Uncategorized

I realized I did this in the wrong forum so I'm reposting it here. The other thread is in "Lucid Dreaming Discussion" I believe. It can be deleted.

So I've been trying since I joined this forum to attain my first LD. I stuck to the regiment most people put on here for learning how to DILD. I bought LaBerges book and read it and did everything by the book. I kept a DJ as religiously as I do anything.

And I gave up and for the last four months I've spared little to no thoughts for LDing. I kind of pushed it out of my head. Until this morning.

I was dreaming I was walking down a hallway in school with a friend of mine that had passed away. I must have realized that's impossible and I yelled out, volunteerily (I remember thinking to say it), "I'm dreaming!" and immediately I did a nose pinch reality check. It was the weirdest feeling I've ever had. I could breathe through my pinched nose and closed mouth. That feeling alone, something impossible to replicate in waking life, was worth all of the work and desire.

But I wanted more and I knew I was getting ridiculously excited. There was this weird duality where I could feel my real life hands and body and I felt that it was numb but I was literally shaking in my dream body with excitement. I decided that I needed to stabilize the dream so I tried to rub my hands (And I'm amazed I even remembered to to do this) but everything seemed like it was moving in slow motion. So I gave up on that and tried to fly and that too felt like I was swimming against the current and under water. Everything was so slow. And then I must have fallen back into the dream because that's all I remember.

And the craziest thing of this all? I didn't even REMEMBER I had a lucid dream until I was halfway to school. I almost swerved on the road with the sudden complete vivid memory and it totally changed my mood and my day. I feel better than I have in a long time.

It's unreal. It really is. I used to always ask questions on this forum like: "How does it feel? Do you remember it in real time?" And that's really hard to answer because I now know how it feels. It's just an otherworldly ethereal feeling.

So I'm really excited. I'm hoping this opens the floodgates and makes it easy for me. But the only thing I'm worried about is that this was a random DILD. I did no exercises for it. I haven't even been doing reality checks. Should I get back on a regiment?

Or You Could do it the Easy Way...

Okay, here's my biggest secret. You really don't need any techniques at all to have a lot of DILDs! (I bet some people who read all that stuff are gonna be mad now. Haha. Sorry you guys.)

Even if you're not a natural, you can teach yourself to think like one. If you can do that, you'll have LDs all the time without really trying.

The thing that works best is simply awareness. And I really mean awareness.

Most people go through their days thinking about where they need to be going next, and what they need to be doing, and wondering where they should be eating. They spend very little time being truly aware of their surroundings.

This is where that meditation stuff really helps, by the way! Meditation teaches the kind of awareness I'm talking about.

The easy way to LD is a state of constant awareness. Make your day one big long reality check. Only instead of a specific RC, begin to question everything around you at once. Quiet your mind, and simply be aware of your state of consciousness. Be aware of the FEELING of LIVING and being AWAKE. It's a much different feeling than being asleep or even astral projecting.

I believe that many natural LDers do this unconsciously. They just "know" when they are dreaming because they know it feels different. This also may explain why naturals have a hard time explaining exactly how they get lucid. They don't really GET lucid...they ARE lucid every moment of the day and night.

Also, during the day, remember that reality, too, is subjective. In a way we human beings are always dreaming, because our minds are always interpreting what our senses are gathering, trying to make sense of what's around us. Is reality objective, or is reality simply the interpretation we get in the end? Human beings are truly unable to examine the objective world completely.

By the way, if you already have problems distinguishing reality from a dream, or have schizophrenia, or any other serious mental conditions I DO NOT advise you do this, because if your mind is unstable the last thing you should be doing is questioning reality or considering reality a dream.

The best way to learn about awareness is to pick up a book on meditation, Buddhism, or Taoism. Meditation is a tool that can teach you what true mindfulness feels like. The real trick to getting lucid is to keep that feeling of awareness going on all the time, even if it's not always completely conscious.


Awareness Addendum:

The key to constant awareness comes from the fundamental idea that all reality is another facet of a dream. Time is illusionary. Today will soon fade and cease to exist. Everything you know in this world can be changed in an instant, at any time, for any reason. This is just the same way your dreams are. This is what Dream Yoga teaches. All things are illusionary, all things change, and all things fade. This is the reality of existence.

-Everyone has some ideas as to what they want to do in their lucid dreams. So think of a lucid dream that you want to have tonight.


Got an idea? Now that you've thought of a good dream, try visualizing it. It helps to use real memories....for example, imagine that you're tasting the chocolate, and at the same time remember how chocolate tasted the last time you had some. Decide what the buildings look like, who will be there, what you will do, and make it all as detailed as possible. Basically, daydream.

-Remember that every moment today passes, becoming nothing but memory, as a dream. All things are illusionary, and all things in constant flux.

Keep in mind that right now, this reality, is only another form of dream. Keep this in mind as often and as long as possible. So when you do reality checks (hopefully frequently, since RCing a lot during the day can help ease you into a constant state of awareness), try to think about some of these things.

If I haven't had a lucid dream since starting this course I am glad I am at least remembering dreams more consistently. Today I had three more vivid dreams. I'll go in reverse order. This is the second dream I remembered:

See this basketball? IN THE FACE!!

A friend and I were hanging out in front of a condo in what appeared to be somewhere like California. It was really hot and breezy and I think a beach was nearby. We had a deflated basketball in our hands and we were just hanging out. For whatever reason I see the "In THE FACE" actor from Step Brothers walking down the sidewalk next to us. For whatever reason the buddy I'm with motions to me to come on and starts following that guy, with our basketball. My friend says: We are invited to come play basketball with them. I'm pretty nervous because I didn't hear an invitation (shoulda RC'd!! :X) but I follow along anyway. Along the way I start to think that we'll definitely need to put air in our ball or, at least, go back to my car to grab my good basketball. But my friend says don't worry and we see a pump alongside the road. We jog over and grab it and start pumping up the ball. I remember doing this but I don't remember the ball actually inflating any (shoulda RC'd again!!!).

We round a corner, where the fellow did, and see a basketball hoop mounted above an open garage. It looks pretty beat up but I don't care. A hoop is a hoop. What I DO care about is the fact that there is a pretty nice sized slope going from the base of the driveway up to the garage door. I think to myself: Man, this is going to be hard to play on. Whatever, though. So I walk up the slope and stand directly under the hoop to get a feel for it. It's not going to be fun or easy. And then the actor we had followed is standing in front of me. To my left is, what I'm assuming, is his son. And there is another guy there as well. The actor asks me when we're gonna start and I say: "Right now." And we do. The actor passes the ball over to the other guy and the other guy drives to the hoop to try and dunk. Somehow I get involved and make him miss and it goes into the grass next to the garage. I'm told to inbound the ball. And I do, to the actors son. From there I remember dribble driving to the hoop, getting caught up in the slope, and forcing up a few bad shots. And that is really it.

Filming a movie. At the mall. With my old math teacher? Wat?

So this dream is a bit more blurry but I'm surprised I remember it at all. It was one from the middle of the night I, for whatever reason, chose not to write down. But as I was writing my basketball dream it.. It just came back to me.

In this dream we start out in the mall. But the inside of the mall isn't like normal. It's laid out like my old job at a publishing company. People are clicking away at keys and for whatever reason, I am too. I sit down at a computer to start working and click to open our "lead tickets" program (which is just a task we had to do, by entering information). Immediately my old math teacher comes around and tells me not to do them and glances at Shane (who worked with me at this place). So I stop.

And now suddenly I'm walking through the mall with a HUGE group of people I know. Family, friends, random parents. I'm wearing a blue button up shirt and khaki shorts. I have a camera. I'm walking around thinking that I have to get this film organized to start filming and that I don't need this many distractions. There's no reason to have this many people here. In my dream I wonder: Do they think the movie is COMING OUT today? Because I need to start it today. For whatever reason I decide that I want to be in the film but I can't be in the film wearing khaki shorts. I need some jeans to make myself look good. So, instead of buying a pair from the mall I'm in, I decide to drive an entire HOUR back to my parents house in Mount Morris. I'm apparently in Rockford (where I currently live). This doesn't make sense. But I do. I feel myself getting into my car and driving and suddenly I'm halfway to Mount Morris. I'm leaning my face on my hand listening to the radio or something when I get a phone call from my mom asking me to come check something out. Apparently she is at the mall and forgot I told her I had to leave for awhile. I tell her I can't because I left already but I'll be back. She semi-freaks out and then tells me they're leaving as well.

Delivering Pizzas on a busy road to write the declaration of independence.

So the dream opens up and I'm frantically driving on this old road I used to take to work, Mud Creek, and in front of my are literally hundreds of cars and trucks. They all have Pizza Hut and Dominoes displays on them. Except the displays are gigantic! The pizza hut display goes up the side of their truck/car and past the roof. And the Domino display is sideways on the roof. So these two signs make gigantic Ls. But anyway. I'm behind a whole slew of these cars just trying to make it past them when they start constantly honking at me. Whatever though. I keep going, occasionally almost skidding out in the dusty/dirt road, and manage to survive the ordeal. Because next thing I know I'm at some sort of campground. With my brother in law (yay ). And we're re-writing the Declaration of Independence as if for a new nation. Joel is writing but he's stuck. I tell him: Start with "we the people" and end there, as well. Whatever goes in between will be fine.

So I'm starting to realize a few of my dream signs: basketball players, goofy math, and running in fear.

Last night I guess I was pretty tired. I only had one dream fragment and at that it was only a snippet of a conversation. The vocalist from a friends band, Aaron from S.I.B, said something like: "What all countries have we invaded since Iraq? Only one."

Hopefully better luck tonight..

I don't know why it's suddenly so much harder to remember my dreams now. The first few days was easy. Last night I had a weird dream. It was really dark and didn't make much sense. I remember I was trying to save somebody from someone and I had to impersonate a doctor to do so. I'm sorry, I really don't remember much else. I'm going to take a quick nap and see if anything comes to mind. I'll edit this after.

Another night and another dream fragment. This one is really blurry and really fragmented. All I remember is I was watching two guys play some sort of drinking game for a split second. And the I woke up. When I went back to bed I was dreamless for the night.