Thread: Dolphin's Workbook

Hey Shawn! Great-looking workbook and I see that you've also got a nice dream journal going with all of the lucid dreams you've had so far. That's perfect.

I know that you're wondering whether there's anything you should change, but it looks to me like you're doing everything right. I think that sticking with one technique (especially a proven one like MILD) should be a good way to work through the next several weeks. That'll give you long enough to zero in on what works best for you and make the small adjustments necessary to find your personal flow.

You are building off of a great base. Looking forward to seeing more!

Thanks CanisLucidis! It's good to know I'm on the right track!

I believe I thought of a better mantra- "I awake. Reality check. I'm dreaming. Stabilize.". Hopefully, over time, that will get me to instinctively do a reality check anytime I wake up in a dream.

I'll also work on identifying HI more. Maybe if I become proficient at identifying HI I can identify longer dreams better too.

I'm going to be tired after my upcoming Friday night serving shift so I should sleep well tonight!

Welcome to the Intro Class, Shawn!



CanisLucidis is right, you're on to a really good start! The only thing I would suggest is that you do reality checks everytime you wake up, wherever you may be. You already have the idea with the mantra and reality checking when you wake up in a dream. Doing reality checks every time you wake up for real can help solidify this, and the practice will carry on into your dream, so if ever you have false awakenings, you can easily catch them!


Good luck, and keep us posted!

Yeah, reality checks is one of the things I can really improve on. I'll work on doing reality checks when I wake up and when I see something unusual. For example, last night when I was greeting guests as usual while serving, I smile and offer a warm greeting and guests over 12 years old smile back, but kids under 12 give me strange looks like or or . Is simply thinking "Am I dreaming" or "Reality check" a good reality check? I need a good discreet reality check to do in public as kids would give me even stranger looks if I plugged my nose!

Anyway, last night no lucidity again.

I went to bed at around 11:20. Here are the times I woke up and some notes about what happened each time before each time I woke up.

1:40-no dreams
2:45-no dreams
4:00-I had a dream about making cookies. I forgot the eggs though.
5:54-I stayed up 1.5 hours during a WILD attempt. I ended up sleeping normally and had a dream about my composing computer program Noteworthy Composer. I seemed to be picking music for some computer project. There was a much larger variety of choices to choose from in my dream.
6:50-I had a dream where I was at work in the kitchen and I set down a rounded glass cube a bit bigger than the size of a die. Then from the cube came a female voice similar to the steriotypical fortune teller head inside a crystal ball. I forgot most of what she said but I'm sure she said "bear with me". After it was done talking I locked the cube up in a box with a complex locking mechanism.
7:55-I didn't sleep after the dream but I had some nice HI of 5 cars parking all at once at a McDonalds and of the ocean lit up during dawn.

I seem to be indecisive about which mantra to use. I started off with "I'm awake. Reality check. I'm dreaming. Stabilize." then tried "I'm awake. Reality check. I'm dreaming." then "I will have a lucid dream" then "I will have a lucid dream NOW" then "I'm dreaming". I'm leaning towards "I'm dreaming" because that's the only mantra that has given me any results.

Looking back at my dream journal my dry spell started when I changed my technique that was giving me some decent results in an effort to make it even better. At the time, I wasn't satisfied with a lucid every other day but after over a week of no lucids it doesn't sound too bad now! I'm going try to go back to my old technique that was working well for me before I changed it and hit a dry spell.

I copied the technique from my dream journal-

This technique is an all day cycle. When I wake up, I do a reality check to make sure I'm awake. Then I write my dreams in my dream journal. As soon as I done with my dream journal I think "I'm awake", enter "awake" mode and I start my day. As I'm in "awake" mode, as much as possible, I take slow breaths and in between my breaths, I think "I'm awake". As soon as my day is over, I relax and make sure my mind is clear. When I'm relaxed and I'm just about to close my eyes to go to sleep think when "I close my eyes to enter dreaming mode, anything is possible". I close my eyes and take deep breaths at first thinking "I'm dreaming" in between breaths. I take deep breaths until I feel completely relaxed. Then I switch to slow soft breaths still thinking "I'm dreaming" in between breaths. If I still have trouble going to sleep doing this I visually transport myself to the most relaxing location possible and continue with slow, soft breaths until I go to sleep. Then I hopefully lucid dream at will all night! When I think I'm awake, I do a reality check to make sure I'm awake and the cycle continues until I become proficent at lucid dreaming. If I need to work on my dream control, when I have time, I will relax and think "As I enter dreaming mode, anything is possible". I will then work on my visualization and daydreaming thinking "I'm dreaming" in between slow soft breaths. When I'm finished, I'll think "I'm awake".

Oh wow, a lucid every other day?!

Your recall is great, I dont even think I can journal the dreams everytime i wake up. I usually just write them down when I finally wake up x)

Anyway, keep it up, and let us know how it turns out with the switching back of techniques

Originally Posted by TwilightShawn

Yeah, reality checks is one of the things I can really improve on. I'll work on doing reality checks when I wake up and when I see something unusual. For example, last night when I was greeting guests as usual while serving, I smile and offer a warm greeting and guests over 12 years old smile back, but kids under 12 give me strange looks like or or . Is simply thinking "Am I dreaming" or "Reality check" a good reality check? I need a good discreet reality check to do in public as kids would give me even stranger looks if I plugged my nose!

Good, good. "Am I dreaming?" may not be quite enough. As for discrete reality checks, here are a few ideas:
-Remember how you got here in detail. What were you doing 15 minutes ago (or before you got where you are now)?
-Look at text once, look away, check it again
-Check your hands for any oddities

One more that I have heard about but not tried myself:
-Try to breathe in through your mouth while it's closed

Originally Posted by TwilightShawn

I seem to be indecisive about which mantra to use. I started off with "I'm awake. Reality check. I'm dreaming. Stabilize." then tried "I'm awake. Reality check. I'm dreaming." then "I will have a lucid dream" then "I will have a lucid dream NOW" then "I'm dreaming". I'm leaning towards "I'm dreaming" because that's the only mantra that has given me any results.

Looking back at my dream journal my dry spell started when I changed my technique that was giving me some decent results in an effort to make it even better. At the time, I wasn't satisfied with a lucid every other day but after over a week of no lucids it doesn't sound too bad now! I'm going try to go back to my old technique that was working well for me before I changed it and hit a dry spell.

I know what you mean about the urge to switch techniques. I think we've all been there in some area of life. Not necessarily with LD inducement techniques, but I can think of several times in life where "something worked so well that I stopped doing it." Sometimes we just can't help ourselves. Chalk it up as an easy learning experience.

When you go back to your technique, give it at least two weeks (and probably longer.) If it's giving you an LD every two days, that's great! I can't speak for the other staff members but I'd be thrilled to get one every other day for the rest of my life. That's over 180 LDs per year. In 5 years you'd rack up nearly 1000 lucid dreams! Do you know how many people in the world have experienced 1000 lucid dreams? Well, neither do I. But it is damn few.

One other note on techniques. A subtle point to remember is that the technique simply enables you to employ your ability to lucid dream. The technique only aided you. That every other day lucid dreamer? That was you, not your technique. Always think of yourself this way and with this much confidence. Not only is this true, but it will help you along as an LDer. Simply knowing that you can and will have frequent lucid dreams is so important.

Good luck and keep us up to date! You are doing great so far.

Thanks everybody for their support! Those reality checks are just what I need CanisLucidis. Thank you!

No lucidity last night again. I was very busy during work and very tired afterwards so my awareness and recall wasn't anywhere near it needed to be.

I went to bed at 10:30.
1:30-I had a dream that I can't remember visually but I think it was just a lot of talking. I remember hearing somebody saying "It's delirious" at the end.
3:30-Had a dream I was at a mountainous amusement park heading towards a gray roller coaster that twisted down a hill.
5:10-No recall
6:30-No recall
7:00-I just hear "Old McDonald" playing at the end
7:50-I just hear "I'm Lovin' You" playing at the end

Yeah, it was one of those nights. At the beginning of the night, I was having lots of HI of still having to greet and wait on more tables! This gradually disipated as the night went on. It actually took me a few minutes to realize I don't have to wait on these imaginary guests! So, you could say my head was spinning from it being so busy at work. I was still yawning after 9.5 hours of sleep.

Today should be better!

I ended my dryspell!

I went to bed at 11:30

1:30-I was in a class with a few others celebrating the end of my lucid dryspell. I didn't get lucid though.
3:10-No recall
5:05-I had a dream where I was at my old house. I thought to myself "I'm dreaming, so I might as well look around to see if I see anything.". I noticed my golf clubs where shaking. I went to see what was causing them to shake and found it was just my late dog just scratching himself next to my clubs. I woke up. I thought about adding this dream to my count but I opted not to because I had barely any lucidity, if any.
7:00-Lucid #6 - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views
8:10-All I remember was, accompanied by classical music, Mozart getting congratulated for something by Emporer Joseph and being surronded by a bunch of ladies while asking where his credit card was.

Throughout the night, I was getting closer to performing my technique with a clearer mind. Now that I got some good results, it should breed more confidence which should lead to more success.

Sensational! Hey, that LD sounds really, really fun too (at least the part before the ride suddenly ended.) This will be a great base to build off of.

Also, nice job not getting thrown off by the false awakening. It's cool that you wound up just floating out of bed! Did you have to do anything to cause this? False awakenings still manage to fool me all the time so if I could learn to float around like a balloon that'd be perfect!

Keep up the great work!

The levitating was involuntary. I don't know what caused it. Beginners luck maybe!

The entire dream was pretty fun! I need to remember to stabilize though and keep my emotions under control so the dreams last longer. I'll just make a note of while I'm visualizing what I want to dream.

Great plan. Shawn, you are really doing well here. Great techniques, excellent records, and getting plenty of sleep. The fact that you roused yourself at every waking and took records is just great.

You're setting a good example, one that I in particular should pay attention to! Getting a proper amount of sleep and taking every waking seriously are important growth areas I need to focus on and you already have them dialed in.

For stabilization, my recommendation is that if you feel any instability, try to gently set aside thoughts of "Oh no, it's falling apart!" Calmly rub those hands together and give them a really good, detailed look, all the while reminding yourself that you are dreaming. Look for that detail and it will really start to pop. Allow yourself to be fascinated by the dream scene's vividness and stability (but hold on to your awareness!) I guarantee that you'll be amazed at what your mind will produce for you!

Keep doing what you're doing!

I love Disneyland dreams!!

Anyway, congrats on lucid #6! I commented in your journal.

The last couple of nights I haven't had any success. My recall has gone down too. I think I'm trying too hard and over stressing myself. I've tried to WILD a couple of times and have been unsucessful. In my most recent attempt I counted to 3800!

But, at the end of this morning I tried to loosen up a bit and have a more relaxed, positive, playful attitude without trying to lucid dream. My recall improved quite a bit with my last two dreams. I'll post my last two dreams in the dream snippets section after I post this. I think it's clear now my mindset has an important role in my lucid induction technique.

I found a free, full online version of "Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming" on the internet http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ar...iddreaming.pdf
I really like this book so I'll try to read the whole thing.

I'll stick with my technique that has given me success in the past. I'll give more attention to dreamsigns to help me become lucid more.

Originally Posted by TwilightShawn

I need a good discreet reality check to do in public as kids would give me even stranger looks if I plugged my nose!

There is one I use in discreet situations that seems to work pretty well. This typically works best if your hand is not empty. It could even be resting on something. First, ask the question: What is in my hand? Evaluate the answer and how it got that way. Then try to push one of your fingers through the object that your hand is in contact with. This should provide a pretty good reality check. Pushing your hand/fingers through things can always be a good RC in any situation.

Originally Posted by TwilightShawn

The last couple of nights I haven't had any success. My recall has gone down too. I think I'm trying too hard and over stressing myself. I've tried to WILD a couple of times and have been unsucessful. In my most recent attempt I counted to 3800!

But, at the end of this morning I tried to loosen up a bit and have a more relaxed, positive, playful attitude without trying to lucid dream. My recall improved quite a bit with my last two dreams. I'll post my last two dreams in the dream snippets section after I post this. I think it's clear now my mindset has an important role in my lucid induction technique.

It sounds like you've already figured out what to do. Stick with the already-excellent technique you're currently using. Give it at least a couple of weeks to work for you, and ideally even longer. Something that had given me a spurt of every-other-day lucids would probably have my heart forever.

Don't forget to relax and enjoy. You've had exceptionally good results so far. Just great stuff. Now let those good results give you confidence but don't let them saddle you with unrealistic expectations or stress.

Never, ever forget that we're all just here to play! Always allow yourself maximum fun and minimum stress.

Originally Posted by TwilightShawn

I found a free, full online version of "Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming" on the internet http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ar...iddreaming.pdf
I really like this book so I'll try to read the whole thing.

I'll stick with my technique that has given me success in the past. I'll give more attention to dreamsigns to help me become lucid more.

This is a wonderful book. Laberge is the man on lucid dreaming and "Exploring" is a really good read.

One thing you should note while reading it is how advanced Laberge was able to become with one technique (MILD) that is no more complex than your own technique! Laberge eventually became a nightly lucid dreamer this way. I wouldn't be surprised if with enough practice your current technique gave you similar results!

Originally Posted by CanisLucidus

Don't forget to relax and enjoy. You've had exceptionally good results so far. Just great stuff. Now let those good results give you confidence but don't let them saddle you with unrealistic expectations or stress.

Never, ever forget that we're all just here to play! Always allow yourself maximum fun and minimum stress.

I agree with CanisLucidus. I have to remind myself of this quite often. This is totally from just my personal experience, but It seems that I have more frequent LDs when I am not stressing over it. The more I think about it the more I believe that lucid dreaming is about mental balance. Continue the mental prep but just let the rest happen... and believe in yourself.

Another lucid! I rushed the preparation for this one a bit as I grew impatient as it took me 1.5-2 hours to fall asleep. I couldn't get comfortable and my mom waking up kept me awake. But hey, a lucid's a lucid. Once my preparation for the MILD gets better, I think I will get better at remembering to stabilize and keep my emotions under control. Lucid#7 - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

As I was reading "Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming", Leberge basically says the key to being able to MILD is just knowing how to remember to carry out future intentions. I'm a restaurant server by trade and often part of the job is remembering to do certain tasks when you have to multi-task. Therefore, I've learned how to remember to do future tasks while I'm awake so that's give me a lot of confidence in my ability to MILD! This is definately the technique for me.

I have another crazy Friday night serving shift in store for me so we'll see how it goes tonight!

Originally Posted by Shawn

Leberge basically says the key to being able to MILD is just knowing how to remember to carry out future intentions.

That's a really great way of putting it. (of course it is, it's Leberge). It makes me think about folks who live a mentally sedentary lifestyle, meaning those who DON'T have to really multi-task, might find MILDs more difficult. But I like that you wrote that Shawn, because it's yet another thing we can work on in our waking life to increase the chances of having a lucid dream: practicing things in the day that help you remember to carry out future tasks.

I read your dream, congrats on another lucid dream! I also love saying ciao! to DCs who aren't cooperating. As far as the frustration part leading to you waking up, and I say this alot to members here, it's good to have a short list of goals that you have prememorized. And as soon as something doesn't go your way in a lucid, you can always switch your focus to something that is more conducive to success. Even if it is a simple task. Frustration can be a major lucid killer, which is why it can be helpful to plan ahead.

I was somehow able to randomly induce SP this morning. Not once but twice! The first one I waited too long to enter the dream. The second one about 45 minutes later I didn't make the same mistake so it resulted in...Lucid #8 - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

I focused on stabilizing more and learned how to waterbend!

I was impressed with your dream control and your ability to get past the SP. Did you try WILD or was it more like DEILD?

It was a WILD. I didn't try WILDing. When I try to WILD it always leads to me staying awake. I've never intentionally induced a WILD. Yet, this was my 2nd WILD and 4th SP this past 3 weeks. I wish I knew how I did it but I don't! I'll just focus on MILDing and let the WILDs come as they wish.

Originally Posted by TwilightShawn

It was a WILD. I didn't try WILDing. When I try to WILD it always leads to me staying awake. I've never intentionally induced a WILD. Yet, this was my 2nd WILD and 4th SP this past 3 weeks. I wish I knew how I did it but I don't!

Interesting. Perhaps, you just happened to hold awareness long enough to get to the SP. Do you remember holding awareness during the whole time or do you have a small memory gap and then you get SP? I'm trying to help you think through what happened so you understand, so no offense, but it sounds closer to DEILD (which is basically the same a WILD). Either way I have found that "trying" too much keeps me awake. When I am successful I feel as though I was in a meditative trance until SP or strong HI then I try to enter the dream (although lately SP has not been kind to me)

Originally Posted by TwilightShawn

I'll just focus on MILDing and let the WILDs come as they wish.

Maybe that is a better idea. MILD or WILD, it seems you able to change technique when needed. Sometime I find that better than trying to force any one technique. Regardless, you are progressing amazingly well. Keep doing what you are doing!

Lucid #9 - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream ViewsThe lucid part of this dream was pretty short as I haven't gotten used to stabilizing while flying. Also, I seem to have difficulty recalling dialogue in my dreams when I wake up. Other than that, my recall is getting better though.

Congrats on #9! That's a really cool dream. The lasers coming out of your hands in my favorite! And I wouldn't worry too much about the dialogue most of the time they don't make any sense anyway. I remember on particular lucid where I was really focusing on what a DC was saying and it was mostly gibberish.