Hwen's Workbook

[Hwen]

Hello! i'm Hwen (well, my username is anyway :p) i'm 14, and have been interested in lucid dreaming since sometime last year, and, after stalking/lurking the threads for a little while, joined DV. i have had several LDs before, but not on a very reliable basis. my main RC is nose-plug. however, sometimes it doesnt work so well, and i fall back on finger-through-palm, or making clocks turn backwards. i am a VERY easygoing person. i dont like voicing preferences or opinions, and try to go with what works with everybody else, and tend not to think about things out-of-the-ordinary. this has probably leaked into my dreams a little bit, as things happen like: the roof exploding, moving to my grandparents house, running around a hospital, the TARDIS popping up every so often, Jon (from the Garfield comic) running around our lawn, ending up INSIDE a video game, and hitting a paperback copy of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy with ANOTHER copy of the (cookbook?) Guide because it 'wouldnt work' (mind you, this all happened in the same dream last night *facepalm*) or watching Star Trek with the characters from it standing right next to me watching it as well. i daydream. a LOT. and completely zone out too. i mean, forget me having my head in the clouds, i'm lucky if i stay in the solar system. i've dabbled a little bit in just about every technique out there, and nothing consistent. i started/stopped dream journaling a few times, but i've never been good at recording even a normal journal. my dreams are VERY vivid. it feels completely real. and i remember odd-bits and fragments every morning. i go to bed somewhere between 10:45-11:30 usually, and wake up between 9-10. (if you wonder how i can do that, all i have to say is HOMESCHOOLING ROCKS! ) not sure if i'm babbling, but you guys said the more info the better thanks for doing this stuff

[Hwen]

okay. hoping i wasnt supposed to sign in somewhere before posting here... or maybe i should just stop checking my notifications every five minutes anyway, i actually DID pick up on something strange last night. in my dream, i was shopping for a Veiwmaster-like thing on the internet, because i wanted one and didnt have one, then i looked up and saw the thing on a shelf above me! i thought "huh, thats odd", and debated doing an RC. i dont remember much afterwards, should probably start thinking about recall?

[Arch]

Hey Hwen, What's your recall like? Yeah we will probably start by working on your recall, then targeting techniques which will work for you. Also are your non lucids similar to real life or crazy and mystical?

[gab]

Hi Hwen, welcome! Those are some cool dreams. I would love one about Star Trek. OK, so as Arch mentioned, first thing should be your recall. Writing in your DJ should help with that. This is one of my favorite awareness + RC techniques, if youl'd like to try, since you already noticing stuff in your dreams: Ask yourself a question 'wow, am I dreaming?' that jolts your attention and makes you stop doing whatever you doing. For a moment, entertain the idea, that you are sure this is a dream or false awakening and feel the excitement in the pit of your stomach. Just pretend, that you have had a lucid dream that was indistinguishable from waking reality, so any waking moment is possible to actually be a dream and you don't know for sure untill you RC. Then, look at your hands. Are the any different? Count your fingers. Do you have the right amont? If you sure you are awake, say mantra "Next time I'm dreaming, I look at my hands and realize I'm dreaming". Repeat a few times, while looking at your hands. I believe, that this startling moment, when you first ask yourself, is very important, as this is what will start happening in your reg. dreams and get you lucid. Happy dreams

[Hwen]

thanks for the replies! anyway, my recall actually was pretty good once, but its pretty much fragments and shadows now. i think i used to go over them in my mind just after having them, but i dont think i've been doing it recently are my dreams realistic? well, they vary. sometimes they're about me wandering the house aimlessly daydreaming, sometimes they're about adventure and running for dear life, sometimes they're in 3d person. a lot of them will contain characters or elements from books or movies

[Hukif]

Hm, I wonder. Your dreams are vivid but not about anything normal right? You could try doing awareness in this case to catch all of these little things? Fragments and shadows, wonder how many dreams you remember or have fragments of daily? Sounds like your recall is already good.

[Hwen]

I always remember SOMETHING from my dreams every night, the rest feels as if it's on the tip of my tongue. Lately I've been able to remember then in near entirety right after having them, but when I go back to sleep and wake up again, I've forgotten them. It Might have to with the fact I've been out of town lately, in a strange bed, without my stuffed dog Also, that means I've been slacking on the RCs...

[Hwen]

Also, I suppose if I had to define my dreams, I would say them to be a little on the strange side...

[Hukif]

Aww don't worry, just be positive and think that when you get back home, the confortable bed and doggy will get you lucid =D And how so strange?

[Hwen]

thanks. problem is, i'm home now, and it seemed just the PERFECT time to GET A COLD! AGH! hard to sleep with your nose plugged up with snot (not to mention it kind of kills my RC of choice)... and strange? well. my day-to-day life is pretty routine, very normal, some might say boring. when i'm dreaming, SOMETHING strange is always going on, whether its hiding in my closet from a mad werewolf (in the daytime...), being part of a flock of chickens trying to escape their fence, being in the Hunger Games, real life Mario-Kart, et cetera, et cetera. also, whatever tv-show/movie-series me and my family happen to be watching at the time WILL ALWAYS bleed through into my dreams. and what we're watching at the time is Doctor Who, and it's hard not to get stranger than THAT

[Hwen]

two nights in a row now that i've questioned reality within a dream! i am on a ROLL! only one of them did i do an RC, and got a short lucid that died very suddenly for no apparent reason. still, the fact that i questioned was the point, right? recall is still blah. i joined IOSDP so i would have a little more motivation in journaling.

[Lmrhone]

I know this is late but WELCOME TO THE IOSDP!!! It's really fun and productive, it's kept me motivated for a while now and I don't think i'll ever leave, unless I like lose the Internet totally.

[gab]

still, the fact that i questioned was the point, right? recall is still blah. Yes, that means, that your daytime practice is starting to manifest in your dreams. That's great! Awareness is the key. And journaling should help with your recall. Happy dreams

[Hwen]

Hey there. Hoping this is still the original active forum. Is it alright if I revive this old workbook and perhaps give it another shot? I'm pretty much still in the situation described by my original post.

[gab]

Hi, welcome back. Absolutely, this is still a running project. So, if your recall is still good, we may proceed. But you should still write your dream in a DJ. It tells your mind that you are serious about this. Then, we have a few new tutorials. If you would please check them out and post your questions if any. http://www.dreamviews.com/induction-...cid-dream.html http://www.dreamviews.com/dild/13212...ods-dilds.html Happy dreams

[Hwen]

Thank you! Recall is about one or two solid scenes of dreams per night, usually from different dreams. And yeah, I've been looking at some of the less complicated tutorials for DILD and have started trying the Sporadic Awareness technique today. Every time I remember it (or anything that leads me to it), I'll pause and look at everything. Take note of every sensation, maybe touch a few things. Remember how I got here, remember how everything else got here and try to logically determine why. I'd then consider what I would do if I were dreaming at this moment, and allow myself to picture myself jumping up and flying away or something. I'd then do the nose-plug reality check, I know I should probably add another just for confirmation though... So we'll see if that ends up working tonight. I'd post the whole thing and whether or not it did in the morning, but I had a couple quick questions about dream journaling... One. Is it essential to write it down the moment I wake up in the middle of the night? Is it alright if I just run it over in my mind until I'm pretty sure it's solid, roll over and fall back asleep, then record it in the morning? Two. If it IS essential, is it okay to use say, an iPhone to type it up? My handwriting is illegible to even myself, and I just dislike pen and paper in general. Thank you again for helping people like me out Also, I did just realize you're PROBABLY not going to have time to respond before I go to sleep, and that's absolutely fine. Will post anyway though, seeing as I just typed it all. Will report progress in the morning!

[gab]

If I may, when you question reality and RC, truly believe that it's a dream and that RC will work. 1. If you do that, you may not remember it in the morning. You may not even remember, that you had a dream so you won't know, that you forgot it. Unless it's working for you that way. It doesn't really matter when you write it down. I wride down as many kewords or sentences as I can while using the restroom. To make sure that will get to use the restroom, I drink some water before bed and every time it wakes me up. Which may be 3 times a night. If you not just replay the dream in your head, but you actually retell it using words, rather than just images, it will transfer itself into your daytime memory. Otherwise it will most likely stay in the "dream memory", which will usually get erased shortly after we wake up. 2. Yes. Anything you use to write your dreams or record them will work. It's not the act of having the dreams recorded that helps with recall. It's when we think about it while recording it. Of course, every method has it's pros and cons. I prefer to have my dreams in word format and in DV dream journal system. Happy dreams