Xanous' Workbook

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Originally Posted by OpheliaBlue

Yeah I've always been confused by how much control we have over the length of our LDs, or if the dream length is ultimately controlled by the natural length of our REM cycles. And that said, can we really control the length of our REM cycles, whereby increasing the length of our LDs?

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Yes, I have wondered this exact thing too! I know of only two methods for achieving long REM: sleeping in as late as possible, and REM rebound (either via sleep cycle monkeying, or an aid like 5-HTP/melatonin, etc.)

Cycle adjustment and lucid aids both seem like unsatisfying, rather crude answers to this question, but for now they're the best I've got. Now all I can do is wait for Xanous to perfect his non-REM lucid dreaming techniques and put together some training materials. :D

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Originally Posted by Xanous

It likes to pose as my wife then scream at me when I have OBE style lucids. It looks a lot like this but full of more darkness and more triangle shapes. I am curious to find out what it is about. Maybe next time, if I can handle it, I will speak to it.

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So is this she-demon at the start of your lucids, like, in your bed or in your bedroom at the start? And your OBE styles, do those start out in your normal bedroom too?

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Originally Posted by OpheliaBlue

So is this she-demon at the start of your lucids, like, in your bed or in your bedroom at the start? And your OBE styles, do those start out in your normal bedroom too?

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Yes, it is always in my bed with me. Almost all of my WILDs turn in to OBE like experiences. There was only a handful of times where I entered the dream from HH/HI and entered in a random place other than my bedroom. I am trying to teach myself to combine the two and pick where I want to "wake up" to.

Also, since my teenage years I have frequently and randomly found myself in a SP like state. This happens more frequently when I am practicing lucid dreaming. Only in the last year or two I learned to use this to get lucid. So, the ones that happen randomly, I don't even know that I can call those WILDs but it happens a lot.

So I had decided on 50Mg caffeine on nights I take it. I thought this was a good amount but I think maybe its not so good after all. Looking back, it seems I became lucid not because of the caff but because I did it regardless. The usual lucid/wake times are way off. The most it did was make me restless for an hour or two and then, my REM became a bit longer. Looking at previous lds, I think 100Mg is best.

I am now alternating caffeine nights with aidless nights. because there are an odd number of nights in a week I plan to include Friday and Saturday as consecutive back to backs. That is until my Galantatime comes in the mail. The only thing that will change is Saturday nights will be reserved for G.

I like the wisdom the CL uses in forcing himself to have aidless lds in between. I am undecided if I will incorporate the same rules. It does seem like a good motivator at the very least.

Also, I was super close to entering a WILD from active HH/HI but my cat woke me. In fact my cat wakes me almost every time I do a WBTB. She lets out this horrible yowl. She is fixed and declawed but she wants out of the house to visit the neighbor cats. I really need to figure out how to get her to shut up for my sanity's sake. If anyone has any ideas short of shooting her in the head let me know. I am seriously considering putting her in the storage shed out back and running an extension cord to a small heater. :mad: Or the bullet sounds nice too.

So, thinking about this some more. I wonder if the caffeine as a trigger is more closely related to Yohimbine. The book I am reading says that Yohimbine's downside is that you must be naturally entering REM sleep very soon after you take it. Perhaps, on the night that I failed I simply didn't enter a solid enough dream state to be effect during the hour or so window until the time to peek plasma. I'll have go back and double check but I think that when I adjust my WBTB times it effects my failure. That makes me think that I just don't enter the dream state at the right time. At peek I seem to almost always wake up. Then, if my dosage is low enough I usually am able to drift back into some form of light sleep with little dream recall until about 1.5 to 2 hours later. Then, when the caffeine wears off, I seem to be able to have a more solid REM. I have also read that caffeine shortens your REM cycle so, if that is true then that would also explain a lot.

It was a fun little experiment but I think its time to put it aside and have some normal lucids with out aids while I wait for my next experiment to arrive in the mail :D

Conclusion
I'm not much of a fan of the caffeine aid as I was in the beginning. I think it is a great trigger but only sometimes does it allow lengthy dreams. There could be other factors at play that I don't know about. Also I seem to feel more tired after a WBTB caff. Most times I am wide awake after a lucid much too early in the morning. I lose about 1 to 1.5 hours of sleep during the week and that really wears me out. Adjusting my WBTB times only seems to result in failure. Still, I think it offers a different kind of lucid and it's a good aid to have around but I'll use it less frequently from now on.

This chart may look a little familiar to some of you (CL) but it was never tested in the book so here is my findings. :cheeky:

Dosage: 50 - 100MG
Time to peek plasma levels: 45-60min
Elimination half-life: 5 hours?
Effect on dreams: Vividness much like B6
Effect on Lucid dreams: Helps to trigger but only in a limited time window no longer than 60min.

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Originally Posted by Xanous

Yes, it is always in my bed with me. Almost all of my WILDs turn in to OBE like experiences. There was only a handful of times where I entered the dream from HH/HI and entered in a random place other than my bedroom. I am trying to teach myself to combine the two and pick where I want to "wake up" to.

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++ double like

I'm EXACTLY the same way. I've only had a handful of successful WILDs, but in each and every one of them, I go from the vibrations, to a lucid dream that begins right where I left off when I was last drifting off, only seconds before: in my bed in the exact same position. I'm guessing that if I want to change this, I really need to focus on incubating the place I want to go, during those few seconds of transitional vibrations. Don't know if that would work for you during your SP phase, but it's all I got for now until I experiment more myself.

Speaking of experiments, good luck on your Yohimbine once it shows up!

Great observations on the caffeine, Xanous! You've done this experiment for long enough to have gathered a lot of good data. Huge help when you're trying to draw conclusions about what happened.

The comparison to yohimbine makes a lot of sense to me. Both affect levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline and have effects on the dopamine system. All of that helps with lucid dreaming... as long as it doesn't five you insomnia. :)

Even if you do decide to make the caffeine something you rotate back in every so often, what's good about taking a break for it is that it resets the playing field for your next set of experiments. This is especially true since it has detrimental effects on your sleep. Giving it a nice break and getting some unaided LDs will put you in the right frame of mind for your next set of experiments.

And nice chart! :D Seriously, that's good data too... I had not realized you'd noticed an effect on vividness in addition to caffein's role as a trigger. Interesting. Looking forward to your next set of experiments!

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Speaking of experiments, good luck on your Yohimbine once it shows up!

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I think Xanous may have just been comparing caffeine to yohimbine, but I could be wrong.

Yohimbine is really interesting stuff, but strikes me as a bit of a tricky substance to use. From what I've read, there's a very fine line between the effective dose and the dosages at which side effects occur. Considering that G+C alone has given me insomnia a couple of times, I don't think I'd be cut out for yohimbine. LOL.

Oh, my bad.

What the heck is he waiting for in the mail then?

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Originally Posted by OpheliaBlue

++ double like

I'm EXACTLY the same way. I've only had a handful of successful WILDs, but in each and every one of them, I go from the vibrations, to a lucid dream that begins right where I left off when I was last drifting off, only seconds before: in my bed in the exact same position. I'm guessing that if I want to change this, I really need to focus on incubating the place I want to go, during those few seconds of transitional vibrations. Don't know if that would work for you during your SP phase, but it's all I got for now until I experiment more myself.

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I find out dream similarities fascinating. I thought it was really cool at first because it feel like an OBE/ I had fun toying with the question is it real or just a dream. But now I don't care. Its just getting annoying. I have been working on incubating or teleporting to someplace else. My progress has been slow but I think I am about to nail it. The last one I was really close. I opened my dream eyes right after the vibrations and I briefly saw a tree and bright sunlight. Then it faded and I was suddenly in my bedroom.

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Originally Posted by OpheliaBlue

Speaking of experiments, good luck on your Yohimbine once it shows up!

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Oops. I didn't order Yohimbine. I was just comparing it to caffeine.Sorry, I wasn't very clear. I actually have some Alpha-GPC and Galantamine coming.

Speaking of that. I went to bed super early last night. I was a sleep about 8:30PM. I did take a large dose of melatonin (10MG) but I just wanted to sleep. I was exhausted and felt like the caffeine had screwed my sleep patterns up a bit. I didn't care about recall or WBTB or getting lucid. I ended up waking at 2:30am for the usual restroom break. I figured since I am up and I just had a very vivid dream, I can use this as a mini WBTB. I guess it was more of a MILD technique that I used this time. I just used the mantra, "I am dreaming" and set my intentions to become lucid. I had a lucid about 4:30AM and I could not go back to sleep.

Edit: Thanks CL. I didn't see your post. The email didn't notify me of yours so I missed it. I'm glad you agree. I was unsure if my comparison was accurate or not.

OH and one more thing. For whats its worth. I still attempt WILD at beginning of sleep for the heck of it. I don't expect much but I try just in case. I went back to my tweaked version of SSILD where I focus on all 3 vs a cycle. I almost had it. I was into some intense HH when suddenly, I let out an involuntary zombie like moan. :lol: It ruined the whole thing and scared me a little.

Your WILD attempts at the beginning of the night are freakin exciting to me. I know that it's not necessarily a high percentage play, but what have you got to lose? (Well, unless it screws up your sleep somehow. I admit this would not be great.)

You'll solve this OBE thing at some point. I'm sure of it. Have you tried doing any dream incubation stuff at night? I know that you were doing some of that for a while but it got too annoying. I wonder if that might be worth a try on the chance that it'll put you in a new, easier location. I remember reading in Yuschak his idea of repeatedly dropping little "seeds" of visualization and then letting them go, over and over, during WILD attempts. I thought that sounded cool.

Congratulations on the early bed time. 8:30 pm sounds so heavenly. :D We barely had our oldest down by then last night, heh heh...

Even bigger congratulations, of course, on the lucid! I'll check out that DJ entry here in a bit.

Anyone planning to use supplements should first read this book. It has a very practical and safe approach to using natural supplements to aid lucidity.
Advanced Lucid Dreaming: The Power of Supplements: Thomas Yuschak: 9781430305422: Amazon.com: Books

I wasn't going to make it very public but since I posted my caffeine trials and mentioned I had G on the way, I thought I should mention that tonight I start my Galantamine experiment. As the book points out it is very easy to become tolerant and desensitized to any lucid aid. I also found this out the more difficult way with my caffeine experiments. For that reason I plan to take it slow and space it out. This shit was expensive and I don't want to waste it! :D I plan to have at the minimum 4 nights without any aids before I give it another go. And of course if I lose too much sleep or have any health issues it will come to a pause or complete stop.

I probably wont post much of my findings here but if anyone is interested they can PM me. I am not one to make rules for lucid dreaming but I highly suggest that anyone starting out should first learn to induce lucid dreams fairly consistently without aids. It is a learning experience that, in my opinion, should not be skipped. Really, there are no short cuts.

My Galantamine trials have been mostly successful. This weekend went badly. Mostly because I was adding to the mix and making alterations that just didn't pan out. The biggest thing with Galantamine is the temporary insomnia. If I can tough it out and remain calm and relaxed, I am usually rewarded later.

I have decided to adopt CanisLucidus' plan to not use Galantamine until I have a lucid without it. However, because of the insomnia I only use it on the weekends now. So, If I don't get lucid until next Sunday night then I am still going to wait until the following weekend. Mostly this helps with tolerance, desensitization, and even more important, dependence.

I may still add other more natural aids to my WBTB during the week, i.e., B6, apple juice, herbal teas, ect. maybe caffeine, Yohimbe bark.

I also have some Calea Z. on order but that's probably going to adhere to the same Galantamine rules.

Tonight, I plan to be less of a witch doctor :lol: and start a more Tibeten Yoga, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, approach. I have been reading his book and I am intrigued by it. I don't plan to do any of the pre-bed daytime mediations. I just don't have the time or a quiet place to do this. What I am planing is the night time practice. Basically, Waking every 2 hours, changing positions, and visualizing chakra energy. I will probably work in some SSILD and some nights I will add a 30min WBTB in the middle some nights I won't. Really it's just going to be a hodgepodge of Tibetan Yoga and what I already do. I don't personally believe in everything the book talks about. But, as the author suggests, we don't have to take the teachings literally. Mostly we can see it as a metaphor or a vehicle to achieve lucidity (I think he is just being sensitive to western readers) or as they see it, a preparation for the transition at death. I will post if I have any luck with it.

I have some personal discoveries and have developed some opinions about a few things lately. Of course, I don't pretend to know everything. This is just how I see it. Disagree? I welcome an open and friendly discussion. I that's how we all learn. :D

Dream Yoga
Alright so I gave up on the Tibetan stuff pretty quickly. Maybe I am too lazy. Maybe I don't get it but waking every 2 hours is really tough and didn't do me much good. I have adopted a few personal things that I learned from the book but that is about it.

WILD
I am still focusing on WILDs. I am noticing my own person technique is getting more refined and easier. SSILD is still a hit and miss but I have refined that a bit too. It's now more of a combination between 61 point and normal SSILD. Instead of See, hear, feel, It's become more like see and hear simultaneously to what does various parts of my body feel.

I have also learned that WILD is not so much about concentration but a disinterested observing of hypnagogia. We say to ignore the noise. That is correct but we fail to mention that there must be some attention to it in order to maintain that thin line of awareness.

I stumbled across Tim's youtube videos from lucidapedia on one of areyoume's post. Thanks areyoume. It confirmed a few things I was already finding out on my own so I naturally got very excited about it.

Advanced lucid dreaming: part 4

Meditation

I also found Tim's video about mediation useful. Again it very much like the WILD. Basicly a WILD practice. Instead on concentration on thinking feeling being nothing, he focuses on being. He does a better job explaining it than me.


Advanced Lucid Dreaming Part 6


The Memory Game

A few days ago I was thinking about the biggest obstacle to getting lucid. It's memory and forgetting to be aware. I can spend days focusing so hard on awareness and when I sleep I miss every dream sign ever. So, I started thinking how I can fix this.

I invented a little game for myself. All I do is simply tell myself that when X happens I will do Z. For example, When I get home from work and reach my door step I will remember to say "Bananas" and do a RC. The thing and the action doesn't matter it's simply remembering to do something at a certain time.

I was a little unsure if I was on the right track until I listened to Tim's video about prospective memory. He does essentially the same thing but he sets alarm to go off at a certain time and then does about his day. He challenges himself to remember to shut the alarm off just before it goes off.

I started playing with that yesterday as 30 min intervals. I was fairly successful at remembering just 2 or 3 minutes before the alarm. It really mimicked the same kind of emotion as suddenly realizing you are in a dream. I used this mindset last night during my WILD and found it to be a huge help.

I am not trying to promote another website here but it was very encouraging to find confirmation to some things I was just discovering for
myself.

Advanced lucid dreaming: part 5

OBE's / Astral Projection

OBE's are bullshit. I have had an open mind to it being real and I know I talk about having OBE's a lot but really I have no belief in them. I simply use that label because for a lack of a better term. The majority of my WILD/DEILD have been very OBE like so that's what I call them to simplify things.

The only reason one feels like they are leaving the body is two fold. First, when you don't set up a schema or plan where you want to "wake" to, your mind simply picks the most reasonable thing. It says well I laid down to sleep in this place so it only makes sense to enter the dream where I went to sleep. I am slowly learning how to change that and pick a location.

Second, The feeling of leaving the body can simply be explained as sleep paralysis. When you are in SP you are only half asleep. You body is still paralyzedly but your brain is highly active in the dream state. So naturally there is the confused moment where your dream body is trying to get and get going but your physical body is paralyzed. With practice this transition get much easier. All it takes is a little visualization.

Lucid Dreaming Supplements

I had pretty good success with Celea Z the first time. It was a short lucid. Really a failed WILD but quickly recovered DILD. The tea wasn't too bad. I think next time I will make it a little stronger and add some B6 for vividness.
A Walmart Trip - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

I'm am still taking Galantamine once a week every weekend. Last night I seemed to be able to beat the insomnia with a large dose of Valerian Root and avoided melatonin completely. I was able to accomplish my personal goal of phasing. So I was pretty excited about that.
There Is No Wall - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

Remember, LDS like Galantamine, Celea Z, ect. are not magic pills to get you lucid. They are aid only. It still takes skill and self knowledge to become lucid. So if you are still new to lucid dreaming I would suggest getting fairly good at inducing LDs on you own before you try any type of aid. Of course that's just my opinion and you won't be judged if you do. :D

I find Tim's idea of all the things you mentioned much more easier to understand. I've read many tutorials but Tim's are just great, I can really feel that I relate to that, and so is the case for you it seems. Happy you found something that actually benefited you reading my post :content:
Great work Xanous, keep it up!

Those are some very good points Xanous. Tim seems to be pretty well informed and experienced in the subject. There are two things I would add that may serve to broaden your perspective.

1.

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A few days ago I was thinking about the biggest obstacle to getting lucid. It's memory and forgetting to be aware. I can spend days focusing so hard on awareness and when I sleep I miss every dream sign ever. So, I started thinking how I can fix this.

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This problem relates to intention. I have found the strength of your intention is based in the present rather than the future. Then once the intention is satisfied(which is not always required because we can change our minds), that strengthens the intention even further.

2. It seems Tim has misunderstood meditation in a way. The practice he describes resembles descriptions of Zen meditation techniques. These generally focus on concentration exercises, I popular one being when one concentrates on the flame of a candle. The converse meditation form was developed by another Buddhist group which generally focuses on vast awareness exercises. Those are the kind that he describes in which the meditating person simply allows thoughts to arise, then lets them pass through and out their mind. This technique can also be combined with concentration techniques in beginning practices so people can get a good foundation for future practice.
What he says is basically true. There must be give and take when in transition stages. Its still true that meditation is a great help to passing through those stages. He seems to dislike meditation only because concentration is difficult. That doesn't diminish the benefits of meditation.

anyway, awesome post Xanous! :)

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Originally Posted by Chimpertainment

Those are some very good points Xanous. Tim seems to be pretty well informed and experienced in the subject. There are two things I would add that may serve to broaden your perspective.

1. This problem relates to intention. I have found the strength of your intention is based in the present rather than the future. Then once the intention is satisfied(which is not always required because we can change our minds), that strengthens the intention even further.

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I'm really not understanding what you mean. Are you saying it is still just as easy to forget regardless of any daytime exercise?

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Originally Posted by Chimpertainment

2. It seems Tim has misunderstood meditation in a way. The practice he describes resembles descriptions of Zen meditation techniques. These generally focus on concentration exercises, I popular one being when one concentrates on the flame of a candle. The converse meditation form was developed by another Buddhist group which generally focuses on vast awareness exercises. Those are the kind that he describes in which the meditating person simply allows thoughts to arise, then lets them pass through and out their mind. This technique can also be combined with concentration techniques in beginning practices so people can get a good foundation for future practice.
What he says is basically true. There must be give and take when in transition stages. Its still true that meditation is a great help to passing through those stages. He seems to dislike meditation only because concentration is difficult. That doesn't diminish the benefits of meditation.

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Yeah I get what you are saying. I am pretty ignorant with much of meditation but I have totally seen the benefit of strengthening concentration in ways that I hadn't realized where possible. So, I don't throw traditional meditation out completely. I was just looking at it something more practical helping specifically with WILDs and I thought what he said made sense. I really don't get to meditate that often nor have I tried his technique.

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Originally Posted by Chimpertainment

anyway, awesome post Xanous! :)

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Thanks. Those were some good thoughts you offered as well. I appreciate it.

Well look at intention this way. We form habits using intention. Once they are well established habits, the intention used is most of the time pretty normal. In order to form new habits however, one usually needs more power of intention. Intention is one of the basic building blocks of lucid dreaming. Daytime exercises will serve to strengthen that intention/memory, but effort will always be necessary. Not only can you attach intention to actions like you mentioned. You can use all aspects of experience to trigger intention. Any dream sign really would work as an intention/memory trigger.

Personally, I find it essential to produce specific feelings before I go to bed that will trigger awareness in the dream state. Everyone is different though.

Wooooop hello Xan, haven't had much time to keep up with your workbook as much as I wanted to :(

Anyway, just wanted to drop by :3

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Originally Posted by Chimpertainment

Well look at intention this way. We form habits using intention. Once they are well established habits, the intention used is most of the time pretty normal. In order to form new habits however, one usually needs more power of intention. Intention is one of the basic building blocks of lucid dreaming. Daytime exercises will serve to strengthen that intention/memory, but effort will always be necessary. Not only can you attach intention to actions like you mentioned. You can use all aspects of experience to trigger intention. Any dream sign really would work as an intention/memory trigger.

Personally, I find it essential to produce specific feelings before I go to bed that will trigger awareness in the dream state. Everyone is different though.

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That makes sense. So do you mean like a MILD technique? What feelings exactly?

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Originally Posted by paigeyemps

Wooooop hello Xan, haven't had much time to keep up with your workbook as much as I wanted to :(

Anyway, just wanted to drop by :3

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Ha! I haven't either. :lol: Thanks for dropping by.

yeah, its essentially a MILD technique with a bit of a booster. I'm still working the kinks out and it seems my intention is becoming more solid albeit still spotty.
So, the feeling thing is a bit tricky. Laberges technique mentions imagining you are lucid and feeling as if you are lucid. That is essentially what I am doing in a roundabout way. There are a couple feelings I have managed to isolate and utilize for pre-sleep MILD teks...

1. Love/Unity - While lying in bed with closed eyes, I summon a feeling of connectedness and unity with everything. This is a specific feeling I have isolated in my spiritual practice. It is the same feeling anyone would describe as love. Loving someone, something, nature, etc.. Whatever memory you have of that feeling will tremendously aid the production of the feeling while in bed since most of the time feelings arise through moment to moment experience rather than conjuring them out of thin air.
Once that feeling has been felt, just bask in the sensation. Let it linger. While the feeling lingers, begin whatever mantra you might be using. And that is basically it. Most nights, it takes me a few minutes to get to that place, and some nights it feels impossible. Other nights it happens in a moment.
My premise is that I have noticed that the unconscious responds to emotions and feelings more than memories. When I produce powerful feelings of intention, love, determination, or willpower, it always has an effect on my dreams. Utilizing this pervasive feeling of love can be a catalyst, or vessel if you will, for intention and will.

2. Eliminate ALL doubt. This is much easier after that feeling of love is created but it can be done alone as well. This has been mentioned on dream views before and its power should not be underestimated. Completely convincing yourself that you will have a lucid, and you will remember your dreams is very powerful. That is, if the feeling is produced effectively, and sustained until entering sleep. Memory of past failure will always creep in, but after a good bit of practice, the elimination of the doubt will override any negative feelings.

anyhoo...I figure dreams are basically all emotion and energy, so using the same to induce them seems logical. :)

Boop.. I 2nd what paigey said. But I'm off for 2 days and I have a cold so I'm playing catch up.

I'm still in awe of your Angel Falls TOTY lucid, it was really cool. I was reading it at work and I laughed pretty loud at the "making out with the dream" part, and then again at the "T is for Turkey" part. I got quizzical looks from a coworker.

Anyway, TAG you're it! :happy:

Ah thanks. Yeah, my stuff cracks me up too. I'm always laughing in my lucids it seems.

I guess a little update is due.

I'm still rotating lucid aids around a bit but still try for those aidless successes. I can't seem to get my caffeine success back up but I'm still giving one night a week to that. I tried Mugwort last week and had a little success. Menthol hasn't helped me have a lucid yet but the dreams are just as entertaining. I still plan to try a capsule of Yohimbe but I am a little scared of it for some reason. And of course, every Saturday is Galantamine night. I kind of threw the no-G-until-you-have-a-lucid-without rule out the window. Now it's preferred but not mandatory. It just put pressure on me and I was unable to have a LD. Really though I like to keep my LDSs to a min. It gets really easy to build too much confidence in the supplement and not yourself. It's a fine line I walk.

I've had my focus on WILD/DEILD and SSILD but the last week I started focusing more on MILD. I always turned my nose up to for some reason and barely gave it a chance. I started re-reading EWOLD and noticed the success LaBerge had with it. It was his method that helped him have LDs on demand while in the lab. That got be pretty interested and excited about MILD, really for the first time. The coincidentally a few PM's and forum conversations seemed to start focusing on MILD by surprise. Later I did we forum search for something completely unrelated and pulled up Naiya's MILD write up. She said a few things in there that really did it for me. I've only really used it a few times but my success rate seems promising.

I am still putting effort to WILD on the weekends or days that I get to sleep a little later. The only issues I have with WILD is that is seems to take more time than I have to give it during the week and I try to rush the process. I also have the random disturbances during the night that makes things even more difficult. As far as DEILD I'll always keep that trick up my sleeve. I never know when it will come in handy. :D

My recall is fluctuating for some reason. I think it's my lack of DJing the NLDs but theres always a time issue. I do at least take down some "cliff notes" upon each awakening if I can make myself. Last night I was exhausted and I just wanted a break. I only recall a brief emotion of a fragment. But that's ok. I'll focus on it the rest of the week.

I set a goal for myself of at least 10 LDs a month. I think I go it so far but I really want to push that to 15 soon. I think I am getting down the phasing thing. And now I plan to work on element control and teleportation. I have been talking to BrandonBoss about element control and I am starting to get real excited about fire bending again. We'll see how that goes. :D Oh yeah, I was really happy to finally nail down a Task of the Year. I have been trying so hard. I got close with the Rome one but thought Angel Falls would be a little easier for my first try. I think my problem was trying to straight out teleport. I notice that if I don't have something to visually ground myself the dream seems to breakup and I end up waking. I think I need to slowly push towards that and not go so fast. But of course not teleporting requires a longer dream. Stabilization was another thing that I was neglecting. I really focused hard on that the last dream with some interesting results. I'll never look at my front yard sidewalk the same again.

Things have been a little nutty around here the past week. Lots of "stuff" going on in my life. I came down with a minor case of the blues and really was lacking motivation to get lucid. I think I've about cured myself of that. We had a fun night out planned but it got cut a little short so I went on a nice, albeit short bike ride. It was long over due and always perks me up. A little cold still though. :blue:

Anyway, I noticed several houses in my neighborhood that were a part of past lucids. That house is the zombie house. That house is the September TOTM house. That house had the stupid sign. That house was a gas station. ect. It's really funny how a lot of my lucids end up with me running around my neighborhood half naked doing all sort of craziness. The great thing is it really brings that realism home to my mind. It makes me feel like some sort of transdimensional being creating mischief on the "muggles" (Those who don't know about LDing in this case) by night yet blending in with society by day. :lol: It's like having secret super powers that no one knows about. I know it sounds cheesy but I love thinking that way. Needless to say I am totally juiced up now!

Goals
I'm happy with 10/month. I'd like to see a lucid every other night. But really it's becoming less about count and more about quality.
Seeing how I am at 7 LD's of mixed quality already, I think I am going to shoot for a count 15/month and at least 5 of those being higher quality.

The biggest thing I need to work on is stability, longevity and control. I'm really going to focus on these 3 things more than my count. Of course, I have to have a high count to work on these things. :D

Goals for the rest of March
*15 LDs - current 7
*5 of 15 high quality - 2 maybe 3 fit the current definition of quality so far
*Create fire from hands
*Create the Sliders Wormhole
*Find the TARDIS and enter it
DJ EVERY DAY

We're totally lucid wizards in a world of non-LDing muggles! Never forget this.

Anyway, I know what you mean about quality vs quantity. Ever since my work schedule went from 3 days a week to 5, it's been harder for me to get lucid. I don't have those luxurious 4 mornings a week to sleep in until I get lucid. But now I'm more focused on getting her done on those days that I do get lucid.

That said, 10 lucids a month is awesome.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Xanous

Anyway, I noticed several houses in my neighborhood that were a part of past lucids. That house is the zombie house. That house is the September TOTM house. That house had the stupid sign. That house was a gas station. ect. It's really funny how a lot of my lucids end up with me running around my neighborhood half naked doing all sort of craziness. The great thing is it really brings that realism home to my mind. It makes me feel like some sort of transdimensional being creating mischief on the "muggles" (Those who don't know about LDing in this case) by night yet blending in with society by day. :lol: It's like having secret super powers that no one knows about. I know it sounds cheesy but I love thinking that way. Needless to say I am totally juiced up now!

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Ha! I love the notion of living in a world populated by "muggles". That's very cute. I think it's a great reminder that we do look at the world differently. When you get into LD, you find yourself naturally looking for clues that tip you off that this is reality and not a dream. You look around, thinking how cool it'd be to fly over that bridge. Or lift that car. Or spew fire from your hands. Or pull Orion's Belt right out of the sky. Most importantly, I know that I pay attention in a way that I never did when I was a "muggle".

And if you ever forget that LDing sets us somewhat apart from non-LD folk, it's easy to remind yourself of your specialness. Just try regaling a muggle with tales of how you make tea out of exotic Mexican dream herbs, constantly question your reality throughout the day, and wake up in the middle of the night. :lol:

Great goals, and as always your lucid performance is outstanding, my man! Good luck with the rest of the month!