Pickman's DILD course workbook

Sounds like progress. :) I am not the WILD expert but I believe that if you try to consider such distracting noises as part of the dream world it could help...I have seen similar advice before from Sivason who also recently defined the difference between HI and dreamlets in one of his posts. Yours above sounds like a dreamlet which it sounds like is closer to REM dreaming per his definition. I can probably dig it up if you are interested. Either way, like Sageous says, try to not get excited or pay any attention to "the noise" as he calls it. I think it is progress though. :)

Yes, it does sound like a dreamlet. Unfortunately, I have not been able to replicate that success, although I have been remembering and writing down my dreams more often recently. And not just writing them down either, but really thinking about the symbolism during the day. My dreams have been getting more interesting recently - although very personal too, hence the lack of DJ updates.

I have been inspired to experiment with some more unorthodox methods of working with my dreams. I had the idea recently of mapping out the locations in my dreams - I think this is called dreamscaping? There does seem to be reoccuring places in my dreams, and it seems to be like a alternate version of the region I live in. I wonder if getting it down on paper might bring my dream life and waking life slightly closer, making lucidity during dream states more possible. Just an idea.

I like that idea. I have never tried that. It sounds like it would also help you to notice when you are in a dream location easier and thus be more likely to become lucid. The dream location can be the dream sign. Either way, congrats on the interesting dreams. They can be a ton of fun to recall as well!

Yes, it sounds like a slow, gradual way to induce lucidity over time. I have yet to try it, it soulds like something to get on with this weekend when I'll have time.

I still have good dream recall. I'm waking up consistently just before 8am, and consistency is often key to a good sleep routine. No lucidity, but we'll see how it goes.

Brilliant - so I wake up this morning at around 7:45am after having a vivid dream, and the one part of the dream that I really wanted to remember (where I receive a piece of wisdom relevant to my life from a DC) I can't remember. Something about "trusting my instincts", but more in-depth than that. I really should write these things down immediately on waking.

Oh yes...I have had something similar except I was attempting to remember directly from waking and just could not on that occasion. I was convinced that it was something important to remember. It makes me wonder if I was trying "too hard."

So last night, despite having no routine in place and feeling down with illness, I managed to have a lucid dream out of the blue. This must have been right in the middle of an REM cycle because I went into non-lucid dream straight afterwards. It took me a little while to remember this on waking, but I knew I did because of the ways in which I was interacting with the DC's.

I was in an office, possibly the one I work in, and when I realize I was dreaming I start talking to my coworkers in the most innapropriate way possible. That's how I knew I was lucid, because whenever I get lucid I feel the need to act in the most innapropriate way possible in the situation - just to let off steam I suppose.

After this, I was rushing around, trying to remember what it was that I was supposed to do. I had forgotten the TOTM, so I must have lapsed back into non-lucid sleep when the dream failed to stabilize.

Congratulations on the LD!! :D Sometimes they come to us when we least expect it. I think I missed counting some lucid dreams in a similar way as to how you think yours might have happened. They can be tricky when followed by non-lucids, losing lucidity or followed by false awakenings. I am trying to remember to at least reality check when I think that I am waking up from a lucid dream because there have been a number of times I find out later that they were false awakenings which I could have caught and continued into a new lucid scenario. Even better if I (or we all) can remember to reality check at every "awakening" since the false ones often feel like a real one. I was good at that at one point but changed my focus to other priorities. Motionless RC's are perfect for these situations. If you have ever remembered waking up and writing a dream in your dream journal only to later actually wake up and find nothing written down, then you will really know what I mean.

Reality checking on waking sounds like a good idea, but my first instinct on waking up in the morning is to crane my head around to see the time on my alarm clock. I can never remember to RC on waking. I gave up on that after a while.

No lucids, but I have been good about meditating before bed, and I think that this induces some interesting dreams. It's like the meditation allows your mind to process all the trivial daily crap before actually falling to sleep, so that your actual REM-state dreams seem to deal with deeper stuff. I've been into dream interpretation since my teens, so I get really into the non-lucids as well as the lucids - I actually take them quite seriously.

My dreamscape map thing (haven't decided what to call it) seems to be taking off. I now have a dense woodland with a huge crypt and monuments to the dead, and a crumbling abandoned city inhabited only by giant robot spiders - both places I seem to revisit in my dreams.

I like your dreamscape map work. It sounds interesting! I also have been trying to do more with dream interpretation as things do seem to come up that can give you insight into waking life challenges. The effect you are seeing from meditation before bed is intriguing and it makes sense to me.

Nothing much to report - dream recall and vividness is still pretty good, and I credit meditation for that. But no lucidity. I haven't been sleeping too well, we've had some humid sweaty nights that prevented me from getting to sleep properly, so my focus became actually getting sleep rather than lucidity. Let's hope that changes soon.

I had another success last night, but it was short-lived because I failed to stabilize.

How I realized that I was dreaming was interesting - I found myself in a part of my home town with a group of people on some sort of mission. We walk past a bakery and I decide to break rank and go in, to the dismay of the people I am with. I don't know why I did this, but I find myself looking at rows of cakes and doughnuts.

I start off by looking for the healthiest option - don't ask me why, I'm in a bakery, but I guess that's the way I normally shop for food so it's habitual. But then I think, 'wait, this is my dream, eating doughnuts in my dreams aren't going to make me fat, so what's the problem?'

I'm clearly lucid, but instead of having fun I decide to choose the most fattening doughnut I can find. It's at this point that I realize that I have a task of the month to fulfil. And this month, my task was to get naked in public.

So I chuck away the doughnut and rip my pants off in front of this chubby girl at the till. She just seems confused, and asks me 'what's this? Are you trying to score points?'

Before I can pull my top off and fulfil the brief, I wake up. I only got half-way to getting TOTM - instead, I just ended up standing in a bakery with no pants on, confusing a till-girl. Fail.

I should have stabilized. I must remember to do that next time.

It's also weird how I ended up becoming lucid in stages. Instead of going straight into the fun stuff, I decided to eat a chocolate-covered doughnut, which I could easily do in waking life if I really wanted to.

Congrats!! :) I bet your subconscious was thinking of the dessert/junk food TOTM! Cool! Just don't stress about stabilizing. You can calmly practice how you will stabilize your next lucid when you RC or with any day practices.

Damn it, I completely forgot that junk food was part of the TOTM. I was so fixated on the nudity challenge because I thought it would be the easiest to pull off, so I forgot about everything else. So close. Never mind, I'll just have to practice stabilizing as part of my reality checks.

There is nothing wrong with striving to do better, but don't forget to celebrate and take pride that you got lucid. :) Yes, practice stabilization helpers during your RC, but try not to think of "stabilization" while doing it...just practice taking the actions. If you think about it too much it could duplicate that feeling in the dream and in the dream worrying about stabilizing can lead to worrying about waking up and you want to avoid going down that path. Try to think in positive terms.

I'll bear that in mind, thanks.

I've just signed up to the latest competition, so that might focus my mind a little more.

Oh, and no luck last night - I could barely remember my dreams.

Good that you joined the competition!..and thank you for reminding me, I need to sign up too. The competition can be good for focusing your efforts better and can lead to more lucids as long as you don't stress over the competition.

I've come down ill with a cold (again), and I think this means that my body is going to be more interested in recuperating through sleep than lucid dreaming, but I'm going to crack on with this anyway. My dream recall was still pretty good last night, so maybe there is hope.

I'm sorry to hear about the cold. I too will just focus on sleeping at times...nothing wrong with that. I have heard that some people feel like something to do with having a cold helped them to become lucid...so maybe there's a chance of a little silver lining. I am not sure when the competition starts but it doesn't seem like it will be starting in the next few days...we'll see I guess. Get better!

Thanks fogelbise. I'm not giving up on the lucidity thing because of illness though, so I'm still taking part in the competition. Dream recall has been reasonably good over the past few days, and I'm still waking up at the usual sort of time.

Dream recall still pretty good until last night, when I couldn't sleep at all. Maybe my mind will compensate when I turn in tonight with long, vivid dreams - or I could just end up crashing out. I'll see how it goes.

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Originally Posted by Pickman

Dream recall still pretty good until last night, when I couldn't sleep at all. Maybe my mind will compensate when I turn in tonight with long, vivid dreams - or I could just end up crashing out. I'll see how it goes.

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Sorry to hear that. Here's to you getting some serious REM rebound though!

Thanks - didn't happen though. I just went to sleep and woke up half an hour later than I normally do. This is probably just me, but being tired out and ill (or in recovery) just makes LDing harder.

Not just you. Although I will hope for some REM rebound, it usually results in a deep sleep with less recall for me.

Another night of rubbish sleep. I had mild indigestion, and theair was humid, so I was too hot and sweaty to sleep. I tried using this new lucid dreaming hypnosis track I downloaded, and I think I nearly had some success at WILDing - I could feel my body go off to sleep while my mind observed the sensations coming across my body. But I was too hot and sweaty to just carry on lying there - I had to throw my duvet off and pace around.

I got to sleep eventually, but I barely remember my dreams. But that hypnosis track might be worth continuing with.