Thinking before going to sleep

[ll9]

Hi, I haven't really attempted to lucid dream for about a year and now I'd like to come back. One of the things that I really didn't like was that I kind of had to focus about lucid dreaming or just remembering ones dreams in general. I'm the type of person who likes to think about during the day while I'm lying in my bed. Sometimes I also think about the future and such things. I kind really get rid off this behaviour and I don't want to. I also kinda feel a bit wiser while I'm lying in my bed before I sleep. I usually come up with some great decisions at such times. I really don't want to sacrifice this ritual not even for lucid dreaming. Is there any way I can achieve both? I'm not really skilled at ADA if you'd recommend that. Do you have any suggestions for me?

[Chewnie91]

Hey ll9, You do not have to stop your ritual of reviewing your day, or whatever else may cross your mind as you lay down to go to bed. I often times find that going through my day helps to empty my mind and allow me a certain level of relaxation that actually betters my chances of having an LD. Can I ask which technique you are using to become lucid? If you are attempting WILD, I would even go as far as suggesting using your thoughts to guide your dreams in a certain direction, so long as they do not impede on the minds natural process of falling asleep. It sounds to me like you may have been making lucid dreaming into more of a chore than a hobby last time you were attempting. Do not feel like you NEED to have a lucid at night, or even reach a certain benchmark/goal. Take it one step at a time, and if you feel yourself becoming stressed by it, take a break

[Intet]

You might want to try WBTB. It would let you continue to think about your day and about the future when you're initially going to bed, and instead focus on lucid dreaming when going back to bed after waking up in the middle of the night.

[ll9]

You do not have to stop your ritual of reviewing your day, or whatever else may cross your mind as you lay down to go to bed. I often times find that going through my day helps to empty my mind and allow me a certain level of relaxation Yeah that's pretty much the same for me. Except that I sometimes think about other things like what I want to achive tommorow etc. Can I ask which technique you are using to become lucid? If you are attempting WILD, I would even go as far as suggesting using your thoughts to guide your dreams in a certain direction, so long as they do not impede on the minds natural process of falling asleep. To be honest right now I'm not using any techniques. I'm focusing on remembering my dreams. I have never had a stable dream recall so far. I'm using a mantra right now to remember them. After 5-10 minitues I stop my mantra and think about things. About A year ago I tried many techniques. WILD, DEILD, MILD, FILD and probably some others I forgot. Your idea sounds promising but WILD is the technique I probably had the least success. I change my sleeping position about every 2 minitues to feel comfortable. It sounds to me like you may have been making lucid dreaming into more of a chore than a hobby last time you were attempting. Do not feel like you NEED to have a lucid at night, or even reach a certain benchmark/goal. Take it one step at a time, and if you feel yourself becoming stressed by it, take a break Yeah after many unsuccessful attempts it became more like a chore. It was pretty depressing because back then I was already lucky if I remembered a dream every second day. I don't feel like I need to have a lucid dream at night I just want to have a feel of progression. You might want to try WBTB. It would let you continue to think about your day and about the future when you're initially going to bed, and instead focus on lucid dreaming when going back to bed after waking up in the middle of the night. Hmm ok sounds like a good approach for me. I remember that I struggled to fall asleep again after I stayer up for like 10-30 minutes but I'll give it a try again. Thanks for all of your advice. I think I'll try WBTB in combination of a technique like MILD. The first time I fall asleep I'll just think about my day etc. as I always do. I'll try to do some reallity checks as well. For WBTB I need an alarm clock. How can I avoid forgetting about my dreams because of the alarm? That's one problem I had one year ago. If you have any further advice I'd really appreciate it.

[Chewnie91]

If you are having a hard time getting your dream recall up, I would suggest using the mantra AFTER you go through your day. You want the mantra and your intent to be the last thing on your mind as you are falling asleep, that way you will have the highest likely hood of remembering your dreams Also, there are special lucid dreaming alarm apps that you can download. They come pre-installed with alarms that are designed to shut off automatically so you do not have to move, and they come with various alarm tones that are very subtle to help keep your mind from waking up too much. I would suggest just doing a simple google search to find the alarm that best suits your needs Eventually, you can even train your mind to perform a WBTB naturally, without the use of an alarm clock. This is done very much in the same way that you remember your dreams, through the use of auto-suggestion and mantra's. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask!