Thread: haithem's workbook

Well, I feel really good today. I'll start practicing tomorrow or the day after it.

I didn't post in quite some time. Been busy with a lot of things as usually. I've had during the time some very interesting NLDs and a small LD. nothing particularly important. I have however noticed that my dreams are a bit more interesting and not the usual boring school dreams
Just thought of posting. I might get back to training, but nothing is for sure right now.

Originally Posted by areyoume

I have however noticed that my dreams are a bit more interesting and not the usual boring school dreams
Just thought of posting. I might get back to training, but nothing is for sure right now.

Well, it's great to have you here, Haithem, even if it's just to stop in and say hey! It's good to hear that dream content has gotten more interesting lately. I'm intrigued!

You know, even if you're not going "all in" on lucid dreaming practices, you may want to consider doing some dream journaling. At the very least, you'll probably want to hang onto this most recent batch of extra-interesting dreams.

And who knows? Maybe stopping by and hearing all of us yammering about lucid dreaming will get the idea stuck into your brain. Perhaps you will have a lucid dream tonight. (See what I did there with the emphasis? )

Wb haithem, and congrats on the lucid as well as the cool nonlucids. I hope to see you around

Thanks paigeyemps, I hope to be around more than you think, however a lot of things get in my way every time I try to do that.
I did have a lucid dream CL! Although it was very short, it was and without a doubt the most vivid lucid dream I have ever had! I was walking down a street doing nothing particularly important when out of the blue, I decided to do a reality check, I plugged my nose and to my surprise I felt the cold air rush through my nostrils. I was stunned, I didn't believe that it was a dream. I did the RC again but it only confirmed my first realization.
It was insanely vivid, clear sight, great details and complete sensation of my body. I could hear people talking, cars passing by and I could even feel temperature, something that I never felt in my dreams, and it was great.
I tried to fly but I was afraid that maybe this isn't a dream and the idea of trying to fly in front of a lot of people and then realizing it wasn't a dream prevented me from doing that (it was THAT vivid).
I tried to fly using only my mind to lift my body up, but nothing happened. I RCed again, just to make sure, but this time, I couldn't breath! This is the first time that the nose plug RC ever failed me. I, after that, thought it wasn't a dream and went doing something that I don't remember now. (blame my poor DR)
I also remember a very fun NLD, with dragons and witches and everything
Hope to get some feedback on this from you guys!

Wow cool dream! See, this is one reason I love DILDs: the setting is already so realistic before you become lucid, so you don't have to craft it. Some people say that WILDs are more vivid for them, but that's not the case with me.

Anyway, concerning RCs.. they can be tricky little shits. I used to use the finger through the palm, and it worked a couple times. Then I started using this RC whenever I saw a tornado, and it would fail me. I missed the chance for lucidity in many tornado dreams for this fact. I think it would help to have a couple RCs ready, just in case. Or better yet, the next time you noseplug and it works, remind yourself in the dream, that your subconscious will try to trick you out of it later.

Finally, a touch of bravery: Of course you don't want to risk flying off a cliff if you're not sure if you're lucid, but no harm in embarrassing yourself in front of people. But you did try it anyway so that's good. In a case where a dream is so vivid that you feel the need to keep checking, I think the reminder I mentioned before is important. But maybe include a couple extra crazy or extravagant RCs so that you won't doubt them later on if they work. Or keep testing your environment, talk to DCs etc.

That's all I got. Hopefully it won't happen too often, that you question the validity of a RC later on in the dream, so you can enjoy the lucidity PLUS the vividness and do some cool stuff.

Originally Posted by areyoume

I did have a lucid dream CL! Although it was very short, it was and without a doubt the most vivid lucid dream I have ever had! I was walking down a street doing nothing particularly important when out of the blue, I decided to do a reality check, I plugged my nose and to my surprise I felt the cold air rush through my nostrils. I was stunned, I didn't believe that it was a dream. I did the RC again but it only confirmed my first realization.
It was insanely vivid, clear sight, great details and complete sensation of my body. I could hear people talking, cars passing by and I could even feel temperature, something that I never felt in my dreams, and it was great.
I tried to fly but I was afraid that maybe this isn't a dream and the idea of trying to fly in front of a lot of people and then realizing it wasn't a dream prevented me from doing that (it was THAT vivid).

Awesome!! See, dude? I told you that you were gonna get lucid!

Seriously, man, I'm really stoked for you. It sounds like an amazing dream too... really high-level and very, very vivid. Do you have any idea of what you might have done to hit the sweet spot so cleanly?

Originally Posted by areyoume

I RCed again, just to make sure, but this time, I couldn't breath! This is the first time that the nose plug RC ever failed me.

Ah, you've hit your first nose plug RC failure! I have to be honest, this rattled me the first time that it happened. I had thought that the nose plug was 100% reliable for me and probably close to 100% for the general population. My thinking was that dream breathing and real-life breathing were inextricably linked and that the nose plug RC took advantage of this. Therefore, I reasoned, it should almost never fail.

But my theory ran smack into reality. I was wrong, and the nose pinch failed me. Fortunately, I knew that I was dreaming. But I certainly wasn't going to go leaping off any tall buildings.

I think that Ophelia's advice is great. Have a backup reality check and then just start trying to use all kinds of powers. (This is of course something that you did.) Do everything in your power to really believe that they will work.

Let me back up Ophelia on another point: do everything you can to shed your fear of looking foolish! I've had many near-false awakenings where I really feel like I am talking out loud in my sleep or waving my arms around. I feel momentarily frightened that I'm lying in bed flailing around and making a complete ass of myself. But I've so far managed to shake off these fears and move forward. I have always been rewarded for this with more LD time. So be bold! Don't ever do anything dangerous. But don't be embarrassed about trying something awesome like flying/levitating. Everyone who might see you wishes they could do it too.

Congratulations again! Keep up the great work.

@ophelia Yea, I don't know why almost all people tell me that WILD's are the most vivid. You entered the dream from the waking stat immediately and thus you have more awareness is what most of them justify their opinion. However, for me at least, I had DILD's that's so realistic, like the last LD, and even though I became lucid long after I slept, I still retained a high amount of awareness.
And thanks about that advice concerning RC's. I never had a reality check problem before so those pieces of advice are very helpful.
@CL Thanks, you were indeed right, and about the thing that made me have that kind vividness. I have no idea what it is, I spent my day like any other day, although I felt very happy that day, and I don't know why, maybe that was the reason, who knows?
About the the RC failing me, I thought that too, I thought that the nose plug RC could never fail me, but it did. I think backing it up with other RCs especially mind RCs (where you remember what you did, try and think back how you got there...etc) will help solve the problem, and as you mentioned, I have to have faith that the reality check will work and I will be able to breath even if I'm 100 percent sure that I'm in real life.
Thanks CL, I'll be more careful next time, and I won't be afraid of embarrassing myself, so I can get more LD time like you did

I think I'll start writing my dreams again. I've been having some interesting dreams lately and my motivation is higher then it used to be, however, I'll get back to it step by step, so that I don't over helm myself and lose interest again.

Originally Posted by areyoume

I think I'll start writing my dreams again. I've been having some interesting dreams lately and my motivation is higher then it used to be, however, I'll get back to it step by step, so that I don't over helm myself and lose interest again.

Absolutely the right way to go. There's no pressure but what you allow yourself to create. Add new steps at a rate which you enjoy and you can't go wrong. There's no need to overburden yourself or feel any stress -- this is all just play!

Congratulations on the pick-up in interesting dream content. That's always a great motivator.

Thanks CL.
I had a lucid dream where I tried to fly but I kept failing, any tips?

Originally Posted by areyoume

Thanks CL.
I had a lucid dream where I tried to fly but I kept failing, any tips?

I have two ideas for you. They're a bit different, but they've both helped me in my flight troubles. Perhaps give each of them a shot.

First, the technique that I used to get to space. When flying, try to go beyond wanting to fly. Think about what it would feel like to already be flying. Marvel at how light you feel and at the sensation of the wind rushing past your body. Don't think "I want to start flying". Look at a place, and know that you are going there. It's not what you want -- it's what you make so. Everything in the dream world draws its energy from you and what you focus on. You get to write the next part of the story. Decide what happens next, then imagine the sensation of flight in as much detail as you can possibly muster. This will pour your energy into your successful completion of your goal.

A second technique is one that Robert Waggoner recommends in his lucid dreaming book. I've used this one once or twice when I want to "fly" just for fast as possible transportation. It's a simple and elegant form of pseudo-flight where you simply look at some spot in your field of view, focus on it hard, and imagine yourself there. When you focus hard enough, you'll typically find yourself pulled to your chosen destination, often with a bit of a cool zoom effect to go with it. It doesn't have the freedom and joy of bird-like flight, but it's very utilitarian.

Give those a try and see how you do!

Those sound quite fun, I shall try them out in my next lucid. Actually, I was going to try the second method as a mean of fast transportation before you told me about it and before I even know that other people used it (genius haithem strikes again )
I had a really fun zombie apocalypse dream, it was NLD, but I might write it in my DJ here in dream views anyway. I'm not using any technique now, just for the record, but I might start ADA once my recall is back to full power.

I've been "trying" to record my dreams lately, and I think its time to start a technique, I really want to try out DEILD but I can't set an alarm or my whole family would wake up and I'd be in trouble so I was thinking of using auto suggestion to wake up and I was wondering if I can get any tips from you guys regarding that.

Originally Posted by areyoume

I've been "trying" to record my dreams lately, and I think its time to start a technique, I really want to try out DEILD but I can't set an alarm or my whole family would wake up and I'd be in trouble so I was thinking of using auto suggestion to wake up and I was wondering if I can get any tips from you guys regarding that.

Just really set your intent to notice when you are waking up. Autosuggestion might take a bit of time to get used to but it can really work wonders! "I know I'm waking up" or something along those lines would be nice you can also use a vibrating alarm if you want. Good luck!

Thanks paige, I think I'll start that today.
My dreams last night were very vivid, and I'm still trying to record my dreams. I think I'l start ADA and other awareness techniques quite soon.

I'm not going to lie and say I've been doing techniques, but at least my recall is pretty good.
My mother is sick and I'm kinda worried about her, and that is essentially whats preventing me from practicing. However, I had interesting dreams last night, one of which was a typical zombie apocalypse dream, but was rather disturbing. The other dream was about heart transplant or something like that, and the interesting thing about this dream is that I recall talking to somebody, and he was talking french fluently. I'm not that good at french yet one my dream characters was better than me at it! I could understand what he was saying at least. He asked me a question and when I tried to answer it he interrupted me and said "In french": I know that you suck at french, you can just answer in Arabic (my mother language)
How could this be? He is my dream character yet he knows something better than me

I'm sorry to hear that your mom isn't feeling well, haithem! My best wishes to you and your family right now, as I know this kind of thing is stressful. Nothing wrong with taking some time off when real life gets this real.

It's great that your recall is hanging around, though! I especially like the French-speaking DC. You may want to find that guy again and see whether he'll give you a few lessons.

I watched a horror movie last night, and apparently that caused me to have a nightmare. It wasn't very scary but rather extremely disturbing.

Spoiler for The nightmare:

I was sitting in a chamber in my house. I don't remember what I was doing exactly, when suddenly the light went off. I tried to toggle the light switch on but it didn't work, it was extremely dark but I could see things. I tried to get out of that chamber when I heard a noise. I turned to see that the table was moving on its own! I ran out of the chamber to find my father, he saw that I was very afraid so he smiled. but that smile quickly turned to a disturbed face, he quickly switch the light on, but the thing is that the darkness kept following me. the light was on but it couldn't reach the area surrounding me, I started to think that this is a dream, but it was too late. I felt this strange and very unconformable sensation and then woke up.

This was my closest experience of a lucid nightmare. I wish I could have stayed longer in the dream to inquire about the darkness and what it represented.

Hey haithem, good job, even though you didn't get lucid, you started questioning it, which means you're getting better at recognizing your dream environment.

I had a lucid dream where I tried to fly, I almost got it as I tried to jump higher and higher but I woke up before being able to do that.

Hey sorry for the late response, but congrats on the lucid! How did you wake up? Don't feel too bad, sometimes when it's the end of our sleep cycle, we are bound to wake up no matter what we do :3

Originally Posted by areyoume

I had a lucid dream where I tried to fly, I almost got it as I tried to jump higher and higher but I woke up before being able to do that.

Hey haithem! Good to see you around and getting lucid, man!

Nice flight attempt! The Hulk Jump (jumping super, super high into the air) was always how I got around before I got comfortable with flight, so you're taking the same route that I did. Keep doing what you're doing. With every attempt, as you get closer to your goal, you are breaking down bit by bit the inner voice that's telling you, "But thats impossible!" whenever you prepare to do something awesome in an LD.

Every time you jump higher or float farther, you are expanding the boundaries of your mind and your belief system. That's the way to do it! Keep it up.

I practiced some ADA yesterday and today. I had a good night of sleep and I know that I dreamed a lot, but I don't recall a lot of details. Actually, I only remember the main theme of every dream. I believe that's because it's been a long time since I tried to recall my dreams.
Anyways, I'm back on the track *Thanks to the podcast*. Maybe this time around I'll be able to achieve more than I did last time...