side notes

11:12 pm

I got 3mg melatonin tablets. I'll test them to see if they produce lucid dreams. So far, people have told me that they experienced realistic and/or wild vivid dreams. Also, I was told that 3mg is supposedly too much, as we only need to take 1mg. There is an option to cut the tablet in half, but I will start with the tablet's dose (for convenience; no other reason).

Time and techniques.

I had varied results from using various techniques. None were ever consistent. Results fade away with time, and the techniques simply become repetitions. So far, I've had the most vivid and memorable dreams when I sleep after 6 a.m. and wake up a little before noon.

Alarm.

Dreams also scatter quickly when I use an alarm clock, depending on the tone. When I use music, I quickly forget and just sing or listen to the music. Music also brings various images that could have changed the dream images. LD-related sounds, e.g. "Are you dreaming?", helps me focus on what I was dreaming before.

Light.

I sleep lighter with the lights on, and the dreams also seem more memorable. When the lights are off, I can barely get myself to move to turn on the lights or at least grab a pen and a notebook and "blind write" some keywords. It seems ideal to keep the lights on, but I'm concerned how this will affect the dream process.

Practice.

I won't be working on this daily. I have a limited supply of tablets, and at the same time, I'm concerned how long the effects of the tablet last in the body. I don't want it to accumulate as it could ruin the data for this experiment. I also have other activities IRL. However, I plan to stick to a consistent time for the week for sleeping, e.g. 11 pm the entire week, 3 am the next, and 8 am after.

Techniques.

Test 1: Melatonin alone, no other practices, e.g. meditation or WILD techniques. Sleep before 12 mn.
Test 2: Melatonin with meditation before sleeping.
Test 3: Melatonin with WILD technique.
Test 4: Melatonin with LD-related alarm.

Time part 1.

Test 1-4: Same as above except sleep after 2 am.

Time part 2.

Test 1-4: Same as above except sleep after 6 am.

Start date: Next week, August 6, 2014 (Wednesday).

Although I haven't written anything here for quite some time, I still maintain my dream journal offline. I will upload them once I find time.

Meanwhile, I moved on from Ninja9578's Subliminal Audio 1 to Lotus Flame by LaBerge. Seems neither of them was very helpful. I was also experimenting with Mugwort, but not full time. I tried burning a few, but the coal was not lighting up properly. Although I did have some almost-lucid dreams, nothing was very definite.

Today, I moved on to Ninja's Subliminal Audio 2. I played it all night long while I was working. The result was very promising. I became aware in the middle of an interesting dream. That was my first lucid dream for quite some time, where I really decided to confront an opponent. I have an almost-lucid dream yesterday (or a few days back, I think), but it felt more like being in a drunk-dream.

I will post them soon.

I've been using LaBerge's audios all this time. First, the one about MILD, but somewhere along the way, I changed to dream lotus and flame technique. After that, I used trance induction, at night and in the morning. Then it's just for the night induction. I think I had very minimal results when using ONLY the night trance induction.

Long time since I wrote here, but I still kept an offline dream journal. Internet problems.

I have mostly been working with Stephen LaBerge's audio, particularly the one about progressive relaxation, spiral staircase and butterfly. It was helpful in remembering dreams, but most of the time, I'm already asleep before I reach the butterfly state, or I'm too carried away by the hypnagogic images to listen to the audio.

On the other hand, fairly recently, I downloaded Ninja9578's audio, Subliminal Lucid 1.0, and listened to it. I listened to it several months ago, but it was a salad case. I.e., I was listening to several others, and doing various techniques at a time. It was the ultimate of shiny object syndrome in LD.

Anyway, I wanted to isolate which one is effective for me, coz I did have good results back then. I returned to LaBerge's, but after a few weeks, it shows very, very minimal results, even in remembering dreams. On the other hand, it's only been a few days since I experimented with Ninja's audio, and already I had MUCH CLEARER dreams. I can also remember more of my dreams than before. Then again, in one case I drank Jasmine tea, so I'm not sure if that had anything to do with it. I also encountered a freaky sleep paralysis, although it wasn't as scary as my first one some months back.

I'm also planning with experimenting with Mugwort. Not tea, coz I heard it tastes awful. I'll probably just do a smudging of my room or something.

I'll transfer my dreams here soon. It's a good time to read them all again and find out if I can see any pattern.

Forgot to write down my dream and so I forgot it. I got too busy, coz I have to travel today.

Been having trouble writing dreams lately. I feel like I just don't want to move. Could also be due to my reading an unfinished and thoroughly depressing story, Charlie.

Have trouble remembering dreams lately. Seems completely opposite of what happened in the previous days, when I had very vivid dreams. I notice that lately the Affirmation isn't playing when I wake up, so that must be it.

I only recalled, but probably from memory, me watching an LP of Spore, and also Facebook reply from someone I've been dying to hear from.

Computer shut down in the middle of the night, so I wasn't able to hear the MAP Affirmation. I also slept late. Woke up with a very vague memory of Cebu and PATAS comrades.

More tags

More tags

Just adding more tags. Tag entry is limited to 10, but I feel that the additional tags are also important. Particularly, the balloons and ruins. I had a "vision" (not a dream, coz I was already awake, but my visualization is still quite sharp):

I was already awake, in fact already opened my eyes, and I was annoyed at the people attacking the dogs in the "demonstration" in my dream. Then I wondered what the balloons are supposed to mean. The dream made it seem like it's a weapon.

Then I went into a vision of a couple of guys tying up helium balloons on our wall, and left. There was a message on the balloons. Something about activism.

Then one night, the two were caught, and were asked why they were doing that, as if it was a crime. Or maybe the message was the crime. In the vision, I was trying to get mom to appear and defend them, since I don't really have much of a status in our home town. But for some reason, she just won't appear, so I talked instead.

I asked why they're angry at the two. They mentioned the balloons, and I said, yes I saw them, and I think they're nice. Then they mentioned the message on the balloons (something about Pinoy, with two other words). I said I didn't read (a lie), but they still look nice. The mob are starting to doubt their actions. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing after all, I can hear them think.

One of the boys smiled a grateful smile at me. Then I remember after I saw them tying the balloons, he looked back at me, and we smiled.

I think the balloons were colored blue and red. Or was it yellow?

flying blue fish. home. Pao2x. family. people. Utah? Balot.

flashback. Latino-looking kid in the middle of a dirt road, pushing a cart. kids in front. he fought them. some kids behind took some of his (?) stuff. the kids in front eventually took the cart. don't know what happened to the kid.

a church? Mexican? The kid. grew up. A book was in the cart. Michael Frankl? He's looking for it. he grows tall or back to a kid's height at will. looks Caucasian now.

It shows that one day, this might be possible!

http://www.npr.org/2011/09/22/140710...tw&ft=1&f=1001

I've been too stressed lately that I can barely remember my dreams. Even those that I can remember right before I wake up. Annoying, but I have to persevere. I still practice RC.

Also, interesting how the night before the stressful events in my life, I tried visualizing the Tattwas in their proper evolutionary order, and found that they clash heavily during the seed parts. Only the Ether seed-ofs didn't clash, since it seems to just "absorb" the seeds, as well as a few like the Fire - Seed of Earth:

"There exists a transcendent reconciler that arises when opposing forces class, if we can but intuit it." (Mumford, "Magical Tattwas")

I think it meant that I should have tried to connect two parties.

Then, last night, everything seems okay, and only the Fire - Seed of Air seems to clash, which I found strange since I thought they'd be "supporters" of each. True enough, I checked and they are.

Interesting that the divination part of the book on Magical Tattwas described it thus:

"Fire - Seed of Air, frequently manifests as a theme of test, and trial, tribulation, and frustration accompanied by an impetuous urge to "burn our bridges."

Because that very day, before I visualized the Tattwas that night, I quit an organization, and although I thought it to be "okay" already, I then found out that somebody twisted my words to mean something insulting. Good thing that instead of burning the bridges with everyone, I kept contact, and although one insisted I insulted him, even though he was absent, the two who were there have said that they didn't think I said anything insulting about anyone.

Too bad I didn't read it, since I don't really delve into the divination aspect of the Tattwas, but it's just nice to check it out, and that it matches and seems to be telling me something.

I hope to use the Tattwas to aid my LD soon.

Wow! My last estimate was accurate. 10 days between LDs, then 5, and then last was 2 days in between.

I will continue to do the usual reality checks, and then doing the countdown concentration before sleeping, and then visualizing the last dream, and imagining being lucid, and then doing the reality check, staying still and rubbing the hands. I have to avoid spinning though, coz it seems the chance of losing lucidity is higher if I do that.

YAY (^_^) I want to achieve daily LDs so that I can do my experiments. For now, extending lucidity is of utmost importance. I experience LDs mostly while dreaming or about to wake up (which sucks, coz I only have limited time to be lucid), so being aware is most important.