Thread: INTRO/DC-1 - The Smushy Workbook!

Nice write-up Smushy!! It sounds like you've got it down so far. How's your brain feeling today?

A little bit more sturdy. I didn't get any sleep last night, so I didn't have any dreams. I'm going to try in a few, though.

Wish me luck!

Hi. Man I kinda hate oranges, but I still eat them ^^! You kinda turned our teacher's brain into orange juice in last class!! xD Just kidding. I like people that have a bunch of doubts, it helps the class a lot and I would like to say thanks for them, they helped me too! Good luck on recall!

August 19th:

The Car Crash (not an original title)

I am going to Disneyland (woohoo!) and my sisters are driving me. I'm sitting in the backseat (specifically the middle seat, which I never do...very subtle dream sign!), watching what is going on on the road. My sisters are talking about something...I can't really remember. I am great at remember there are these small details, but fail to remember what they actually are. A phone is going off (FAULTY LOGIC/FALSE MEMORY: I know it's my sister's---specifically the one who is driving the car--- phone, though I never see it and it only vibrates---in real life, it is always a specific song for a ringtone). It's a text message and my sister in the passenger seat willingly checks and responds the phone. Meanwhile, my sister who is driving decides to change the song in the car, so grabs the yellow Ipod that controls what is playing. I want to mention that this yellow Ipod belongs to the sister who is in the passenger seat and has only been in her car, but we aren't in her car. (INTERESTING NOTE: My sisters are simultaneously grabbing something that belongs to the other as if it were their own in the dream)

Unfortunately, as both of them are doing this, we approach a fork in the road freeway! The freeway is very high off from the ground, and in the middle of the two optional roads to go on is nothing but a cement block. Needless to say, because my sisters weren't watching, and I suddenly felt a loss of breath, the car smashed into the cement block. The car jolted, and the cement block ripped through the car up to the windshield. I wasn't wearing my seat belt properly (DAY RESIDUE: I was worrying earlier in the day that I wasn't wearing it the right way, especially because I saw a cop on the road. Granted, I'm an extremely anxious/paranoid individual, so I was over-thinking this seat belt thing...) ---Anyway, I wasn't wearing it right in the dream, so my body was thrown toward the windshield, but both of my arms wrapped around the front seats preventing me from going to far. The car titled back and forth.

FAULTY LOGIC: We were concerned with getting to our destination, so instead of worrying about the car, we were about to get back on the roads. I was very angry with my sisters, blaming them for the whole incident, but I was also feeling guilty for not being able to yell quickly enough. Even though their reactions were far from real, mine weren't.
We couldn't find the keys to the car, and I suggested that the keys fell off the edge we were hanging from when the car crashed. So, somehow...either the scene completely changed, or we walked/hitched a ride, we ended up in a campy trashed place.

It was all dirt, one trailer that was actually clean (DAY RESIDUE: I was watching a TV show with the same exact trailer) and several lunch tables. The entire area was surrounded by trees and it seemed as if the sun was setting because the sky seemed a musky orange color. Yes, the color was orange. We saw this girl at a table, crying. She was a skinny, brunette, young girl. Maybe 20. There was a small peice that seemed as if it belonged to a child's toy that lay next to her hands. There was also a pacifier on the dirty floor beneath her. I thought this was odd, because even though I just met her, I knew she didn't have any children---FAULTY LOGIC, right?

We talker to her, and it turns out she lost her keys, too. She was extremely nice and my sisters seemed to be friendly to her (they usually aren't to strangers). Well, strangely, where the pacifier had been when I first walked up to the table she sat at, was now where the car keys were. The girl thanked us for finding the car keys and we asked that if she could drive us to the bottom of the freeway so we can retrieve our keys. She agreed, and...FAULTY LOGIC: Her car flew. Now, I don't really remember getting the keys and all that jazz, but it happened...

CHANGE OF SCENE...I'm at a local coffee store with this my friend. I'm telling her about the whole story, mostly ranting about my sisters crashing. She actually showed real reaction. I described the girl who helped us out as a "country bug-catcher". I don't know what that means .

CHANGE OF SCENE...My friend (same one from above) and I are at that deserted camp area where that girl is crying on the table. There is no memory of anything else that occurred previously in the dream. She is in the same position. Haunched over and her head is buried in her chest as if she is crying.We talk to her, and she raises her head up and reveals a child that she is trying to keep warm. I instantly think of the child's toys I saw on the table earlier in the night---the pacifier on the floor was still there, but the piece of a child's toy on the table was not. She explains how that it is her child's birthday and she has no ride. We decide to help her out and fly her to a movie theater to celebrate the child's birthday. This dream was much happier. I decide to go to the movie theater's arcade, and played a crane game to win the baby a toy (it was a baby girl, I think). I win, and my friend cheers. I pick up the toy I won and realize that it was a clean, complete version of child's toy that I saw a piece of on that table, earlier.

I don't have a crush or anything on my friend, but when I saw the toy, I felt as if everything had become perfect. I felt as if my friend was someone I couldn't live without, and I looked at her like I loved her. She told me she had to go, though. She walked out of the movie theater, and the last feeling I can recall is confusion and loss. Go figure.

She was a skinny, brunette, young girl. Maybe 20. There was a small peice that seemed as if it belonged to a child's toy that lay next to her hands. There was also a pacifier on the dirty floor beneath her. I thought this was odd, because even though I just met her, I knew she didn't have any children---FAULTY LOGIC, right?

Or false memory?

I don't have a crush or anything on my friend, but when I saw the toy, I felt as if everything had become perfect. I felt as if my friend was someone I couldn't live without, and I looked at her like I loved her.

Ooh and a good example of how emotions can sometimes feel so overwhelming, even if they don't have a base IWL (in waking life).

Originally Posted by Serenity

Or false memory?)

I was going to put this, but I didn't know her in my dreams. I sometimes will have a fictional character be my best friend in a dream. This girl was a stranger, and it was more of a strong assumption. I don't know how memory could play into it, if my mind was telling me she was a stranger.

Ooh and a good example of how emotions can sometimes feel so overwhelming, even if they don't have a base IWL (in waking life).

Yay!

Originally Posted by Cardeal

Hi. Man I kinda hate oranges, but I still eat them ^^! You kinda turned our teacher's brain into orange juice in last class!! xD Just kidding. I like people that have a bunch of doubts, it helps the class a lot and I would like to say thanks for them, they helped me too! Good luck on recall!

Thanks!

I know, I know, I'm being a horrible student for not continuing my dream journal, but to be honest...I haven't had many dreams that I can vividly remember. I do know that every little bit count so here are some vague one-sentence descriptions of the dreams I barely recall:

1. I'm on a cruise ship with a group of students from my school, and I start off wanting to go home, but in the end I reconnect with some old friends.

2. I'm at a camp (with what seems to be the same group as the one on the cruise ship), except they are acting much more wild and I am fitting in way more (ironic because I am a shy type of person and the scenario in dream one seems much more appealing). (breaking the one-sentence promise)--- When it is time to leave, I go back into the cabin to fetch my backpack, and someone tells me it is underneath the bed. So, I crawl underneath it, and somehow, the area underneath the bed expanded to be miles long. I see someone else crawling and they are much closer to my backpack, so I ask them for help, but they tell me to get it myself.

I still consider both to be horrible recall because I remember that the described parts above were just a small fragment of the whole. The problem is that I do not remember the other parts of the whole, just the knowledge that they exist.

I do, however, have one detailed dream that I was fortunate enough to remember. I'll write it down in the next post just so this post is cleaner.

Increasing Familiarity

I need to get better at making titles...

I walk into my Spanish class, anxiously looking for a friend---or anyone with a familiar face----to sit by. To my luck, I spot an old friend that we will call Mark, for the sake of avoiding confusion by calling characters, "that guy". [DAY RESIDUE: Earlier in the day, I learned Mark is going to have several classes with me this upcoming school year, so no mystery on why he appeared in my dream.]

The teacher approaches to greet me, and I'm relieved to know that it is my old Spanish teacher that we will call "Mr. Pop" (random names, I know...). Mr. Pop isn't necessarily a favorite of mine, but he is a saint compared to my other previous Spanish teacher, Mrs. Slos--- a cynical and rude woman that I cannot stand! Anyway, Mr. Pop, despite never being able to in reality, remembers who I am and treats me as a close friend, which seems a bit awkward thinking of it now. [False Memories: I feel extremely close with my teacher; almost like he is family. There isn't any distinct memory of us being close like we were in the classroom, but something must have made me feel so comfortable around him.]

Every four desks in the classroom are put together in a "group", and each individual desk has a number (i.e. Group 1 has the desks #1, #2, #3, #4; Group 2 has desks #5, #6, #7, #8). I eagerly sit next to Mark, making small chat with him hoping that we could become more familiar with each other again to ease any awkward group work time and to have a possible partner for projects. Despite my efforts, the small chat is more awkward than the potential awkwardness I could have with him by ignoring him the entire semester. This causes my nerves to get the best of me, and I walk out to go to the bathroom, just as the class begins.

I have no memory of the trip to the bathroom.

Walking back in, I see all the students sprawled across the classroom; however, the chunk of the people are on the side, looking through their portfolios where they will find an assignment to work on. [Faulty Logic: The room grew larger since last being in it, and it is in an unusual (yet still possible) shape.] There is one portfolio for each desk number (not table number). I join in the cluster, to obtain my own assignment, but as I reach for the portfolio that was supposed to belong to me, I get a gentle pat on the back from Mr. Pop. I let go of my portfolio and turn around to see what he had to tell me. He seems a little dissapointed that I left, and tells me that my old seat is now filled and I must now sit in seat #20...it just happens that seat #20 is at a group without any other members at it. I grab the portfolio for my new seat and read the assignment. I have vague recall at what the assignment was, but it was something along the lines of twisting the context of a story into a comic that is providing marijuana awareness to students. The stories that we twist are from books of our choice that are in a cart at the back corner of the classroom. Direction #2 on my assignment paper mentioned picture books.

The class is growing larger and more oddly shaped. The floor also seems much dirtier.

Seat #20 is at a group directly behind the group Mark is in. He turns around and looks at me with a sad face, which comforts me a bit in knowing that he did want to sit next to me. I reluctantly get up to go to the cart and find some books I can use.

Patches of grass are emerging from the dirty tile floor. The room is continuing to get larger and the walls are starting to be less in focus. Some desks have disappeared.

Once I get to the cart, I notice that Mr. Pop is no longer our teacher. The teacher is now the dreaded Mrs. Slos. I instantly became frightened, but something was different about her---she seemed very "close" to me just like Mr. Pop did. She is actually being friendly with me, and is helping me find a good book. Unfortunately, most of the class took all the good ones during my bathroom visit, so even she has a difficult time picking one out.

For some reason, I suddenly had a bag of goldfish in my pocket. NOTE: I always put a bag of goldfish in my pocket that I would snack on in Spanish class when I had Mrs. Slos. She didn't allow food, so I had to be sneaky about it. With this memory in tact in the dream, I was being careful about eating them in front of her, even though she was being much more friendly.

The classroom's floor is all grass, by now, but the grass is very short. The walls have basically faded, so there is no real shape to the classroom. Most desks are gone; Mark's group has completely vanished. My group only has two desks now, and to my surprise, there is a girl sitting at one of them!

Still at the cart, I find a very small, rectangular, hardcover book that features a dirty looking Kermit on the right-side of the cover, facing a little child on the left side of the cover. I am inclined to do this book since it looks easy enough. [Day Residue: My desktop is a picture of Kermit.] I find another picture book, and I show both to Mrs. Slos. She tells me to pick the latter (the one without Kermit on the cover). She seems dissatisfied with either of my findings though, and scolds me. She walks away, and I desperately search for more. After a while, I walk back over to her and apologize for leaving class. She reluctantly walks back to the book cart with me to find better books.

She tells me to crawl underneath the book cart where I will find an orange book that has text on the top of it. [Day Residue: Aren't I obsessed with oranges on here? Orange, the fruit...orange, the color. The book is orange. Okay, maybe a pathetic explanation. ] Just as in dream #2 in the post above, the area underneath is somehow larger. Underneath the bookcart, was huge. The books seemed massive, too. While I was crawling under there, a paperback orange book fell on my head. It wasn't the right one, though, so I continued. I finally found a giant, thick orange book with text written at the top.

I bring the book out, and Mrs. Slos is happy I found it. She speaks very fast Spanish, almost mumbling it to herself. She points to a girl on a computer next to us. (There is now a row of computers next to the cart that weren't there before...the cart was in the corner of the room, but now there is more.) [Day Residue: The row of computers is the row of computers from my local library] Anyway, she points to the monitor of the computer a girl is on (she's doing the assignment too). [Faulty Logic: It's supposed to be the assignment she is working on, but on her Word Document, are simply notes that look exactly like the way I write my notes in my dream journal!]

Mrs. Slos says if I get to as far as that girl is on her assignment, that she will do the rest of my assignment for me (or at least the part that includes this giant orange book). I am shocked, but thank her multiple times.

I go back to my seat, and the girl there is done with her first two books. The seats have morphed into a picnic table. This picnic table is one that belongs to my grandma. I suddenly realize that the entire classroom has been slowly morphing into my grandma's backyard. Feeling hopeless at how far behind I am on this assignment, I take a few steps back from the picnic table, and nervously snack on some goldfish. I drop a few and accidently step on them, making a mess. I look back to the cart and see that I dropped several goldfish the entire time and had stepped on them too. At the book cart, which was now turning into my grandma's garden, were several goldfish crumbs. I felt immense regret and fear that Mrs. Slos would discover them.

I decide to hide myself in my work, but when I sit down at the picnic table, the girl is gone along with the books I brought back.

Mr. Pop is suddenly our teacher again. He walks up to my desk and notices how distressed I am. I explain to him that the girl stole my books. The girls comes back and blatantly says that that she mistakenly threw my books away into the garbage can. I look over, and see the garbage can that is in my grandma's backyard--- the classroom had almost fully been morphed into it by now. [Faulty Logic: The books being in the trash can somehow meant that there was absolutely no way to retrieve them back.] Despite knowing that, Mr. Pop asks the girl to try and see if there is any way she could get them back. I know better; she won't come back.

I tell him that I have the worst luck ever. I walk away and rest my head on the wall of my grandma's house. The windows are much lower in the dream, so I peek my head into my grandma's room and see something...I don't know what, but it's marijuana related. This upsets me, but then I get a strange satisfied feeling at the bottom of my stomach. Mr. Pop tells me that marijuana is too common and will be legalized. I tell him that "it is a holiday".

I do not know what the heck "a holiday" is supposed to mean.

Even Mr. Pop doesn't understand, but my dream self thinks it makes complete sense as if it were a well known expression of some sort.

Everyone has disappeared. Mr. Pop and I were the only ones remaining and we were now in my grandma's backyard with no signs of it ever being a classroom. It felt as if it made sense for Mr. Pop to be there, since he felt like family for some odd reason.

As Mr. Pop and I walk to the backdoor of my grandma's house, he tries to grasp what "holiday" is supposed to mean. Suddenly hundreds of spiders shoot down from the sky, still on a string of web, to waist level. This was somehow an attempt at understanding what "holiday" meant. I told Mr. Pop that it didn't mean that; he sighed and all the spiders shot back up into the sky.

We walk into my grandma's house together, but once inside, I realize he is no longer there.

I walk into the living room and see my uncle and grandpa sitting on the couch. I barley make it into the room before my cousin's husband (I've known him almost my entire life) pretty much charges toward me, pushing me to the front door. He is wearing a sleeveless shirt, and has huge arms. (he's buff in real life, so this isn't too surprising.) My grandpa and uncle make the remark: "wow, look at those arms".

I surely think they are referring to my cousin's husband, but they point at me. I'm skinny, so I don't understand how they are impressed by my arms. I look at my arms and they actually look even skinnier than in real life, yet they think they are huge. I feel extremely uneasy.

My uncle calls me over and asks if I could go to the gym with him. Suddenly, my uncle morphs into my grandpa. Then, back into my uncle. Then, my grandpa again. They start to morph into each other quickly and it makes me feel more uneasy and nauseous. It starts off slow, though.

"I want to go to the gym." says my uncle/grandpa ()

I suddenly get a flashback to a dream I had months ago.

"I'll even give you the keys" he continues. Somehow I know that he is referring to the car keys. He's going to let me drive there, but I'm terrified of driving. I become so uneasy that I lose my balance and hold onto the glass table beside me for support. I feel the texture to the table very strongly, for some reason.

My grandpa keeps trying to convince me. Suddenly, my uncle/grandpa stop morphing into each other so quickly and all I see is my grandpa's face. He is frighteningly serious (he's usually smiling), and the dream seems to stop---it's just focusing on his face...zooming in on it. It's terrifying, I don't know why.

Then I wake up!

I'm in bed, but I don't get up at all. I'm laying still, barely opening my eyes...It seems as if the sun didn't come up yet, so I plan on going back to bed, but I see my TV is on. It's on a video game. I instantly remember a dream I had just a few nights ago. I watch the TV, and see a first-player view type game where the character is in some sort of warehouse. He levitates up to the very top of the warehouse where he shoots several red balls that are perfectly aligned with each other. (NOTE: In the dream that it reminds me of, I see red balls perfectly aligned).

I get up from the bed, and somehow this brings me back into reality.

My dream body was in sync with my waking body, because as I got up from bed, I woke up in the same exact position. I was sitting up in bed in same exact spot in my bed. Freaky, huh?

Now, towards the end of the dream, I remembered two past dreams. My mantra for that night was, "I will recognize the dream, in the dream". My brain is retarded. It made me recognize past dreams inside the dream. URGH.

OMG, I wrote all that. I'm so lame. I'm sick of myself, really. I feel disgusted now. Why the heck am I feeling this way, haha...Urgh. I apologize to everyone. I'm so sorry.

I will need to read on a PC, but never feel embarrassed about sharing. Whether content or length, people probably censor more than you posted. I know I do.

August 19th, DVA Chat Recap:

Dream Journals are almost (if not completely) vital to lucid dreaming as it increases dream recall and stresses the importance of the act of dreaming. Analyzing past entries can also help us find reoccurring dream signs.

Dream signs- Simply put, signs that we are dreaming. Most likely, the sign will be impossible in reality, but there can also be signs that frequently pop up in our dreams that we can train ourselves to reality check each time we confront them.

Note the times you woke up in your dream journal (you should be writing the entries upon waking up for maximum recall), so you can learn more about you sleep cycles.

Common Dream Signs.
Lights not working.
Machinery not operating properly.
Elevators being crazy.

Time and text are usually distorted, especially when re-read.

Reality checking is better when you have two to three tests that are part of the routine.

For best recall, wake up slowly…don’t immediately lift yourself up from bed. Even the smallest details should be written as more memories of the dream might come rushing back.

Assignment #3: I want to do a combo of MILD and WBTB/DEILD.
Since WILD dreams are much more likely to get
me to level 4 & 5---heck I'll settle for any level at this point, but I really want to get to 5 & 6 of course.
If I'm correct then WBTB is a form of WILD?
My sleep pattern is irregular for now, but once school starts I'm
sure it'll get better.

August 25th Class Recap:

DEILD: Dream Exit Induced Lucid Dream
-Upon waking up, try to get back into a recent dream (preferably one that was lucid). Lay completely still and try not to think about the day ahead!
-If recall is sucky, always choose recall over a DEILD attempt.
-DEILDs can be unstable, so stabilize by emphasizing all your senses in the dream.

Meditation during the day helps out WILDs.

Passive 1 - Affirmation
Simply by "knowing" things will be a certain way, will cause them to be that way.

Passive two - Asking
Ask a DC for things to be a certain way.

Passive three - Schemas
Work with your dream schemas in order to make things happen in your dream. Be logical; if something is impossible because it doesn't fit with you dream schema, then know that isn't the best way to get it. If something makes the most sense to your dream schema, take that route.

Active one - Attachment
Let go of preconceived ideas of what isn't possible. Your imagination in the only limit.

Active two - Flying
Use schemas, create "aids", or other methods to help you believe that you can fly. Potions would be the best way for me, I think...

Active three - Teleportation
Portals, walking through mirrors, or opening a door can be a good way to teleport.
Spinning around and closing your eyes also can work, but might wake you up.

Time in dreams is almost the same time in real life.
Things to try:
-Putting on more numbers in a clock.

Assignment #4: 2-3 goals I want to accomplish in a lucid dream.

1. Eat an orange in "the tree" at sunrise.

I want to get in a good mood in my lucid dream in hopes that the vibe will carry on into my waking life. One of the best (and most relaxing) way to do so would to improve something that already makes me happy. Strangely enough, waking up extremely early (before the sun even rises) gets me in the best mood---something about it is so peaceful...I'm not waking up to a loud hectic world, but rather a calm one. I like to make myself breakfast and watch the sunrise from my kitchen window, where I see this grand tree up in the canyons. It makes me feel "natural" for some reason. Instead of watching the sunrise and the tree from my kitchen window while eating breakfast, why not eat my breakfast while watching the sunrise from the tree.

2. Visit my younger self.

I always feel like the young me is the true, purer me. With that mindset, I'm bound to realize things about myself that I might have stuffed deep down, all while revisiting some nice memories. I also want to visit some tough times with the younger me. This is going to sound ridiculous, but sometimes when I'm alone and crying, I'll pretend there is some invisible angel, or some invisible soul, hugging me. It's pretty sad, but it has comforted me when I needed it, so I don't care how psycho I might come off. I thought it would be sort of cool to revisit myself and be that invisible soul who I felt hug me.


3. Creative outburst.

I want to live my fictional stories---the good and bad. I want to feel every part of it. I want it to go where it wants to go, and have the most creative things imaginable occur. I know I have it in me, or at least I would like to think so. I just want to see everything I got and there is no better way to tap into that stuff than directly immersing myself in it.

August 26th:

Vague recall.

Right outsie my house's doorsteps is an entryway to a car race. The cars are like teacups, orsomething odd.

The prizes go from smallest o biggest: stuffed banana, stuffed pokemon turtle, stuffed taxi, stuffed the-next-pokemon-evolved-turtle thing, stuffed panda. I feel like there was something before stuffed banana, but whatever. it might have been a brown rectangle..

I go with my friends to race and Im changing the music a lot...odd, i dont think i ever heard music in a dream. We are getting annoyed with each other and keep crashing along the course, so me and my other friend who isnt driving hopp out of the car to steal another car and continue the race. I end up beating the friend who was orginally driving and i feel sort of bad, but he tells me i won 10$ and i look in my hand and i see a bunch of green papers...only one of them is clearly 10$.

we race again and this time we order 3 cars to race with since we dont wanna be in the same car. i want to go with one of them and i go with the girl (she wasn't the original driver in the beginning) i know she doesnt drive in real life so i began to fear that i might die or a branch will break through the car and stab me. i think i mustve gotten out of the car or she kicked me out or something. i dont really remember the rest.

it was a 3rd perspective dream as alwayss...im so sad. hmph. the end of the dream involved me walking back into house and finding out this girl who is my friend is in last place. i walk out and shes all wet snd shes sits on the doorstep and the host of the race "helps" her out by spraying ice on her hair.