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I'm actually going to go to bed in just a few minutes. It's almost 1 AM here. But yeah. I need to report on last night's dreaming.

Dream 1: (Non-Lucid Fragment) There was a swimming pool with swirling water. I remember that its floor and walls were comprised of white tiles. They had a pretty floral design on them.

Dream 2: (Non-Lucid Fragment) My aunt was in this dream. Which is fun because she is pretty cool. We were watching bluebirds flying free, or something.

Dream 3: (Non-Lucid Fragment) My notes from this one are so nonsensical...I'm just going to reproduce them. Nightmare lair, stolen item, [something I can't read] out, trying not to get choked etc. o_o

Dream 4: (Non-Lucid Full Dream) So, in this dream we (me and some others) were supposed to take something back from an evil demon ruler of some sort. This happened twice for some reason; I think we were either defeated or had to retreat the first time. At any rate, both times I was terrified.

A former co-worker of mine and some other guys were working hauling rocks. Funny because IRL he graduated with a degree in IT, so why would he be doing construction work? We slowly walked by them. I remember wanting to walk slowly to avoid combat -- not with them, but rather I wanted to put off having to confront the demon. The day was sunny and pretty, but it felt ominous. They were working in a sort of shaded picnic area, and we were following a trail that was leading up the mountain where the demon lived. We were still near the mountain's base. There was light green grass and dirt all around, and both evergreen and deciduous trees. Yet I was pretty much terrified beyond all reason throughout the duration of this one. However I thankfully woke up far before any combat happened!

3 fragments; 1 full non-lucid.

And that's it.

The dog woke me up and needed attention so i couldn't write my journal quickly, no surprise I have forgotten a lot already.

1) I had to move a car to a carpark for some reason, I then went back out into the street and found another car parked across the road and had to move that one to the same carpark. I told someone to tell the owner if they wanted it back it was in the carpark. Some vague memory of sitting just outside the carpark eating a cake, and having to return to a ?hotel next door.

2) Really odd dream about cuttung a large piece of board and explaining how I made the cut line straight, then putting the pieces of board outside in a garage.

I had just entered into a very large and ambient room, fully lucid. About 75% of the floor in this room was a pool area, and at a first glance it seemed fairly deep as the water was darker the deeper I looked. I looked around the entire room, this time noting my surroundings completely. To my right, near the other corner of the room, was a woman that appeared to be in her early 20's. She had long black curly hair and a nice outfit on as well. Looking to explore to the fullest extent, I jump into the water without hesitation. As I do so, a thin pool noodle manifests around my body and I find myself landing in the water and floating without effort. I look back at the woman and notice that she is now watching me. "You need to stay in that until you're ready to advance to the next stage" she tells me as her voice echoes across the room.
"Well shit, whats the next stage" I thought to myself. I look back at the water and really observe it. After a few seconds of doing this I force myself under, along with the noodle, and look around with my eyes wide open. I can feel the water encompassing my body, but it doesn't hurt my eyes or irritate them in the least; it's effortless. While I'm under, I see what I can only describe to be a pool, under the pool I'm currently floating in. It looks very trippy in the sense that it doesn't make sense, but I highly admire it's design. It reminds me of how underwater caves look when an area of freshwater is above an area of saltwater. Seconds later, I resurface. I swim over to the other side of the room and climb out of the pool. Before me there is a set of small stairs that lead to an open doorway that I can see leads to another large room.
I walk up the steps and into the next room. The room is empty for the most part, and there is no pool. I see a dude on the opposite side, pacing back and forth with his head down as though he is extremely mad. On the wall behind him there are two doorways. My curiosity leads me to go into both rooms. I walk into the room on the left first, and upon doing so, see that it is a very large and empty spaced restroom. The floor is covered in white tile that looks to be a tad bit dirty, and the walls are white. In the farthest corner of the room sits the toilet. In the complete opposite corner is the sink accompanied by a mirror. I walk over to the toilet and see my phone wrapped in brown toilet paper, on top of it. I pick it up and immediately notice that the brown toilet paper is wet. "Wow, that's a little nasty" I say aloud. I unwrap the toilet paper off of it and proceed to wipe off my phone screen which is wet and smells weird.
After doing this I begin to make my way out of the restroom. Just before leaving I remember how my tattoo is always messed up or completely absent in my dreams. I look at my forearm and see that it is indeed messed up and roughly half of it is gone. The font of my tattoo is also extremely sloppy, as though a kid drew it on. It no longer read "Are you dreaming?" but now rather "Ar eaming?" with most of the remaining letters extremely faded. I look next, at my hand, which has several drawings on it, all of which are drawn in a thick dark green ink of some sort. I distinctively remember one of these drawings being a butt with a visible pink butt-crack. "Wow, what the hell is this doing on my hand" I said to myself.
Outside of the restroom I can still hear the mad dude, walking around, now saying stuff to himself. I am not amused. The idea suddenly comes to me that I can create portals. I proceed to walk around the restroom with my hand open, touching the walls with the intention of creating a portal like the ones from the games "Portal" and "Portal 2". I attempt many times, but alas, my doubt brings about my failure. I walk out of the restroom now, and walk right past the mad dude. I get the intuition that he has ADHD or something, but I'm not sure why. The other door is now only steps away, and as I walk into it I find myself going through a short but really dark hallway. As the hallway ends, it opens up into a staircase. As I go up the staircase I see that on the left of it, there is the interior of a giant public plane built into the wall/building. There are many rows of closely placed seats and it perfectly resembles the inside of a public passenger jumbo jet.
When I get to the top of the stairs, I am confronted by an obstacle. This obstacle seems to be a collapsed pillar. I stop for a moment and think, "Holy crap, this all feels as real, if not more real than waking life". I then remember, I don't have my time dilation watch on me and that I need to meet and talk to the "Dream Council". I reinforce a strong awareness and climb over the fallen pillar. It takes me a few tries, but within a matter of seconds I get it. As I climb up and over, and land back on the ground, I find myself now on the second floor of this building. I seem to be inside of some sort of indoor playground-gym, and it's packed with people. This room is slightly bigger than the previous one and it has two floors. The indoor playground area is on the first floor, and the gym is on the second floor. I look around and appreciate the nice diverse color scheme of everything.
It then occurs to me, "I should ask the dream a question" and so I do. "Dream, tell me something that I need to know" I yell out whilst thinking out of curiosity what everyone around will do. I didn't expect an answer as I felt a doubt inside of me, but contrary to my expectation, I got an answer. A lean muscular man emerged from the elliptical section of the gym and approached me. "What do you want to know?" He asked me in a heavy french accent. I think to myself, "What do I want to know?" The few seconds of silence and deep thought were interrupted as he said, "How to achieve the vibration stage?". While I did want to learn that, and was extremely surprised by him even mentioning that, I replied "No, I want to get my time dilation watch". Without hesitation the man said "Easy" as he handed me a harness, "Climb this wall first, and it's yours". I turn around and see a rock wall about 6 feet in height, and I know what I have to do. I give him the harness so that he can properly place it on me, and get ready to scale this wall.
Just then, my alarm goes off and wakes me up into complete disorientation.

Note: entire LD, as usual, felt as real, if not more real than waking life.

Sorry, this one has very little context as I was interrupted and couldn't return my thought immediately, so I only distinctly remember the part just before waking. (which is sad since I know most of it was from an earlier section)

We'd just made it to the island somehow. I had flown up onto a wooden platform about 300 feet in the air, and was surveying the scene, when natives on the ground began firing at me with small flute-like weapons (they'd use them to shoot small arrows, I think poisoned). I was successfully evading them, but was simultaneously attempting to coordinate some procedure with the rest of my group.

This was close to containing 2 DEILDs(figured out how to do that again!), but there was a lapse in consciousness both times.
-1-There was a guy demonstrating the function of the hiding compartment next to an item contaminated with radiation. It protected the user completely…in theory. However, it didn’t work, so the guy died. This was all inside a dark room of an abandoned, messy lab/facility. After he died, I became lucid. I did part of my routine, but forgot the second half of it, which was the stabilization portion.
Time: 30-40 seconds
-2-I was in an unknown house. My older sister was in an adjacent room, watching something on a TV. I noticed a package on a container. I opened it up, and it was a drill. Then, I tried turning on a light, but it didn’t work. My first thought was ‘power failure?’ and flipped a second broken switch. Then, I became lucid from an RC. I did the first half of the procedure then woke up again.
Time: 20-30 seconds
-3-Another light switch failure and a certain memory caused me to RC and become lucid once more. Here, a truck arrived at this version of the B.h. Also, I rose the sun back up when it set in the south. At the same time, the very large/close moon rose in the south with an incorrect light source direction. This time, I woke up right in the middle of my routine.
Time: 30-50 seconds
Total Lucid Time: 1min20sec – 2min

btw, the routine I keep referring to is a lengthy one, increasing lucidity during the first half, and completely stabilizing in the second half. This has worked consistently for conventional DILDs. However, for WILDs/unstable dreams, I'll have to add in some stabilization time just prior to the routine.

25 Jan

Wbtb

I am falling asleep in a sort of FA. I am now sure that if nothing else works to induce a lucid, it will help me become lucid if I write it down on a piece of paper. light sleep.

I am now deeper in the dream and ascertain that my paper writing induction albeit done in-dream is indeed effective. I'm fully aware staring at the sheet of paper with the words LUCID written. My grandma comes in the room and starts cleaning the table, asking me a million questions. I know it's a dream and there's no point answering, so I tell her to let me concentrate. She refuses to acknowledge it being a dream and keeps on asking me stuff, so I have to move to the side to avoid being distracted.

I tk a number of small household objects, then tk the door handle and finally the door to the balcony open. I go outside, thinking that I have no idea what to do for points and regretting not making a more comprehensive list of things. The sky is mostly sunny, so I decide to darken it, although it pains me a bit to ruin a beautiful sunny day. The result is a greyer sky but not completely overcast. I also make a thunder sound in the distance.

Not sure what to do next, I opt for using some weird machine part help me get down from the balcony to the ground (as opposed to jump/flight due stability). There are couple of DCs being rather loud near the corner so I go check what's happening. Nothing too unusual, just a family walking and laughing.

I recall now I wanted to do the headstand challenge and look towards the street. At the moment the street's empty, but the cars are about to soon reach my target section, coming from the nearby street. Nevertheless, doing the headstand in the middle of the street seems tremendously appealing. I briefly wonder what's gonna happen once the cars start coming, but decide that I can handle it. Actually, the way I start doing the headstand is with my back to the cars - that in a way solves the problem (no seeing, no thinking, therefore they don't exist). Two DCs come distract me as I do the headstand. I scold one of them and tell him to assist me instead and help get my legs straight pointing towards the sky. I had reservations about being upside down in this posture and the dream collapsing but it doesn't. I stay a bit more, then get up.

We continue to walk down the street with one of the DCs. At this stage I already feel "memory flood" and inability to save/recall some of the details of the dream. At any rate, quite happy this dream already lasted longer than expected and keeps on going. I look over one of the buildings and see the sun shining again, now it seems closer to sunset. I really like how the sun moved like that during the dream, giving quite of a realistic feel of time. The sunset may in addition mean that the dream is coming to an end, I think.

I recall the basic totm of finding a present under the Christmas tree. A while ago we passed by a nice Asian food shop and lots of other items on a long street I can't recall. I decide to go back in that direction, since I feel it will be much easier to find a tree there. Indeed, in front of one cafe is a large decorated Christmas tree. To summon the present, I say to the DC, I clearly recall they were exchanging gifts in the cafeteria and and am sure they forgot one. I stretch my hand and without looking feel a package right underneath the tree. It contains what looks like empty jewellery carton box and a card. I become very curious and want to read the card although I feel the concentration may have a negative effect on the dream. I try to read the handwriting, which changes from well wishes, to random fortunes, to advertising. Finally, there is a small sheet of stickers for a board game.

The nearby Asian shop looked quite attractive, so I decide to go back and try some foods. In a small fridge they had really cool drinks made from fruits that don't quite exist and also are processed in extraordinary ways. Me and this DC whose apperances keep changing grab a small chocolate bar each. It melts easily and tastes really sweet. As we get out of the shop, I begin to lose lucidity. The DC now turns to boyfriend and we get into a discussion. The desire to get more of the cool drinks overcomes me and my awareness increases again, although not as high as before. To summon drinks, I call one of the girls who was working in the store, going a bit back to where we were before. Sure enough, the store appears, now at a completely different place and a different store, but that doesn't matter, it still looks pretty fancy and serves drinks. The girl that works there comes with a bottle full of freshly made exotic drink and a small glass of red juice. She spills the glass, but I am still able to have a try from what's left. It tastes quite nice. I wake up.

WBTB
I become lucid spontaneously. I use a remote controller to change the house to candy. YUM! The dream is quite blurry so I yell "Clarity now!" a few times. I phase through several walls and I then find a window. I punch it, and it is... gladwrap! I fly around randomly pranking DC's by saying 'Devestimente'

Realize I'm lucid, in one of the rooms below.

[gap]
Control a tank toy/object with mind control--mostly just for function.
Jump on counter with younger brother. My hands are in use, so I ask them to move obstructions to jump down. They take a while, but do.
I jump down, and shortly after, something snaps, and I shift to a "different level" where I can't see them, but can barely see a tank thing I'd been controlling earlier.

Follow it, and it leads me somewhere; I think to the next remembered section below.
Enter into a library in the building, to see my older sister and her husband and my two younger sisters there.
I see that they're researching the mystery from earlier, looking for the location of the unique object. (it was like a penchant with powers or something)
I look through their findings, and some books, and they're interesting.
I see suspicious man walk up to younger sister, and start talking.
While talking, he grabs an item we'd been using to track down info!
We start chasing him, with me yelling out "Stop that man!"
By the time we got to the doors, 3 dc's had tried to help chase him. However, one on the left was too slow, and one on the right slammed into the door that I was opening. The third one got through with us.
In the next room, I yell it again and an older married couple just watch as we run by. (they were in a restaurant room)
The third dc passes us up now, as I got slowed down by the feeling of something around my body (perhaps blanket irl), and barely makes it in time before the locked door he ran through closed.
I'm glad, however I see a large room up ahead in the "resitricted area", and I fear an untimely end may be approaching for the dc. (who had become a cop in that last part)
Yep, I hear and see the light of an explosion. Not only that, but I see that the path to leave has a spark of light pass down it implying it's set to go off and explode as well.

We rush out down the exit path, and find it leads us outdoors, down a long waterslide-like channel!
We run down it, but stop in a side-area, so the explosion doesn't hit us if he fires it early.
We wait for some time, but nothing happens. Eventually we hear a motor start up, and assume he's coming in-person.
We decide to run for it instead of clashing, so we run to the ground level, and see a *ton* of people clustered near the large building we'd been in earlier. And I mean tons, probably the most I've ever seen in a lucid--like 100+ visible at once.
Apparently they're scared and awaiting our defeating the enemy or saving them.
I fly over the crowd, and land down near the closer-to-building side. I talk with some of our friends/family.
I pick one dc, a baby by itself, and decide to help it first and fly it to "safety" (further away fand higher rom the water channel, on decks just outside the building--oh yeah, the fear was that he'd use electricity and flooding)

Something then happened that caused us to be in the building again. Memory is very odd here, and actually almost feels like it was a second set of memories for the end of the dream--thought I doubt this.
Anyway, apparently the enemy had began control over the building making passageways obsolete, and empty/leading to bad places.
I and those from earlier came back from a path, and found we couldn't go on that path again because of it.
Now having made it back to "civilization"/my family friends and other dcs, I look around some with mom for some of the other rooms from earlier (as a house/hotel).
While we do so, we found that the room distortion has increased further! Now every few times we move, the distance at which the "mirror" effect exists becomes closer. Soon nothing is stable but our small room, and after that, nothing is stable for me but the small area of vision where my mom is!
She's scared at this point, and actually looks somewhat scary having that expression as she looks increasingly unrealistic.
Lucidity increases here, naturally. (I had clear lucidity earlier, but mostly lost it for much of the plot, as I became interested and did not do persistent stabilizations)

I tell her not to move, and that we should stay locked on each other. We do so, and I walk to her.
As I reach her, I see that she's in a small "safe room" where the distortion hasn't reached. and that there are several other dcs there.
Here it gets neat because it switches into movie-like mode, with music starting to play like the end of a first episode of a series. It does a cutscene of zooming in on the dc group, with them huddling thinking of how to get free, and then zooming out briefly to a neat sci-fi image of our being in some large space rock, at its center in a labyrinth-like structure.
I get caught up in the emotion, and feel very fefreshed by it as I find myself back in bed.
I pick up my tablet to begin the recording process, but as I'm getting it set, I hear the noise of a helicopter, a door slamming open and closed like from the wind, and a man's voice on speakerphone saying something about "not landing".
I realize this is probably still a dream, so do an rc, and confirm that I am.
I try using mental focus shifting to wake up. It feels like it may have worked, but an rc reveals I'm still dreaming.
I remember the advice of forcing yourself awake by moving just the tips of your fingers. I decide to try it, however one hand is still holding my tablet. I tap the power button, and place it down. I then put both my hands out open, then tense the fingers in both simultaneously. I think I did it more forcefully than suggested, however it works, as I awake for real. (as confirmed by rc)

Nothing recalled.

I had an LD this morning which came as the result of a hybrid induction technique I've been experimenting with. The LD itself was brief, but its duration was not what I was after -- I was aiming instead for instant awareness and lucidity. And this I achieved. In fact, the shortness of the LD was due to my sheer surprise and excitement upon realizing that the technique actually worked. I've called it VBIM - Vision Board Induction Method. It is essentially the same method I use to manifest wealth through the laws of attraction via creative visualization. The method consists of only two components: one simple mantra, and one simple visual. The mantra is: "When I am dreaming, I am aware that I am dreaming," and the visual is two hands, palms up. The mantra was given to me by my subconscious higher-self during a period of hypnogogic activity, word-for-word. When I tried to exclude the word "that" from the mantra, I was instructed not to exclude it via a dream guide who appeared to me as a little girl sitting in a park.

To make the method work, you'll need to construct a vision board. The vision board's purpose is to implant the mantra and its associated image directly into your subconscious. Thus the two items become inseparable in your mind. For this, I use a 20 x 30 x 3/16 inch foam board that you can pick up at any hobby store for less than two bucks. On the board, I centralize the mantra and then surround the text with its associated image: the pair of hands. The vision board I created looks like this (please click to enlarge):




I look at this board frequently, several times a day. When I'm not in front of it, I visualize it in my mind. While I am driving, for instance, I can easily conjure the image. When I see the image in my mind, I do it holographically: meaning I attach emotion, sound and feeling to it, simulating the induction as though it were actually happening in a dream. When I see the hands, I automatically recite the affirmation (in my mind); when I recite the affirmation, I automatically see the hands (in my mind). I do this frequently throughout the day, pretending that WL right now is the dream. You can do this as frequently as you do your regular RC's throughout the day. Only this is much more powerful. It is like an RC on steroids when done properly. It also serves as an tremendous autosuggestion, as I explain below.

When I do VBIM, it is all mental. I am not moving my physical hands, nor am I actually speaking. Because while asleep in my bed, I am not physically moving my hands or speaking audibly. All the activity is taking place in my "dream mind" while I'm awake. As I look at my vision board and practice projecting its message through my third eye, it becomes embedded more and more deeply into the subconscious. And when I lay down at night, after doing a WBTB, I can go right back to sleep after journaling whatever recall I have from the first part of the night without having to worry about any additional techniques. For when I close my eyes, I automatically see my vision board -- and this provides an instant autosuggestion.

The first time I tried this method, I went lucid so fast that I didn't have time to stabilize or ground myself. Literally, as soon as the dream started (I was in a car, driving down the road), I began questioning my awareness. I thought the car drove strangely. When I slowed down to park, the brakes seemed bad; that's how keen my observation was. I remembered that my truck's breaks weren't nearly this bad in IWL. Up came the hands (an automatic reflex), and this time I saw that they were fat and misshapen -- BAM I was lucid. The dream had hardly started, yet I picked up on something so insignificant and mundane to which I would have never noticed otherwise (usually it takes me having a conversation with a dead person, or wandering around the halls of my high school naked to even think to do an RC). This method works very effectively for me. Maybe it will work for you?

Good luck, and sweet lucidity!

Ritual: I went to bed at 1am last night, early enough that I hoped to get some dreaming in. I'd had good luck with the "Dream Leaf" supplement last time, so took the blue tablet before bed, together with two tabs of bacopa and a vitamin D supplement (the latter unrelated to any dreaming intentions). I slept deeply and I don't even think I woke up for a few hours. I still have no clock in the bedroom since I've been charging my phone downstairs, but I estimated it was around 4 or 5am when I first woke. At that point I took the red pill and went back to sleep. I woke a couple more times but was disappointed that I didn't recall any dreams. Finally it must have been around 8 or 8:30am and I felt almost awake enough to get up, but I thought I would give it one more shot. I mixed about half a teaspoon of Piracetam in some water and swallowed that before going back to bed. That's when the magic happened. It was about 9:30 when I woke up again after a linked series of lucid dreams.

1. ???
I feel certain there were one or more fully developed scenes initially, but so much else happened afterward that I lost all memory of these earlier episodes when I woke. One thing I like about tasks is that they act as a focus for memory as well as intention.

2. Gifts under the Tree
I was in my bedroom and already aware of dreaming, and it felt like some scene had just concluded. The thought occurred: Didn't I mean to finish the gift task properly? I'd better get that done before I wake up or I'll be annoyed. I remembered that my error last time had been forgetting to look under a tree for the gift. However, I looked around and saw that there was no tree in this room. Rather than waste time trying to find a tree elsewhere in the house, I decided to brute force it and manifest one right in the room. My ambivalence about this inelegant solution nearly destabilized the dream, but I was determined to finish the task so I managed to hold it together, even though I had to do this by getting down on all fours and crawling across the room toward the corner where I decided the tree would be.

Everything had gone dark but I figured as long as I could still feel the floor, it was not too late to restabilize. The texture of the floor was distinct, hardwood, and I could feel the smooth boards with small grooves between them, so I focused on that until the visuals kicked in again. My sight slowly returned, and although the lighting remained dim, I could see an illuminated Christmas tree in the corner I was heading for. Is it lit with real candles? I thought, noting the especially warm quality of the illumination, and remembering the nineteenth-century images that had always captured my imagination. But then I remembered why we don't do this anymore: Isn't that a fire hazard? I felt a flicker, not of the candles, but of the dream nearly destabilizing again at my irrational concerns, so I forced my attention away from the lights and onto the area underneath the boughs. I was still on my hands and knees so it was easy to peek underneath.

There were three objects. Two were wrapped, one rather messily, but the last caught my eye because it was unwrapped. It was a single glove, and from the position of the thumb I could see that it was for the left hand. No sooner had I observed this than two more manifested, in different colors, also for the left hand. As I wondered about the possible significance (nothing occurred to me) the pile got larger... maybe a dozen left-handed gloves were now strewn under the tree. This was getting out of hand (no pun intended) and anyway I preferred to choose a wrapped gift, so I withdrew my attention from the gloves and looked at the other objects. The first two hadn't appealed to me, but now I saw a flat, rectangular, neatly wrapped item that seemed perfect, so I picked it up for a closer look.

As I tore through the several layers of wrapping and tissue paper, I came across small textual clues that made me think this must be a gift from my spouse. It turned out to be a book, a beautiful old volume bound in leather that looked like it couldn't have been published later than the nineteenth century. The title was printed in small stamped gilt letters on the front cover. It was something like Personalities of Note, and subtitled Pple of Our Time, where I understood "pple" to be an abbreviation for "people." The author was identified as Lord Lytton, a name that I knew I recognized from WL history but couldn't immediately place.

Turning the book over in my hands and admiring the beautiful cover, I discovered a library sticker on the lower part of the spine. I wondered what library had held such a fine book and looked on the sides of the closed pages where the name is sometimes stamped. The top side of the pages had been coated with gleaming silver pigment, further attesting to the book's quality, but there were no stamps on the outside. I found it inside the back cover: "Library of _______" (I can't clearly remember the name but it was a one-syllable word ending with "nsk," similar to Svensk or Minsk, but something else I think). I continued to look for a "discard" stamp or some other clue that it had been deliberately divested from the library's holdings. I couldn't find one but reasoned that it must have been; surely it wouldn't have been given to me as a gift if it was still a part of a library's collection, and anyway, ex-library books are very common these days.

I opened the book hoping to read some passages, but despite the English title and author, the text was unmistakably in Cyrillic. This was disappointing since I don't read Cyrillic, and I concluded that it must be a translation.

3. Vampire Interlude
I don't recall the transition, but found myself lying next to a blonde boy. I realized that I was a vampire and that also reminded me that I was dreaming. I fed on his blood and gave him advice on his sexual difficulties.

4. False Awakening
I found myself lying under my down comforter in a very plausible facsimile of my WL bed, and even though I was lying sideways across the foot of the bed, I didn't think it odd because sometimes I'll lie in odd positions when I want to relax a bit more but avoid falling back to sleep. I felt aroused and began touching myself, but then I noticed an odd feeling of displacement and realized that even though I could distinctly feel the pressure of my fingers when I flexed them, my hand was resting at my side and not actually in contact with any other part of my body. I correctly deduced that this was because I was not fully awake. Eventually I was able to persuade myself that if I was lucky enough to still be in the dream state, I should make better use of it, and forced myself back out of bed.

5. Explaining Massage to the Snow Lizard
I flew out the window and landed in heavy snow. Now that I was on my feet, I found that the snow was so deep I could barely push my way through it. I was actually enjoying this, because I've been disappointed with the quality of the snow in the WL winter so far. It was night, and I was walking around a vague dream version of my house, but the thick snow made me feel like I was in some deep kingdom of winter. Wondering what to do next, I tried to remember any of the other current tasks of the month or year, but I was having trouble coming up with them. I thought hard until one came to me: the massage TOTM. This wintry realm seemed like an odd place to look for a massage, but part of the fun of dream is improvising, right?

Movement in the air made me look up, and I saw thick-bodied, pale blue lizards flapping slowly through the air. Maybe I could convince them to do it! I beckoned them down, and two of the snow lizards landed and gazed at me curiously.

"I'd like you to give me a massage." I instructed. They looked back blankly. Either they didn't understand the concept, or didn't understand why they should comply. I worked on the latter angle: "I need you to help me! It's for a Task." I tried to make the word "task" sound very important. "Please just rub my back a little." I sat down and turned my back to the nearest lizard.

What the lizard replied was so peculiar that I repeated it to myself many times afterward, making sure I would remember the phrasing: "Mr. Cooper, could you please salute the Constitution? I mean, lift your shirt." I found it very amusing that "salute the Constitution" was apparently a local euphemism for "lift your shirt," though I had no idea why he addressed me as "Mr. Cooper," a name that inspires no particular resonance. I complied with his instruction and looked foward to the prospect of a massage, since my back muscles have actually been sore lately in WL and I've been needing one.

I should note that by this point I had already been dreaming for so long that I was starting to worry how well I would be able to remember the details, so I was actually carrying around my dream journal and taking notes. I recognized sadly that they would be unlikely to persist into waking (though I always, irrationally, hope that somehow they will), but I figured that the concentration of writing down details might help me better fix them in memory. I jotted down what the lizard had just said while I was waiting for the massage to start. I think the second lizard was looking on quietly the whole time.

The lizard wasn't doing anything, so I tried to instruct him in how to give a massage. "Stroke my back," I suggested. He limply touched it. We wrangled a bit but weren't getting anywhere, so I decided to try a different tack. I lay face-down on the ground and insisted, my exasperation rising, "Just walk on my back! Walk directly on it!" I remembered when I was little my dad would have me walk on his back this way, so it was a valid form of massge. I was afraid the lizard might be too heavy, but reminded myself that since it was a dream I couldn't come to permanent harm. But the lizard still balked.

I sat up again, trying to come up with a solution. I remembered shiatsu, how it uses chopping motions. I thought that might be easier for the lizard to master, so I attempted to explain it. Finally I felt something vaguely massage-like as the lizard patted me several times on the shoulders with the flat part of its front feet. (For the first time I contemplated the anatomical differences that might make this challenging for the lizard.)

"Great!" I exclaimed, pleased that we were finally getting somewhere. "Okay, now keep doing that."

But the lizard sounded like someone awkwardly trying to escape an embarrassing social encounter as he replied: "Ummm... it was nice to know you..." and disappeared into the night.

6. The Lonely Beauty of Dream
Somehow after all this I still wasn't awake. I could hardly believe it myself. I knew I should force myself awake at this point, I was juggling so much in memory, and had so much to write down—and the dream notebook I was still carrying was not likely to be much help, though I continued to jot down details.

But I didn't want to wake up. I was enjoying this too much, and wanted to see where else it would go. I was still next to the house, but the sense of winter was fading as I walked around the corner, feeling fully in my element and murmuring: "This is my domain." I walked into the house, which still felt like mine even though it had no resemblance to WL, noting how detailed it all was, even a bit cluttered, boxes of cereal on the counter. What should I do next? I didn't feel like attempting another task as I already had so much to remember. As I approached the front door, which was open on a beautiful bright day—it was no longer dark outside, and the trees were green now—I was inspired to try to see the dream world at its best.

"Show me the beauty of dream," I commanded as I walked through the doorway back outside. I was addressing the dream state directly now. I repeated this a few times, and indeed, the natural landscape around me was incredibly lovely. I walked to the edge of the trees and pulled down a fir bough to admire it. The needles were an unusual shade of purple.

I continued admiring the landscape until I was struck with sudden note of melancholy. Everything was so beautiful, but what good is all this beauty if you have no one to share it with? That was always the problem, wasn't it? Could this explain something about the kind of beings we are, why we choose to cohabit a shared dream despite all the inevitable conflict? I felt a hint of that distinctive sensation you get when you're stoned and think you've stumbled on some revelation of cosmic importance, but at the same time you realize that it will sound bland and foolish when you look back on it later. The sense of loneliness persisted, so I attempted to break through the solipsism, to summon something to me, to reach out and find some other cognition.

A spacecraft flew low across the sky, seeking a place to land. It was not an alien ship but clearly of human make, chunkily built. I don't think it resembled anything in WL but was probably inspired by films or games: the first thing I thought to google was 'mass effect shuttle' and the image results are actually about right. I was surprised to see, as it came closer, that the word "AMERICAN" was written in block letters across the side.

The shuttle settled to the ground and I walked toward the landing site. The hatch opened and a few people came out, walking in single file. The guy in the lead was wearing his suit, but no helmet. He was a dark-haired, middle aged man with a rugged face. I thought he resembled the character Group Captain Peter Townsend from The Crown, which made sense because we've been watching that show lately, and the character was a military pilot.

I wanted to signal my benign intentions so I held my hands out and up. The captain also held his hands up, although I noted that he did not let go of the rifle in his right hand, he just wasn't pointing it at me. I guess he felt wary and uncertain of my intentions. "I come in peace," I announced to reassure him, though it occurred to me that he should be the one saying that—I lived here. As we came closer I slowly (so as not to startle him) brought forward my right hand, inviting a handshake. He slung his rifle over his shoulder and did the same. I brought down my left hand to clasp his in both of my own, feeling warm and benevolent. "Be well," I said sincerely.

At that moment I felt the irresistable pull of waking draw me out of the dream. I hadn't intended it, but it was perfectly timed.

Did a mindfulness meditation this morning then went to bed. I felt the transition. I sort of got stuck where I felt the sleep paralysis but saw nothing so I out of fear of losing lucidity, I affirmed that "I am dreaming." This was after a sort of dry spell. Not really a dry spell because I didn't commit myself to meditating and becoming as deeply present as I possibly can. During the dream I attempted to become present again which made the dream seem more solid. Met people. The end.

Might have been lucid. The thoughts or feelings didn't feel great. Was wondering if anybody could answer this question. Can it be possible to change my thought patterns while lucid and possibly return to the waking state with better thoughts and feelings?

I was having a NLD about a guy who is driving quite a cool car in NYC. I was the observer in the dream and not playing a part in it myself. It was a bit like watching TV. He went into a warehouse and met the lady there who was minding the warehouse. He did not realise it but she fancied him. He wanted to keep making an effort for people to like him. The ladies were talking together from the supply chain and they were saying how hot he was. Looking at him from the dreamer's point of view I couldn't see totally why but I guess he had a lot of things going for him. He brought his car up to the top of the skyscraper where his office was and starts to spray paint it a different colour I guess to make more of an impression. I see the car and it is half one colour and half another plus it is about 70 stories up the building on the balcony. I said this must be a dream so I had a DILD but woke up shortly afterwards. I could see the car and the balcony and I knew it was a dream.

...