I'm supposed to be able to fall asleep when doing it!
Instead, my meditation routine kept me awake for another hour, ruining my sleep. What do I do?
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I'm supposed to be able to fall asleep when doing it!
Instead, my meditation routine kept me awake for another hour, ruining my sleep. What do I do?
I can't determine what might have kept you awake without more information. What is your meditation routine?
I close my eyes while lying down and try to think of nothing (I had done meditation for a long time so I'm good at clearing my mind without extra steps) and my mind settles down. And then I try to think of the confirmation that I'm gonna remember my dreams when I wake up, until I fall asleep. But the second part wakes me up.Quote:
Originally Posted by dolphin
To remember your dreams, you don't have to continuously think of the confirmation that you're going to remember my dreams when you wake up. The point of the confirmation is to just to set a goal and motivate yourself. To do the confirmation to remember your next dream, tell yourself something like, "I want to remember my next dream," while feeling confident that you can achieve your goal. There's no need to think about your goal too much once you make it.
Do your confirmation first and then try to think of nothing.
If you do this and are still having trouble recalling your dreams, know that it is easier to recall dreams during which you are more aware of the relation between yourself and your surroundings. I think dreaming about having a body is a good starting point for this. If you're having trouble recalling dreams and you aren't recalling having a body during dreams, you can change your confirmation to address this to something like "I want to dream about my body." When we have a body during dreams we are generally using it, or are at least in 1st person rather than 3rd person, both of which require more awareness of our relation between ourselves and our surroundings. If you're already dreaming about having a body, you can take your awareness a step further by being aware of decisions you make during the dream, to the point that they become conscious voluntary decisions. To do this, you can make your confirmation something like, "I want to dream about decisions I make."
I'll try this for a week and come back with results.Quote:
Originally Posted by dolphin
I forgot to mention, sometimes any confirmation won't work for some reason. A lack of success can demotivate you, which can result in less success in the future, further demotivating you, ect.
If you find all confirmations seem to not be working for several consecutive attempts, make things easier on yourself. Just go to sleep with the intention of noticing anything you can notice while sleeping. Keep doing this until you experience success and become motivated.
I agree. 3rd person perspective can be relaxing and fun, but even highly lucid I do not recall much. It is more like watching commercials. You know there were commercials but did not engage enough.Quote:
Originally Posted by dolphin
Hi Continued. I bolded your problem I think. It is an actual skill to develop, the art of falling asleep. First, Yoda said "Do or do not, there is no try" and it applies here. Trying implies focusing and you must not do that. The process is opposite to focusing. If you are using counting for instance, you just count until a thought forms and distracts you. You realize you are not counting a you start counting. You make it easy by staying at low numbers and never trying to remember where you are at. Lost place? Start at one. You just are counting or not counting. You do not try to count as that means focus and focus is wakeful. The next problem is what you are trying, that is to think. Thinking is a bitter enemy to sleep. You want tones and meaning held in words and not much more. Let the words flow over you as if humming a tune. Your words become white noise with no thought put into them. They lull you to sleep like crickets.Quote:
Originally Posted by Continued
Recently I have made a waiting room for myself to fall to sleep.
What I do is I imagine myself in a waiting room, as simple as recalling any waiting room memory (doctor's office, job interview, etc...) and I just wait there with the least effort, looking at the clock ticking, counting the tiles, sometimes grabbing a magazine beside me with my intentions for the night, sometimes striking a conversation with an other patron about dreams. The waiting room changes quite often because I don't try to resist or control my mind. I just remember I am waiting to fall asleep and there's nothing to do but wait.