Bubblebee's workbook: the Resurrection

[Bubblebee]

Hello everyone, Been away for some time, waking world priorities and stuff :-) I tried LD'ing on and off for a while (see previous workbook) but it never really took off. And being honest I guess I wasn't ready for it. Life was chaotic, sleep schedule was (is) chaotic. Job, kids, you all know the drill. So here we are again. Life has settled down. And I'm trying to shift my priorities. I've slain my greatest demon. Thinking about LD and why I didn't succeed before, it's actually quite simple. You can read all the books in the world, be interested in all the different methods and techniques. Question this and that. But in the end, what really matters is your inner will to really really want it. That little tickle in your belly during the day, that desire to do it, to believe in it and your ability to succeed. Thinking back at this now, I never once felt this. Sure i wanted it, because it sounded cool to do, mysterious, fun, ... but there is a difference between wanting something to happen and wanting something without compromise. So to get this going again, it's time to once again slay a beast within. I am referring to 'sloth'. My biggest sin. From wikipedia: Sloth has also been defined as a failure to do things that one should do... Sloth not only subverts the livelihood of the body, taking no care for its day-to-day provisions, but also slows down the mind, halting its attention to matters of great importance. Sloth hinders the man in his righteous undertakings and thus becomes a terrible source of human's undoing. I know, heavy stuff :-) and I'm not even a religious guy. My first obstacles on this road are making sure I have a regular sleeping pattern. You would have to shove a gun under my nose to make my go to bed on a decent hour. I need to get up at 6.20am to get ready for work, prep the kids yada yada, and I usually go to bed around midnight. Not the best start a person has for dreaming related activities. Second obstacle is my dream journal and waking moments. In the small period i could muster the willpower to actually commit to this, I got some very decent results, often writing down 2 to 3 dreams a night with great detail. The issues here was often to much detail, and a kind of obsession to not miss a freakin thing. I loved these detailed writings in my notebook. The most bizarre freakish dreams you can imagine. But again, sloth kicked in and voila ... So without making huge promises, or putting stress on myself (oh no setting myself up for another failure), i'm just going to use baby steps. Commit to these two obstacles first, and take it from there.

[fogelbise]

Welcome Bubblebee! You can read all the books in the world, be interested in all the different methods and techniques. Question this and that. But in the end, what really matters is your inner will to really really want it. I agree. The right formula for many people is wanting it enough to do all the practices, but kind of surrendering to a "it will take however long it takes" non-stressed attitude. My first obstacles on this road are making sure I have a regular sleeping pattern. You would have to shove a gun under my nose to make my go to bed on a decent hour. I need to get up at 6.20am to get ready for work, prep the kids yada yada, and I usually go to bed around midnight. Not the best start a person has for dreaming related activities. This ties back into the above. Which do you want more? Doing whatever keeps you up late or lucid dreaming (along with the multitude of benefits of getting 7.5 to 8 hours sleep). i'm just going to use baby steps. Commit to these two obstacles first, and take it from there. Sure, baby steps where you take the time to recognize your progress, however small. For example: dream recall getting better - congratulate yourself; awareness of perhaps breath - congrats again; general awareness getting better in waking and dreaming - congrats again; and eventually you will also be taking the time to celebrate and congratulate yourself on each LD.

[Bubblebee]

Went to bed at 11pm. Had two mini wake moments during the night, remembered shards of dreams, but didn't write anything down. Need to find a better way to write stuff down without waking up my wife in the progress. Think I'm going to try actually getting up and sitting down, or moving to the bathroom and write there. I know whenever I try to scribble down notes, I often wake up my wife. So maybe unconsciously my mind is holding me back so I won't annoy my wife with my dream journal.

[fogelbise]

Think I'm going to try actually getting up and sitting down, or moving to the bathroom and write there. I definitely recommend trying this out for several weeks at least. It would have the added benefit of turning it into more of a WBTB which is a very powerful way to increase your odds of having an LD sometime after you go back to sleep.