First success using new techniques
I've been a member here for almost a week, and last night I had success using some of the methods I've been reading about here.
The first thing I started doing was using the relaxation technique of tensing and relaxing all my muscles. This really seemed to help me relax and fall asleep more easily.
Next, I told myself that I would wake after each sleep cycle, and journal my dreams. For the first few nights, I found myself waking regularly after 90 minutes or so, but I was unable to recall any details of my dreams. I did, however, know that I had been dreaming, which is not always the feeling I have when I awake.
Finally, Saturday night, I awoke in the middle of the night with the details of my dream fresh in my mind. It wasn't a long dream, didn't make a whole lot of sense, and there was no lucidity, but I was determined to journal it. Unfortunately, in my haste, and my desire not to disturb my wife, I attempted writing in the dark. :oops: I soon realized that this wasn't working, and moved to the living room to finish. The first part was hard to read, but there it was, my first journaled dream.
Sunday night was another where I could remember nothing. Then last night, something changed. I woke up once after a rather lengthy, non-lucid dream. As I became more awake, the details clarified in my mind, so I grabbed my DreamPad ™ and headed to the living room. The more I wrote, the more I remembered. I ended up writing at least three times as much as for the previous dream. Interestingly, I went back and read the previous entry, and found that I did not remember writing the last line ("Premonitions of evil"), nor did I remember what it referred to in the dream.
Then I went back to sleep. I started dreaming again. I seemed to be in a house that was a cross between my own house and my parents' house (where I grew up). My wife was there, and we had a couple of friends over. At some point, I noticed that one of our friends was not there, and I decided to look outside to see if her car was still in our driveway. I opened the door to see what appeared to be the carport at my parents' house. However, I discovered that I could not see the driveway because there was a garage door at the end of the carport. I realized that this should definitely not be there, and that's when lucidity hit. :-P
I immediately decided to try a reality check. Since flying is common in my dreams, I attempted to lift off the ground and quickly found myself floating in mid-air inside the carport. I decided that I was going to fly right through the garage door, and it suddenly disappeared. Next I decided to try spinning. I wanted to try something simple, so I said to myself that I would be at home by myself and spun around. This was only partially successful. After spinning, the scene was black, and I was afraid that I was going to wake up. But soon things began to fade in. Oddly, my entire view was upside-down at first, but as it solidified it righted itself. I found myself in my parents' back yard, and there were several kids there, frozen in position. When the scene was solid, the kids scattered, climbed over the fences, and disappeared. I was clearly not at my own house, but I still felt like I could manipulate things, so I decided to try summoning my friend from across the street. I said to myself "(name) is coming over from across the street". Then I turned around and looked over the fence, and saw my friend crossing the street. However, instead of heading towards me, he was heading for the house next door. I shouted his name and motioned for him to come over. He frowned and shook his head no. Then I said "Aw come on, we'll go swimming." He immediately broke into a smile and headed for me. I opened the gate and let him in. Since I love to swim naked, and rarely get the chance in RL, I said "Let's go skinny-dipping." He said "OK", and we headed back toward the pool (which does not exist at my parents' house, although my house has one). We sat down and began to undress, when a noise suddenly woke me up.
Wow! I'm excited now. :aphiusiscrazy:
