Side Notes
2022 June 30th Very disjointed. Left recall too late. Would like to make some proper side notes for this one too at some point. Dream (DFLN): I'm in a car in a town with mom. She's driving me around in a large and modern Nissan, trying to get me to a local airport I think. There are roadworks just about every way she thinks of taking. I try to suggest some routes she can take but she doesn't seem to want to listen to them and possibly mentions something about the fact that she's driven here for X many years and so on. (recall gap) I'm at some kind of palatial building, here for a fancy party or ball. I'm in what is my guest room at one point. I'm a woman, except for my private areas. Someone I met just earlier (forget who) left me a dress here in the room and I think about putting it on. It's a very simple dress and is a cream colour, slightly darker than my skin tone. I have wavy hair, possibly fake blonde. Putting the dress on in bed, I think about how a dress will still be revealing of male private parts. I feel uncomfortable with this but don't see what I can do about it and reason to myself that people generally don't look to that sort of area and that I can to do things like sit down and such to possibly not make it as noticeable. A bit later I'm at a dinner at a long table. The fancy palatial theme remains. This theme seems to feature primarily white, cream/pink and gold as colours. Somewhat plain while still being lavish. (recall gap) I'm still a woman. I'm with Hilary. (from DV, i.e., here!) We're talking about dreams and artwork. I am supposed to have made three artwork commissions for her but I haven't made them yet and feel guilty. We're somewhere outside and it's night time. It's grassy and open, I'm not sure there's anything taller in the horizon that I can see. In the sky I see the three commission ideas fading in and out as stars. The first one is a crescent moon, the second a side portrait of a woman with hair tied back, and finally something else which I've lost recall of. Hilary doesn't seem upset with me for not having finished these commissions yet, but I still feel disappointed with myself. We talk a bit more and then she takes me to some physical threshold, maybe a door. I think she wants me to come with her to a dream? (recall gap) I'm my usual self again and at a bulk buy super market. Possibly a Makro (which I don't think I've ever been to). I am unfamiliar with the layout but I look around for things with confidence. I find some frozen chips and think about the price. I see they cost 2.1 for 2.5 and I reason that at 1.5 for 1.5 normally, this is slightly better and I grab a bag. Then, I wander the shop trying to think what else I want and as I feel like I actually didn't want much more, the shop also gets noticeably smaller and is more like a convenience store now. I look around again and see some socks, making me think that H might like some but I don't know the size and I don't want any for myself because they look too loose. I see a basement stairs bit and there's a bunch of plushies in a large metal cage basket thing next to the stairs. I think about getting some. They feel fluffy. They cost 60 each though and I think to myself that I really can't afford to pay this for a plushie and feel a little sad. At this point I also start to feel self-conscious and don't check out downstairs, which seemed to have Lego and more toys. So I leave to go the tills. At some point a fat man near me is coughing and I think I comment that I just had COVID and don't really want to get it again so soon. (recall gap) I'm in a rural area. It's late afternoon. I'm with two men, dream characters I think. They are messing around a bit and one has a mini bike thing (7D2D intrusion?). I am on a field side of a wooden fence and they're on the road. As I walk along, I come to a tan coloured cow. She's on the floor and at first I think she's asleep, but then I see the side of her muzzle and see it looks to be rotting, with a hole about the size of a gold ball and with some tendons showing through or something. Difficult to describe. I feel somewhat unsettled and I'm also worried for the farmer now. But I think we should get out of here before we get mistaken for having done something to the cow. We go up a small hill road and we come to a building with a store or something. Then there are four of us and we decide something about super powers. Then inside a building it's a bit like a factory or foundry. (rest of recall was too vague)
2022 June 27th Some bracketed in-line notes. I need to return to this dream and make some fuller notes when I feel able to, hopefully soon. Fragment: Something about a (dream) country relating to the Iberian peninsula. This small country is located just over the north east of the USA at where a tip of Canada would be and seems to be in-between these two countries. I see some statistic or just know that there are less than 1.5 million inhabitants. (Oddly enough, on one of the weeks after this dream, I was looking at this general region with satellite views, based on some conversations I was having with LF) (recall gap?) Then I'm in my native country but I'm a character that's not me exactly. I need to get to the embassy on one side of a plaza, something about a passport? It's night time and there's a large government building on one side of the plaza with a few prominent uplighting spots. Neo-classical or classical-revivalist architecture. There are police officers in the area, probably due to this building. I think one of them comes over to me when I wander more to the middle near the government-y building. The officer turns out to be a woman and I ask where the embassy is. She tries to help me but after a while of her taking me through some streets and construction sites I start to wonder if my interests are at heart. At one point I notice some workers at a construction site giving me/us a funny look or something? Some part of me thinks that it's odd that there's construction work going on at night. (recall gap) Then I'm at a fancy house place. Lots of detailed cornicing and mirrors on the walls and ceilings which have some kind of abstract Greek themed theatrical show going on, it looks like it's projected but I don't see any projector and may assume that the surface is able to display something like a screen would, despite its curved contours. There's a largely classical theme. The walls and cornicing are all white and it's fairly bright in here, though there's something of a mood light thing going on, mostly cool tones. I'm here with my cousin T and H. T's wearing some kind of cream or pink silk pyjamas and I rest my head on her crotch and I close my eyes and she pets and strokes my head. I think about how it'd be inappropriate if I became aroused and I also think about how I might not be able to help it. I hold on to or hug her leg. (Similarities to having been awake and holding H, possibly partly awake as this dream segment was happening) Then we show her to her bed, in size it's somewhere between a single and a double and she gets upset notably upset about this. I think the room is dark/we didn't switch the lights on? Notes: - I'm not sure what would have been the source for the first segment in this fragment, but I can recall some years ago I had a discussion with a friend (K) on the subject of countries with lower populations. - I feel that for some weeks now I've been having dreams that are on parallel to schemas like that of the second segment here. Dreams in which I'm not strictly speaking my normal "self" as a character and in which I have all the same type of agency, decisions and worries as I normally would. Sort of related, today (16th of July) I wrote a bit on another journal about the somewhat lengthy absence of any other inner voices or personalities and a general absence of visual imagination among other things. -- In reality I'm not sure how frequently I've been having these dreams (of "not myself" exactly) because I haven't thought of a tag or way of categorising them, and right now I'm thinking that I should go back through my DJ a bit at some point and find out how many instances there really are and how far back do they go; it's possible that at the moment I'm just paying more attention to this particular type of schema. - As hinted towards, I have recently had some worries/thoughts about passport renewal and sort of by extension also about travelling. Specifically, to my old home. - T's presence in this dream follows common patterns that the rest of her appearances in have in my dreams, but I can't remember any time specifically in which she got as upset as in this dream, about the bed. As I recall, I understood in the dream that she was upset that the bed wasn't big enough. Even in the dream, the way she stroked my head reminded me of what it was like to be a child. -- I think segments like this one in dreams call me to create a different journal with a different complexity from what I've been doing. This type of DJ simply cannot fit into it the type of analysis that some of these dreams practically seem to be demanding of me.
Updated 07-16-2022 at 07:35 PM by 95293
2022 June 21st Fragment: Me and H travel to a place called Chapeling that's apparently near London in southern England. It's a 300 mile drive from where we were? We go there to have a look at this small pipe organ that sits in a little chapel building which is beside a main church building. Overcast day outside. Town streets and so on. 2022 June 22nd Fragment: Something about showing someone a little organ. At some kind of concert or theatre hall, a vast one at that, but the wood all seems very bare like all its polish has worn off and nobody has taken care of the place for a while. (recall gap) Something about needing to get some homework done. I have my black laptop bag with me and whatever I need for my homework is in there I think. I keep being distracted or pulled away from doing it and later I am climbing some kind of abstract structure made up of large red long nailed bony hands. It's part of some kind of dimensional portal or threshold. Later, on the other side of said portal. Something about Warcraft 3 game mechanics. I want to buy a mini town hall item and destroy a human settlement to take their gold mine. 2022 June 25th Fragment: I'm outside, at a Lidl car park. It's about seven in the morning and it's light but not as bright as it should be for this time of the year. I'm deciding whether I should get closer and do some shopping or not. There's a white man in the parking lot. He's getting some stuff ready round the back of his car. At some point I realise the shop won't be open for another hour at least. I dither about for a while, wondering if I should bother crossing the road and going back home or if I should just wait it out. I think it may have felt a bit cool outside. Notes: - Trying to look for a place called "Chapeling" somewhere near London didn't really result in anything. I suspect the location name in the dream was simply tied to the context of the attached chapel. I've not heard the word before, not in any situation that I can think of anyway, but it's a fairly straightforward construction and likely easily created by automatic and associative dream logic and the like. - Unfortunately, I've lost any visual recall I might have had of the abstract structure made up of red hands, which is a shame really because these are often the type of things I like to try and recreate in art. I might still try recreating something alike if I can think of a composition I like. -- I still have some visual recall of the rest of the dreaming in this entry, at the time of writing. - For some reason I've come to use dithering as an expression more often of late; it's not a new expression to me, but it's not one I've typically used a lot.
2022 June 20th Some in-line notes too. Dream: I'm walking through a small town that could be somewhere in my native country. Small houses, ground floor only. Trims and so on as expected. I'm with dad and cousin T. It's daytime, probably morning. Dad is taking photos and as we get to the top of a hill in the town, I see a somewhat breathtaking view of distant rolling hills much like this one, with pink cherry tree plantations here and there, interspersed with some vivid green leafed trees of similar size. I tell dad he should hurry up to get to where I am, so he can take a photo. As time passes, the landscape or the point of view seem to change (I might be walking down the other side now) and I fear he won't be able to get a clear and unobstructed shot anymore. I lose track of my cousin. At some point she was telling dad about these aliens that live here with the villagers, whom she calls "Aarkvaads", but dad misunderstands that those would be the villagers rather than the aliens. (recall gap) Me and dad arrive at some rustic old restaurant. We climb up some stairs and take a seat at a table by the stairs and by a window. Daytime seems consistent with before but it's relatively dark in here due to the windows being a bit short in height. A guy that reminds me of G from school but who is a unique character, comes up to the table; he's our server. (Can't recall the dialogue) I need the bathroom now and make my way down two flights of the wooden stairs. At the bottom, I'm not sure if I'm getting into the kitchen area by accident, but I go a bit further and find it is indeed the bathroom area. There's no outside light here, it's dark apart from some poorly placed and dim fluorescent tubes that are clearly too old. I think dad comes down too also looking for the bathroom. I go into this somewhat overly large and polygonal shaped room past a glass door that is barely frosted for privacy. The toilet is adjoining the doors' wall and the area feels dilapidated and unclean. I get ready to have a wee. I'm wearing my normal grey work trousers and it feels cumbersome to deal with everything. Then I somehow start worrying about the fact that dad can probably see through that pointless frosting. I think I have a short wee and then give up, then leaving the room with dad going past me to use the room himself. Something happens and he slips I think? (Mostly comical in nature if anything) Then, I'm at the mid level of the building, where the entrance is. I think I want to go outside? It's bright and different from before outside. (recall gap) I am outside and the restaurant is located at a sort of edge of a sedimentary cliff. Yellow-ish sandstone. It's sandy out here and there's no vegetation to speak of. It's an immense valley with sharp sand-dusted peaks. The server from before is out here, having a break or a cigarette. He's some kind of furry "bat boy" now, slightly taller than me. At some point earlier, I think there was something about a UI thing about choosing how he looked. Red is heavy to his colour theme and his fur almost looks soaked in dark blood, but not wet. We talk, or I overhear something. Something about a rebellion? Other locals that are with him have assault rifles, Kalashnikovs probably. Before this I think I actually had a bit of a walk around. There's this large plaza and some kind of Christian procession ritual is taking place. The entrance to the temple is where they want to go, and that's also (an?) the entrance back into the restaurant? They are standing still enough and I make my way through the very dispersed but neatly laid out small crowd, though as I get closer to the large doors the main ritual seems to be moving forward too. Not wishing to interrupt anything, I stop myself next to a tall older woman. It's daytime, about noon. The plaza reminds me of that in front of church of L. The walls to the side of the entrance are smooth eroded sandstone which bulge out every so often. (In retrospect, some of this sandy/rocky scenery reminds me of James' realm in Sacrifice, and as a God, James is perhaps more Christian in a sense than the other four) Now, when the rebellion thing is starting, the sky goes dark and there's a heavy blue tinted atmosphere, and for lack of better description, the stench of magic is in the air. I'm in a party with sibling T and notice he's at a location called "Crystallarium Caverns", not at all the valley location I'm in. He doesn't realise that we're in different locations when we talk via chat. Fighting happens around me and I look up over the temple/restaurant and see there's a female spellcaster. She seems to be wearing something slightly harlequin-like. She has an enormous book that in width would be the height of four people, and I see her enounce some kind of runes which make a visible effect coming out of the book as she speaks each one. She throws down fire magic at the rebels and around me. I start to get sick of her spellcasting and somehow reach my way up to her book (distortion of scale/point of view?) and then I hurl it down toward a much lower tier of the valley, intent on making it land in some water. But she uses some kind of TK to slow the books fall and it doesn't reach or touch the water. I think to myself that I should have jumped with the book. But as it rises back up, I can read its runes on a page now. Each page is organised as a kind of mandala with a number of circumscriptions for each rune. I try to read them aloud myself but I'm not sure about the pronunciation. I think eventually we beat the spellcaster woman, but the rest of the dream recall is lost after this point. Notes: - This dream was particularly vivid and part of that may have been due to the fact that I barely managed to sleep the two preceding nights, on one of which I felt to have had a brief dreamless sleep, which always makes me feel odd for the rare times it happens. -- Not sleeping was mostly on account of being ill. - The runes in the book remind me a bit of the node tree in FFX, which I've seen recently after this dream, but given that they appeared more like mandalas it may have been an intrusion either from a discussion I had with my mom or from something relating to Jung. Whatever the source, I have thought about trying to replicate the layouts I saw in the dream. - G and his bat form reminded me of Troy from BL3 for some reason. I think something about the posture and a drawing I did of Troy some time back. It's odd that it's the second time in not too long that I've dreamt about a bat character. Part of it may be an intrusion from the fact that someone's character I'm drawing lately is a bat, but it didn't feel especially related to that. (Different gender, different morphology/species) - In the second half of the dream, there was something about the Aarkvaad aliens that was relevant to the context, but through my recall of the dream, I couldn't really pick it back up and so I'm not sure how they actually related. Searching for Aarkvaad online didn't really yield anything interesting and past the dream's context is probably a mish-mash word that sounded alien enough. - The temple plaza felt very much like being in front of the actual church that it likely had inspiration from, which is interesting for the fact that I had that dream not too long ago where I was at a much more accurate version of said plaza/church. There was something more ancient and mythological about this dream's temple and the procession ritual that was taking place seemed to relate to that. In the dream part of my modern waking behaviour took hold where I was able to just go through the group without caring too much about the effect I might have on it, but as the ritual seemed to begin, my behaviour reverted to something more alike what I always learned to do, which in a sense is to give them space and not get in the way. I think as I walked there I thought about people who are careless and those who care too much, perhaps partly reflected in my responding behaviours. -- Also curious to the ritual aspect was the fact that I was an outsider to it, even though to me it felt very familiar and normal. I just had no place in it myself; perhaps a symbolic expression or metaphor in itself.
Some small in-line notes and such. 2022 June 13th Quick note to self, this was also the date of the appointment. Fragment: (left recall too late) I'm in a mountain town or such. It's sunny, mostly clear. At some point my friend K calls me, but I think I miss her call. Later in the dream, something about water. Not as sunny now? I think I speak to K on the phone now, but it's like I'm also next to her too? (vague recall) She tells me that she wanted to invite me to a party before, and I apologise for missing the party. She then tells me that her dog G has died. I say that I'm sorry to hear it, and I hear her voice breaking a bit and I feel myself close to crying too, knowing very well what her pain will be like. We talk about something else for a bit. 2022 June 15th Fragment: I'm in a street, I have a dog with me. She looks like S but has worse behaviour and at one point "play" bites me, a bit too hard on the left wrist. I look for a wound but don't notice any, and then I think about how it actually didn't hurt all that much. (gap) Someone else was present in the dream up to this point, though now I think I'm on my own with the dog again, at a place that is supposed to be like a veterinary practise. A vet person gives the dog an injection. After about ten seconds, the dog is numb and she can't really move at all. I pick her up and put her on a conveyor belt thing. There's a dark atmosphere/mood. The dog is here to be put down. I feel sad, and also think that it's a shame she couldn't have had better behaviour. (there had been more context to the situation but these were the bits of recall I lost in the gap) 2022 June 16th Scraps (DFLN): Many dreams. Only recall one dream where I was in a dark room with zombies. They seemed slightly aggressive, but not entirely. (Although I was playing 7d2d at the time, I also became ill with Covid after this)
2022 June 2nd Dream: I'm at some kind of garden/arena place. A quite big round building, at any rate. There's a feel of old home to it. Some walls are white?, with I think a blue trim running along some of the edges. The exterior perimeter is decorated with aquatic and palm motifs in small tile mosaics. Vivid colours. It's sunny. I walk around until I get to an entrance to the central area that goes up and in. As I walk around, there are grape-like husks that I'm stepping on, they're a dead blue, but nice somehow. It took me a while to realise they're the fruits of some of these plants. Some kind of leafy canes, which arc with the weight of their fruits. The other side has small banana things instead, but both plants are the same with different fruits. On the upper area inside, I remark to H who's nearby, that it looks like one half of the garden is one fruit and the other half is the other fruit, and there seems to be a clear divide. I feel that this could be related to sunlight and shade. The grapes on the plant are actually white grapes (green), unlike the blue-ish husks on the floor. I remember picking and holding one. I think I ask H if he's tried one of the banana fruits. I'm not sure if he should eat it. 2022 June 6th Fragment: (Last bit at the end of a longer dream. Didn't write recall early enough.) I'm with H and he's kind of doing his own thing, and I'm descending a vertical mineshaft he's made, digging my way downward through its sides. It's a mix of Minecraft and BL. At the bottom I find myself in a dark but vast cavern. I can still see fine. I see sapphires close to me and I tell H to look at how many there are, an almost 5x5 area on a wall. Then, I find a waypoint like those from Diablo II. I think to myself about how rare this area is to find naturally generated. The cavern has a mostly flat ceiling and I can't quite see the bottom, but pillars at irregular intervals make a kind of vaulted cavern ceiling. (Similar to some BL cave generation) In the distance, I see more sapphires around and eventually after walking along a sort of suspended highway, avoiding some annoying mobs along the way, I find an underground stone fortress which is mstly made of stone brick and which has patterned features with encrusted sapphire ores. 2022 June 8th Scraps: I'm in a village or town. Like rural areas around old home. I'm passing in front of a building where lots of people gathered. They're all queueing or waiting. Some other bit, with mom and H. Something about driving. A crossing? A woman in a dress? Notes: - There was something yin/yang about the first dream's location but it also reminds me of places and experiences from my childhood. - At the time of the second dream, me and H had been playing Minecraft again a fair bit. I'm not entirely sure why there was a D2 waypoint in there but it may have been because of the dream that Hilary shared on DFLN just a week earlier or so, as Diablo hadn't really been much on my mind otherwise. - Inside the cavern areas, there were openings above that let some natural light in. There were interesting light effects, though even so I couldn't really see a bottom to the pillared cave areas at any point.
2022 May 31st Dream (DFLN): I'm in Netherstorm, in Outland. It is an entirely dream-generated version of it but thematically consistent. I think about how it looks different with "the revamp" and I see people talk about it on a chat too. I go down a long path on a floating island with a downwards tilt, which seems to get steeper. The path curves around and goes into a cavernous area. There's an artificial pit that goes deep into the void and there's a presence here, who speaks. The structure in the pit here is very much like something right out of Icecrown Citadel, just sort of inverse. There's an ominous feel, though I do not feel worried myself. I think we discuss something about the world. Eventually, I leave, back up the same path. Then, I wake up as a white woman, in a bed in a room that's somewhat exposed to the outside. Some kind of global event has taken place that froze the vast majority of people in the world, who then, like me, wake up seven years later. I find out by talking to someone I think that all of us who had this happen, have become undead. More is explained to me (but I lost recall of it) and there's something about a king Henry. At several points, I question this a little, because I can't really tell that we are undead at all. And eventually my body is different/changes again. (but I don't realise while dreaming) Eventually, wandering the streets of this city, I come upon a group of people. They're beyond a wall slightly shorter than I am tall, but the wall also isn't that short (dream weirdness); the group of people is chanting as a group and they all look like cultist hobos. I pass through the wall like a ghost and they are surprised, and then I start shaking a pepper grinder ritualistically and they become very frightful of me and what I'm doing. I walk slowly towards them, and I comment out loud, almost laughing, "this is superstitious non-sense!" and they eventually run away in complete fear. Just nearby in this small street, which could be Japanese for how tight it is and some of the styling/layout, I meet Patrick Stewart by the entrance to a house. Patrick seems annoyed by what I did, but is apparently not holding it against me. We talk about something. I get the impression that he is not undead like me. Notes: - Writing this nearly a month later, the visuals are still pretty good, fairly memorable dream. - I made a sketch of the ICC pit shortly after having had this dream. - The undeath seemed to be like that which happens in the Souls universe.
2022 May 23rd Unknown time Fragment: Something about going with H to meet up this businessman for some kind of financial assessment. Looks a bit like Goldfinger? We drive there I think. 8:15 Dream: I'm at a version of our home. A detached house in the middle of some woods. It's really dark outside, realistically pitch black. We have a lorry outside that we have been loading stuff into, for moving house. I go to it and check inside. I'm attacked by Meowth (Pokemon) who jumps off the lorry top to attack me. I grab him and threaten to break his neck if he doesn't tell me who else is here. He says something and I understand Jessy and James to be here too. I have a quick look around outside, but as I do, I see a red glow. They've gotten in the lorry and are going to back it up. I try to open the passenger side door, but a slightly fat man keeps trying to shut it so I just start slamming it open and shut so that he might lose grip, having no such luck. I decide to try and jump up on the bonnet. I do, and then I'm sort of sat there looking at the both of them. I think the other one is actually Jessy. I have my boots on and I use them to smash the two bits of windshield, then putting my feet through and starting to kick the crap out of the two of them, one foot each. This is all happening as they're reversing and driving around, now onto a roundabout of all places. I see three Humvees with military police with blue arm bands inside the cars and I repeatedly yell for help from them as I keep fighting the burglars with my feet, trying to indicate with my hands that they've stolen the lorry. The thieves are different people now (both male). The military police finally take position and aim at the lorry. I'm still kicking the thieves like hell. The police take their time but eventually start shooting. I take to opportunity of the shots hitting the lorry to somehow swing myself around and change the centre of mass for the lorry, making it topple on its side, passenger side at the bottom. One of the thieves gets out from the top and the police shoot him dead, making me briefly think about how close to me that was, but not dwelling on it. Possibly moving the corpse or something, I sort of get into the cabin from the top and start kicking and stomping on the second thief and yelling "Get the hell out of my truck!" and such like. Eventually, the thief gives up and is arrested. I'm not fully content with the outcome, having wanted them both dead, by my hands, or feet as it were. I check the back of the lorry now. Inside, the contents have all gone and there's just a long and thin compressed cardboard box that everything should be in, though nothing is actually inside. Eventually, I get back home and I'm talking to H about it. I ask if we can't get some insurance payment for all the stuff we lost but he says we haven't got any. I am disappointed but say with confidence we'll manage somehow. 9/10:00 Fragment: Subway, with someone. Some kid bumps us, he wants company? Then we get the kid to come round to some house or piano shop place, and we show him my dad playing the piano. Later I/we return to the same place, but dad doesn't remember the moment from before when it's brought up. Notes: - The long dream about the theft wasn't really a bad dream but it was quite vivid and somewhat intense. - Probably one of the most fun dreams I've had in a while, as even in the dream I did quite enjoy stomping on those thieves repeatedly. Even so, at the end I did feel very disappointed about losing so much of our stuff and being able to get nothing back for it. - My feet are rarely weapons of choice unless a situation really calls for it and I have my boots on, which in fairness is always these days.
2022 May 20th Fragment: Mix of NMS and Satisfactory. Exploring planets and looking around. Some general funkiness of generation clipping into itself. Then I build some gas tank thing on a planet and see about building a smoke stack on top, I think H is commenting something to me about this. Then I'm in the bathroom with H sharing a (false) memory of how they're going to add warp rifts and super drills and I figure they'll let you get infinite resources from procedural planets in this way. (I partly live some of this as I imagine the false memory) 2022 May 22nd Dream: Some bit in a town. Dawn, or dusk, clear sky, quite beautiful colours. Slightly Arabic feel to the area, buildings painted fully in white. I'm walking around, or sort of spectating as an observer perhaps. There's a king who has a knight, possibly me. The knight has reached some kind of seniority and they talk as they walk together. Some kind of relationship subtext? Holding hands together? Then some bit in a fortified area, like a castle or barracks in the middle of this town. False memory of having trained here and such. I think it's night at the moment. There are many devices and traps part of the training course. Some bellows that are pumped with your feet that you must stand by or jump on? I talk to H about them (as if outside this area?) (recall gap) Like Freelancer now. The spacescape is more realistic and reminds me of remastered Homeworld. Most of space is dark in this area. There's a nebula nearby, large orange glow coming from inside. There are remnants of large framed mega structures insides, made more obvious by shadows cast by the glow, despite the otherwise foggy nature of it all. There's other debris in there too. I fly towards the nebula in first person on a ship. I fly past one of those asteroid stations, possibly like Ruiz base, in Omega-41? I don't think too much of it, but something is weird. I notice there's a clone of the base very close by, the name on the clone sounds like the right name, while the first one had a name like Event Spawner 03, which makes me think of something having gone wrong with a story or mission script. As I go into the nebula and into or through one of the mega structures, I start noticing some bio-metallic creatures, very geometrically shaped. They're small and start approaching me in numbers, turning into swarms eventually, starting to seem dangerous now as they keep approaching. So I turn around and head towards the station from before. I try to dock, but I get confused with the asteroid base entities. Anyway, after I manage to dock, it looks like a Rheinland station inside, and I walk around and maybe look at some equipment and stuff. (recall gap) Then something at a very different place, much more fantasy like. (unfortunately, recall was lost) Notes: - Two space dreams. At the time I had been playing or had recently played NMS after a long break from it, so that was a likely cause for them. - Dreams based on Freelancer and generally spun off general space sci-fi stuff I am particular about remain amongst the most interesting non-lucid dreams I have, certainly when discounting any further analysis like symbolisms and such. The general feeling of reality in these dreams tends to be fantastic and despite any weird stuff that might happen (such as the clipping, which happened in another space dream too, possibly after these), I often get a really strong urge to want to revisit these. I don't know what it is about them exactly, but I think part of it is that they are so refreshing when I think about stuff I have otherwise already mapped out fairly well in my head, especially in the case of Freelancer where I know most of its "Sirius sector" universe like the back of my hand. - On that note, having fully played through the remastered Homeworld a couple of months ago was a great contribution to this mental content, as the reworked spacescapes are just perfect for me, especially tonally. - I made a 3D scene of the mega structure part and the nebula, but I have not made a render of it as I was not satisfied with shadow-casting yet. I'll still tag this with the bonus image tag anyway. -- The little swarm creatures were not made for the scene, but I also sketched them and they resembled some little enemy things from Strafe. - The first part to the second dream was interesting. I have had a few other such dreams that have less focus on myself as a dream character, and they tend to have interesting themes, though I need to make the time to introspect on them a bit at some point, as I never do.
2022 May 13th Dream (DFLN): I'm helping someone with a quest or something. We go into a portal thing which is between some humanoid mobs. It takes us to a reward dimension and there are five mounts, one for each player had we been in a full party. The mounts look like a snow plow/dozer machine. Orange or rusty tones? Once we get out, the other guy has already customised and decorated his "mount" and I think about doing the same when I get a chance. (recall gap) I'm in a town somewhere, looks a bit like areas around old home. It's night time and there are sodium street lamps, though there is more colour distinction than they would allow for. I'm under a little covered bit, like the entrance to a restaurant or house, but it's unlit I think, taking care of laces on my footwear or something, when I hear the voice of M and that stupid laughter of his. (note to self, writing this, my recall of the dream has improved a lot as I remember the following negative moments) He's talking to someone and I hear them approaching along the street. I deliberately take my time now and look busy, avoiding looking at all and focusing on the laces. Then, when they pass close enough M sees me and says "hey onion hair" and laughs at me. I turn around toward him now and see he's sort of perching forwards on a dividing section. I feel annoyed, angry and threatened. So I swing a bag full of stuff at him, hitting him on the head. He barely flinches however and makes some sarcastic or mocking remark, I think indirectly, talking to this other guy who's with him. I try to compose all my stuff and go, struggling with a version of my tablet which is in A3 in size, trying to flip it closed. (rest of recall was lost) Later, I tell H about the encounter and says "I would have hit him" to which I reply "I did hit him", possibly in frustration. 2022 May 16th Scraps: Something with family. Mom, dad and sibling T. Out somewhere? (recall was not retained because I left it for two days) 2022 May 17th Fragment: I'm at some shops with siblings T and L and also dad. We're looking for some chocolate cake thing, one of those moist ones with sprinkles on it. Dad moves away in some part of this shop. I can't recall what's on display but me and my siblings are talking about foreskins or something. I picture something about it in my head. (recall gap) I am outside at some point. There's a very dark, heavy and moody atmosphere, all red and black tones/hues, a sort of mist or fog too. It's a city street of some kind? I remember tall buildings, but with no windows or anything. Just plain facades. (after waking from the dream, this made me think of Trove for some reason) Notes: - I hadn't had a dream with M (previously referred to as MB sometimes) for a while. I'm not sure anymore what could have prompted his appearance in this dream. -- Probably also one of few "bad" dreams I've had in quite a while too.
The first step to having lucid dreams is to remember your dreams in general (if you can't remember your lucid dreams, what's the point?). It's a common misconception that lucid dreaming will automatically cause you to remember. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Lucid dreams can be easily forgotten, even if the experience was significant and meaningful. This is just the nature of dreaming and how our brains work while we're asleep. We're physiologically wired to forget, regardless of our awareness. The good news is, there's easy ways to train your mind to start recalling your dreams. Once you start training yourself to recall dreams consistently, it gets easier and more "natural." This is a skill you can develop to override the brain's default tendency to forget, allowing for permanent, effortless recall habits over time. This guide will teach you different ways (besides just journaling) to remember dreams and experience them presently in vivid detail. If your goal is lucid dreaming, recall guides should be paired with lucid dreaming method guides. Here's two good ones I recommend: MILD: https://skyfalldreams.net/guides/skyfalls-mild-guide/ WILD: https://www.dreamviews.com/blogs/ner...d-guide-94340/ But what if I don't have dreams at all? It's not that I can't remember them... You'd be surprised what can be forgotten in sleep! Most people who say they have no dreams simply have poor recall. Once recall is developed, they report having dreams! If you suspect you are a rare case and that you literally don't have dreams at all (nothing to recall), talk to your doctor. Lack of recall is normal, but true lack of dreams is a serious medical concern that this guide can't help with. How many dreams should I be able to remember? It's recommended that you get yourself to a point where you can remember 1-3 dreams per night. It doesn't have to be every single night (it's normal to have lapses in recall sometimes), but consistently remembering 1-3 dreams on average gives you 1-3 chances to have lucid dreams on average. The more you can remember, the more opportunities you'll have for lucid dreams. How long will it take? It may take days or weeks to start seeing results from your recall training if you have low recall to start with, but once you get the ball rolling, it gets easier. What can recall help with? Recall does more than just improve your memory of dreams. Here's a list of other benefits: 1. Makes your dreams more vivid and detailed. Many people notice significant improvements to vividness of dreams after developing better recall. It turns out that their dreams were always highly vivid and detailed—they just couldn't remember those details! Lack of recall is one of the most common causes of non-vivid dreams. 2. Increases your sense of presence in the moment during dreams. Instead of feeling like a memory, you will start to experience dreams more like real time occurrence just like you experience your waking life. 3. Increases your chances of becoming lucid. As your perception of dreams shifts from past memories to present experiences, you'll be primed for higher rates of present-moment awareness (aka lucid dreaming). Even though recall isn't considered a lucid dreaming method, it can greatly enhance your practice. 4. Allows you to notice dream signs that can be used for MILD (a lucid dreaming technique). If you're working with MILD, recall can help you apply this particular lucid dreaming technique with greater effectiveness. 5. Allows you to improve dream control of both lucid and nonlucid dreams through better understanding the way your dreams work, rewriting dreams, and incubating what you want to happen in future dreams. How to Develop Recall Recall Upon Waking The first and biggest thing you can do for recall is to make it a habit to always think about your dreams the moment you wake up. Dreams will be fresh in your memory in the first few minutes (even seconds) upon waking. So before you get up to journal or go to work or school, devote a few minutes to thinking about your dreams in as much detail as possible. You should also make a habit of thinking about your dreams every time you wake up in the night. By training yourself to attempt remembering dreams 100% of the time when you first wake up, you can vastly increase your recall and even encourage lucidity close to these times. Many people say it helps them to stay in bed laying in the same position they woke up in. This can help tremendously, but is not a requirement if you need to get up and do things. The important thing is that dreams are on your mind. I personally have a strict routine of thinking about dreams first thing when I get up. Though I may brush my teeth while doing it, I remain actively thinking about dreams for the first few minutes. When this is done consistently, you can remember hours worth of dreams without journaling or interfering with morning routines. It is by far one of the easiest hacks for dream recall. If you only remember a fragment at first, that's okay! Most beginners start with fragments. Try to expand on it. Did anything happen before that? How did it look or feel? Sometimes memories can be recovered by slowly working your way backwards, or reflecting on various different senses, thoughts, and feelings. Approaching your memory from different angles can also help. See what you can dig up, as if you are trying to remember an important childhood memory or a crime scene. You may not instantly remember every detail, but they will slowly unravel the more you think about it. Writing it out can help, which is where journaling comes in. Even if you don't remember anything at all, just the practice and intent of doing this every time you wake up eventually encourages your mind to start paying attention to dreams and, consequently, to actually start remembering them. Intent to remember itself is very powerful, and when intent is backed by consistent action, it's strengthened. Dream Journaling Dream journaling is a popular method of recall and supports the process of thinking about your dreams and unraveling the details. Best of all, it allows you to record dreams for later. Anything that you don't want to forget should be journaled. Journaling should be done after you wake up for the same reasons. You should first think about your dreams upon waking, then write them down, or think about them and write at the same time. You can journal with any medium (pen and paper or your phone, it doesn't matter). The crucial part is that you think about your dreams and remember as much as you can. The physical way you go about this task doesn't matter as much. This is a mental practice. It's recommended that you write out as much detail as you can remember, but if you can't do that in the moment, just writing down keywords is a powerful way to retain dream memories. Instead of writing a fully detailed entry, you can put down key words and phrases like 'ran outside, slayed dragon, ate peanutbutter' and then leave it at that or flesh out the details later. This can be helpful with WBTB (wake back to bed) or when you don't have time to dream journal right away. Intention to Remember As mentioned above, intention can be a powerful tool for recall. Before going to sleep, tell yourself that you'll remember your dreams upon waking. Imagine remembering your dreams the previous night, and what it may be like to remember them the following night. Walk yourself through the process of remembering dreams in your mind, and remind yourself that you'll remember to go through your dreams immediately upon waking up. Hype yourself up with the possibility that you might have a really good dream to recall. Setting intention to remember your dreams can be done in the same way you set intention to get up early in the morning or do something like a household chore during the day. Daytime Dream Recall For even greater boosts to your recall practice, you can think about your dreams at any time of day (in addition to morning and nighttime wake-ups). Sometimes you can remember details of a dream in the middle of the afternoon. This is a great way to develop better recall! The more you remember to think about your dreams, the better. You can even combine this with lucid dreaming day practice such as ADA, SAT, or daytime MILD (works the same as regular MILD). Daytime Waking Recall If you still have trouble remembering any dreams whatsoever, it can help to develop better memory of your every day life. What did you have for breakfast? What were you doing ten minutes ago? Ask yourself about little things like this throughout you day to develop better recall habits that will carry over into your dreams. If you just wake up but can't remember any dreams at all even after a few minutes of trying, think back to what your last thoughts were before falling asleep. Keep walking yourself backwards until you remember something, anything at all. Note: For convenience, you can combine this with daytime lucid dreaming awareness practice by asking yourself “Am I awake or in a dream currently?” whenever you do this. This is not required, but can cause lucid dreams if you decide to add it. WBTB + Recall WBTB stands for Wake Back to Bed and is another way to enhance your recall because it gives you more opportunities to remember dreams upon waking. Every time you wake up in the middle of the night (whether naturally or with alarms), you can practice thinking about your dreams as described above. This provides more chances to remember dreams, and can be done to capture early night dreams. Normally the later night dreams are easier to remember simply because they are more recent from the moment you woke up, but by using WBTB, you can more easily recall early night dreams. This can also be combined with MILD or WILD lucid dreaming techniques. In-dream Recall Last but not least, recall can be done while still inside of your dreams. I recommend in-dream recall for people who already have good recall, or more frequent lucid dreamers. Although it's a misconception that lucidity will automatically be remembered, you can train yourself to make "notes" in your dreams (even dream journaling in your dreams) that can help cause meaningful activities to trigger the 'oh, I want to remember this later' intention. I've found that this works for both lucid and nonlucid dreams. Here's some things you can do: - Develop the habit of noting "I want to remember this when I wake up." any time something meaningful happens. - Make a habit to journal (or think about) dreams at the end of each dream while you're still inside of it. Doing this consistently can be very powerful. - Get into the habit of asking yourself what you were doing a few hours ago, to aid in retaining memories of previous dreams. - Before you wake up, take a few minutes to think about the dream while still asleep even if the dream has ended (when and if you experience limbo states). Frequently Asked Questions Q: Should I write down nightmares? A: That's up to you. If you don't want to, you don't need to. I personally (usually) skip writing down nightmares. Another way to handle this is to rewrite nightmares in a way you would prefer them to happen, which can cause positive changes to your future dreams. Q: Can I rewrite my dreams? A: Yes! This is handy if you had a dream you didn't like. You can rewrite it to incubate different results for next time. Q: Can drugs or medications prevent dreaming? A: Alcohol and THC are known to cause recall issues. There may be other medications that can also affect dreams and recall. Q: If lucid dreams can be forgotten, how do I know whether I've had lucid dreams before? A: You could already have had lucid dreams before without knowing it. There is no way to know, but you can start improving your recall to remember future lucid dreams so this will no longer happen. Q: But how do you know that you forgot your lucid dreams? A: Personally I notice it when recall chaining between dreams. For example: Dream #1 is a lucid dream at the beginning of the night. In Dream #2, I remember Dream #1. In Dream #3, I no longer remember Dream #1, but can remember remembering it in Dream #2. Thus a lucid dream is remembered indirectly as a memory of a memory, but otherwise forgotten. I've also done a lot of other experiments to test out how dream recall works in different scenarios.
Updated 11-30-2022 at 07:02 PM by 99032
It started with a normal dream of going to work, me and me dad and his friend got off of a train, it was some kind of futuristic train station, we were going to work Then went downstairs where the stairs were empty at times But I was always lucid somewhat When we got down there things were different it was like a scene from my old school life blended in That's when I started to dig down into my negative feelings, mostly of how I didn't get a girlfriend in school in high school etc. I started to hear and see alternate stories of the same things, I became my alternate selves, re living their bitterness, or that was my dream memories, and just got deeper and deeper until I accepted death wholly or something similar to that And then I was at home , or at least at some kind of level, with no hope and kind of consumed by hopelessness, I went out and the sky was covered in storm clouds, like multiple thick layers of cumulo nimbi only lighted by a light source high up in the sky, it was like a painting, it was beautiful, Then I was ready, for the unknown, usually I don't engage with scenes like that in a dream or so that's what I thought, but this time I didn't give a damn I knew there was something there, the place represented my mind my whole being I think I'm not sure, So then I said hello? Come on take me. My voice was weak but it echoed everywhere. And as I embraced the sky I rose up into the sky and started spinning slowly , and my whole body was overcome with this feeling of healing and comfort, and I heard an upbeat kind of ambient music and I started to have some kind of monologue about the death of the suffering, and how I set it off and someone named mark The sky cleaned up and it was a warm blue sky and I floated there, marinating in healing energy And then I heard my mom's voice, but it wasn't real because she is still sleeping side note: my feet need cold water, they heat up a lot and causes me to wake up, but some cold water calms my nerves down like nothing else in the world and then I sleep like a baby
WILD stands for "Wake Initiated Lucid Dreaming" and is a well known technique for going to sleep consciously. Using WILD, you can directly enter a lucid dream from the waking state. This can be a transformative experience, like stepping into another dimension—though the experience varies by the person and moment! Summary of Steps for WILD You can try WILD with this quick summary, but I recommend reading the whole guide for more thorough understanding of each step. Step 0. Do WBTB or skip this step if you're not doing WBTB—WBTB is not required for WILD.. - If you are doing WBTB with an alarm, set your alarm for 4-6 hours into sleep. - If you are doing WBTB without an alarm (natural WBTB), set your intention to wake up or drink water before bed. Once you're awake, go back to sleep doing WILD with the following steps. Step 1. Get comfy and go to sleep like you normally would. Pretend this is a normal night to wind yourself down. Step 2. Anchor your consciousness.. Put gentle awareness on an "anchor" as you go to sleep. It can be something in your environment like the noise of a fan or an imagined sense like a thought. This sill keep you conscious as you start falling asleep. Step 3. Actively enter a dream. Imagine the dream you want to have or let the dream form on its own. Any sensations you feel can be used as a portal into the dream (tingling can be energy carrying you, static imagery can be a doorway, etc). Enter the dream. Now let's get into the meat of each part of this process! Step 0. WBTB (skip this if you're not doing WBTB) To do WILD with WBTB with an alarm, set an alarm 4-6 into sleep sleep. For example, if you go to bed at 10, set your alarm for 3AM. When the alarm wakes you up, go back to sleep doing WILD. Note: 4-6 hours is a recommendation, but not a requirement. You can successfully perform WILD any hour of the night. Natural WBTB can also be fruitful. When you naturally wake up in the middle of the night, you can take advantage of the opportunity to do WILD. You can also trigger natural WBTBs in different ways. Here's some options for natural WBTB: - Set intention to wake up. For example, pretend it's Christmas and you want to wake up extra early to open presents. - Drink water before bed so that you will wake up to go to the bathroom. - Increase present-moment awareness such as through meditation. We naturally wake up multiple times a night, but lack of awareness can cause you to feel like you slept through it all. Heightened awareness allows you to take advantage of your natural WBTBs. If you forget to do WILD/are too tired, wake yourself up for a bit after you get up. Some people find success from staying awake for a few minutes, or even an hour, while others prefer to go immediately back to sleep with WILD. Test this out and see what timeframe works best for you, adjusting the length of time as needed until you find the right fit. Note: WILD can also be done at the beginning of the night and during daytime naps. Any time you go to sleep is an opportunity for WILD. Step 1. Get Comfy and Go to Sleep Make yourself comfortable in whatever position you normally fall asleep in. Prepare to go to sleep like you would any other night and wind down. Whatever sleeping position is most comfortable for you is fine for WILD. The goal here is to go to sleep like you normally would. Step 2. Anchor Your Consciousness Now here's where the magic happens! As you're going to sleep, be aware of something: a thought, a sound, a visual, anything to "anchor" your mind so that you don't drift off into unconscious sleep. An anchor can be anything such as a visual, tactile sensation, sound, etc. (see more about anchors at the end of this guide). The goal of an anchor is to maintain a low level of consciousness with little to no effort. Do not focus heavily or you will just stay awake. The WILD Balance Awareness on an anchor should be gentle, light, and low energy—rather than intense focus. Remember, your goal is falling asleep. The best anchor is something you can zone out to pretty effortlessly while not losing consciousness. - If you find yourself staying awake for too long, you may be over-focusing on your anchor. Reduce your focus level to resolve this. - If you fall asleep unconsciously too easily, this is resolved by increasing awareness level. The correct balance for WILD is about 95-99% going to sleep, and 1-5% awareness. It's not necessarily a 50-50 split like the word "balance" implies, instead being more heavily skewed towards the sleep end. You are physically going to sleep, but your mind is staying awake. To do this, you have to use “as little brain power as possible” so your conscious thoughts can squeak by uninterrupted by physical sleep. Think of it as a tiny mouse hole you have to fit through as a wall of sleep approaches. The more you can lower your energy while remaining conscious, the better. Transitionary State—From Waking to Sleep As you follow this process, you may or may not experience hypnagogia/dream-like sensations (not to be confused with sleep paralysis). - You may experience tingling, buzzing, lights, floating sensations, or other things. - Your external senses may also seem to shut off, causing feelings like deafness or weightlessness as your mind switches from external to internal input. - The switch from external to internal may also feel gradual. - If you imagine moving around in your mind, it will eventually feel like “real” movement. These experiences are totally normal, harmless, and within your control. There is an endless list of sensations you can have during WILD. Alternatively, you may not experience anything at all, going straight from waking to dreams with no apparent transition. WILD transitionary state can be a fun playground for practicing dream control! You can initiate it at will, shut off, and influence all of these sensations if you want—or just let them unfold on their own and go with the flow! Step 3. Enter a Dream The final part of WILD is where many people get stuck and accidentally fall asleep. This can happen due to an assumption that WILD will be a passive process whereby you lay there and let the dream take you. This can certainly happen, but if you’re getting stuck on this part, it may be worth trying an active approach to dream entry instead. When you fall asleep unconsciously, it’s a passive process—so let’s do the opposite. Think of WILD as a journey. You should expect active participation, like you’re stepping into a dream in your mind. Imagine yourself leave your body as you make an entrance into the dream in a literal way—instead of waiting for the dream to come to you. Here's some things that can help you do that: - Engage with the dream as if you are already done doing WILD. You are now in this new world. Take an interest in things and start interacting with them in your mind. For example, imagine yourself looking up at the sky or reaching out to touch something. - Make "dream entry" a present tense perspective for yourself, rather than an upcoming event. You're not "trying to enter a dream" anymore. You are presently in it. This mindset makes a massive difference because you are technically already dreaming at this point—and unlike waking reality, dream reality manifests your chosen perspective. - 100% of your attention should now be turned to the dream. Let go of your waking environment if you are still paying attention to that, as if you have left your body. Totally forget about it as if you have left the room, even. - Imagine yourself going through a literal gateway. You can turn any sensation into a gateway to dream. Here's some examples of both visual and non-visual entry: - If you see a light, imagine it being the sunlight at the end of a tunnel that leads to a bright and sunny beach. Imagine yourself walking, flying, or swimming through the tunnel until the light engulfs you and you find yourself standing on that beach, no longer just imagining, but with the sensation and perspective that you are physically there. - If you feel tingling sensations, you can imagine yourself being carried intro a dream by these sensations. Maybe they're fairies or electrical impulses leading you through a conduit—whatever it is, you're going into the dream. - If you feel wind, you can imagine flying or swinging in a hammock into a dream. The goal with all this is: - To make the transition more than just a passive observation, but actively leaving behind the transitionary state and literally engaging with a dream as you start to feel as though you are physically in it. - To shift your attention 100% into dreams. - To have a present tense perspective. Present VS Future Tense Perspective Future tense mindset (i.e. the "I am about to dream") can cause a dangling carrot on a stick effect—you are trying to enter a dream and find yourself constantly in this looped waiting state, never fully reaching the carrot. This is fine for the transitionary state of WILD, but to enter a dream, you want to move past this. To do so, change your mindset from "I want to enter a dream soon" to "I am dreaming already." Then combine this mindset with engagement with your dream. Instead of "I want to enter a dream", it becomes "I am already in a dream. Now I want to swim in the ocean." This change of mindset will change your reality as your attention shifts your goal into the present tense, causing you to finalize WILD and be in a fully formed dream. Revisit step 1: Get Comfy and Go to Sleep!. Another big aspect of dream entry is the going to sleep part. That's right! We're going backwards in this guide in order to go forward with the process. If you find yourself stuck in transition, now is the time to go to sleep. Continue to maintain passive awareness as you lower your energy level, get comfy, and and sleep. Do any of these things to get yourself there, see what works best for you, and have fun! The rest of this guide consists of extra details, tips, and frequently asked questions! Additional Tips Choosing an Anchor An anchor is simply something to help you be aware so you don't fall asleep unconsciously. There are many types of anchors for WILD. Here are some main categories of anchors: - External, such as fans, noise machines, or the feeling of a blanket. These consist of real things in your environment and real physical senses and are easy to keep track of in the beginning stage of WILD. However, it's possible to lose track of them as you enter the later stage, so you may want to switch to an internal anchor at that point in the WILD process. - Internal, such as watching imagery form on the backs of your eyelids, imagined visuals, imagined movement, or any sort of thoughts or imagined senses. Internal anchors are things of the mind. They can stay with you as you transition into a dream, so they're easy to keep track of in the final stage of WILD. You can use them to finalize the process and enter a dream. Static VS Changing Anchors Achors can be either static or changing. It's natural for our minds to wander as we fall asleep, and an anchor can do the same. For example, your anchor could be the visual of an apple sitting on a table. Then it could wander to you eating the apple, then going to the market to buy a pair of pants, looking up to see a bird turning into a sunflower, a sunny beach, etc. A fluid, changing narrative can be your gateway into dreams, rather than a hinderance. In this case, the narrative is your anchor. As your mind wanders away from your original anchor, this is a sign that you're about to fall asleep (a good sign that WILD is working) and here are two ways of proceeding with it: - When you mind wanders, gently bring it back to your anchor (if you prefer a static anchor). - Allow your mind to wander, but follow it. Stay passively aware as you go with the flow. You can either influence it or let it unfold naturally. Wandering thoughts are also common in dreams and can be embraced by the WILDer. What makes anchors work is the ability to keep your mind from losing consciousness completely. It doesn't mean you have to stick with the same thing throughout the whole process. It's perfectly fine to let your mind wander, as long as you're keeping track of it. Visualization Anchors Visualization anchors with WILD (also known as V-WILD) are one of the most popular. There are multiple ways you can use a visual anchor: - Use an external visual like a light or something else in the room. - Create an internal anchor from a visual in your mind. - Gaze at the backs of your eyelids, you might or might not notice imagery forming. - Use imagined imagery that forms while you're falling asleep (like hypnagogia). - Use a changing narrative with visuals (such as imagining a dream that you would like to have). Visuals tend to become more vivid the more asleep you are. It might stay the same or morph, and you can control it or go with the flow—either way is fine, as long as you maintain awareness while falling asleep. Imagined Movement & Sensation Anchors You can use any sense for anchors, such as: - Imagining yourself walking, flying, or swimming. - Imagining a calm energy flowing through your body. These can also arise either from hypnagogia or just simply imagining them. They work similarly to visual anchors in that the sensation can become more vivid the closer you get to being fully asleep. There are endless anchors you can use for WILD. What does awareness mean, though? Awareness is your consciousness and can include your perceptions. For example, you are currently aware of this guide and the shape of the letters written in it. You are probably thinking actively about the contents of the guide, but the shape of the letters is a more passive type of awareness. You are aware of things all the time, except when you're unconscious, which is why WILD works with awareness. MILD & WILD WILD can be combined with MILD (another technique for lucid dreaming) for stacked effects. Here's two ways to combine these methods: 1. Do MILD first, then WILD. 2. Use MILD as your anchor for WILD with the changing anchor approach (influencing a narrative to flow the way you want). Here's a MILD guide that I recommend: https://skyfalldreams.net/guides/skyfalls-mild-guide/ You can also do MILD during the day (any time) separately from your WILD practice. Waking VS Dream Body It's worth knowing that, during WILD (and lucid dreams), we have two bodies: the waking physical body that's laying in bed, and the dream body that may or may not be doing something else. This is a unique experience to WILD/lucid dreaming that's worth acknowledging so that you can learn how to navigate your dreams more proficiently. Like learning to crawl for the first time as an infant, it can take some practice to learn how to control them separately and deliberately. Note: You can move your waking body without waking up. These are separate mechanisms. If you're beginner, though, I recommend switching entirely to your dream body as you practice WILD and lucid dreaming. Mindset Sometimes you can do WILD by emulating the mindset you have in dreams, escpecially if you've lucid dreamed before. You can even walk yourself through a dream that you want to have, and fall asleep doing this as your anchor until you are literally in the dream. Falling Asleep Signs If you're unsure whether your WILD practice is working, these are the signs that it is: - Your mind may start to wander more than usual. - Your breathing and/or heartrate may slow down. - You may feel a jerking motion in your hand or other part of your body (hypnic jerk). - You might make a small sound, like a mumble. - Your might suddenly feel cold and need to pull up a blanket (body temperature decrease). - Sounds, visuals, touch, or other sensations in your environment may become dull or vanish completely. - You may start to hear sounds, see visuals, or feel sensations that aren't really there (hypnagogia). If you experience any of these signs, it means you're about to fall asleep. This is a great time to do WILD. Noticing these signs also means you are being aware of the falling asleep process! Even if you didn't enter a dream in the later stage, look at what you're doing correctly to get these signs and do more of that. Frequently Asked Questions Q: What do I do if I have to scratch an itch, move, or swallow during WILD? A: Do so! Act just like you normally would going to bed. You can move around, scratch itches, and swallow all you like. Laying perfectly still is not required. Any sleeping position is fine. You don't even have to close your eyes. Q: Are the lucid dreams you get from WILD more/less vivid than lucid dreams from other methods? A: No, the technique you use doesn't determine vividness. All methods have the same potential for ultimate vividness (feeling just as real as waking reality). Q: How long does it take to do WILD? A: WILD can be done in the same amount of time that it takes you to fall asleep. This can vary by the person, but can be done in minutes or even seconds, but it's okay if it takes longer, too. Q: How long does it take to LEARN how to do WILD? A: The time it takes to learn and start having successful WILDs varies. It can happen on the first night, or it could take days, weeks, or more to train. Keep in mind that training doesn't mean mindless repetition—if you don't succeed right away, adjust your practice until you figure out the balance. This will be a learning process. Once you figure out what works, repeat that! Q: I can't remember my dreams... A: It's possible to forget having done a successful WILD, especially if you have poor dream recall. If you can't remember your dreams regularly, you should work on developing good dream recall such as through dream journaling. Q: I can't relax and go to sleep! What do I do? A: Let go of racing thoughts, worries, or focusing on things that can keep you awake. Meditation like slowing your breathing and other relaxation techniques can help. Q: What do I do if it's not working? A: If you're falling asleep unconsciously, raise the awareness level. If you're staying awake, lower it. Make other adjustments as needed rather than just repeating the same thing (if it's not working). Q: How do I stabilize the dream? A: Stabilization isn't needed. You can stay in the dream simply by going off and doing dream things! Q: Does WILD cause sleep paralysis/do I need sleep paralysis? A: WILD doesn't involve sleep paralysis (hypnagogia is often mistaken for sleep paralysis because hypnagogia can be controlled through intention to match whatever experience you expect from it). Q: Is WILD the most difficult technique? A: WILD isn't a difficult technique. It's very easy once you learn to do it! Q: Can I do WBTB multiple times in one night? A: We naturally WBTB multiple times per night and you can do so for WILD, too (within reason of course). Q: Does WBTB interfere with sleep? A: Not as long as you do it within reason and get the same amount of sleeping hours you normally do. We naturally WBTB multiple times per night and can do so intentionally without disruption, but if WBTB is cutting out your sleep hours, you'll need to adjust your schedule to add them back in so you don't lose sleep. Q: What about REM cycles? A: REM isn't required for dreaming, so I've left this out of the guide. Targeting REM cycles can be helpful as long as you don't restrict yourself (since whether you have dreams in NREM can boil down to intention, you don't want to cheat yourself out of lucid dreaming opportunities by assuming that it has to be during REM). Q: How do I control transition experiences/hypnagogia? You can use dream control for this, but it goes beyond the purpose of this guide. Here's a guide on dream control: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing Q: What if I get too excited? A: It's a common misconception that excitement wakes you up. The mechanism for waking up is its own thing, though. It's not controlled by excitement. Q: Can I do WILD without an anchor? A: You can use pure awareness as your anchor, essentially having an "anchorless" WILD experience. Anchors are just an easier thing to teach.
Updated 12-20-2022 at 08:17 AM by 99032
One hour long dream. I did V-WILD but decided to just pay a lot of attention to the process, feeling it, being present. I've been running lots of tests like this lately to try and get a better idea of how it works. After doing V-WILD into my bedroom, I climbed out the window. I noted how a lot of things were different in my neighborhood like lighting and rearranged buildings. I decided to test out waking myself up in a way where it’s more dream body instead of waking (trying to get a better understanding for the difference between dream and waking body lately). I tested to see if I can trigger a false awakening. Yes! Maybe? I woke up back in my bedroom. I assumed this was either a dream, or I woke myself for real. I did a reality check with finger through palm and it didn’t work. I was pretty sure it was a dream anyway though. I didn't take the failed RC too seriously, since I know that happens sometimes. I plugged my nose and breathed, that worked. I proceeded to practice false awakenings a few times. Knew I was still dreaming each time, got a better feel for it. Most of the time I was with my dream character version of SO. She watched me do all this nonsense lol. Most times I told her it was a dream, she acted mock concerned like half-heartedly gasped. I responded “Yeah, I know if you were my rl SO you would be rightly concerned about me thinking everything is a dream, but since we both know it’s a dream, you’re fine. No need to act all shocked haha." I eventually woke myself up for real when it felt it had been an hour. My timing guess was right (I seem to still have a good sense of RL time in dreams).
Updated 01-12-2023 at 07:53 PM by 99032
Failed dream stabilization in DILD I am on my way home, carrying groceries on the sidewalk of the quiet street passing by the house I live in on a cloudy day with a darker lighting of the environment suggesting that the time of day is soon to be or already is dusk. I'm not sure if my mother is with me, but she could be. Suddenly, I become lucid. It might have been a random thought about lucidity which triggered this. But I immediately start slipping out of the dream but try to rub my hands and to look at them to stabilize the dream, but I am already on the threshold of waking up, strangely controlling both my dream and real body at once, but apparently my stabilization attempt soon failed and I find myself having waken up. I got too stressed to journal again. I'll probably continue for real once summer holidays come around in nearly exactly a month. I actually chanted a mantra and used a special thought technique I can't really explain to kind of bypass the way you'd usually have this only incubate a fake lucid dream instead of actually causing awareness, and I guess it worked. It's like I went "behind" the normal thought? Only I really know what I'm talking about with that, I guess, at least I hope at least I will if I rediscover this some time. Nobody ever understood the way I explained how my brain worked. People tend to think these are metaphors, but I feel like I physically navigate my thoughts. While that's not what happens, of course, that's the input I'm getting and doing the same "movement" produces consistent results. It's weird like that. Also, I'm tired so I'm rambling about this, probably mostly as a big note to self so that I can reproduce this, since this is the first time a technique just straight up worked first try to that extent. I do wonder why the stabilization didn't work, though. And I tend to always find myself kind of "blind" in dreams, I've noticed that here as well. It's like my whole vision is covered by a blind spot, like how your thumb disappears if you move it into the right location, it makes it hard to stay in a dream. I feel like I only know some of the visual information because I just kind of know without seeing it, and that's annoying me. But I can't say reality is a whole lot different, honestly. My perception is always weirdly "blind" like that, like a very insidious form of tunnel vision. Enough rambling now. I still think this was probably the closest I've ever gotten to stabilize a lucid dream, so overall, this was a success. Good.
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