Competition Thread #17

[FryingMan]

Night 8: 1 looong dream and one fragment. 1,5 points. Where's my lucid?? Arghhh ... Going to try a afternoon nap now and see what happens, maybe I'll have success at WILD. Never had a WILD, but one day it must happen! It must! I'm getting frustrated, I've only managed one single DILD in 2014! I'm writing my dream journal, I'm doing awareness and reality checks, I'm aware of my dream signs. What more can I do? Competition total: 16 points I think DV needs a sticky thread somewhere, "I'm trying, but where are the lucids?" Having just come off a frustrating dry spell (and not entirely satisfactorily, yet), "I feel your pain!" Do you have the fundamentals covered? sleep schedule: enough sleep and regular sleep schedule. dutchraptor says: "routine is key to LD success" I myself am just beginning to truly take this seriously, and I think I can attribute coming out of my dry spell to my efforts to get to bed at the same time every night. regular, intense (enough to make you tired) exercise. Helps you get to sleep at night, and more oxygen to the brain is a healthier, more alert brain. Morning exercise is better than evening, or you risk being over stimulated for sleeping (my opinion, others say this too). dream and LD dream friendly diet: cut out junk food, get lots of tryptophan and choline-containing foods, anything brain friendly and memory function friendly, google this there are lots of suggestions. I just started chugging down ground flax seeds mixed with water within the last week and this may have helped as well -- omega oils and choline. manage stress. Meditate. I don't do much of this. I did some meditation 3 nights ago and I then had my longest, most vivid ND culminating in a brief amount (but still quite fun! If shocking...) of lucidity. I need to do more. How many times / how many minutes during the day do you have awareness moments and RCs? What sort of RCs do you do? How is your recall? How many dreams/fragments? How long? Do you notice any improvements in recall? Do you wake up in the middle of the night without alarms to recall? From talking with a number of what seem to be the really successful LDers, they spend *a lot of time* during the day thinking about LDing and questioning their state. I'm trying to think about LDing (ADA/RC style, Reflection/Intention style) every moment I can, which basically means when I'm not working. I don't manage to hold it every single non-working moment, but I try to keep it going as much as I can. I've had some life changes in January that messed my LDing up for a month or more, we can't avoid this kind of thing. But pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get right back in the game. If you haven't enrolled in, for example, a DV course like the DILD course, I highly recommend it. And if you haven't plumbed the depths of DV forum threads and wikis from some of the big names, I also recommend that. And also read all the stuff Sageous has over in the WILD class. Even if you don't WILD, his discussions of the fundamentals are really eye opening. And if you haven't tried it yet, maybe start doing some of the exercises sivason has over in the dream yoga class. I've done a few but I need to do more. edti: Oh and BrandonBoss has started some really fabulous threads on his approach and ideas for LDing. Try to become adept at all approaches (DILD, WILD, DEILD being the big 3), so that you can choose the best approach for your particular sleep situation on any given night. Good luck!

[seank12]

1 fragment lol 39.5 Doesnt work well when friends are over haha

[Chessica]

I think DV needs a sticky thread somewhere, "I'm trying, but where are the lucids?" Having just come off a frustrating dry spell (and not entirely satisfactorily, yet), "I feel your pain!" Do you have the fundamentals covered? sleep schedule: enough sleep and regular sleep schedule. dutchraptor says: "routine is key to LD success" I myself am just beginning to truly take this seriously, and I think I can attribute coming out of my dry spell to my efforts to get to bed at the same time every night. regular, intense (enough to make you tired) exercise. Helps you get to sleep at night, and more oxygen to the brain is a healthier, more alert brain. Morning exercise is better than evening, or you risk being over stimulated for sleeping (my opinion, others say this too). dream and LD dream friendly diet: cut out junk food, get lots of tryptophan and choline-containing foods, anything brain friendly and memory function friendly, google this there are lots of suggestions. I just started chugging down ground flax seeds mixed with water within the last week and this may have helped as well -- omega oils and choline. manage stress. Meditate. I don't do much of this. I did some meditation 3 nights ago and I then had my longest, most vivid ND culminating in a brief amount (but still quite fun! If shocking...) of lucidity. I need to do more. How many times / how many minutes during the day do you have awareness moments and RCs? What sort of RCs do you do? How is your recall? How many dreams/fragments? How long? Do you notice any improvements in recall? Do you wake up in the middle of the night without alarms to recall? From talking with a number of what seem to be the really successful LDers, they spend *a lot of time* during the day thinking about LDing and questioning their state. I'm trying to think about LDing (ADA/RC style, Reflection/Intention style) every moment I can, which basically means when I'm not working. I don't manage to hold it every single non-working moment, but I try to keep it going as much as I can. I've had some life changes in January that messed my LDing up for a month or more, we can't avoid this kind of thing. But pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get right back in the game. If you haven't enrolled in, for example, a DV course like the DILD course, I highly recommend it. And if you haven't plumbed the depths of DV forum threads and wikis from some of the big names, I also recommend that. And also read all the stuff Sageous has over in the WILD class. Even if you don't WILD, his discussions of the fundamentals are really eye opening. And if you haven't tried it yet, maybe start doing some of the exercises sivason has over in the dream yoga class. I've done a few but I need to do more. edti: Oh and BrandonBoss has started some really fabulous threads on his approach and ideas for LDing. Try to become adept at all approaches (DILD, WILD, DEILD being the big 3), so that you can choose the best approach for your particular sleep situation on any given night. Good luck! Thank you for a long and thorough reply, Fryingman! Much appreciated! I'm doing most of the stuff you mention, but some things might be difficult for me. Like regular sleep schedule - I have a chronic sleep disorder that makes a regular schedule nearly impossible. I'll just have to work around it I guess. I really should start exercising again. I used to go running and kayaking, but this winter I've been lazy. I think you're on to something when you ask how often I do RC's and have awareness moments, when I think about it I really don't do them enough! Thank's for making me aware of this!! I do RC's maybe 3-4 times a day, and same with awareness moments - a total of perhaps 10 minutes a day. I can see now that it's not nearly enough! I usually do the "nose pinch", look at my hands and a digital clock. I also try to think of where I've been, and where I'm going (the awareness stuff). My recall is not too bad actually, I nearly always remember several dreams (the dreams are very long and vivid, and sometimes I wonder if the dreams I remember are really just one veeery long dream and that the fragments are part of it too ...), but I never wake up intentionally to recall during the night - unless I wake up to try a WBTB (sometimes I wake up naturally, though). My recall has been good all my life, never really needed to write dreams down to remember them, but I do now because LD'ers say I have to. lol. I've read a LOT about lucid dreaming, about all the different techniques, read all the stuff Sageous has in the WILD class, I entered a beginner course when I first registered here on DV over 3 years ago (I've had a looong break from learning to LD). I'll look into meditation and dream yoga. Thanks for the tips, they were really helpful!

[fogelbise]

Night 8 Motivation waning but put in some half-hearted efforts that brought recall up from the night before Very interesting dream that took me back to a place I haven't been to in *25 years* and don't remember dreaming about! The dreaming mind is amazing. 1 dream, 4 fragments, 1 wbtb attempt: 4pts Competition total: 110pts

[AnotherDreamer]

1 fragment - .5 RC - 1 successful stabilize - 2 flying - 4 telekinesis - 4 lucid - 5 Total - 16.5, maybe invulnerability too? not sure Competition total - 59 + 16.5 = 75.5 Hopefully this signifies the end of my dry streak ^^ Afternoon Naps Rule - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

[Ginsan]

So I have been really intense in it around 1,5 year. I'm sure a year and half will seem small when looking back, but right now it's terrible to think that it will take me that long to become a solid intermediate... I was really hoping to have some solid consistency is frequency and quality of dreams and recall in about 6 months.. I will really have to work for it, even if nothing seems to work, I will have to work even harder and never lose hope. It's an annoying fact of life and a huge obstacle to overcome (at least for me) but sometimes you have to sacrifice your present pleasure and comfort to have a chance of even greater pleasure and comfort in the future. I know this is true but I just keep messing up. Stalling my homework, messing up my sleep schedule, slacking on my strength training and diet. It's affecting every aspect of my life, my surroundings, even my soul. This lack of discipline or unreasonable laziness or whatever you may call it, it's eating me up.. I posted this to get this out of me. Maybe this will help me solve the defect in my soul, maybe I'm just whining around. I don't know.. EDIT: If anyone wants to offer me some nice words, I appreciate it. But I just wanted to express myself, I'm not looking for help.

[FryingMan]

^^ Ginsan, you can do it! The first step to achieving your goals is realizing that you're not doing enough! And that only *you* can fix it! A phrase from a motivational video posted in the last competition really stuck with me, and I remind myself of it nearly daily, when I think I'd rather just let go and be a zombie for a while instead of being aware of myself and my environment: "You have to want it like you want to breathe!" The more you make a habit of *doing it*, whatever "it" is for you, the better you'll feel about yourself and you'll set up a cycle of success and positive emotions and expectation. Positive emotions and expectation are key for LD success, and the opposite are absolutely LD-killers. To you and to Chessica and everyone (me too!), if you haven't achieved the level of success you want, you must be brutally honest with yourself: 0) Have you dedicated and committed yourself to do your absolute best for a (long, at least a year) period of time? 1) are you doing all that you know you need to be doing? 2) if not (and probably not), then DO IT! 3) never quit. Quitting and coming back later can be like climbing up a really steep hill just to get back to where you were before. 4) "You have to want it like you want to breathe" 5) Have you given it enough time? This is critical. Experiments in LDing should run for months, not days/weeks, before you decide on whether something works for you. Why not? Do you have something better to be doing for 8 hours every single night when you're sleeping? When you're standing in line? When you're walking somewhere? I'm a long-to-sleeper in the middle of the night.. It sucks sometimes when I just want to get back to sleep and dream and LD (although there may be a silver lining to that cloud -- it means I hold on to awareness well....if....only...I...can...fall...asleep!). At first I felt like posting (and did a few times) posts like "wah, I can't sleep, why not?" Probably the biggest change in my LD practice occurred when I realized: nobody can help me, nobody can fix this for me, if I want this , and I do, *I* have to fix it. Research, experiment, make changes, lather, rinse, repeat. It's an ongoing process. (And I have made large strides: I have taught myself how to fall asleep that works more often than not, depending on conditions).

[Mismagius]

Bad recall and a nightmare Nice advice FryingMan! 1 dream - 1 point 2 fragments - 1 point Night Totals: 2 points Competition Total: 29.5

[Saizaphod]

Noooo combo broken. wbtb fail = 1p, 3 dreams =3p, 1 frag= 0,5p Total= 4,5p Total= 109P

[Sojatofu]

Damn, got a bit sick yesterday, so not much dream recall and no lucids tonight... 1 dream = 1 point Night TOTAL = 1 point Competition TOTAL = 42 (5) points

[Nfri]

Alpha - GPC 900mg 1f - 0,5p 3d - 3p wbtbs - 3p become lucid 5p teleport - 7p rc - 1p flying - 4p push your hand through an solid object - 4 points fully move through big solid object - 8 points = 26,5p total = 273p http://www.dreamviews.com/blogs/nfri/kitchen-56344/

[JoannaB]

Fragment: set in the times of Downton Abbey - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views Just a fragment (0.5) though more substantial than most my fragments, but there was definitely more to the dream that I am missing. 0.5 + prior 11.5 = 12 total

[FryingMan]

00:00 Sunday 2014-03-16 competiiton #17 night #9, LD #25 - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views 6 dreams - 6 WBTB attempt - 1 Got lucid - 5 stabilize - 2 RC - 1 interact w/DC - 2 night total: 17 competition total: 17 + 82 = 99

[Ginsan]

^^ Ginsan, you can do it! The first step to achieving your goals is realizing that you're not doing enough! Thanks man, I appreciate it. I had a pretty strong night in both fun during my LD's, control, time and competition points First dream: remember:1 point lucid: 5 points flying: 4 points (as I jumped out of the window of the 3 or 4 storey building and was dashing towards the ground I thought "Am I really lucid? If not, I'm pretty fucked"" super speed: 4 points super strength/RC/eating: DAMN IT I'm 100% sure I did these but I just can't remember how DC interact: 2 points Total: 16 Second dream: remember: 1 point lucid: 5 points flying: 4 points DC interact: 2 points Total: 12 points FA remembered = 1 point I'll post my dream journal in a few hours because it's 2PM and I just woke up and we haven't eaten yet. Before: 28 points After: 57 points I guess the whining did help My three step task as a reminder for myself: 1. Element manipulation (8points) 2. Full transformation (10points) 3. Advanced summoning (10points)

[atramentis]

Wooooo got a lucid! (LINK) Non points limit tasks. (5) Remembered two fragments (1) and one dream (1). Successful WBTB (3). Points limit tasks. (20) Became lucid (5). Successful reality check (1). Flying (4), basic summoning (4), push hand through solid object (4), in that order. Pushing hand through a solid object is the first of my three step tasks, so that's another 5 points, but I'm assuming it still bumps up against the 20 points limit. Night's total: 25. Old total: 19.5 points. New total: 44.5 points.

[StephL]

Hrrmph - on the one hand I should be really happy - got lucid again - but this stabilization business kills me. Now this time I tried to get optics really good - and woke up from that - no tasks accomplished. Three dreams: 3 One fragment: 0.5 WBTB success: 3 Lucid: 5 RC: 1 Stab (?): 2 89 + 14.5 = 103.5 points total I thought - get at least 100 points, and you don't feel bad about having entered upper league - so I don't feel bad. But then I do!! I want an adventure, and it should look realistic and take long!!! And I want aliens! All this fiddle-fupp - it really nerves in a way. Maybe more awareness training is on the menu!? Stabilisation Troubles Continue - Religious Lesson - Violin - Back At University - Pink Woman - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views It's in my DJ already - but maybe if I put it in here as well - I finally get my alien encounter. I love the book "The Algebraist" by Ian M. Banks - there is a gas planet named Nasqueron with "dwellers" - and I so want to meet them and ask what they dream for the special task. Here is one of them: It's supposed to be the height of say eight humans - there is one in that little "gas-ship" to the right - and I'm visualizing them daily! Maybe it doesn't look, as if you want to meet one - but they are fabulous - I want them in light grey by the way - I even drew one.

[sprada]

Combing your cat = 0.5 point fragment? I've have not been considering some static images that I remember as fragments. Fragment is where I only remember piece from a larger dream. I might be wrong. For today 1 large dream and one fragment (1.5) Comp Total=20.5

[Scionox]

4 dreams, 4 fragments, 1 WBTB Success, 1 Lucid, 1 Move thru solid object. 22 points. Spoiler for lucid: Theres some cutscene about a desert, sandstorms and two battle trains colliding on single railroad and causing war. Then i wake up and feel that i am dreaming, i go to balcony and phase thru balcony door, then dream becomes unstable but i manage to restabilize it into another false awakening, i notice random DC in the room but dream fades again, this time completely. Pushing hand through a solid object is the first of my three step tasks, so that's another 5 points, but I'm assuming it still bumps up against the 20 points limit. Congrats! Also three step task points dont count towards limit.

[Saizaphod]

Well night's stuff : Quoting or editing later for the dreams wbtb = 3p frag = 0,5p 2 dreams = 2p 2 LD =10p 2 flying = 8p Advanced summoning = 10p 2 rc = 2p dc chat= 2p Night's total: 37,5p TOTAL= 104,5P Just a really brief dream status. Old woman "what are you doing here?" Me: "Hi I'm Mika" Old woman: "Ooh, you're going to die now" Fly escape! 2 nose plugging. Knocked three times to ground with metal staff, the scene changes in front of my eyes. A meditating monkey shaman appears and hands me over a sword so I could "protect empires", thats what the monkey said. Flying again... I exit the competition, sorry dolphin, I hope you do well in personal points Leaving DV for a long time.

[DoctorKwack101]

NiGHT 9: A failed WBTB and a fragment. My recall is probably all over the place because my sleep schedule is all over the place. Once school starts back up that problem should fix itself. Should. 1.5 pts TOTAL: 14.5pts

[dolphin]

2 fragments-1 point 3 dreams-3 points total-4 points WILD-3 points become lucid-5 points reality check-1 point phase through solid object-8 points flying-4 points total-21 points dream-I'm trying to fall asleep when I hear my ears ringing. I hang in until they stop and I do a nose plug. I get up and phase through the glass door to go outside. I try the rest of the dream to fly to outer space but can't. I wake up. become lucid-5 points reality check-1 point flying-4 points dc interaction-2 points dc/object changing-4 points total-16 points dream-I wake up and see a few strangers around my bed. I do a nose plug and I'm dreaming. The older lady wants a hug so I give her one. I go outside and see my former dog which likes to follow me around in my dreams. I try to manipulate it somehow to get points. I try to get it to fly but I start to fly as well to it's following me more than I'm manipulating it. I am able to change it into a different dog though. I wake up. 4+21+16=41 points competition total=211 points

[seank12]

2 fragments 1 full dream and wbtb fail =3 39.5 + 3 = 42.5

[ParadoxOwl]

My three step tasks: 1. Flying 2. Transformation (Basic/Advanced) 3. Telekinesis 1 Full dream: 1 Point 4 Fragments: 2 Points Successfull WILD: 3 Points TOTAL: 6 POINTS GRAND TOTAL: 40 POINTS DJ Entry: Secret! - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views If I have made a mistake please tell me ;D.

[Chessica]

Night 9: 2 dreams and 2 fragments. 1 WBTB failed. That's 4 points for this night. Really had a blast tonight, even though I didn't become lucid. The two dreams were so long and entertaining. Competiton total 24 points.

[Sensei]

I had a fun night last night. Won't be able to update until Thursday, but all those competing in upper league would probably like to know that I am doing well on LDs for my vacation. So you had better keep it up!