Recently, I have made my intro class workbook. However, as I (have to) dedicate myself to DILD, so here I am! My name I would prefer here is Aqua. Not much to say about my age, but I'm far younger than average here. Just a middle school student, soon to be in high school, 13, of course! I've got myself into Lucid Dreaming for... erm, just almost 3 weeks/a month. Anyways, faster is better, eh? Geez, do I have to tell my age? I cri.
Let's rewrite whatever I wrote on my intro class.
I used to have low dream recall rate, less than even one per month on average. It has improved to 3-4 decent recalls/week. Dream recalls on stressful days are non-existent, though. As everyone does, I also write dreams on dream journal, of course! Note all my dreams on my phone every dawn, and hope that I'll have time to actually write them in physical one. Dreams are also getting vivider every night.
Importantly, I never had lucid dreams before (at least what I can remember). It would be great if I can have it soon, or even now. I decided I'll rely on dream-induced with aids from mnemonic instead of sleep-killing WILD. Practices done are obviously reality checks, general awareness and dream recalling. I'm self-aware for most actions but I still can't concentrate well. It could be gaming/coding/reading or even writing this whole chunk that made me completely forgot what I'm doing! Still practicing this, not much of a problem. What worries me right now is my low amount of reality checks. I'm trying to increase it and put it to my habit, but I always forget to do so. Mindfulness is also a thing when doing short reality checks. So, I prefer thinking back in time, as that actually brings me to self-awareness and make me question everything that I've done. If there's anything I could do to provide better results, I'm happy to do so.
Why would I even try lucid dreaming? What's the point? They're questioning me as they don't understand the purpose. Only one who tries will feel the result. If you spend 1/3 of your life sleeping without consciousness, that must be time-wasting. Why not get conscious and use that time for some better things? (Wait. This 1/3 of lifetime comparison looks bloodily familiar. Aqua copies the idea, kill him.) Possibilities could be anything varying from messing around to high goals. Time to copy-paste things from my intro workbook.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AquaBlitz11
Short-Term Goals:
- Of course, having my first LD and more, dream-induced though. (Environment here is hardly for WILD)
- Actually making reality checks my main habit/personality.
- Trying out some dream controls, messing up with my dreams.
- Preparing my dream control ability for my long-term goals.
Long-Term Goals:
- Understanding my personality, goals, feeling, etc. - how my subconscious really is.
- Understanding people psychologically, on their feelings. Better ways to learn friends and aid them.
- Composing songs (mainly piano pieces) in my dreams. (I usually compose songs on instinct whenever I'm daydreaming.)
- Being able to use lucid dreams as another ways to solve nagging real life problems. This can be almost anything. Whether school works I can't even think, or getting some ideas to use on my whatever. Who doesn't enjoy unlimited time to solve problems, with your creativity highly boosted and supported?
- Practicing piano (or any other things I do in real life) within lucid dreams.
- And of course, how did I miss this? Stress relief, doing some fun, typical things as other lucid dreamers would do: flying, etc.
- Creating imaginary world where I can live on with freedom.
Wow, that must be pretty high expectations, most people say. Well, I guess I better set up some goals for self-accomplishment for my motivation. I won't be this much obsessed if 1/3 of lifetime isn't this interesting.
That's all! Long introductory paragraphs are fun to write. Now, let's get to the topic on my status. As said, practices are common. Reality checks, self-awareness, dream recall. My dreams are vivider right now, but I don't recall having dreams on some days. Assignments have been stressing me out lately. Anyways, my practice starts being a habit in my dream. Not enough to turn my consciousness on though. Self-awareness? I'm not quite satisfied on how I let my emotions take control too much. Thoughts about lucid dreaming pop up and bring me to concentration on occasion, which I love it. Reality checks, I find myself doing physical ones quick, not mindfully enough. Better going on my mental RC. Call this paragraph a copy of above paragraphs.
I don't know what I should write right now. Will start writing my progress here if anything looks interesting/worse. I'm not sure what I should do with my intro class workbook right now though. I'll probably use that as progress tracker or general lucid dreaming information which doesn't fully dedicate to DILD. I'll try balancing things out for both classes!
Peace!
08-10-2015, 03:49 PM
FryingMan
Hi Aqua, and welcome to the DVA DILD class!
It seems you have a pretty good handle on what you should be doing. Have you read any books like LaBerge's Exploring The World of Lucid Dreaming? If not, I'd recommend adding that to your reading material, it has a lot of good stuff in it. I got my first LD after one month of following LaBerge's program, and so have many others, it definitely works. He concentrates on DILD (MILD), and that I think is the best place for beginners to start.
There are 3 main components to lucid dreaming: 1) building high awareness/memory, 2) building high dream recall, and 3) proper timing. There are many many other things that come into play as well. You mentioned stress. I also have bad recall on nights when I'm stressed -- it's a good practice to leave your waking life worries behind when you get into bed: tell yourself that the best thing for your waking life responsibilities is to have a restful night (full of dreams!). Maybe use a day journal to note down all the things you need to do the next day before getting into bed, and do your best to forget them entirely when you get into bed.
When you wake up, don't start thinking about your day and all the things you have to do. Leave those thoughts until you actually physically get up out of bed and start your day. This way you'll train you brain over time that "in bed equals dreaming time and dream recall time!"
You've made some great progress on the dream recall already! Let's work on taking it to the next level: LaBerge recommends working only on recall at night until you reliably remember 1 dream every night for at least 7-10 nights in a row. At bed time, set intention (means repeat a statement to yourself and really believe it, feel how important it is to you), like: "I remember my dreams....I remember my dreams....I remember my dreams..." for several minutes. To build a lot of recall you may also want to experiment with setting intention to notice the wakings during the night: "I notice wakings during the night, remain still, and recall my dreams."
You can start day awareness work right away, though. It takes time to keep a continuous mindfulness. The best thing to build it is a strong desire to do so, constant practice, and patience. Our minds naturally seem to want to "zone out" a lot. We just need to learn to recognize it. We're not trying to "fight" it, only to pay attention quietly to notice when it happens. The more you pay attention, the more you'll find the times when you lose your mindfulness. When you do notice this, don't be upset, be happy! Noticing when you've been zoned out *is a moment of lucidity!* Celebrate those moments, be happy about them. Quietly bring your attention back to yourself and what you're doing. And just repeat this over and over and over. Over time, you'll find yourself "paying attention" more and more, and zoning out less and less.
It is awareness that prompts us to RC, not the other way around, so for more RCs, you need to be paying attention more, and thinking more about dreaming and if you're dreaming "right now" all through the day.
Daytime awareness and dream recall are related: once you start paying attention to waking life, you'll start paying attention to dream experiences as well, and once you do that it will be easier to recall your dreams.
Do you use an alarm in the morning? Alarms can be pretty rough on dream recall.
Other things like: getting enough sleep, regular bed times, and even getting enough exercise and eating a healthy diet can help with dream recall.
So as my first suggestion, I'd like you to set intention at bedtime to recall dreams, and when you find yourself awake, give yourself time to quietly stay still, eyes closed, and ask yourself "What was I just dreaming about?" Keep your mind quiet and receptive, and see if you start getting images or flashes or even whole dreams. Being excited and positive about remembering dreams really helps.
Also have a look through my >>dream recall tips<<, there's more detail in there about how to get really good at recalling your dreams.
So try that out for starters, and get back to us here in your workbook on how it's going!
08-11-2015, 11:02 AM
AquaBlitz11
As for last night's progress, I can feel more concentration on my mantras/intentions. Finally relaxing myself after stressful working hours. Though, I slept at 2 AM. That's tiring. I can't remember any dreams except a small fragment (was in Math class) before waking up. I might also want to say that external stimuli helps in this case. I was then awoken (false awakening) and noticed weirdness. Everything looked exactly the same comparing to my natural awakenings on 2-3 AM of other nights. That wasn't possible at all, since I heard my mom from external waking life. I decided to check the clock few times and it skipped for an hour every time I checked. How great, I smiled a bit to celebrate small moment of (low) lucidity. Unfortunately, I woke up right afterwards as I felt my physical body waking up with headache. I just hoped that I didn't feel so tired when I woke up, 6:30 AM. If I managed to think less about my headache, I might be able to recall a bit more. I'm glad I can finally get rested tonight.
For daytime awareness, I'm practicing on this. My mind flashes back to what I'm doing quite often now. I haven't done too much RC, but rather pay attention and think if what I'm doing is possible or not. For continuous awareness on what I'm doing, not long to point I can feel satisfied yet. Glad I can progress well with this whether ways. This has also reduced some stress I made upon myself for no reason. (Finally, I asked myself why I would even stress myself out.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by FryingMan
Have you read any books like LaBerge's Exploring The World of Lucid Dreaming? If not, I'd recommend adding that to your reading material, it has a lot of good stuff in it.
I haven't started reading any books dedicated to LD yet. Will definitely read this whenever I have time to do so.
Quote:
Originally Posted by FryingMan
Do you use an alarm in the morning? Alarms can be pretty rough on dream recall.
No, not really. It's usually my mom who wakes me up in the morning. Though, I wake up naturally around 6-7 AM nowadays. One thing: small external stimuli tends to wake my consciousness up in my dream. That way, I can feel and actually remember my dreams. Most of time I remembered my dreams (before learning about LD) are on days I woke up like... noon? Sunlight is lovely. Not a thing I can rely on. It's a thing I might be able to take advantage of, if anything tries to make my physical body senses work.
Well, thank you for your suggestions and tips! Will definitely work for that and take my fruit of labor tonight or soon!
08-11-2015, 04:20 PM
FryingMan
OK. I'd recommend to read LaBerge's ETWOLD sooner rather than later. It will give you a solid foundation on which to build your practice.
08-11-2015, 05:49 PM
fogelbise
Quote:
Originally Posted by AquaBlitz11
Geez, do I have to tell my age? I cri.
Welcome to the DILD workbooks Aqua and be proud of your age! How many people your age have all of these interesting goals?! Just try to look at the long term, slow and steady approach as best as you can. I honestly feel that you can learn so much more about yourself and others during the process and practices of lucid dreaming. And like FryingMan often says, enjoy your regular dreams as well. I think that they can also give you insight into various things going on in your subconscious besides just being interesting experiences often largely hidden from the average person. Stick with it and be rewarded :)
08-12-2015, 04:24 AM
AquaBlitz11
Quote:
Originally Posted by FryingMan
OK. I'd recommend to read LaBerge's ETWOLD sooner rather than later. It will give you a solid foundation on which to build your practice.
Starting now as I've almost whole day today! Thanks for this book recommendation. It looks great. Edit: Got to read this already. Great material!
Quote:
Originally Posted by fogelbise
Welcome to the DILD workbooks Aqua and be proud of your age! How many people your age have all of these interesting goals?! Just try to look at the long term, slow and steady approach as best as you can. I honestly feel that you can learn so much more about yourself and others during the process and practices of lucid dreaming. And like FryingMan often says, enjoy your regular dreams as well. I think that they can also give you insight into various things going on in your subconscious besides just being interesting experiences often largely hidden from the average person. Stick with it and be rewarded :)
Thanks! Trying hard.
As for last night's progress, recalled absolutely nothing. Slept at 11:30 PM, awake 9 AM. Moving forward, practicing awareness to maximum of what I could do. For dream recalls, of course. Tonight will be the night.
08-12-2015, 06:51 AM
FryingMan
Quote:
Originally Posted by AquaBlitz11
Starting now as I've almost whole day today! Thanks for this book recommendation. It looks great.
Thanks! Trying hard.
As for last night's progress, recalled absolutely nothing. Slept at 11:30 PM, awake 9 AM. Moving forward, practicing awareness to maximum of what I could do. For dream recalls, of course. Tonight will be the night.
My personal recommendation with awareness is to start out slow. Begin with trying to recognize times that you've "zoned out" and gone on autopilot. Try to hold on to that "tuning back in" moment for a little bit, but gently, don't force it. Be happy when you "come back "to yourself and start paying attention again. Do not be frustrated when you lose attention/mindfulness, as it is normal. It's OK to have "maximum effort" days once in a while, but not all the time, you don't want to burn out. Generally, one of the key words in LD practice is "balance," finding the balance that works for you.
08-12-2015, 07:33 AM
FryingMan
Quote:
Originally Posted by fogelbise
Welcome to the DILD workbooks Aqua and be proud of your age! How many people your age have all of these interesting goals?!
Yes, really! You know who wants to cry? "Someone" (to remain unnamed me) discovering something as awesome as lucid dreaming only when he's in his late 40's. Oh, all the wasted years. You're the lucky one, you get to have a life full of amazing awesome dreams every single night. Just don't give up, keep building your skills consistently over time, spend some effort every day, and the rewards will be huge.
08-13-2015, 11:49 AM
AquaBlitz11
Quote:
Originally Posted by FryingMan
My personal recommendation with awareness is to start out slow. Begin with trying to recognize times that you've "zoned out" and gone on autopilot. Try to hold on to that "tuning back in" moment for a little bit, but gently, don't force it. Be happy when you "come back "to yourself and start paying attention again. Do not be frustrated when you lose attention/mindfulness, as it is normal. It's OK to have "maximum effort" days once in a while, but not all the time, you don't want to burn out. Generally, one of the key words in LD practice is "balance," finding the balance that works for you.
Ah, yes. I'm trying to keep things balanced. They're usually down to the hill or just exceptionally high. Things are getting more balanced now. Thanks for your advice in this case also. Improvise!
Quote:
Originally Posted by FryingMan
Yes, really! You know who wants to cry? "Someone" (to remain unnamed me) discovering something as awesome as lucid dreaming only when he's in his late 40's. Oh, all the wasted years. You're the lucky one, you get to have a life full of amazing awesome dreams every single night. Just don't give up, keep building your skills consistently over time, spend some effort every day, and the rewards will be huge.
Still, not a thing people around me would believe or such. Anyways, I'm glad I've my private adventurous journey. (This eventually becomes interesting point for my life. I've been living with boredom for long time already.)
Time to copy-paste the progress!
Quote:
Originally Posted by AquaBlitz11
As for last night's progress, I can finally recall some dreams again after 2-3 days of low/no recalls. Also, I'm finally able to recall a dream before my natural awakening at 3 AM. Length is not too satisfying yet, but I believe this is great sign. Anything could be looked upon, here. (Sadly, I haven't made any uses of my physical dream journal since a dream before Fabricated World.) Gonna recall more tonight!
08-13-2015, 08:31 PM
FryingMan
Quote:
Originally Posted by AquaBlitz11
Ah, yes. I'm trying to keep things balanced. They're usually down to the hill or just exceptionally high. Things are getting more balanced now. Thanks for your advice in this case also. Improvise!
Still, not a thing people around me would believe or such. Anyways, I'm glad I've my private adventurous journey. (This eventually becomes interesting point for my life. I've been living with boredom for long time already.)
You're not alone! We dreamers need to stick together. DV is a great community, a place to share and make friends with the same interests. Believe us, we understand you about not being able to share with those around you :). LD practice and dreaming is awesome!
08-14-2015, 04:22 PM
AquaBlitz11
Quote:
Originally Posted by FryingMan
You're not alone! We dreamers need to stick together. DV is a great community, a place to share and make friends with the same interests. Believe us, we understand you about not being able to share with those around you :). LD practice and dreaming is awesome!
That's why I'm glad I'm here. :D
Progress tracking. Each night, I can firmly say my dream recalls are getting better. At least, I'm quite glad with one long dream. For August 13th 2015 night, I recorded my dream here. As for practices, I'm quite worried with this one. To be honest, I don't feel into them much enough. I mean, I don't think I've been on my right track for lucidity. For reality checks, they were just when I remembered I should do it and it shouldn't interfere with my tasks. These happened to show out unsatisfying result; mindfulness and amount of RCs were lower than expected. I decided I should actually set up some stimuli to remind me of RC, matching my dream signs. This should be better way than using my own thoughts and get some "busy" excuses to not RC. They're also improving my prospective memory at same time. Let's go for notification messages or result pages, eh? (They tend to show up in my dreams.) Will report here whenever anything gets better! I realize I just have to change my ways of practice. It just feel better with this as I can finally get myself out of excuses. Each step into lucidity.
I guess I should actually update list of my practices right now. Just going to note here to remind myself of whatever I'm doing.
Overall practice for LD
Practices for DILD
MILD before drifting off to sleep and whenever I can do it without anything interrupting at all
Dream journaling everyday
Reality checks
Methods
Fingers counting
Palm checking
Time checking
Environment overview, thinking backward
When...
Certain things are notifying me (making a small 5-10 minutes delay between each though, 100 chat messages to RC means death!)
Something unexpected happens or something happens as expected without proper reason (ability to predict future, yay!)
I feel I should do it 'now'
08-14-2015, 07:26 PM
fogelbise
This is great…making your own adjustments to find what works for you. Congratulations on your progress with recall as well! :)
08-15-2015, 06:22 AM
AquaBlitz11
As for current progress, didn't recall a decent one for last night. Slept at 11 PM. Woke up once at 3:54 AM, noticing some fragments in my head for two different dreams. Though, I completely forgot them when I checked the time. Couldn't help but continued sleeping. Woke up at 6:48 AM, only remembered a fragment where I was right at exam. Asked a friend some questions, stepped in the room and sit on 8th leftmost seat counting from the board. A column consisted 12 seats, unknown amount for columns. Somehow heard my mom calling me and I woke up from that, though my mom didn't even try to wake me up. Maybe I should just stop checking time and such while attempting to recall. Glad I can start feeling multiple dreams though.
08-16-2015, 04:43 AM
AquaBlitz11
Recalled one last night as noted on this dream journal. I start feeling changes of dream signs (if that's ever possible), from my usual techies to school life (many dreams nowadays suggest that). Got to do mantra repeats before sleeping as always, and drifted off. Dream featured pretty much everything I needed for reality checks, writings, clocks, places. I did check the time, but not as RC. Quite disappointing that I didn't acknowledge it. Anyways, let's go again for tonight! It's now a progress.
08-16-2015, 06:10 PM
FryingMan
Quote:
Originally Posted by AquaBlitz11
Recalled one last night [url=http://www.dreamviews.com/blogs/aquablitz11/august-15th-2015-procrastinate4life-69057/] I start feeling changes of dream signs (if that's ever possible)
Oh, yes. My dream signs cycle around all the time. I have a pretty large set, and they tend to appear/disappear in streaks.
08-17-2015, 11:13 AM
AquaBlitz11
Good to know. There comes another signs for me to check out whenever I see them! Didn't have too much luck last night as I had to sleep at 3:30 AM, got only 3 hours of sleep. (#Procrastinate4Life) Recalled nothing. For tonight, I'm staying in hotel at another place as of my school's camp. Let's see what this bed has to offer. Lucidity tonight!
08-19-2015, 02:14 PM
AquaBlitz11
August 17th 2015 night: Recalled nothing. Slept at 11 PM. Woke up at 2 AM, 4 AM, 7 AM. August 18th 2015 night: Two dreams recognized. Woke up once at 5:30 AM. Remembered things. Was about to write down to journal then forgot about them, failed to recall them back again. Went back to bed, took me 10-20 minutes to fall asleep (for some reason). Another fragment showed my suspect for reality due to super weird situation that myself in dream wouldn't even accept. Woke up abruptly from my mom at 6:45 AM though.
08-20-2015, 07:36 PM
fogelbise
It is great to see you making regular updates to your workbook and continuing your practices! :)
I agree with FryingMan. Dream signs can come in streaks and I have had some success noticing dream signs and becoming lucid by focusing on the few dream signs that had been showing up in the recent nights, when following this practice. Basically focusing on a few that are more likely to show up again that night instead of flooding my intentions with too many different dream signs. General dream signs can work when other practices are in place like setting intention right before sleep or at WBTB and visualization is especially powerful for many people.
08-21-2015, 06:09 AM
AquaBlitz11
August 19th-20th 2015 night - Recalled no dreams.
I managed to recall another dream this morning due to what I stumbled upon last night. Who knows? I might dreamt something similar to that for last night. :P
Overall, my dream recalls have dropped sharply. Still trying to keep it up. More awareness and questions among the days.
08-22-2015, 11:10 AM
AquaBlitz11
As for last night's practice, in case of MILD. I can feel my mantras I've been repeating over a month, really sinking in my subconscious right now. That actually pays off. Possible lucidity in this dream journal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AquaBlitz11
Although, there's a thing I'm not really sure about. There are always cases where I can't tell if it was just visualization I made up, or it was a lucid dream. Things mostly happen when I wake up in real life and decided to do something similarly to DEILD. I can still feel myself lying in bed with external senses co-operating, things are dark. Senses in my dream are weak, but still exist. If last night was just wild imagination, it would feel quite wasted. Anyways, since this one felt pretty different from other possible nights, unmistakable feeling, I should be able to call this a lucid dream.
Any cases, I'll just feel happy about it right now. Let tonight be another night of great progress!
08-24-2015, 04:54 PM
AquaBlitz11
August 22nd 2015 night - Slept at 11 pm. Woke up on 4:40 am with no dream recalls. Actually, I somehow forgot them right at moment I tried to recall after realizing I woke up (woke up few seconds before even realizing). 7.20 am with a dream recalled, playing game is now back on my dreams. August 23rd 2015 night - Slept at 10:30 pm. Woke up on 4:30 am with no dream recalls, except some weird sound fragment and light feeling of flying. Took me half an hour to continue sleeping, woke up on 6:20 am with decent dream recalls. Back to our classroom thingy, I got an interesting question for theories and such. Couldn't remember it to real life or else it would have been great thing for me. :P Geez, if I could remember it.
Don't have time to write dream journals here right now. Will find time to, soon.
08-25-2015, 10:48 AM
AquaBlitz11
August 24th 2015 night - Recalled two dreams, thanks to natural awakenings.
08-26-2015, 05:40 PM
fogelbise
Quote:
Originally Posted by AquaBlitz11
August 23rd 2015 night - Slept at 10:30 pm. Woke up on 4:30 am with no dream recalls, except some weird sound fragment and light feeling of flying. Took me half an hour to continue sleeping, woke up on 6:20 am with decent dream recalls. Back to our classroom thingy, I got an interesting question for theories and such. Couldn't remember it to real life or else it would have been great thing for me. :P Geez, if I could remember it.
Hi AquaBlitz! Do you mean that you came up with a question in your dream to ask here in the workbooks but forgot the question?
08-27-2015, 11:02 AM
AquaBlitz11
Not at all. :P Parts of my dream. In case of progress tracking, recalled none for both nights. I slept at 2:30 AM for August 25th 2015 night (actually beginning of August 26th already, lol) and got no recalls at all. Last night, I slept at 10:45 PM and recalled none also. Due to works and such, I'd occasionally sleep late. My dream recalls tend to be destroyed with that. Is there anything I should try out for constant, or even better recall rate? It's all about hills and valleys.
I've also been interested in DEILD also. Should I try it out, as part of WILD attempts? I just can't resist the urge to open my eyes, get off my bed, check the time and write some recalled dreams down. I'm always afraid that I'd forget my dream, as it happened; thanks to what I noted before going back to bed though.
Overall, things are still going great. I just hope I'm not getting any big works to do soon. A short lucid dream earlier, after (almost) a month of attempts is pleasurable.
08-27-2015, 12:15 PM
FryingMan
Dreaming does seem to come in hills and valleys. But you can absolutely increase your average recall: the main thing is to keep it important to you, resolve to recall dreams, and make a habit of reaching for dream recall every single time you wake up. Spend time going over the dreams you recall, and try to see if you can work backwards to remember more. Journal your dreams. By keeping this up over time, you will recall more and more.
And you have to find the sleep schedule that works best for you, and try to stick to it.
Sure, try DEILD. I personally find that it's very much an opportunistic technique, meaning it's not easy to "make it happen" coming out of a non-lucid dream, but if you can learn to keep yourself in a "dreamy" state of mind after waking up, you can maximize the chances of it happening. For coming out of a lucid dream, yes, you can absolutely practice DEILD successfully.
08-27-2015, 06:14 PM
fogelbise
^Agreed. If you are trying to choose between trying a DEILD or rolling over to do your recall, maybe go by how you feel. If you feel you are still in that "dreamy" state FM mentions then that might be the time you go for a DEILD attempt. If you feel too awake or you just want to recall before losing something you can go ahead and record your dreams. You could also combine the two and mentally go over your recall while trying to stay in a dreamy state and then turn that into a DEILD attempt by visualizing going back into that dream and taking some action(s) that you can only do in a dream, or something you really want to do in your next lucid, while not getting too excited or worked up. Does that make sense? Let us know if not and we will try to clarify.
08-28-2015, 04:06 PM
AquaBlitz11
Thanks for that. It was enough. :P So, I'll just depend on how I feel at moment I wake up; but to train myself to stay still and think before selecting an action then. That should be something I'll feel suited. As for progress tracking, I did summary of my month #1 to... erm... track, of course! Actually, last night, I slept at 10:30 AM and woke up at 6:10 AM. Recalled almost nothing, except this gruesome tiny fragment. Anyways, I won't blame anything since my sleeping schedule was just messed up from that night. I'll just recover my dream recall rate tonight. Actively working for more lucids!
08-31-2015, 03:44 PM
AquaBlitz11
There comes a daily copy-paste progress!
Quote:
Originally Posted by AquaBlitz11
I just noticed I haven't posted here for a while. Let me get on it, I guess.
August 28th 2015 night
Went to bed at 10 PM, probably took me half an hour to fall asleep. Awake at 2 AM, recalled a fragment. Went to sleep and woke up earlier at 7 AM. Recalled a fragment of false awakening, and probably other dream. Though, I couldn't really assure if another thing was really a dream, or something that came up when I tried to recall.
August 29th 2015 night
Went to bed at 9:30 PM, took half an hour to fall asleep. Recalled a long dream with short, tiny lucidity sparking from time to time. Interesting one this time, finally dream that weren't just classes! Woke up at 7 AM. I'll write dream journal of this soon, whenever I have time.
August 30th 2015 night
Slept at 11 PM, awake at 3:30 AM and 6:30 AM. Recalled no dreams, no fragments at all. However, while noting things down to my phone with random thoughts. I recalled a dream from long time ago, which I used to have (recalled) and forgot it. Sadly, I can't remember much details, just only the place it took and main plot. Still, there's always question... "was that what I dream about for this night?"
I just realized also... procrastinating, being too lazy to write down progresses here actually back me down. For some reason, not doing something I've been doing for habit, would make me completely forget the objective that links with it. In this case, lucid dreaming. :P Well, there I come. Let's go for better progress tonight, actually lucid dream, eh?
09-03-2015, 11:46 PM
fogelbise
Quote:
Recalled no dreams, no fragments at all. However, while noting things down to my phone with random thoughts. I recalled a dream from long time ago, which I used to have (recalled) and forgot it. Sadly, I can't remember much details, just only the place it took and main plot. Still, there's always question... "was that what I dream about for this night?"
It makes me wonder if maybe you had a recurring dream again that night or a false memory dream that night of a previous dream, or perhaps even some similar dream that reminded you of that dream from a long time ago…either way, I think it is wonderful when old dreams come back to the surface.
09-04-2015, 03:54 PM
AquaBlitz11
Sorry for not being specific. It was simply a similar dream, just place, actions, feels might do. Reminded me of an old dream I used to have. I just found out how important dream journaling is. Some dreams are only to be forgotten, even how great it might feel. However, sadly, I couldn't recall too much details of what I was doing there. Could only remember the place. I'd be quite sad if whole thing was false memory, but I'm sure it wasn't.
There were some cases. I recalled them out of nowhere on days I woke up without recalls. So, it could be possible that they recurred once again. I'm afraid I'd miss them. Actually, past dream fragments started turning into a dream sign for present dreams. I'll just sleep onto another nights and see details clearly.
A simple and short progress tracking anyways. September 2nd 2015 night, recalled a dream. Last night, recalled two dreams. This night? More please. :D Also, I think I'm going to do less of daily progress here. It seems like an uninteresting spam, so I'd rather post them when I feel I want to. Or, whenever anything interesting appears. So there, another night to try! Lucidity tonight!
09-06-2015, 02:42 PM
AquaBlitz11
As for progress tracking, my dream recall has been on its constant rate. Being around 2 dreams a night, thanks to natural awakenings noticed. However, I failed to recall any on September 4th's night. I continued dreaming after I was awake without noting any dreams. Completely forgot all dreams when I woke up in the morning. I have to be serious with dream journaling every awakening. This intention eventually got me remembering by last night's awakening. Regained my dream recalls per night to 2 dreams a night as always. It can be better than this.
Anyways, there's nothing much to celebrate except lucidity. Thanks to false awakening! I finally managed to get a lucid dream once again last night. Same as a lucid dream on August 21st night, I could control certain some aspects in my dream easily. So, more motivation! I don't have to worry about ability to control my dreams at all. Instead, it's time to narrow the gap between each lucid dream! I'm closer to my goals.
09-08-2015, 02:55 PM
AquaBlitz11
Warning. A wall of text I just want to write to keep myself updated.
I decided I should get myself updated on my progress. Especially on how I'm practicing, both daytime and night time. So here I am!
General sleeping schedule
Recently, I've been getting a stable sleeping schedule. Thanks to school not stressing me out. Hope it's not anytime soon. I usually sleep at 10-11 PM and wake up at 6:30 AM. 8 hours of sleep, fascinating. I tried to make myself feel a bit more awake on each awakening. Mainly for recalls, instead of recognizing them and sleeping immediately. This proved to be useful for waking life also. Felt much more normal to get out of bed than sleeping to late school time. Although, I felt quite lazy these days. Most dreams were forgotten so easily as I haven't thought about them much enough. So, get it simple: 1) Noticing awakenings (More awareness) 2) Effective dream journaling.
Practices
As always, being aware of self and environments. Upcoming thing: reality checks. It was a huge step from my first days of lucid dreaming. 1) I actually do reality checks mindfully 2) Awareness/Concentration improves. For now, I just RC whenever I thought about it. They're quite a habit; to remember them over time. Simple reality checks done: hand/fingers/palm check. Double time checking. (Time checking is some of real habits here. People wonder why I've to check twice, every single time.) They're slowly appearing in my dreams.
Until now, I haven't tried WILD or DEILD yet. I'm still going to stick with DILD + MILD. As always, environment issues. I spend around 20-30 minutes each night to fall asleep. That's pretty rough thing to do for me. And, I'd rather continue repeating my intentions to my subconscious.
Dream journaling is main thing. If not lucid, at least I'd love some recalls each night. I normally note my dreams down on my phone. Put an understandable one on DV if it's long enough. I've a lovely leather book out there mainly for dream journaling. Sadly, I don't have time to write things down. I'm still trying to make use of it.
Progress
Exactly 45 nights for lucid dreaming attempt. I managed to have 2 lucid dreams. Both proved my believes that dream controlling is easy. I don't know why, but I'm glad I did them quite effortlessly. Recorded total of 19 dreams to these days. Stupid maths says 0.42 dreams per night. 42 is answer to everything, but not for me. It was lower than what I expected. It seems like a week consists two parts: nice recalls and few days with no recalls at all. Weird, but still yet something I've to celebrate on! If I have to compare this to my old days, it is somewhere around 1,500% better. (Maths!) What else could I be expecting? Getting better and better. Lucid dreaming takes long time to master, but that doesn't mean there are no fruits for labors. I'll just have fun with my dreamimg journey. :D
Goals
I'd rather separate them into time that it should cost.
Next lucid dream: I don't think I'm ready for huge goals yet. I'd rather continue trying to get lucid. That would be better, surely supportive for what I'll do next. But for now, by next lucid dream. I'll wander around the environment and see what I can do. I'd let myself have fun with all the control I have. Whether that I'll try my superhuman powers, trolling dream characters around, fly and dive into pleasure or whatever I care. Simple, have fun with it.
Short-term Goals: Being able to consistently recall dreams every night. Gradually improving to two or more dreams per night. Increasing my lucidity chance and rate. Mastering dream controls. Conclusion, getting myself prepared for anything I'd like to do. Within this time period, I could try any of higher one as I'd love.
Long-term Goals: I don't pursue lucidity just for short-term fun. Of course, they can be pretty much enjoyable. However, once I've got enough of them, they'll be boring. So, I think I would rather gain some benefits from it. It will be some kind of "lifespan extension" once I master lucid dreaming. As listed in first post of Intro/DILD course workbook.
Getting to know better about myself, psychologically. I do believe I can talk to my subconscious directly as if it was a separate entity. It would be some deeper feeling I can't notice with consciousness. Did this once by my first lucid. Got assured that my lucid attempts will work, and worth it.
Understanding oneself would eventually lead to understanding others. I can't even stress out how I actually feel towards someone. There are too many thoughts to influence. I don't even know if it was by my heart, or a simple narrow thought. My subconscious knows more, and is trying to tell me when I want it. I just have to recognize it.
Solving multitude of problems within dreams. I can't imagine how it would be if humans do not sleep. There are always cases you have to sleep while being stressed out. And you somehow figure them out when you wake up. Sometimes, relaxed state with boosted creativity does help.
Practicing wide arrays of things I've interest in. Actually, I'm aiming for piano practices. Doing things in dream should still effect muscle memory. I can't see how doing things can be easier than doing them in a dream.
Of course. An opened way, readily waiting for me to release stress. Have a fun life in my own realm as much as I want. If possible, I'd create some persistent dream realms. I always have an idea of this in real life, hoping it would be true. Did experience that world once non-lucid. It could be something for me to base of. Joy of creation.
I've to remind my subconscious that lucid dreaming is important thing. Writing this whole thing down is best way. Haven't written something as long as this for once in a while. I'll just get closer and closer to my goals as time passes.
Simple progress tracking, failed to recall any dreams for last two nights. -facepalm- Anyways. Let's just recover it tonight. Lucidity!
09-10-2015, 05:42 AM
fogelbise
No worries about the "wall of text." It is definitely a good way to reference what you were doing at any particular time which can be helpful when you see changes happening (good or bad).
09-13-2015, 12:45 PM
AquaBlitz11
Absolutely a bad week I've got there. I can't blame anything, I guess. I just feel a bit less motivated, and less effort put to LD. My dream recalls went down to only 2 dreams for this whole week. Quite disappointed, but a sign that I've to keep up and motivate myself again. I've recently caught up with something else to feel interested also. I just keep on sleeping later than usual. Heh, but anyways. I'll try to bring my dream recalls back up to my usual rate. Lucidity is still my goal after all!
09-17-2015, 12:06 PM
FryingMan
Waking life does sometimes take a toll on dreaming practice. Every time you feel knocked down, just get up, brush yourself off, and get right back into it. The great thing about dreaming is that *we all dream every night*, you don't have to do anything to promote dreaming! You just need to cultivate the desire and the habit of remembering your dreams.
I like your goal section. I recommend that for your next lucid dream you pick something very simple and *concrete* to do in your dream. I also love looking around in dreams, but try to pick something in particular you want to see: the texture of the ground, a tree, the face of a DC, etc. And focus on this particular detailed goal. Detailed goals are wonderful for promoting lucidity and incubating the kind of dream you want to have which can in itself promote lucidity as your mind may recognize the scenario that matches your goal. That's my recommendation for now: focus on simple, specific goals for your next LD. Make sure you think about this goal frequently and imagine how awesome it will be when you finally achieve it in a LD. It's best if it's something you can be really excited about.
09-18-2015, 12:54 PM
AquaBlitz11
Quote:
Originally Posted by FryingMan
and *concrete*
Waw, much waw. :P Well, yea, actually. I figure out there's a thing I always wonder. Do I wear glasses in my dream? I just want to try checking out this minor details. Actually, I think it might be one of nice reality checks. Some experiments on dream vision would be great. For the goals to come up after that, I don't have too much idea. However, since flying is already boring. I wanted to try replicating some game elements into dream life. Like, some HUD, dialog boxes and such I always wished for? Also, diving into water is my current goal also.
For sake of progress tracking. I've finally got myself into this again, just a few days ago. Those other short interests don't last as long as I expected. But, yea, it's nice! Recalled none on September 13th-14th. Recalled a fragment on September 15th 2015, which I could also call it a long dream. As always, classes in dream don't differ too much. Interestingly, it prompted me to check Humble Bundle. Don't know why it did, but this bundle was far more interesting than most, I can tell. Subconscious still record those one-second-read emails, eh? (Funnily enough, just now. Weekly bundle consists a great thing in super low price: GameMaker Studio Pro. Sure thing to buy.)
September 16th 2015 night. The dream persisted until I realized I was awake. By that time, I tried recalling back what it was, but had no concrete memory of it. It was some kind of debates about Super Mario Maker. I didn't give too much thoughts, until I saw Matpat's livestream on Super Mario Maker. I freaked out. Again, it seemed possible as I took a look at some of his videos before going to bed. Seeing how he actually did daily livestream. Nothing to note much here. Two nights straight of something nagging me about the future is still... surprising.
There was also a fragment I felt I recalled it once in WBTB, WILD attempt. I couldn't remember it in the morning. Until I got school, and suddenly thought about it. That was absolutely right, and I don't think it would be a false memory. This dream also reminded me of an old dream. Sadly, I wasn't able to recall it outright. Only remembered a few scene.
And, for last night. Before I went sleeping, I recalled another interesting dream. I felt it was quite recent, not something too far. Only to conclude it was one of dreams I might have forgotten in my valley week. Most of time I tried to recall on these days, I lost them at that moment. I couldn't feel worse as that dream was freaking nice. Game elements came back to play. Though, waking up, recalling this night's dream. It was just a class. Although, I could feel the teacher trying to value me. Trying to mentor, bringing me back up from depressed, aimless feeling I had since 14th. I could remember some of joyful tear I had in that dream. Writing this, I just noticed I came back to my old self. How weird.
Again. I could relate that night's dream to my talks with one of my friends in the evening. It seems like extraordinary things in each day do mess up with our dreams. I remembered that dream teacher's personality. Although, I couldn't remember his name or where I first met him. Until this morning, I had to freak out again. My usual teacher for social studies was absent. He so then attended this class instead. What's with the future prediction, seriously?
So, that's all! I can confirm I'm now back to community of dreamers. Let myself be lucid tonight!
09-22-2015, 10:10 AM
FryingMan
Day residue is really interesting. Sometimes it's the same night, sometimes it's a few days or even more delayed. But I can almost always find some relationship between waking events and dream happenings. Keep up the day practice as best you can and keep reaching for dream memories every time you find yourself awake. Over time your dreaming will improve, slow and steady wins the race!
09-23-2015, 04:24 PM
AquaBlitz11
Let me note my progress after I haven't for a period of time.
September 18th, 2015
I slept at 10:30 PM and woke up naturally at 6:30 AM No natural awakenings throughout the night recognized. I recalled a long dream with multiple scenes. That led me to a problem: I couldn't make a linear timeline. I decided to try using Mental Map Recall technique by Zoth.
September 19th, 2015
I slept at 10:30 PM and woke up at 7:15 AM. I could only recall a dream's ending and a period before it. Due to stress for upcoming finals, this dream featured new contents: doing exams in my dreams. This eventually became one of my dream signs.
September 20th, 2015
I slept at 10:30 PM, set the alarm clock to 2:45 AM to try out WBTB. However, I woke up at 2:31 AM. Recalled a long dream of advanced grammar exams. Thanks to myself wandering around Grammarly.com all day before going to bed. Continued sleeping to 6:30 AM, but I could only recall a blurry fragment. Not anything concrete
September 21st, 2015
I slept at 11 PM, set the alarm clock to 3:45 AM to test out my cycles. Due to setting low sound, I didn't wake up at all. I woke up at 5 AM with no recalls, and 7 AM with a funny dream. I was at school, as always, yet I still didn't notice it. Body sensations from real life even appeared in my dreams. I continued sleeping on until 8:35 AM, another dream recalled.
September 22nd, 2015
I don't know what I should do. Whenever I touch my piano, I can't get myself out of it. Last night, I kept playing until 11 PM. Noticing that, I went to bed. However, I couldn't sleep. It took me an hour to actually fall asleep, the time I had to force myself to stop thinking about other things. I tried experimenting with time a bit more. Woke up at 3:30 AM. I could remember walking along the street while having a nice inner monologue in my head. Actually what I always thought when I felt free and had something great to share: drafting out my posts on forums. Of course! Whether way, I continued sleeping until 6:45 AM, recalled a dream. Probably two? I'm not really sure.
My finals ended. Sadly, I still have a bit of work left to do. Whether way, that's nice! I'm released from this stressful semester. I should be able to spend my effort on LDing, and other hobbies I would also love. I'm still wondering, what should I be targetting right now? I literally have no idea if there are anything I should try out. Most things are to be done in lucid dreams, yet my rate is quite low.
Any tips would be appreciated!
09-23-2015, 04:36 PM
FryingMan
Quote:
I'm still wondering, what should I be targetting right now?
Always and forever: the fundamentals!
+ Awareness: paying attention to life, and be aware of your awareness. Try to keep this up at all times, even stressful school's-in-session times. Critical reflection, and realizing the point of your awareness: to recognize the dream state.
+ Dream Recall: reach for dream memories every time your find yourself awake
+ Access to memory: recall your day at night-time before bed; set key "memory anchor" moments throughout the day and pledge to yourself that you will remember especially these moments during your bedtime day review.
And beyond the fundamentals:
+ Noticing night-time wakings (and practice recall at each one)
+ Practice staying absolutely still upon waking (preparation for DEILD)
+ DEILD attempts upon every waking
+ Learn and practice relaxation
+ Meditation
+ full WILD attempts with WBTB
+ prospective memory exercises
Read, research more. "Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep" is an amazing book.
Even more:
+ start practicing Sivason's dream yoga exercises.
+ visualization exercises
+ work on your imagination
I also have issues disengaging from night-time activities and just going to bed on time, and on giving myself enough time for winding down and a pre-bedtime dream-boosting ritual (memory review of the day, relaxation, setting intention for the night for LDing). I think doing this is really important, though, since it is proof to yourself that you place great importance on your dreaming life.
10-06-2015, 06:54 PM
AquaBlitz11
Apologies for being quite lazy with LD classes lately. Whether way, I'm back on my track. I'll start reworking on my progress. As for tips mentioned above, I gladly accept that. Thank you! I'll try them out. As for progress tracking and my usual writing style: make everything long, I'll copy-paste what I've written on my intro class. It seems to convey messages the way I want to.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AquaBlitz11
There were countless things to pursue. They could pop up from time to time, depending on what I did. Long piano training sessions, practicing Chess skills1, administering my Terraria servers, coding system plugins, reading some nice novels2, adding more things to my fantasy and much more; I could spend my whole day for that. My established sleeping schedule went down to trash. I unconsciously replaced my LD thoughts with my interests and even forgot them.
I aimed for a week of vacation out of dreamland. Those dream recalls popped up on occasion to remind me of a time limit. However, I decided to put them off with this lovely excuse: "You know. I don't want to keep tracking my attempts with halfway effort. Get all or nothing.". On the other hand, I felt uneasy so I questioned my subconscious mind. Was LD held with high priority, but I tried to act like I didn't care? I continued on with my natural choice: excuses.
Just this morning as I journaled two dreams, I scrolled up along my notes and... Wait, sir. Was the date written correctly? Ermagawd, almost two weeks! TWO, WEEKS! 18 days left before my next month count which I should have gotten at least another lucid dream. I double-checked with myself if I've done my tasks already. So, yes. Time to officially return has arrived.
I needed to write some words to keep me up, to prevent me from being lazy. Seeing my self-promise messages broken last time was quite uneasy. This kind of motivation used to help me before. Thus, these long paragraphs here hereby stated that I'm now back on my track to put my effort as much as possible. I believe I'll be able to keep myself up this time, so... Let's do it tonight!
Absolute tonight goal! (Wait, it's 1 AM already.) Yes, I think I should have some concrete goals to achieve instead of waiting for my lucid dream just to try out some dream controls. To get back on my track, tonight, let me recall at least two dreams! Worst case scenario would be one, surely not zero. Still being a bit passive on getting lucid, but if it appears, be sure to confirm my curiosity noted on previous posts.
That's all I would write for tonight's attempts. I'll be sure to keep making progress as I usually did.
Spoiler for Progress Summary:
September 27th, 2015. I slept at midnight and woke up at 6:45 AM. Zero recalls.
September 28th, 2015. I slept at 2 AM of 29th and woke up at 12 PM. Two fragments but I didn't note them down; forgot.
September 29th, 2015. I slept at 1 AM of 30th and woke up at 10:45 AM. Zero recalls.
September 30th, 2015. I slept at midnight and woke up at 9 AM. A fragment recalled.
October 1st, 2015. I slept at midnight and woke up at 9:45 AM. One recognized awakening not noted. A dream and another fragment recalled.
October 2nd, 2015. I slept at 11 PM and woke up at 9 AM. Zero recalls.
October 3rd, 2015. I slept at 11 PM and woke up at 10 AM. One recognized awakening not noted. A dream recalled.
October 4th, 2015. I slept at 2:30 AM of 5th and woke up at 12 AM. One recognized awakening not noted. Zero recalls.
October 5th, 2015. I slept at 3 AM of 6th and woke up at 11 AM. One recognized awakening not noted. A dream forgotten. Two dreams recalled.
October 6th, 2015. I'm pretty sure I'll sleep somewhere after midnight. It's already 1 AM of 8th when I'm writing this.
Since I've been sleeping around midnight to 2 AM lately, I guess I'll just stick to this. I always get at least 8 hours of sleep regardless.
_______________
1. Don't blame me. I'm relatively new to this, but thanks to those stories which encouraged me to try this.
2. Something I should've discovered a year ago. Too late to party. People already forgot about this.
Lucidity tonight!
10-06-2015, 08:33 PM
FryingMan
Best of luck! Just keep on focusing on building the fundamentals.
