Entaria

Non-dream
Dream
Semi-Lucid
Lucid

I don't know if this is the beginning of the dream, but it's the earliest part of the dream that I can remember. Right away, I know that I am dreaming and that my goal was to complete the basic task of the month before trying to find my dream guide. I am in my room (which is actually messy this time, unlike last time. Much more accurate). I want to go somewhere else, and try to fly, but for some reason am having difficulty. I'm not able to simply start flying, like I usually am, so I decide to go to my "back up" method, which a dream character taught me when I was 5 or 6: I have to throw myself at the ground, and not be afraid of hitting it. (Kind of like that Douglas Adams quote, but I learned this long before I ever read it)It sort of works, but I get stuck hovering a few inches off my floor, and can't really move. I stand up, and try simply jumping. I hover in the air, and have to make some swimming motions to get going, but finally I'm able to fly like normal, and fly through the window. While I'm flying, I remember I need to anchor the dream, so look around at the detail of the shingles on the roof underneath my window, and then at the grass and the trees, rub my hands together, and - because it's so quiet - start singing, until everything feels significantly solid. Rather than trying to go anywhere else, I land in the back yard, where my cat is running around, and take a moment to appreciate the detail - everything is laid out exactly as it is in real life, and when I look down, I can see the detail of every blade of grass (though this isn't quite accurate because our "grass" is actually mostly weeds). I remember the task of the month, and shout

"I need a Dream Character!"

No one appears in front of me, so I turn around (a little too fast) and the whole dream crumbles away. Everything is almost black, but I know I'm still dreaming, because I still feel like I'm standing, and I can't feel my real body, so I start singing and rubbing my hands together until things start coming back, and then walking around in a circle, feeling the grass on my feet, until everything is nicely solid again. My cat runs by, and I reach down to pet him, then start walking farther towards the back of my yard. I turn my head, and see a guy with a giant electric lawn mower cutting my neighbour's lawn.

"Hey, you!"

He stops the lawn mower as I run over and hop the fence.

"Sing me a song."

He looks kind of confused for a minute (and I notice that he kind of looks like Bruce Willis, but not quite), and then..."

"Um, okay... what would you like to hear? Classical? Rock?"

"Sing me your very favourite song."

He gives a huge smile "Okay!" and launches into some kind of jazz song that I don't recognize, but sounds like it must be a real song I had heard somewhere.

I wonder why my brain came up with that one, since I don't really like the style, and start looking around, wondering how long he's going to be singing, because I really don't want to be here forever.

A few seconds after I think that, he stops and says, "I only want to do one verse."

He goes back to his gardening, and I start trying to mess around and make rocks levitate, because in the lucid I had a couple nights before, I was able to make things fly around. But it won't work, no matter how hard I try, and suddenly the dream is gone.

I catch myself before I start to move, and lie perfectly still. I keep telling myself "I want to find my dream guide" and try to pick someplace that I want to go so I can imagine myself there, and hopefully enter my dream there, but I can't think of anything, and start drifting in and out of hallucinations and dreams.

Finally, one solidifies, and again, I already know that I'm dreaming. I'm in some kind of military base, with either cement or metal walls, ceiling, and floor. Only the emergency lighting is on, so everything is kind of yellow. I start wondering around, and doors open for me as I approach them. The place seems to be completely deserted. I start anchoring the dream by touching the walls, the floor, rubbing my hands together, rubbing my legs. I put my ear to a wall to try and hear anything, but it is quiet, so I start singing a little bit again.

I go through another door, to an intersection of a few hallways, and see a DC doing something at an electrical panel, and think "good, I need to get a DC to sing to me," and start to approach him, but then remember I've already done that, and now I'm trying to find my Dream Guide. I turn around, on my left there is a single orange door, and directly in front of my is a double orange door. I put my hands on the door knobs and say,

"My dream guide is going to be on the other side of these doors."

I open them, expecting to see the tall, freckled, curly-haired red-head who I saw once and thought might have been my dream guide (though never managed to confirm it because she disappeared too quickly) but don't see anything. It is very dark, so I walk through the doors, and see another set of orange doors - open - a few feet away, and walk through them into a large room with a low ceiling and dim lighting.

Halfway across the room, I see an asian girl who seems to be standing on stilts.

"Are you my dream guide?"

She nods, and starts walking across the room to stand in the corner opposite me, but on the same side as the door. As she is walking, I realize she isn't on stilts, but has abnormally long legs - she was wearing light-coloured knee-high socks that just made it look like she was on stilts.

"Really?"

She nods, "Yes."

I start to walk towards her, and almost immediately the dream disappears.

Once again, I lie perfectly still and picture the room I had just been in, trying to get back to it, but just drift in and out of non-lucids for a while before my alarm goes off, and I finally get frustrated and give up.

Non-dream
Dream
Semi-Lucid
Lucid

I am in my room, getting ready to go somewhere or do something, I don't know exactly what. For no apparent reason, I think "what if this is a dream?" but decide everything feels far to realistic (As a side note, my dreams are rarely so realistic that I can wonder if it is a dream, and decide that it isn't. 99% of the time, as soon as the thought crosses my mind, I become lucid. Although in this case, the fact that my room was perfectly tidy should have been enough of a clue...) I decide that now is a good time to do a reality check anyway (because I'm still trying to make reality checks enough of a habit that I do them in automatically when dreaming). I look at the doll with two long braids that sits on top of my dresser, close my eyes for a second, and open them again.

What the hell? The hair is in a different position. That can't be right, I must not have been paying attention.

Just to test and prove to myself that I am awake, I step into a more open part of the room and jump while thinking about flying, fully expecting gravity to follow normal rules.

But instead, I float up and hover near the ceiling ("Holy crap...")

Okay, I guess I am dreaming.

I remember reading a post about making dream time "longer" than the amount of time I'm actually asleep, and decide to try it. (Unfortunately, despite being lucid, I am still not particular logical, and this was something I was not planning on trying until after I'd gained fairly good dream control, which I don't currently have) I first decide to simply demand that the dream lasts for an hour, but I know right away that it hasn't worked, and the dream starts to fade. I stabilize it as much as I can, but it is still "dark" around the edges. I remember a different technique where you "travel" to another dream realm where time is different, and say "I want to go to the realm where one waking minute equals one dream hour."

Nothing happens, and I'm not sure if I said it right, or if I had even said it out loud at all, so try again. This time, a portal of some sort appears in the wall beside me, and I go through it. As I do this, I hear a rather sinister voice say "Getting a little advanced, are we?"

I fall backwards through blackness for a few seconds, just like the person who posted the technique had described, and find myself back in my room.

Hoping that it worked, I remember my goal of learning to "waterbend," and fly through the wall, trying to visualize the beach at my cottage on the other side. But, as I go through the wall, the dream fades, and I wake up.

I resist the temptation to move, and stay perfectly still once I realize I have woken up, and continue to visualize the beach, as well as imagining that Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender is there to teach me.

I am suddenly in the dream, with Katara (and sometimes Aang) there. She talks to me a little bit as I try to do waterbending, but I don't remember what she was saying. I'm doing pretty good with the waterbending, getting it to move around the way I want it to.

Suddenly, for some reason, she becomes evil, and there are people in boats swarming the beach attacking me. And I start attacking back, experimenting with different ways to move the water around, and freezing it to throw little ice darts at some of the attackers. I realize that I can just leave, or ignore the attackers (because they aren't actually doing anything to hurt me) but decide that this is actually kind of fun, and keep at it. For some reason, things start flipping between "cartoon 2D" and "3D," which kind of weirds me out, but then I think "Hey, that's kind of cool," and start doing it on purpose.

At this point the dream is starting to fade again, and I suddenly remember "Crap, I was going to try the task of the month. I NEED AN INSTRUMENT!"

Some sort of cross between a flute and a clarinet appears in my hand, and I start playing it while everything continues to fade. For whatever reason, without me choosing to do so, I/the instrument play(s) the classic "snake charming" Arabian music.

I wake up, and once again try to slip back into a dream right away, but it doesn't work.

I've been attempting WILDs for a couple of weeks now, but keep getting stuck in transition because of persistent hypnic jerks, something that has always happened in the past when I've non-purposefully started slipping into REM sleep while still more-or-less lucid/conscious. But, I have frequently in the past (particularly in the morning, if I go back to sleep after my alarm has gone off) gone straight to REM sleep without any problems, so I thought I would try a "WILD" without making a conscious effort to remain lucid, and was kind of successful...

Non-dream
Dream
Semi-Lucid
Lucid

(Some things happened before this, but I can't quite remember what they were) I am lying face down in a puddle, and hear a male voice reminding me that I'm trying to attempt a WILD, but I'm not quite there yet. That voice gradually morphs into my own voice, which is sometimes coming from an outside source, and sometimes coming from me. I get up and start walking forward with a great deal of difficulty (dream logic said that this was because Sleep Paralysis was setting in) I'm keeping my eyes half closed so I don't wake myself up, and every now and then stop at a "landmark" (tree, road, etc.) and tell myself I need to "save my place" by doing some sort of action (like breaking a branch) so that if I wake up, I'll be able to go directly back to that spot when I start attempting to WILD again. (What???) I get to a large stone wall, and the male voice from the beginning of my dream tells me that there is a small door in the bottom of the wall, and that when I crawl through it, I will be in my dream. I locate the door (which is really just a small hole) and wiggle through it.

After I crawl through the hole, I find myself on some sort of medium-sized rocky hill. To my right is a forest, and to my left is the beach at my cottage. (this was good, I wanted to attempt this month's challenge of diving to a ship wreck and collecting treasure. My plan had been to go to my cottage, because I know it quite well and frequently dream that I'm there, so I figured it wouldn't take a whole lot of effort to keep the dream world from falling apart if I went there) The sky is very dark and cloudy, and looks like it is going to rain. I want it to be nice and bright, and try to will the clouds to go away. This doesn't work, so I wave my hand at them like I'm half fanning half brushing them away, and they fall away down beyond the horizon. It's not quite as bright as I would like it, so I wave my hand again upward like I'm trying to pull something up, and the sun rises behind me and shoots across the sky, too far so it's right on the opposite horizon and the sky is red like at sunset. I "pull" the sun up slowly this time, but then think no, maybe I'd like it better at sunset, and push it back down. I play around with this for a few minutes until I'm happy with the colour of the sky and the position of the sun. I look out across the water, and think that, rather than attempting the challenge of the month, I'd like to recreate the land from the fantasy novel I'm writing (ARRRRG, NO! Stop changing your mind once you're in the dream *slaps dream self... again*) . I look up at the sky and think "castle" and when I look down, the forest is still there, but the beach and water have been replaced by rolling hills and a castle in the distance. But... rather than being the impressive castle in the side of a mountain I had imagined for my novel, it looks like one of those "fairy princess" castle made of paper towel rolls and paper cones, all bright pinks and yellows. Yuck. I decide to at least change the colour to something more reasonable, and wave my hand over it a few times until the colour changes to more muted browns and greens (still not what I want, but close enough). I look around and realize that everything is much darker and fuzzier than it should be, as though my eyes were half close. So, I make the brilliant decision to open my eyes wider...

... And open them in real life. ("Crap!")

This is my first lucid - or, sort of lucid - dream since I started being active on Dream Views about three days ago and getting serious about actually controlling my dreams. I should note that I have had many, many lucid dreams in the past, but have never very much control, not even over myself. I'm not entirely sure if this was a WILD or a DILD. I attempted a WILD as I was going to sleep last night, and got SO close, but a strand of hair fell into my face, and was driving me absolutely mad, and I had to move. I tried to start over, but the housemates upstairs were making noise and kept distracting me. So I gave up, but kept the thought in my mind, and when I woke up later in the night, tried again. My second time waking up may have resulted in a successful WILD, with me losing some lucidity as I entered the dream, but I'm not sure.

Non-dream
Dream
Semi-Lucid
Lucid

I'm in my bed. There are three others there with me, but I can only hear them, not see or feel them. (They are all "me" but I don't realize this until after I wake up. Whenever I am in bed, I'm talking to them, but can't remember what we were actually saying.) There is a fourth person sitting in the chair near my bed, guiding us through the lucid dreaming process. She tells the first "me" that I am dreaming, and it's okay to get up now. But before I leave the bed, I have to touch my feet together, one on top of the other. (Dream logic...)

The first "me" sits up. My eyes are closed, and I touch my feet together like my "guide" told me to. Then I get up, and open my eyes. I'm in my townhouse room in the "village" on-campus at the university. My guide (who I never try to see, though I know she's sitting on the chair) asks me what I want to do.

"I should make it daytime first."

I try to simply will it to be daytime, but it doesn't work. I close my eyes and spin around, thinking "daytime" and when I stop, the curtains are open and the sun is starting to rise. My guide asks me "what now" and I tell her I want to run around on the walls like the scene in Inception where gravity is changing. She says she'll adjust gravity for me, so I run at one of the walls, and just as she said, gravity changes so I'm able to run up the wall. I do this for a few minutes, and then she says that she will be the one in charge of when gravity changes, so I have to keep up. Somehow I know exactly where she's going to shift gravity to, and have no problem keeping up.

My consciousness starts to "drift away" from the first "me" and back to the bed as the first me decides that she's had enough of this and flies out the window. I'm suddenly back in bed, and the "guide" tells the second me that it's okay to get up now. So I start to sit up, but this me disappears very quickly. Finally, it is just the "real" me left. My guide tells me I'm dreaming, and it's okay to get up.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Don't forget to touch your feet together."

I'm very cautious as I get up, thinking that I'm not actually asleep, and that my guide is lying. I do as she says, then stand up.

"Are you dreaming?"

I look at my hands.

"Yes."

After this, I no longer see, hear, or think about my "guide" for the rest of the dream.

I start thinking about what I'm going to do now, but remember that I need to ground myself. I remember the tutorial I read about using all your senses to do this, so start rubbing my hands together, looking around the room, listening. I cannot smell anything, though I try. I can hear "May it Be" coming from my radio, and think that this is my "real" ears hearing it (it wasn't, I did not have any music playing) so I try to "switch" to my dream ears, but it doesn't work. I'm amazed briefly at how clear everything is, and the fact that I can no longer feel my body in my bed (this is something that has never happened before in a lucid dream) I remember the tutorial again, and how it said I should pick something up, like a rock. For some reason, there is nothing in the room small enough to pick up, and definitely not a rock, so I go to the window. I see a bottle cap when I look down and decide that will do. I can still here "May it Be" and look over at the table by my bed, where my radio and lamp are. Seeing the chair where my guide had been sitting makes me uncomfortable, even though at this point I don't remember her, so I look back out the window. I decide rather than taking the "easy" route down, I'm going to teleport. So I step back into my room, close my eyes, and spin around, thinking "I'm in front of my townhouse."

I feel something change and open my eyes. I'm in front of my townhouse, and go pick up the bottle cap. I toss it back and forth a couple of times and "pop" it. Then I forget about it, and start running down the street, just enjoying how vivid this dream is and how for the first time ever, my movements don't feel hindered by the dream. I decide to start flying around and see what's there. (as a side note, either a DC or my DG, who I have never consciously met, taught me how to fly in a non-lucid dream when I was very young, and this has been my main method of getting around in lucid dreams for as long as I can remember, although sometimes I get "stuck" just a couple feet off the ground). At first, I try to go as high and as fast as I can, with the intent of going out into space, but though I try as hard as I can, I can't reach the clouds. So I stop and look around, and notice a mountain in the distance, and wonder why there's a mountain in my dreamworld, which other than this, looks exactly like my university campus. I decide to go check it out, and as I get closer, I see that it is a volcano, with many peaks and a large crater. I love rock climbing, so I decide I'm going to land at the base and climb up it to see what's inside the crater.

On the way, I remember that one of my goals is to learn firebending and waterbending, like in Avatar: the Last Airbender. So I cup my hands and try to summon fire, but it fails. (I think this is because in real life, I was a bit nervous to try, as similar things have happened in non-lucid dreams, and it was quite painful) I then pass another mountain/volcano with water in it's crater, and try waterbending instead. I manage to pull out a little trickle of water, but I'm too far away, and can't get it all the way to me. I can hear "May it Be" again, and start worrying that it's drifting through again from the real world, but then realize I'm not actually hearing it, it's just stuck in my head. I debate whether to get closer to the water, or keep going to the volcano, and decide on the volcano (What are you doing? *slaps dream self* Goal number one: learn firebending or waterbending. *headwall*) I get to the volcano, and find that it is actually made of sand, and is on the shore of an ocean. Someone else is there, and she starts climbing. I follow, and make it to the top in a disappointingly short time. Once I get to the top though, I feel a "tug" and things get blurry briefly. Quickly, I pick up some sand and rub it between my hands, also concentrating on the sound of the waves. But there is another hard tug, and I wake up suddenly, really, really hoping that it's a false awakening, but it isn't.

(note: this is the tutorial I was referencing near the beginning: Extending Lucid Dreaming)

Hmm, so, my first dream journal entry...


Leading a Protest

I am some sort of princess, or otherwise famous person, in the midst of a protest (the people need more land to plant yams... I don't know either.). Within the crowd are rows of "hedges," made from something vaguely grass-like, which are our crops. I need to trim the ones belonging to my family before I can join in the protest. As I go, I overhear people talking about how I'll be the one to lead the protest and get them what they need, and wondering how I'll do it. I over hear that I am known as "the Scythe" because my scythe is well... scythe shaped (apparently nobody else's is?), and just as I start thinking this is strange, I notice other people also working, and I am, indeed, the only person with a scythe-shaped scythe. The others are odd boxy contraptions, and mine is apparently old fashioned. Every once in a while, I'll pass my mother, and we have a conversation in which she more or less tells me off for what I'm about to do. Glowing patterns start appearing on the hedges while we talk, and she quickly chops them off. I finish, and start running around riling up the protesters by screaming and waving my scythe in the air, and damaging the hedges near the front of the crowd, which belong to the king. Eventually, the king comes out, dressed in very elaborate robes and headdress, and starts gesturing to the crowd to calm down. I approach him, and then wake up.

Frustrating Awakenings

I'm still in bed, and my little sister and mom come in. My sister starts telling me about how she was talking to the police officer at the high school, and that she found out he likes facebooking, and sent me a message, and that I really should be more active on facebook. She hands me a stack of photos, the one on top being a photo of my facebook profile, and I look at the time of the most recent message (11:32pm) and tell her that this was sent after I went to bed, so how could I have answered it? I then notice it was from my friend J, something about breeding her horse and genetic testing, and ask my sister what this has to do with the police officer, since I can't see any messages from him anywhere.

Suddenly I'm at a cross country competition, and I'm showing my mom the rest of the photos, which were taken by my friend J of her friend competing with her horse at the competition. My mom starts leaving, and I follow, explaining how the riders judge the distance between jumps by walking the course before hand. She starts talking to a man, but I can't hear the conversation.

I wake up, and lean over the stool beside my bed where I keep a pad of paper, and write down the dream. I show it to my mom and my sister, and we have a conversation about the dream I just had.

Then I wake up again, confused for a moment, and once again lean over the stool to write down the dream, plus the false awakening. And then go back to sleep.

And then I wake up AGAIN (for real this time), and realize that I didn't actually wake up the last time ("Oh my GOD" *headwall*) and write down the dream for a third time.

As a side note, I have been attempting a dream journal for three days, and this is now the third day in a row I've had a false awakening to write down my dream (unfortunately the other two times, once I woke up for real, I couldn't remember the dream).