So included with this dream journal an example of my chart technique along with a sample of my documentation of RCs I want to show everything that I'm documenting with my chart and med method. I've talked about this in other posts but I want to break down this technique here so that in the future, if I ever need to refer somebody to what I'm using (either if they want to attempt to copy my technique or they are trying to help me troubleshoot it, I can save time in just showing them to this dream journal entry.
Now obviously I'm insane for doing this because last time I worked on this technique I actually saw a decrease in my lucidity rate on the nights that I tried the hardest. But last time I kept my results fairly private. Granted this will probably recede into privacy too, but for today, or at least the first couple days of me getting back into this I want to make my results public because... well I don't know really.
So the technique breaks down like so. There are three main goals for me to accomplish during the day. The most complex and time consuming being twice-daily meditation. I generally meditate using a two part system; in where I count down from a number to clear my mind and get mental chatter to quiet down, then briefly reset to a lower number and start again, followed by either focus on problem solving a particular subject or simply focusing on breath and mental quiet.
I document this in a chart with the starting points of counts. (Counting down from 50 and then restarting from 15 is the norm for me. I used to count from 100 and then restart from 30 but it would take too long and I would find myself spending too much time on the phase of meditation. I still do 100-30 occasionally if my mind is particularly crazy and I have the time. Then I put an S for subject and an M for mindfulness, and if there is a subject, I like to talk about the themes that I meditated on in my dream journal.
The second is documenting RCs. I carry a small notebook and pen/pencil with me and document major RCs. Almost every RC I do has the time written down that I will observe before and after writing down the RC and attempt to observe if only a minute or two have passed, so all RCs include a built in clock check, and generally a nose pinch is included without me documenting it. I won't be copying this into my DJ regularly but this is what it looks like.
8:20 - I'm at home. Clock check. Sun check (there is only 1 sun). Nose Pinch. Recalled waking up 1h ago.
9:09 - I'm at school before class. Clock Check. Nose Pinch. Second sun check.
10:10 - I'm in a boring econ class. I recall registering for this class and coming to it previously. I check that my calculator is functioning logically. 74-18 =56. I work it out on paper to confirm. Clock check and Nose pinch.
10:20 - Econ class ended early, this triggered me to RC. I checked the moon to confirm there was only one and that it was of a normal size. CC and NP.
10:47 - Season check. Does this weather make sense for april, or is it the middle of summer or snowing. Checks out. CC and NP.
11:29 - Recalled waking up in the morning. CC and NP.
12:41 - Art history is starting now. CC, NP and recall registering for this class.
1:02 - I rewrite the day as it has happened so far. I woke up, meditated, ate breakfast, drove to school, went to econ class, got lunch, went to the bank, sat in the student lounge, then went to art history.
1:17 - I do a hand check and confirm I have 10 fingers. CC and NP.
1:40 - I reread my earlier documentation of the day and make sure I still remember every activity. CC and NP.
2:58 - I just arrived home. I do a seasonal weather check, CC and NP.
3:45 - NP and CC
4:20 - Seasonal weather check, NP and CC
Though I stayed up until 10; I did not document anymore RCs because I got heavily invested in a programming project and didn't think to RC anymore.
This is a situation that I would like to highlight. I can become very invested in things and lose track of time and reality. If I could stay alert during these times, I could probably increase my chances of becoming lucid. I'm pretty pleased with my coverage of the day otherwise, it might even be a bit overkill.
And the final daily goal is to maintain a consistent bedtime. I'm aiming for between 10 and 11 pm, though I might decide to shift that a little earlier. Not really much else to explain there.
Finally I record the dreams into the chart, quantifying them as a star ranking from 1-5, with 1 star being the 'worst' and 5 star being the 'best', on a sliding scale of dream recall, clarity and lucidity. I don't have a precise rubric as dreams are very hard to quantify and weird phenomenon always come up. (Say, a night with a lot of false awakenings.) Generally it works as follows.
No stars=no recall.
1 star=any amount of dream recall, even if it's just a fragment, up to a fair amount of of non-lucid dream recall.
2 star=a lot of non-lucid dream recall; recalling multiple separate dreams, or recalling a very long/vivid non-lucid dream. Sometimes depending upon the circumstance, layer 0 and layer 1 lucidity works in here.
3 star=generally a decent amount of semi lucid dream time, or a breif LD.
4 star=a long stable lucid dream. Basically my goal is for most or every night to be a 4-star.
5 star=god tier. Multiple lucid dreams in a night in a chain or a very long and vivid LD.
Date | Morning Meditation | Evening Meditation | RCs | Bedtime | Star Ranking |
18.4.2017 | 50-15-m | N/A | 14 | 10:40 |  |
So with that in mind, I plan to progress this technique. My first couple days will probably be documented publicly but after that I will probably switch over to doing this entirely in my private DJ as to not scum up the DJ section and for my own privacy.