Need help with ADA

[Santoryu]

When I'm gonna do my ADA practice sessions, is it best to just stay in my room and try be aware of everything in it, or should I walk around and try notice everything whilst I'm walking around?

[MasterMind]

Think that you suspected it was a dream, how would you look and observe things? Would it be enough to just be aware of your room, yes of course but I think it would be easier to notice strange things if you are aware of a unfamiliar place. I use awareness in a kind of meditative way and because of that I am kind of in a meditative mindset state all the time. You can sit here all day reading my little opinion, or you can listen to the master himself. Advanced lucid dreaming: part 6 - YouTube - Really good beginner guide, although I still learn from it each time I watch it, sort of like the Matrix.

[Santoryu]

Thanks for the advice, and the video was also a great help. I have another question regarding ADA: is it best to start out with focusing on one sense, e.g. sight, and getting your visual awareness to a high level and then including another sense, while still maintaining high levels of visual awareness?

[MasterMind]

Awareness to me is not based on the senses, I mean how could it be? When I sit and meditate and are aware of nothingness I don't see, hear, smell or feel anything. However our awareness of the physical world and dream world is experienced with the help from the senses through those regions of our brain. But I will try to give you a new way to be aware of your dreams. Start by being aware of your breath, take a few breaths and then notice what you see and feel emotionally. To be aware of your feelings is a better way to be aware of your dreams than you think, because our feelings is one of the building stones of dreams. So when you are aware of things around you, don't primarily try to be aware of seeing a rock or seeing a tree, be aware of "seeing yourself" notice your own thinking and reasoning during the day. The next time you feel angry ask yourself "Why am I angry? And is it a rational reason for it?" and the next time you feel fear ask yourself why you feel fear etc. Also remember that every emotion we have torwards others is an emotions back to ourselves because all is one and one is all. If you are a bullie and hit other people the one you are hurting the most is yourself, if you are calling someone fat just to be mean you are actually just insecure of something yourself. Be aware of your emotions and be in love, because love is pure , first love and accept yourself, then accept and love others. When we dream we sometimes have strange emotions, although these emotions are stronger than during the day, you can find your biggest love in a dream, but if you are aware and ask yourself "Is this rational?" You'll might understand that you barely even know this girl and will become more aware. To be aware of your dreams is to be aware of your personality as a whole, so if you are aware of the personality during the day you'll stand a better chance to be aware of it during the night. Dreams are also built on memories, so a good reality check is the memory reality check, like asking yourself "Why and what made me do this and what was I doing 5 minutes ago?". The last brick of the castle of dreams is the subconscious, to be aware of that is to be aware of things your surpress according to Freud. Subconscious - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia But the thing is that when you are aware of it, you no longer surpress it, but my point is that if you no longer have things to surpress your dreams will be more based on your conscious mind than your subconscious, so if you see something you don't like in yourself, don't surpress it, put awareness on it and ask yourself why it is a problem and deal with it or just accept that it is a certain way. And maybe your dreams will be more peaceful and not some scary nightmare about whatever you surpressed. For example you might have homework that needs to be done, but you are lazy and let it be undone and you get stressed over it, but think "It will be done in due time" and you deny the fact that you are stressed. Then you will have very stressful dreams. So either you do the homework or accept the fact that "Today I am lazy, but I will take care of it tomorrow (and mean it), because if you deny that there is no problem (when there is one) there will be one! Instead of dreaming of being chased of something that slowly comes closer (like a dead line or a test). You'll have a peaceful dream of you sitting in school that is easier to become aware of since you are not occupied by the stressful emotions of being chased. And both the memory check and emotion check is easier to perform. Dreams are our subconscious, memories and emotions - be aware of all of these three components during the day and you will be aware of your dreams!

[Santoryu]

Wow, thanks for that reply. Seems like a lot of effort went into it. I really appreciate it. I find the part where you said to be aware of your own problems and things you don't like with yourself, and not just supress them, to be really interesting. I think that the whole thing about being aware of your own feelings and emotions will help loads in terms of being aware in the dream world. I'll try do the things you mentioned and post any results. Once again, thanks for the reply.

[MasterMind]

You're welcome I have sort of lived in this mindset myself for a while, but never actually written it down on "paper" so it was good that you asked, it made it clearer for me as well. It sort of based on the idea here: http://www.dreamviews.com/f15/if-you...ams-try-93005/ I mean one big reason to why we dream is to keep us sane, to remember, understand and feel better so like in this remembering thread where you sort out memories consciously instead of subconsciously, likewise by not surpressing things you sort out problems consciously instead of subconsciously. This is why I like to say that to be aware of your dreams is to be aware of yourself, and if you want to be aware of your dreams you have to be aware of yourself during the day. I am glad that you liked it and as you see questions to me makes me learn as well, so ask anything and you make both me and yourself a favor.

[yanickma]

Good thread as I am also working on developing awareness and even if it seems very easy for some I also kind of get lost in which directions to take, so thank you too MasterMind and Santoryu for the discussion. I will work on this too!

[Santoryu]

Oo, the waking journal seems interesting since I have problems remembering my dreams some times. I have a question about it, do you fill it out as the day goes on or fill it out at the end of the day? Would it make a difference?

[MasterMind]

At the end of the day to practise short-term memory and to practise recall.

[Santoryu]

For the waking journal do you fill it out as the day goes on or just write what you did in your day at the end of the day?

[MasterMind]

Think about it as the opposite of a Dream Journal. In the dream journal you write down as much as you can remember in the morning. With a waking journal you wrie down as much as you can (or as much as you want to remember of a dream) in the evening. It can be seen as a practise of prospective memory.

[Santoryu]

Ah thanks. I'll try this tonight, seeing as I didn't remember any dreams yesterday. So hopefully this will increase my recall and I can then begin to work on achieving my first lucid!

[MasterMind]

Remember though that by practising dream recall you indirectly set the intention of being aware of your dreams (in order to remember them) and becoming more aware of your dreams will obviously make you lucid from time to time as well. Sweet dreams!