Thread: Seank151's Workbook

Welcome Sean! I remember your name from the competition.

Id been doing the day summary thing where you write all the events of your day to improve dream recall, but it's really a pain and I'd rather just spend that time before bed doing MILD.

If you find it a real pain, then you might be better off focusing on different techniques. In a quick review of your competition posts your recall is not bad. You may also want to consider a variation where you just mentally recall the last 15 minutes (this could also be seen as a variation of "how did I get here?" (wait a minute - I was just sleeping in bed - this must be a dream) and to mix it up you could occasionally mix in mentally recalling 15 minutes from the beginning of your day or the first 15 minutes of lunch, for example. It works on memory which is important to lucid dreaming as well as recall.

What practices do you enjoy most or "agree with you" most?

Originally Posted by fogelbise

Welcome Sean! I remember your name from the competition.

If you find it a real pain, then you might be better off focusing on different techniques. In a quick review of your competition posts your recall is not bad. You may also want to consider a variation where you just mentally recall the last 15 minutes (this could also be seen as a variation of "how did I get here?" (wait a minute - I was just sleeping in bed - this must be a dream) and to mix it up you could occasionally mix in mentally recalling 15 minutes from the beginning of your day or the first 15 minutes of lunch, for example. It works on memory which is important to lucid dreaming as well as recall.

What practices do you enjoy most or "agree with you" most?

Hey fogelbise! Thanks for the quick reply! I really think it's cool that you come on here and help teach people lucid dreaming and help them through the process.

Thanks for the complement on my recall. I just hope that my stopping the day summary doesn't result in lack of recall (was it a bad idea for me to say that? Negative thoughts like that might decrease recall?) but it really is a pain to write for 20-30 minutes about what happened during my day. I like your idea of the variation. That sounds really effective.

I like dream journaling, continuous RC, RC's, WBTB, subliminal messaging, and MILD. I think SSILD would be cool too but I might want to just stick to the other ones for now and not get in over my head. I like continuous RC because it just takes focus and mental energy, little more than that. I have a program that flashes affirmations about dreaming (I am aware in my dreams, I realize I am dreaming, etc) because that's super easy. Not sure how well this will work because I've only been doing this since last night. MILD and WBTB are also easy and fun.

Anything else I should know?

I like dream journaling, continuous RC, RC's, WBTB, subliminal messaging, and MILD.

Excellent! You have a nice base of fundamentals that you enjoy already that I would say just continue with those and only add new things when you feel the need to. Those items that you have in place should also keep your recall going and you can use a mantra for recall if it becomes necessary.

I would like to give you a challenge! From my experience, most people around your age do not keep up the long term view and practice that is usually needed to really do well in - and get the most out of - lucid dreaming. My challenge to you is to keep up your interest in dreams in general along with your lucid dreaming practices and learning. The things that you have learned and will learn along the way can help you with other goals and in other ways. One way to keep it going is to regularly participate in these forums. It could be as simple as tracking your own progress here in your workbook. You will have exams and SATs that should take priority, but you can easily continue tracking progress and jotting notes in your DJ and more while also taking care of those priorities. I sure wish I had kept up my early interest in dreams instead of waiting decades to return to it.

Do you have any questions or are you running into any challenges? By the way, I have found good success without supplements (I still haven't tried any supplements besides apple juice and the occasional mustard) and I applaud your decision to forego supplements this time around. As you have proven to yourself, you can do it without them. Try to see this as a journey and not a race.

You said so much motivational and inspirational stuff, thank you!!

Honestly, I dont see myself stopping my practice. Its painless, fun, and I already recall a lot more dreams because of my practices. And why would i choose to miss the opportunities to explore my dream reality to the fullest when they come every single night? Also, I have adjusted mmy sleep schedule so i go to bed an hour earlier so I can have those longer REM cycles and more opportunities to explore the dream realm, in addition to making up for sleep lost from WBTB.

I am considering mixing in some meditation maybe 15 minutes before bed just to use in conjunction with MILD, using a mantra like "when im dreaming, i realize i am dreaming".

Also, what kind of information should i routinely post here?

And, I humbly accept your challenge

Additional question: Ive heard to use mantras in the future tense (I will realize im dreaming) to use prospective memory with MILD, but I've also heard it should be in present tense (I am dreaming). Which is more effective with MILD?

Edit: or, maybe, "When i see [x dreamsign], I will do a reality check."?

Originally Posted by seank12

1. You said so much motivational and inspirational stuff, thank you!!
2. I am considering mixing in some meditation maybe 15 minutes before bed just to use in conjunction with MILD, using a mantra like "when im dreaming, i realize i am dreaming".
3. Also, what kind of information should i routinely post here?

I added numbers for ease of reply. 1. Your welcome and thank you for the nice feedback. 2. I have read and believe that mediation has many benefits, so why not give it a try. 3. You could post how your practices are going and any changes that you have made to your practices. If you had a great week a few weeks back but not so much recently, you can go back to see what you might have changed. It can be a way to track what works and doesn't work for you personally. You can also do this in your home dream journal if you prefer, but doing it here would make it easy to find in the future.

Originally Posted by seank12

Additional question: Ive heard to use mantras in the future tense (I will realize im dreaming) to use prospective memory with MILD, but I've also heard it should be in present tense (I am dreaming). Which is more effective with MILD?

Edit: or, maybe, "When i see [x dreamsign], I will do a reality check."?

The argument that using "I will" can be interpreted by your brain as "I will at some point in the future" makes sense to me and I have heeded that argument myself. I have used "I will...tonight" and "I will...4 hours from now" as an alternative. For your specific example, you may want to consider: "Every time (or Whenever I...) I see [x dreamsign], I do a reality check." (Note that I also changed that from "I will do" to "I do"...)

Awesome thanks for all the help and info!


Yesterday, I started with the meditation for only 5-7 minutes but feel good about it!

Not great recall last night. Im kinda bummed i havent had an LD in a week but that wont phase me!

Anyway, this is how my day goes so far.

1) Wake up at 6:20 AM
2) Record dreams
3) Go to shower and usually remember more dreams there
4) Record more dreams
5) Update score for the lucid comp
6) Do reality checks throughout the day and try to remember my blinking
7) At 830, write in my dream journal all the daytime and nighttime techniques im practicing, along with the date
8) Meditate with MILD
9) Go to sleep
10) Wake up either naturally or by alarm at 3 am (tend to wake earlier naturally, i woke at 1:40 tonight).
11) Record dreams
12) Read about lucid dreaming, do math/word puzzles to stimulate logical centers of brain, and/or do MILD/meditation
13) Go back to sleep
14) Repeat

Not great recall last night. Im kinda bummed i havent had an LD in a week but that wont phase me!

And it didn't phase you! I see you got lucid last night (saw your post in the competition thread). Congrats!!

Thanks Mr. Fogel! Also, I love seeing your LD count go up as the nights go by hehe Last time I checked it was 118 but now it's a whopping 121! Wow!

And you are right, I did have an LD last night! I remember i was in my bed, and I did the nose pinch reality check. I think my nose was sort of stuffy, so I didn't really trust the results but then I put my thumb through the wall! This really triggered lucidity but there was no real visual element to the dream. I just waited but it still didn't come. I listened, and heard this beautiful flute (the same tone from my alarm) but I knew my alarm wasn't really going off.

I then went into a FA where I recorded my dreams. I remember that in my dreams, it was much easier to remember back to previous dreams and recall detail than in waking life. It made an interesting observation, I thought.

Also, on 2 out of the 3 lucid dreams I've had, I did a WBTB and then found it really hard to fall back asleep. Like really difficult, to the point where I wished I could just get up and start the day.

Anyways, I will now start my day with meditating "I am always aware of my surroundings", meditate before bed with "I will recognize a dreamsign tonight" (or something along those lines), and then after WBTB, I will fall asleep repeating "I am dreaming". I did that after WBTB last night and, well, it worked!

I will continue to update my journal

Originally Posted by seank12

Thanks Mr. Fogel! Also, I love seeing your LD count go up as the nights go by hehe Last time I checked it was 118 but now it's a whopping 121! Wow!

Me too! With determination, you too can see your count climb and climb.

I then went into a FA where I recorded my dreams. I remember that in my dreams, it was much easier to remember back to previous dreams and recall detail than in waking life. It made an interesting observation, I thought.

Nice observation! I have seen this before as well and you just gave me an idea. One could always remember to do an RC when writing in their DJ. It is similar to the recommendation to always RC upon awakening in order to catch FA's but could be used as a back up/2nd RC opportunity.

Also, on 2 out of the 3 lucid dreams I've had, I did a WBTB and then found it really hard to fall back asleep. Like really difficult, to the point where I wished I could just get up and start the day.

I have noticed a similar correlation for myself and heard the same from others...namely that when I do have a hard time getting back to sleep, it seems to increase my chances of having an LD...not that I recommend putting yourself through that. Knowing this though does seem to take some of the stress out of the equation. After having similar trouble earlier in my practice, it seems to be less common now. Early on it convinced me to leave most of my WBTB attempts until the weekend, but now I am able to do it during the week and not be dead tired the next day. Of course any time you have a test coming up or a big day ahead...you may just want to focus on deep sleep and perhaps meditation.

Keep up the good work! You are on your way!

Alright, this weekend i will be going through my dream journaling of the past month and be writing all the dreamsigns here! I will look for patterns and such

Originally Posted by seank12

Alright, this weekend i will be going through my dream journaling of the past month and be writing all the dreamsigns here! I will look for patterns and such

Good idea Sean! It can often be fun as well to see some of the dreams that you forgot about. Dream signs are one piece of the puzzle that you can use to give you more chances to become lucid, so don't forget to continue your other practices (or puzzle pieces) that you mentioned enjoying...but I am sure that you already knew that. When I review my dream signs or potential dream signs I just circle the word(s) in my dream journal that correspond to the dream sign and then tally which ones are the most common. I also find that it can be useful to go back every few nights and review the most recent dream signs as the same ones sometimes show up for me a few nights in a row.

Tonight, I will do WBTB, get up and read a bit about lucid dreaming. I then will meditate on the phrase "I am dreaming". After, I will lay down and do SSILD until sleep

Then.... LUCIDS

Mr. FOGEL!! You won't BELIEVE the lucid I had last night! Omg the SSILD technique is like freaking magic! I had a LD probably like ~20minutes long and I even did Element Manipulation!!!

I breathed fire! I flew! I talked to DC's! I understood the importance of expectation! It was incredible man, truly inspiring.

I will be making a DJ entry for all my lucids because of the competition, and you may read (or not, suit yourself) if you like.

Whoa, that's awesome, congrats! Sounds like you had a lot of fun. I'd love to read your dream journal!

Originally Posted by seank12

Mr. FOGEL!! You won't BELIEVE the lucid I had last night! Omg the SSILD technique is like freaking magic! I had a LD probably like ~20minutes long and I even did Element Manipulation!!!

I breathed fire! I flew! I talked to DC's! I understood the importance of expectation! It was incredible man, truly inspiring.

I will be making a DJ entry for all my lucids because of the competition, and you may read (or not, suit yourself) if you like.

Awesome job Sean!! Let me know when you post the DJs! I also found SSILD very helpful for WBTB but I do feel the daytime work played a big part as well.

Originally Posted by fogelbise

Awesome job Sean!! Let me know when you post the DJs! I also found SSILD very helpful for WBTB but I do feel the daytime work played a big part as well.

Yeah true, I do a lot of stuff during the day haha.

I'm too lazy to make the DJ lol.. sorry.

Tonight I will do SSILD again, if I can awaken enough; the last 2 days have been really exhausting.

Remembered around 5 dreams last night! Pretty solid!

5 dreams! Nice job, that is a significant count! I have heard people say that SSILD helped them recall dreams better. I think that it is much like the way most lucid related or dream related work/thoughts during a WBTB help with recall.

That is a very interesting observation Mr. Fogel!

Tonight, I will chart my dreamsigns

Alright here goes! My dreamsigns!

Dreamsigns:

Arrionna (my friend)
A road being in the wrong place
Marie (a girl I used to have a crush on)
Thinking I have my longboard in my backpack
Someone stealing from me
A room (bathroom, for ex.) where there isn't one in waking life
Fighting/Threatening someone
Talking about dreaming (erggghhh)
Person trying to hurt me
Nude women/sex
Faulty DC logic
People living in the wrong house
Characters from TV shows
A character from a TV show being named Churro (this only happened once but I put it here for your guys' amusement)
My stepdad being upset
Smoking/Drinking or doing any drugs
3rd Person Viewing
Skating with Keilan (my buddy)
People Morphing/Not looking how they normally do
Looking at my own body laying down

Most common:
Arrionna
Some place being in a different spot than real life
Sex
People morphing/not looking how they normally do
Fighting/any sort of crime going on



Meh. Looking at this, I'm not sure how helpful it will be. But I'll do a reality check any time I see Arrionna, or realize any of the other stuff is going on

Meh. Looking at this, I'm not sure how helpful it will be. But I'll do a reality check any time I see Arrionna, or realize any of the other stuff is going on

This is good! Nice compilation. It may take a while to start recognizing these dream signs to become lucid, but it can work in combination with all of the other things that you are doing. I like to read over each of my dream signs before bed occasionally and then re-read the most common ones and also ones that occurred the night before. It only takes a minute or two depending on how much you think about each one. You may find your own way to do it better but I would quickly think (just for example's sake, using one of yours)..."Some place being in a different spot than real life...that sounds like a dream scenario!" while imagining dreaming that scenario briefly.

Alright Mr. Fogel, I'm back! I'm sure my 2 day absence left you guessing, but no worries, I am here!

So, no more lucids to report, but I'm happy with my recall.
I realized that my reality checks have been too nonchalant, and I am making a change! Whenever I perform one, I follow these steps.

1) Realize something is strange, or that I haven't done a reality check in a while. Affirm it to myself "It's weird that I see this person now, or that this person said this thing, or that this is there, etc, so I will perform a reality check."
2) Ask, preferably aloud, "Am I dreaming?" with meaning behind it.
3) I look around myself, see if anything is up. I do the nose-pinch test. I do the test with text and with my hands as well, and then I repeat the nose-pinch test. I also usually try to put my fingers through things.


And there you go!


One more update: I have been finding myself a little tired during WBTB's, so I will stay awake for a little longer or splash water on my face. If I had a book of logic or math/word puzzles, I would do them to induce the right brain chemistry, but alas, I have none.

Edit: Also, my 3 tasks I want to do in a lucid dream:

1) Fly fast and in control in a Superman pose
2) Summon myself behind a door and ask myself questions
3) Say "the most gorgeous girl I've ever seen will be behind this door", open the door, and proceed to fornicate her...

I realized that my reality checks have been too nonchalant, and I am making a change!

It is good that you realized this! It is most effective if you do the test as if you believe it will work. Are you getting enough sleep for school and all? If that is becoming challenging with the wbtb's you can try going to bed a little earlier or save the serious wbtb attempts to weekends or holidays. If you do it some days during the week, you should probably just avoid it right before a test though. Good luck Sean!