Strinky's Workbook

[strinky]

Strinky here, 23 years old and lucid dreaming on and off since age 16. I've been on a long hiatus from intentionally lucid dreaming, but that changes today! DILD Techniques Nose plug RC's throughout the day, whenever I think of it as well as whenever anything seems dream-like. Attend as often as possible to sensory input, in order to increase dream detail as well as my general awareness. Browse DV throughout the day to help keep my subconscious trained onto lucid-related topics. Repeat mantras before bed such as "I remember my dreams," "I wake up after my dreams," "I check my reality often," "I control my dreams," etc. Record dreams every night, every time I wake after a dream. Throughout the day, envision what I would do if I realized I was dreaming. DILD Goals DILD nightly within a couple months or so. (I used to be pretty close to this) Be able to control major aspects of the dream, such as location and who is present. Recall at least 3 dreams in detail every night. Play out and find story ideas for my fiction writing endeavors. Dream journaling begins tonight.

[fogelbise]

Welcome back to DV after so many years! Your techniques and goals look good and I really like the idea of utilizing your dreamscape for writing! The dream world is obviously a place that has inspired many stories! I encourage you to track your progress here and feel free to post any questions. I also got away from lucid dreaming but it took me way more than 7 years to return. I look forward to the chance to see you reach your goals, especially 1 & 4!

[strinky]

Thank you so much for the welcome, fogelbise! Using my dreams to enrich my writing is really my primary goal - the rest is all just fun. I too hope that I'll see my goals reached in the near future. Last night was a great night for recall! Here's the entry: Dreams for January 15, 2014. All though I know I did forget things, particularly in the early hours, I'm totally satisfied with the progress I've made in a single attempt. I did not fully expect to become lucid the first night, though I'm keeping my confidence up that I can do it any night now. I think what I need to do is just continue to practice my RC's until they become habitual. I know many tutorials on this website teach that no one becomes lucid from an RC alone - that an RC functions merely as a confirmation. This has not been true for me in the past. My early LD's were largely the result of checking my reality out of habit, and being completely stunned to find that I could breathe through my plugged nose. While I of course also need to practice ADA, I do not dismiss the power of the completely random RC. Lastly, my prospective memory is utter crap. It's my biggest weakness both in waking life and in my LD efforts. I need to research methods to improve it...if I can remember to do so.

[fogelbise]

Last night was a great night for recall! Here's the entry: Dreams for January 15, 2014. I did a quick scan and great recall indeed!! I think what I need to do is just continue to practice my RC's until they become habitual. I know many tutorials on this website teach that no one becomes lucid from an RC alone - that an RC functions merely as a confirmation. This has not been true for me in the past. My early LD's were largely the result of checking my reality out of habit, and being completely stunned to find that I could breathe through my plugged nose. While I of course also need to practice ADA, I do not dismiss the power of the completely random RC. That is great that your RCs come through in that way! It is true that most people feel that it is their awareness that is heightened through that questioning of reality through RCs and that they already somehow suspect that it is a dream when they RC within the dream, but I can see how it could also work in the way that you are experiencing it. I would definitely continue with what works for you. Lastly, my prospective memory is utter crap. It's my biggest weakness both in waking life and in my LD efforts. I need to research methods to improve it...if I can remember to do so. I am in the same boat. I work on different kinds of memory through the free version of lumosity but you can also practice prospective memory by setting targets that you will keep an eye out for during the day. I also practice prospective memory in practical, more direct terms..."Hey, I actually need to remember to do ____ later...so when I see the stairs(or whatever leads to what you need to remember), I will remember to do that."

[strinky]

I got lucid last night! Albeit, very briefly. At the end of a long dream (second to last of the night, about 6.5 hours into my sleep), I was sitting on my fiancé's lap in our main floor bathroom. He was sleeping, and I had just "woken up." I've been working on checking my reality when I wake up, so I plugged my nose and attempted to breathe in. I could breathe through my plugged nose! I said "Oh my god!" out loud and turned around to face Tim. I shook him to wake him, and he slowly opened his eyes. "Tim!" I said excitedly. "What's your New Year's resolution?!" (lucid task of the month) He looked around slowly, not saying anything. Then I began to hear it...the snoring. It got louder and louder, until I woke up to my real fiancé in bed snoring. I RC'd to make sure it wasn't a false awakening, and alas, it wasn't. Oh well. I'm just excited to have gotten lucid deliberately for the first time in years, after trying for only 3-4 days. It's exactly what my confidence needed to get back on track. Tonight's another opportunity!

[fogelbise]

Nice!! A quick return to lucid dreaming!

[strinky]

Happy February! I've been dealing with some real life stuff and have thus been slacking on LD practice. I still do a few RC's every day, though, which is why I was able to get lucid the night before last. In the dream, I was sitting in my living room watching TV. I performed one of my habitual nose-plug RC's, and I could breathe! I thought about how of all the places for me to get lucid, this was definitely the most mundane. I thought about the basic lucid task of the month for January - asking a DC what their New Year's resolution is. I wandered outside in my bathrobe and found a couple in their late 50's walking down the sidewalk. I pulled the man aside and asked him what his resolution is. Chuckling and looking at his wife, he said, "Well, I suppose it's to be a better husband." She smiled and they walked away. I took off and flew for a while (always my go-to lucid move) and eventually lost lucidity. Woohoo! Two lucids in my first couple weeks of trying, and one of them without practicing much. I've been lax on writing down my dreams, I'll admit, but this lucid has me excited and I want to get better. Waiting for the lucid tasks of the month for February to be posted!

[fogelbise]

Awesome job on getting back to the lucids Strinky! And you are still getting the lucid from the RC alone! How often were you RCing when you were doing it frequently?

[strinky]

How often were you RCing when you were doing it frequently? I'd say that on a day when I'm really thinking about getting lucid that night, I'll do 2-3 RC's an hour. On days when I'm not particularly focused, I'll end up doing them maybe 4-5 times over the course of the day. Typically I do them whenever I enter a new environment, whenever something seems strange, whenever my mental state seems "off" (like if I enter a room and forget why I went in there), and whenever the urge strikes me. I got lucid again last night, and completed one of the basic tasks of the month (ask a DC who your true love is). And maybe WILD'ed? I was dreaming I was in my grandmother's living room alone. I performed a habitual nose-plug RC and found that I could breathe. I walked around, trying to keep my excitement in check and to remember what the task of the month was. I found that I couldn't. Eventually I did what I do in all directionless lucid dreams - I flew around the room. The excitement of flying woke me up. Now here's the possible WILD part. As I returned to consciousness, I kept my eyes closed and body still, and recalled what the task of the month was. I focused on letting imagery float back into the blackness behind my eyes, casually suggesting the same setting (my grandmother's living room) to my subconscious. Eventually, the scene formed again and I was about to do another RC! This time I had my task in mind. I looked around the house for a DC but found it empty. I walked out the back door and across the yard to a neighbor's house. I knocked, and was greeted by a middle-aged, mustached man with a thick southern accent. I asked him, "Who is my true love?" expecting him to say my fiancé. Instead he replied, "There's someone out there who will never leave you nor forsake you. Whose love will endure for all eternity, who gave himself as a ransom sacrifice for all your wrongdoings." I rolled my eyes and said, "You can't be serious." He responded, "I'm always serious about the good lord Jesus Christ." Lol. From there, I had an incredibly long lucid dream in which I couldn't remember any of the other tasks. I drove to the mall, just because it seemed like a good place to interact with DC's. I had a few interactions that I don't really remember. I do recall feeling like I was going to wake up a few times, and I was able to stabilize the dream state by concentrating on the details in my hands. Massive success! Super exciting! Now that I've looked up the other tasks, I'll be attempting to incubate the settings until I succeed. Feeling good.

[strinky]

I had another lucid last night - that's two nights in a row! I was back in college, and I woke up in the dorm room of my former best friend. In real life, I no longer speak to this person. She came in the room with her boyfriend and greeted me. I cautiously said hello in return, trying to remember how and when we had reconciled. I couldn't recall how I had gotten from my own room into her room. I went about my daily college tasks, but throughout the entire "day," I kept thinking about how odd it was that I couldn't remember making up with her. After quite a long time in the dream, I finally figured that I should examine this oddness with a reality check. My nose-plug RC almost failed, because I was congested in real life. But, after repeating the check several times, I finally concluded that I was indeed dreaming. I knew I didn't have much time left, and I couldn't remember the advanced/bonus tasks of the month anyway. So, I played around with the physics of flight - I flew through walls, through ceilings and floors, underground, and so on. At the end, I stopped in a convenience store and picked up a Butterfinger. I had been craving one in real life, and it was just as delicious in the dream. As embarrassingly long as it took me to do an RC, I'm super proud that recognizing strangeness in the dream actually prompted my lucid. Usually (pretty much always?) I get lucid from a habitual RC. So I have hope that I'll be able to practice looking for strangeness in real life, as well as affirming before bed that I'll remember to examine the situation in a dream.

[fogelbise]

Awesome! 2 nights in a row! Last night sounded like a classic DILD where you realized something was up before you did the RC. The previous night did sound like a WILD or the DEILD variation of WILD.

[strinky]

Woohoo, lucid again last night and able to complete both the advanced and bonus lucid tasks. Especially cool was that I became lucid simply because the dream "felt dreamlike." I was in a hotel room, nothing really amiss other than a vague feeling that something was odd. Strongly suspecting a dream, I performed a reality check and wasn't stunned when it worked. I had quite decent control in performing the tasks, got the dream to last a long time despite lots of excitement...yes, I'd say it was a good night.

[fogelbise]

Nice awareness there! And congrats on the advanced and bonus TOTMs!

[strinky]

Thanks fogelbise! Lucid again last night - that's 6 times in just over a month. Really pleased with my progress. I think once I start having a few, my confidence goes way up. I got lucid at a summer camp of sorts, overlooking a gorgeous view of a lake and mountains beyond. Once again, I already suspected the dream before performing my successful RC. It took everything in me not to simply fly over the landscape - I had decided before going to bed that I would spend the next lucid asking DC's what I should write about next. I gathered some of my fellow campers in a circle and asked what they'd like to read about. Most of them answered with what they already liked to read, including the names of specific books and authors (some of which were made up by my subconscious). Only one DC gave a more abstract answer, which was that he believed there wasn't enough female on female romance in literature. He's probably right. Getting a bit frustrated with the way the discussion was going, I chose to follow my earlier impulse to fly and enjoy the scenery. While passing over the lake, I noticed a small temple of sorts in the middle. I thought, perfect! Some wise person would surely be inside to guide me through my literary endeavors. But, upon entering I found it empty. Womp womp... I lost lucidity shortly after. I think I'll try this activity again during my next lucid. Also, I need to work on dream recall. I'm fuzzy on what some of the writing answers were, and the whole point is to remember these kinds of things. I know my problem is that I don't write down my dreams as they come in the night, but it's difficult to do without disturbing my sleeping fiancé. Oh well, I'll figure something out.

[fogelbise]

You are on a roll! Congrats! One good method to boost recall is to practice day recall...it gets the memory flexing in the right way. Here is a link: http://www.dreamviews.com/dream-sign...ms-try-15.html

[strinky]

I missed becoming lucid last night because my nose was stuffed up so badly. My nose plug RC failed.

[fogelbise]

I missed becoming lucid last night because my nose was stuffed up so badly. My nose plug RC failed. According to Daniel Love (author of "Are You Dreaming?") he feels this could be a small drawback to the nose plug RC. I was reading that in his book when I thought of your comment above. I had always thought that the nose plug RC in a dream would have nothing to do with your physical nose, just your dream nose...but perhaps you and Daniel Love are right!