to breath! I’m drowning and the sensation feels scarily real. Unable to breath, I hold my breath instead and drift under the water helplessly. Thankfully the ordeal doesn’t last long and soon the dream ends and I wake up with a choke and take a much needed breath of air.

Analysis: This was a strange one indeed. Never have I felt so out of control and at the mercy of a dream whilst lucid. At the time it truly felt like my unconscious was working against me and trying everything it could to stop me and wake me up as if it really wasn’t happy with me been lucid. Of course, upon reflection my expectation that the dream was trying to stop me is probably what made it feel this way. Perhaps that niggling doubt that lucidity is somehow unnatural and interfering with the natural dreaming process triggered this idea. The water coming through the doors was probably triggered by my desire to have a stream in the forest but the tidal wave that followed felt completely out of my control though it was suspiciously reminiscent of that opening action sequence in Inception where water obliterates the building and wakes up Cobb and may have been what influenced the events. The vast ocean was impressive to see and made me think of that famous quote about the dreamer been able to control the dream as much as a sailor controls the sea and this may also have influenced the events. I wish I had time to explore the temple at the end as it felt like a special place and somewhere I was suppose to end up. Sadly the dream worked against me again and that final wave felt like the final word from the dream. The drowning sensation felt very realistic and was rather alarming to be left gasping for breath. Holding my breath at the end was probably what woke me and I was kind of relieved it did. A fascinating experience overall and I hope I can experience more weird and wonderful things like this.

Lucidity: Medium
Trigger: High awareness
Reality check: None
Length: 1.5 minutes (approx.)
Goals: Change location (Fail)
Lucid count: 14

The Fruit tiles
25/07/20
Lucid #13 - DILD

I’m sitting on the sofa in my parents living room watching TV with them. I notice some familiar tiles on the programme I’m watching, they’re white kitchen tiles and have images of different fruit on them. “I recognise those tiles?” I say unsure where from. I then notice something to my right and see the wall next to me is also layered in the exact same tiles? I’m confused by this odd coincidence and it triggers me to RC. I see random scribbles of text on each tile and do a text change check. I look away, not believing it will change as I’m sure I’m awake right now but as I look back the text has indeed changed! I’m in disbelief! So much so that I don’t believe it and do the check again. It changes again and again a third time. I can’t believe it’s a dream and I was so sure I was awake! I think I must have fallen asleep just now whilst watching TV and this was some kind of false awakening (In reality I was simply asleep in my own bed).

I get up and walk across the room and through the door which randomly leads straight into my brothers old bedroom. I believe that’s where I’m currently sleeping and think it would be cool if I went in there and somehow found my body asleep in bed! I open the door, it’s dark but sure enough under the covers is the outline of my body. I dash in and start shaking my body. “Rise and shine!” I yell with glee. My body isn’t waking up though and I start to realise it’s just an inanimate dream character instead. The dream then fades away and I enter the void. I remember to try spin to see if that can re-stabilise the dream but without a body I just feel a dizzy, spinning sensation in my head, as If my consciousness is spinning in circles. It doesn’t lead to anything and I wake up.

Lucidity: Low
Trigger: Oddity
Reality check: Text change
Length: 1 minute (approx.)
Goals: None
Lucid count: 13

Analysis: Very low level lucid. Clearly wasn’t thinking straight as I was half believing I could interact with my sleeping body in bed. A successful RC though and it was good to see that I remembered to try spinning even though it didn’t work. The fruit tiles were actually from an old flat I used to live in for a short time.

Summon the T.Rex!
23/07/20
Lucid #12 - DILD

I’m walking through my childhood neighbourhood at night, talking with a group of friends I used to have but haven’t spoken to in a long time. One of them playfully tackles another onto the grass and they start play fighting. I’m tackled as well and grab hold of my friends coat to wrestle with him. I suddenly realise the coat is weightless and as I lift it up I find it’s empty? He’s gone!? I look around and see now everyone’s gone!? Not only that, it’s now day light?! “I’m in a dream!” I realise!

I try to remain calm as things feel a little blurry and unstable. I quickly grab some kind of concrete post and feel it’s rough texture to ground myself and engage my senses. I then see some leaves on a tree and pluck one from a branch and inspect its veins. I’m then distracted by a car coming down the road and remember my goal to go along with the dream plot like an actor in a movie. I run in front of the car and yell “stop!” The car stops and I go and bang on the window. Not knowing what the plot is I decide to make up my own and say “there’s a T.Rex coming, let me in!” The couple in the car don’t react and remain eerily still, looking forward like emotionless A.I. characters. They then drive off down the road and I’m left disappointed by their lack of participation. Suddenly I hear screams and see people running around the corner and up the road toward me, followed by a giant T.Rex! I’m amazed that I managed to summon a realistic dinosaur but I’m also a little nervous as it stomps toward me roaring.

I either forget the next part or the dream jumps as I find myself hiding behind a wall and the T.Rex is stomping around and looking for me. I go in a large crate hoping to find a shot gun but it’s empty so I pretend I have a shot gun instead. The dinosaur finds me and I pretend to cock my imaginary gun and shoot it whilst making the sound effects with my mouth like I would have done as a kid. It doesn’t do anything so I run away as fast as I can up a tight spiral staircase with the T.rex hot on my heels. It’s become like a video game and each time it catches up I turn and shoot it with my imaginary gun hoping it will knock it back. The staircase seems to be going on forever and I’m a little scared the T.Rex will actually get me and hurt me even though it’s a dream. Thankfully I see I’m a few steps away from the top and going to make it but my relief is followed by blurred vision and a sudden wake up.

Quality: Medium
Trigger: Oddity
Reality check: None
Length: 2minutes (approx.)
Goals: Go along with the plot
Techniques: WBTB, MILD
Time: 6-7am
Lucid count: 12

The guide on the scaffolding
18/07/20
Lucid #10 - DILD

I’m entering a large city building block and heading up some wooden stairs. I enter a large room with layers of scaffolding and multiple wooden platforms rising up to the high ceiling. I see a friendly older lady stood on one of the platforms above wearing a suit and glasses. She smiles at me as if she’s been waiting for me to arrive. I climb a ladder up to the platform she’s stood on and as I reach the top she starts explaining something to me but I can’t remember what it was. I wonder if she’s some kind of dream guide? (At this point I’m aware it’s a dream but I’m not yet thinking clearly) She says a word that I don’t recognise. I ask her what it means and she uses an analogy to explain it. It makes sense and I make a mental note to check the word when I wake up (annoyingly I forgot what it was!)

It all gets a bit vague here but the next thing I remember I’m sat on one of the higher levels of the scaffolding with my legs hanging over the edge. I’m looking around at how real everything is and think I’ve been in this dream for a while now, maybe even 20 minutes (upon waking I don’t believe this is correct) I’m quite impressed and the realism is uncanny to real life. After, I pull out a tube yogurt and start eating it. The room suddenly changes and I’m stood in the middle of a colourful, racing game track, like Mario Kart, with little cars racing toward me. As I keep eating the yogurt the dream keeps changing to different scenes like flicking through tv channels. Most of the scenes are racing car related though. I think it must be the sugar in the yogurt having some weird side effect on the dream? Everything then fades and I’m left in the blackness of the void.

I’m only here for a few seconds before I feel acceleration, like I’m been pulled back into the dream. It’s similar to the sensations I’ve experienced during a WILD transition. I think I say something to myself like “Hold on, hold on!” as I’m pulled in. Whilst still in the dark I feel a floating sensation followed by an intense spinning like my whole body is spinning like a tornado. I worry my real body is doing this in bed and suddenly I awake on the floor in my childhood bedroom. I think I must have fallen out of bed and luckily I didn’t hurt myself…

Stability: High
Control: Low
Clarity: Medium
Awareness: Low
Length: Low

Trigger: None
Reality check: None
Length: 3 minutes (approx.)
Goals: None
Techniques: WBTB, MILD
Time: 6:30am
Lucid count: 10

False awaken and Fly!
18/07/20
Lucid #11 - DILD

I awake suddenly in a strange bedroom sat up in bed next to my wife. I’m over the moon as I’ve just had a lucid dream! I tell her about it and explain I nearly had a WILD. I then get out my phone and I’m eager to write it all down. “Why are you writing it down, that’s weird?” she says. I ignore her and open my dream journal. Just then a random lady comes in through the door wearing a face mask. I’m surprised to see her and wonder why she’s just walked into the room? She holds a phone in her hand and comes up to the bed as if ready to take a photo. I’m really confused. She then asks permission and starts pulling the covers off my legs. “No!” I say and pull them back. It all feels very bizarre and then it hits me… Am I still dreaming? I lift my hands to do a finger palm reality check. I know it rarely works so I try to really focus and start stabbing my finger into my palm relentlessly. At first it doesn’t do anything and I get annoyed. “Come on!” I grumble and just like that my finger starts to feel like it’s prodding clay and soon my finger makes a small hole. It’s a dream! I’m in shock and there is no doubt. The lady sighs and does a ‘damn it!’ gesture with her arm as if she’s disappointed I figured it out. I’m not happy and a bit annoyed she was trying to trick me. I jump out of bed and exit through a door next to the bed straight into a back street. “See ya!” I say, delighted to be free.

I walk outside and see ahead of me a pleasant looking suburban neighbourhood, with some grass and a big tree. I look up and see blue sky and know the conditions are perfect to fly. I don’t waste any time and do as I planned. I stand straight, look up at the sky, put my fist in the air like superman and push off from the ground. I instantly begin to float upwards and I’m excited it’s working but it’s very slow, like I’m been pulled up by a slow tractor beam. I reach the height of a house but then feel like my body is weighing me down and gravity pulls me straight back to the ground.

I try again and this time I float up steadier and I am pulled up past a house and a tree and watch as they get smaller and smaller below me. It seems I’ve got the hang of it and look back to the sky and see the clouds high up that I want to reach and keep my fist firmly pointed toward them. I feel like I’m getting really high now so I look back down again and see a birds eye view of rows of houses from far above. I should be frightened by the dizzying height but I’m not and think it’s so cool! I look back at the sky and pass through wisps of thin cloud and then through a big thick grey one. This makes everything go a bit blurry and as I look around all I can see now is clouds and what could be the faint blue glow of the earth’s atmosphere. I wonder if I should keep going and attempt to reach outer space but I decide not to over do it and enjoy this experience instead but just then all fades and I awake (for real this time).

Waking Notes:

Interesting overall experience with some dreaming firsts. The first dream was very low level lucid and I wasn’t thinking as clearly as I’d like and forgot a lot of the details. Things got rather confusing after as I experienced a WILD/ DEILD kind of experience and lost lucidity along the way and had my very first false awakening though it wasn’t set in my real bedroom. Thankfully I noticed the strangeness of the new dream and was able to regain a higher level of lucidity. I remembered my dream goal and took off from the ground as planned for the first time. It wasn’t quite the exhilarating flying experience I had imagined but a great first step. My focus on flying upward toward the sky was maybe why my flight was so linear.

Stability: High
Control: Medium
Clarity: High
Awareness: Medium
Length: Low

Trigger: Dream oddity and RC
Reality check: Finger palm
Length: 5 minutes (approx.)
Goals: Learn to Fly
Techniques: WBTB, MILD
Time: 6:30am
Lucid count: 11

Snowflakes in Norway
13/07/20
-Lucid #9 - DILD

I’m walking down a wide path, it looks like a back alley of some sort and has fences either side. I’m with my wife and talking to her about Lucid dreaming. I ask her if she’s ever had one. She thinks for a moment and then says “yeah I think I have”. “Yeah most of us have had a spontaneous one at some point” I explain.

We keep walking and then, as I’m talking I start to wonder if this is a dream? I’m not sure why but something feels odd about the scene and where I am. “Wait, Is this a dream?” I stop and say with an amused and doubting smile. My wife looks at me amused and I feel silly even considering it but I decide to check. I look at my hands and stretch and curl my fingers. They look real and there is no reason to doubt them. I look around for more clues. Everything about the world looks 100% real and I’m pretty sure I’m awake.

“Is this a dream?” I ask again and chuckle awkwardly as I’m really not sure and she probably thinks I’m mental right now. Though it feels a little silly I do the finger palm check and start stabbing my palm with my finger. It doesn’t go through but a very slight sponginess on my skin makes me question things again. “Nah” I say and wag my finger, not wanting to be fooled. “I’m sure this is a dream?” I then see a metal post which has some text on it. I decide to do the text change reality check. I concentrate on a word, look away and then back again. I wasn’t expecting anything from this but as I look back the word has indeed changed!!! It hits me, I am dreaming! I can’t believe it and never before have I felt so sure things were real and now I’ve proven it I’m still in disbelief.

In excitement I clap my hands together and say “Right!”, as if I can’t wait to get stuck in and have fun but as I do a worry passes over my mind and I see again how real everything is. I then wonder what if I’m mistaken and this isn’t a dream? It could mean I do something dangerous or regrettable in real life. I decide I need to do the Check again so there is no doubt. I look back at the same text and away again. As before the text changes to gibberish. I do it one last time to be safe and the text changes again and even glitches and looks to be sliding off the post. There is no doubt now this is a dream and I’m amazed!

I’m not sure if the dream jumps here or if I’ve forgotten a section but the next thing I know I’m in a crowded gift shop. I remember I want to try flying so I need to get outside. I see an emergency exit which people are leaving through. I hurry out the door but as I leave I look back and see my wife is walking on, oblivious to the fact I have ditched her. I know she’s a dream character but still I feel a little bad.

I leave and arrive outside next to the big building I was just in which is layered in shiny black metal. I look ahead and it’s right on the shore of a giant frozen lake and beyond are large snowy mountains. The sun is just setting behind them, creating a beautiful orange glow which lights the mountains and shimmers on the frozen lake. I walk up to the lake and I’m in awe along with other spectating tourists. It’s so beautiful and I’m sure I’m in Norway. I really want to take a photo but I know it would be pointless in a dream.

I then look around some more and see huge snowy mountains to the side as well, shrouded in dark cloud. I remember my mission to fly and look up at the night sky and the black cloud and wonder if I can do it? I then see hundreds of large, snowflakes falling from the sky, which gently flutter to the ground. One hits me on the head and I feel a cold wetness as it melts. I’m a bit annoyed the dream has manifested these obstacles and so I look up to the dark sky and say “Snowflakes stop!” For a moment I think it’s worked as they ease off but then a second wave appears from the blackness above and start falling. I don’t know what to do about it and then the dream ends.

Analysis:
I started off talking about dreaming so my mind must have been focused on it. It took me a while to convince myself it was a dream but it was nice that I stuck to my suspicion and didn’t give up. Once again the palm reality check was unreliable but I decided to try the text change RC which I noticed worked in another lucid dream. It worked again this time and is definitely my most effective reality check. It was funny how I had to double check, that’s how real and genuine it felt. I was so convinced and it taught me just how real dreams can feel. It was a nice location I found myself in and I remembered my dream goal but sadly the dream then worked against me and those damn snow flakes just wouldn’t stop. I then woke up and it’s hard to know why. It was so abrupt it may be just that the REM period had ended. Either way it was a cool experience even if I didn’t get to achieve my flying goal.

Waking Notes:

Stability: High
Control: Low
Clarity: High
Awareness: High
Length: Low

Trigger: Talking about dreaming
Reality check: Finger palm & Text change
Length: 5 minutes (approx.)
Goals: None
Techniques: WBTB, MILD
Time: 2:30am
Lucid count: 9

Bleached hair
11/07/20
-DEILD attempt

I’m upstairs with my wife. The house is in total darkness but I can make out her hair has changed colour and has gone a bleach blonde and looks oily and curly. I can’t believe what’s happened and I assume something must have gone wrong with her hair dye. “I’m sorry to tell you this but somethings happened to your hair” I say. She gets up and walks to the bathroom.

I suddenly feel odd, as though this isn’t real but it all looks and feels so real? I then go to turn on the bathroom light for her but no light comes on only a faint flicker? I think that’s odd and I suddenly feel uncomfortable in the darkness with no light. It’s then my wife turns and jumps on me, grabbing me like she’s some possessed creature.

This scares me and the struggle jolts me out of the dream and into the dark void. I’m now fully aware I’ve just exited a dream. All is black and I know I can get back into the dream if I try. “Dive, dive, dive” I repeat to myself. This was a mantra I had heard on dreamviews when attempting a WILD. It was all I could think of on the spot. I start to feel that pulling and falling sensation as if the darkness is pulling me into another dream but then I hear the sounds of the waking world and suddenly feel my body in bed. I am awake.

Analysis: Another nightmare scenario and again it took place in my house around my bedroom which is where they tend to occur. Funny thing is this time I wasn’t even sleeping in my house! Again as in other similar nightmares it all took place in the dark and the light switches didn’t work. A common nightmare trait and probably a fear that stems from childhood. It seems to be this that triggers some of my nightmares. It’s as if as soon as the light switch doesn’t work I decide something scary is happening and the dream morphs to fit that fear. In this case my wife turned possessed and attacked me which knocked me out of the dream and into the void but at the same time made me aware I was dreaming! I was almost lucid in the dream as well. I noticed something was off at the start but I was taken in by how realistic it all was. When I ended up in the void though I was lucid and able to think clearly enough to try get into another dream but the attempt sadly failed. Maybe I was too awake at that point.

VIP lucid dreamer
05/07/20
Lucid# 8 - DILD

I’m stood in an English looking farm area surrounded by a few stone cottages and beyond, fences and green fields. Suddenly I see three Orcs stood in front of me!? All are still and staring in a creepy way as if they’re ghosts. I’m startled by the image and it’s then I think, “Wait? Am I in a dream?” I’m not sure for a moment and I go to do a hand reality check but my hand is caught in my sleeve. I tug and pull desperate to get it free. As I struggle though it all becomes obvious this is a dream and I no longer need the reality check.

I try to remain calm and not wake myself. I look away from the orcs and to my farm surroundings. It all looks so real. I look at my hands and then touch my nose and I feel I still have one. I then get moving and watch my feet as I walk toward a fence and a big red tractor. I listen and I can hear a chainsaw in the distance sawing into wood. I then smell the earthy scent of grass and mud. All my senses are working. I touch the tractor and feel how real it is. I touch the fence and other things as well and the dream seems to be very stable. I then see the grass below my feet and decide to eat some just to engage my taste sense. I pick up a few bristles and put them in my mouth. I half expect them to taste nice as I had heard eating in dreams always tastes amazing. It just tastes like grass though. It’s bland, planty and dissolves in my mouth.

I look around some more and wonder what I should do now. I see a grassy path leading away from the farm. I decide to follow it and as I do I see my dog appear in front of me. I start walking down the path and see lambs and sheep as well. They are baa’ing as I walk by and seem scared of me. My dog then runs toward them and scares them more. It’s then a big sheep is running at me baa’ing loud. I think it’s attacking and defending its young. I panic and move out of the way but I’m mistaken and it just runs past me. I turn to see if my dog is following me but she is chasing the sheep in the opposite direction. I mean to go after her but then I notice she’s no longer black and has a grey coat? I’m reminded that’s not really my dog so I leave her and keep walking.

I’m just heading under some trees when I remember I wanted to attempt to fly! I instantly jump in the air and hope to float but it does nothing and I land back on the ground. I get annoyed with myself as I know I did it wrong. I need to focus and believe! I think to try the superman pose which I heard can work but I’m under trees and I won’t be able to get past them. I’m then distracted by the scenery in front of me. The path leads to a large structure, a temple with pale yellow walls. It’s sat on the side of a large green lake with shores lined with trees at the other side. “Whoa, cool” I say. It’s beautiful and I run over to it and go under a large, rounded archway. It all looks Indian/ Taj Mahal in design and leads to a small, open room. To my left are big square pools filled with a shallow water. They’re there for decoration but I go over and dip my hand in the cool water and bring it to my face. I think about drinking it but I worry it may be unclean so I just wash my face with it instead.

I note again how everything feels so real and every where I look the world around me is in lifelike detail. I then see a large metal door leading inside the temple. I see a key in the door and pull the key. The door swings open and I enter a large room with high ceilings which at first looks like a giant museum and is more modern then I was expecting. I look around and first see the walls are lined with colourful art work going all the way around the top of the room. I’m amazed and can’t believe what I’m seeing. Realistic art work of various styles is visible in great detail in a dream. I then see a simplistic, abstract image of the Virgin Mary in a blue hood and recognise the image though I’m not sure where from. I stare at it and it looks so familiar. I wonder if I’ve seen it in another art gallery?

Just then a man walks up to me. He is tall and looks to be of Middle Eastern ethnicity. He is wearing a black suit and though he comes up to me in a polite and friendly manner I realise I’m probably somewhere I shouldn’t be. I feel out of place here and it feels like a 5 star hotel that I could never afford. “Can I help you?” He asks politely but I know he’s here to get rid of me. It’s then I remember I am in control and this is my dream. “Yes show me to my suite!” I say playing along like I’m some powerful VIP guest. “On the top floor” I add, maybe because I want a view or maybe some height to try to attempt to fly again? The trick seems to work and he obliges immediately and shows me to an elevator. More people then surround me to help and serve. “Would you like a cup of tea when you get to your room”? asks a man. I’m not sure if I’ll have time given my limited time in the dream but I say “ooo yes please” now wondering what a dream tea tastes like. “Oh and a tray of little cakes as well if you have any” I say now feeling greedy and wanting to try different things. “You won’t want them” explains a member of staff as if hinting they’re not very nice.

Im escorted into the large elevator and as I walk in I’m now with at least 4 other staff who are guiding me and treating my like royalty. I notice one has a large tray of fruit and grapes for me. I enter the lift and wait. The staff are all staring at me as if waiting for instruction. “Come on make it go” I snap as they’re wasting time. A lady with frizzy blonde hair jumps forward and presses the disabled help button on the lift which apparently will get it moving? The doors shut and the elevator gets on its way. I quickly go to the tray of fruit and find a big juicy green grape which is cold and wet. I pick it off the bunch and all I can think now is “please don’t wake up again!” I put the grape in my mouth, bite and taste it. It does taste really good. Like a grape but much sweeter and the flavour much stronger. “Mmm” I say delighted I finally got to try a dream grape! I then lean back against the elevator wall and feel around a bit more to make sure I’m staying connected with the dream. I see a red post box on the wall and read some text on it. It says something odd like “red post”. I look away and look back to see if it changes and when I do it now says “team ltdfg” or some gibberish. I’m amazed how it changed so easily and hope I can remember this when I wake up.

I look back at the staff in the lift and see the lady is now naked accept covered up by dungarees!” Why are you naked?” I ask but when I look down I find I’m naked as well! I look back at the woman but she is now Keanu Reeves! “What happened to you!?” I say puzzled. I then realise I’ve been in this lift for ages and get a little annoyed. “Come on speed it up” I tell the staff. I look and realise the lift doors are open slightly? One of the staff, a tall guy with a red bell boy hat on shuts the doors with his hands whilst smiling awkwardly at me. It’s as if the whole elevator is fake and I’ve just realised and now they’re trying to cover it up. Annoyed, I walk to the doors and the man opens them fully for me. I see a long hotel corridor ahead and as I step out, everything goes black. The dream ends. I am left in the void for a moment and know I’m about to wake up. I think about trying to DEILD but again I’m worried I won’t have time and may forget this dream so I don’t push it and wake up instead.

Analysis:
So this is by far my longest and most stable lucid I’ve had! I can’t remember the start of the dream just the moment I realised I was dreaming which makes me wonder was it almost a WILD only I noticed shortly after the dream began. I remember how clear everything was and how stable. I could freely walk around and think for myself and I think doing some ADA and engaging my senses within the dream really helped prolong and stabilise it at the start. I really saw how forever changing things are in dreams as well, like my dog turning grey, the text on the post box changing, the people becoming naked and so on. You really can’t take your eyes off anything and you have to stay focused. I also tried to fly which was my main dream goal but it failed, I sort of didn’t do it with any commitment or belief though and I knew I needed to concentrate harder. Then came the hotel section, this is when things got really interesting. First off the art work on the wall. How did my brain produce it all in so much detail! I wish I had inspected more of the paintings. Maybe it was all original artwork created by subconscious! Then came the dream characters. I was able to manipulate them and get them to treat me like some VIP guest. On reflection I came across like a bit of a snob to them but I was just playing along with the dream and it was a lot of fun. I also saw how dream characters can be lifelike but also robotic and unable to act without commands. They’re almost like a crude AI and simulate humans but aren’t fully formed people. I got to try my grape which I was delighted about. The dream came to a quick end after that which was a shame as I really wanted to see my room and what else the dream had to show me. Still I can’t complain the entire dream felt like it was maybe 10 - 15 minutes long? I’m not 100% but it felt a good amount of time and I hope I can have more lucids of this length and quality.

Waking Notes:

Stability: High
Control: High
Clarity: High
Awareness: High
Length: High

Trigger: Dream oddity
Reality check: None
Length: 10 - 15 minutes (approx.)
Goals: Try dream grape, Manipulate DCs
Techniques: WBTB, MILD
Time: 6:40am
Lucid count: 8

The stop watch experiment
29/06/20
Lucid# 7 - DILD

I’m in a strange bed in a room full of other sleeping people. I get up and exit into what appears to be a hotel corridor. I then turn around and I’m surprised to find my old best friend and his wife standing behind me. I follow them into their hotel room and when I look back at my friend I see he’s shrunk to the size of a child and this startles me. “Wait am I dreaming!” I think with disbelief.

I put my hand up in a halt gesture as if telling everyone to stop talking and don’t come near me. I then lift a finger and try to push it through my palm. My finger hits my palm and doesn’t go through but it does seem sort of spongy. I do it again and get the same result. I don’t give up though as I’m convinced this is a dream. On my 3rd attempt my finger indents my skin a little and feels sticky like I’ve just stuck it in chewing gum. I pull it out and a string of my sticky Palm comes stretching out stuck to my finger. “It’s a dream!” I conclude.

I waste no time and know I have to quickly stabilise the dream. I rub my hands together and yell “stabilise!” Then I remember my stabilisation experiment I was thinking about before bed. The idea was to find a way of tricking my mind into keeping me in the dream longer. So I came up with the idea of wearing a stop watch and setting the time. “I’m wearing a watch” I say and look at my wrist but there is no watch. I feel a little silly thinking this will work but I try again. I look away and say it again and this time a watch has appeared on my wrist! It’s quite a big bulky, grey watch made of rubber with a digital face. I then grab the spinning wheel around the edge and turn it with a ‘click, click, click’ and as I do the numbers on the screen change. I’m trying to find the time I want to stay in the dream but the numbers come up in a random, incoherent order which makes it difficult. “These numbers are all over the place” I say. Finally I find 10:00 minutes and begin the timer now telling the dream I want to be here for at least 10 minutes.

I then walk around the room as if I own the place. I ask my friends wife if me and my friend can talk alone. She complies and leaves the room. I stand in front of my friend now, who has returned to normal size and jump at him and shove him playfully. “Hello!” I yell in excitement and he smiles and appears a bit startled. “It’s great to see you!” I’ve been waiting for a while to have a lucid dream with my old friend (he moved away many years ago). I remind myself I shouldn’t get too excited though and try to calm down.

I can’t actually recall what happens next but I think I’m exploring the room and feeling the furniture as I come across a grey sofa and suddenly remember I wanted to try flying. I can’t really fly properly indoors so I decide I should start simple and try hover. I feel like I need something to jump off so I aim to stand on the sofa and jump off. I’m not sure what happens then but my friend grabs me or I bump into him and it knocks my vision and my eyes fog up and go dark. I panic knowing the dream is going to crumble so I try justify the darkness to my brain and say “Oh no I have mud in my eyes!” I start pretending and wiping my eyes hoping the dark patches will disappear like I’m rubbing the mud away. It doesn’t work as I’d hoped and only gets worse.

In a last desperate attempt to stay in the dream I spin in circles hoping I can spin into a new dream. My vision has become completely black though and for a moment I feel like I’m spinning in a dark void but then my body is gone as well and I think I’ve woken up. I realise my eyes are still closed and I should attempt a DEILD but my mind begins to wander and I worry it will take too long and I have to get up soon. So with regret I give up and wake up and recall my dream.

Analysis:
It was one of my dream goals to hang out with my old best friend again and he appeared all on his own so it was probably on my mind. Then he turned really small and my lucid brain spotted the oddity straight away. It was good to see my memory was working at full capacity as well and I was able to carry out a planned experiment which was to manifest the watch that was meant to tell my brain that I couldn’t wake up until the timer was up. I definitely wasn’t in the dream for 10 minutes so it didn’t work. I suppose I should have known. details like numbers and text are known to change all the time in dreams and the watch was nonsensical as I should have expected. It was interesting to try though. Then there was the rubbing the mud from my eyes. That too didn’t work as I’d hoped and it seems you can’t always trick the dream in this way. I’ve learnt a lot and was a good experience all round.

Waking Notes:

Stability: Medium
Control: Medium
Clarity: Medium
Awareness: High
Length: Low

Trigger: Dream oddity
Reality check: Finger palm
Length: 3 minutes (approx.)
Goals: Meet up with my friend & try watch experiment
Techniques: WBTB, MILD
Time: 6:30am
Lucid count: 7

The guiding lights
25/06/20
Lucid# 5 - DILD

I’m walking along a large, open courtyard surrounded by grass. There are people all around and walking past me. I then notice a woman who catches my eye. I’m not sure if it’s her that makes me become lucid but the next thing I remember I’m aware I’m dreaming.
Things feel a little unstable though and I worry I will wake up so I decide to take it slow and look around to make sure it really is a dream.

The scene has turned to night now and I’m on the grass. I look left and right and admire the detail and realism of the grass. I then see small lights dotted in two lines in front of me like a runway. It’s clear I am to follow them and I start moving towards them. Things feel eerily quiet now, all the people have disappeared and once again I feel that sensation that something powerful is present and guiding me. I look to the dark sky and yell “Unconsciousness?!” Playing with the idea that he is behind this. He doesn’t respond and the dream begins to fade, fade, fade and goes grey. “Damn I’ve lost it” I think to myself and expect to wake up but I don’t… (To be continued)

Waking Notes:

Stability: Low
Control: Low
Clarity: Medium
Awareness: Medium
Length: Low

Trigger: Spontaneous
Reality check: None
Length: 1 minute (approx.)
Goals: none
Techniques: WBTB
Time: 6 - 7am
Lucid count: 5

Meeting with the dream guide
25/06/20
Lucid #6 - DEILD/ WILD

Everything goes black and I’m left consciously aware in a dark void. I know I’m still asleep and begin to hear a strange electronic sound? “zwoo, zwoo, zwoo” it goes in iterations like a muffled, vibrating machine. I feel like it’s the sound of my mind buffering and even see a swirling circle in the distance like a Mac loading symbol. There is a moment of fear as I wonder if I’m trapped here but I remain calm and know a dream is coming. Sure enough I begin to feel that rushing sensation I felt last time. “Here we go!” I tell myself with excitement. I then feel my consciousness sucked downwards, really fast like I’m been pulled into a black hole and I hear a loud, screeching sound as if I’m a jet flying. “Whooooa!” I yell but not in fear but in exhilaration at the sensation. I then see ghost like shapes forming and swirling in front of me and know the dream is about to form.

I start to picture where I want to go and what I want to do. I remember I wanted to fly through the clouds like the birds I saw last night. I wonder if I could embody a bird as well but then consider that may be too advanced. I begin to see the clouds forming below me with a pink, sunset light. I reach out and try to imagine what the clouds would feel like to make it solidify. I think it’s working but then things become fuzzy and instead of flying through the clouds I appear in an old wooden house that seems devoid of furniture. I have a body again and have entered a dream.

I move through the empty room and come out on top of some old creaky wooden stairs. I remember I was trying to speak to my unconsciousness in my last dream and look up for the sky but of course there is no sky only the ceiling. I see a window to the right and know I need to get outside and talk to the sky like I had done before. I may not have much time so I hurry down the stairs hoping to find a way out of the house. the room below is similar, the walls are wooden and the room looks abandoned and decaying.

I’m then distracted as I remember one of my dream goals. To speak to a dream guide. I turn to the wall and say to myself with great excitement, “When I turn around I will see my dream guide” I say this twice and hope it works. I’m a little nervous to turn around though and hope I haven’t manifested something scary. I turn around and to my delight a man is stood there smiling at the other end of the room. It worked! I try to focus and wonder if he looks like the wise old master I pictured he would. He doesn’t, not at all. He is a 30 something year old man with a hard face and a shaved head. He is wearing a white vest and jeans and looks a bit like a thug. “You!?” I say now feeling like I recognise the man from an earlier dream. “Yeah” he says with an accent, possibly Brooklyn? I walk up to him in disbelief and I’m a little disappointed and wonder if this is just a random dream character super imposed as a guide. I ask him anyway what I wanted to ask “How do I get better at lucid dreaming?” He smiles and looks away with a shake of his head as if he gets asked that all the time and it’s a pointless question. “Look, you don’t need to ring that bell anymore” he says in his pally yet gruff, tough guy voice. I don’t know quite what he means but take it as he’s saying I don’t need to ask anymore as I already know the answer.

We walk together into another room to the left. It has the same decaying interior and wooden walls but some furniture is scattered about and a fire place is at the front of the room and a window to my left. “What do you mean?” I ask him again. He shrugs and can’t seem to find a way to explain it to me. “I don’t know, you just don’t need to do that anymore” he says just as vague. “Yes but what do you mean?” I ask hoping he will be clearer, he just smiles.

I then register there is loud music playing in the room and other people are around me. I look to my right and see two people dancing in a silly way. One is on a unicycle and has a big umbrella and a top hat. “Don’t look at them, they’re trying to distract you” the guide says. I quickly turn back to him thinking the dream is trying to snap me out of lucidity. I remember my mission and now crouch down and grab a small wooden stool and place it in front of me and begin to feel the smooth polished top. I knod at the guide as if saying “I got ya” and know I have to keep interacting with the dream physically for it to stay stable.

Im ready to listen to him again and notice another man has joined us as well. Another guide perhaps? I can’t remember getting a good look at him. They’re both here to advise me but I’m distracted and start feeling a thick carpet below me. I rub my hand through it and can feel every thick clump of carpet rub against my fingers. It’s all so real but I notice there is some sort of frame disrupting my vision slightly. I think it may be my glasses and so I take them off. It was glasses and I hold my pair in my hand. Everything is now even clearer and I admire how real it all is. It feels so stable as well as if I could stay here for hours.

I then remember I wanted to try dream food and decide to manifest something. I close my hand and look away, I shut my eyes and say “when I look back at my hand I will see a piece of cheese”. I open my eyes but now my vision has blurred as if there’s mud in my eyes. I realise it’s because I shut my eyes and feel stupid now for doing so. I look at my hand and there’s no cheese either! I look away again and repeat the same but keep my eyes open this time. I look back and there’s still no cheese. My dream guides look at each other and snigger as if saying “Newbie!” The dream then fades and ends.

I awake again in darkness and wonder if another dream is coming. I can hear the electronic noise again in my ears, “zwoo, zwoo, zwoo” and think I must be dreaming still. I try to move my fingers to find out if I’m awake and I manage to move them and now open my eyes. I appear to be awake in bed but I can still hear the noise? I wonder if this is a realistic false awakening but then I realise the noise is coming from my bedside fan and as I focus on the sound it fades into a regular fan whirling sound. I am awake.

Analysis:
wowza! So a DILD and a DEILD! I think the first lucid may have been spontaneous but was rather short. Those lights were interesting. They were similar to the arrow I once saw in another Lucid but this time I followed it. Again I played with the idea that my unconsciousness was there and leading me somewhere.

When the dream faded I thought I’d blown it but then came the void. That was maybe the most interesting part. As it turned out the weird noise I was hearing was just the fan by the side of my bed but at the time it felt like I was hearing some noise from deep within my mind. Of course it wasn’t but it helped me stay aware as an anchor and lead me into a seamless DEILD. Once again I was sucked into the dream. It’s a strange sensation as if been pulled at light speed into another dimension. I then stayed completely aware and tried to form a dream of my choice. I was watching a flock of birds fly over my house before bed and came up with the idea of embodying a bird and flying through the clouds so I tried to make that happen and I feel I was close but then it all changed and I was in that random wooden house. I can remember the space so well as if it is a real location I have visited.

I was happy to remember to ask for a dream guide and it worked, I got one! He wasn’t at all what I was expecting but it was fun and surreal to meet him. I recognised him and was sure he was in a previous dream earlier on in the night that I don’t remember now. He seemed so real and had a personality but like all dream characters was vague and spoke in riddles as well. “You don’t have to ring that bell anymore” I didn’t understand this at the time but it seemed like a figure of speech. I think he was trying to tell me you don’t need to know how to get better at lucid dreaming, you know how, you’re doing it! I guess it was quite encouraging and the answer I needed upon waking.

Then there was that moment with the distracting dancers. He told me not to look at them. He was giving me real advice and it was as if he knew this dream world well and was helping me. It Was very surreal. The moment I took my glasses off was amazing as well. The clarity and vividness was unbelievable! Then I ruined it by trying the food thing and shutting my eyes! That was the moment I killed the dream and it all disappeared quickly after that. It Was a shame and I’m yet to try dream food! What a great experience though. I really need to master these DEILDs.

Waking Notes:

Stability: High
Control: Medium
Clarity: High
Awareness: High
Length: Medium

Trigger: Dream exit
Reality check: None
Length: 3-5 minutes (approx.)
Goals: Summon a dream guide
Techniques: DEILD, Sound Anchor
Time: 6 - 7:30am
Lucid count: 6

Saying goodbye to my friend
23/06/20
-Vivid - Semi lucid

Im with my old best friend from my teen years and we walk up my current street and to my house as if we’ve been out for a while like old times and the evening is just coming to an end. As we always did we start talking outside my house and not wanting to say goodbye because we’re having such a good chat. I then look up at my daughters window and see my wife is there putting her to bed. I know we can’t talk much longer or we’ll wake her up. We talk a bit longer though and I bring up Lucid dreaming. I can’t remember what we say but I discover my friend is also into it. After a bit I grow somewhat suspicious of something but I’m not sure what? It’s then he says something to me like “You need to think about it and next time ask me the right question”. I look at him confused and feel like he knows something I don’t and is trying to give me a clue. “Wait, is this a dream?” I say and feel amused because we were just talking about it. It feels so real though, I know it’s real but I decide to check anyway. “Do you ever do reality checks?” I ask him and ready my hands but he doesn’t reply. I begin my new routine of hand reality checks and first notice my wedding ring is gone which is odd. ‘Oh I must have taken it off’ I decide. I then open and close my hand. Nothing happens. I count my fingers, there are 5. I count again, I count 6? Thinking I must have miscounted I count again. I count 6 again. I try again and be more careful and this time there is 5, so that’s all clear. I then flip my hand up and down multiple times but there is no change. I then put my hand down and bring it back up again and as I open it I can’t open all my fingers all the way as if they’re broken. “That’s what would usually happen in a dream!” I chuckle thinking it’s a funny coincidence. I then do the finger palm but it doesn’t go through.

Analysis: A very vivid dream, it’s quite vague now when I recall it but at the time it felt so real and I woke up in disbelief that it hadn’t actually happened. It was just like I was in the street with my friend chatting like old times. I miss it and was nice to experience it again. Then there was the reality check. It was weird, I realised something was off but it wasn’t till my friend said that odd sentence that I thought wait a minute? I still wasn’t convinced though as it all felt so genuine. I recalled my new 5 hand reality check practice perfectly but it didn’t work. Even though some of the checks showed evidence I was dreaming I didn’t take any notice of it and carried on as if it was totally normal? I’m really not sure why I couldn’t convince myself? Maybe I don’t expect them to work in waking life so I don’t in dreams either?