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Welcome Booney! It looks like you have got things locked down and set. Your recall is really awesome as well. I have the same dream sign of strong emotions. Strange. Isn't it?
Don't hesitate to give one of us an electronic shout if you need anything. Good luck and good dreaming!
Hey Erik!
:welcome:
Hi Erik! Welcome to the class :happy:
Applause to you first of all for using awareness in general for your reality checks. I can't ever stress enough how important it is to maintain an increased level of awareness during the day, whether it is sustained or in short sporadic bursts. Awareness really is one of the biggest keys to lucidity, if not THE biggest.
Looks like you're off to a great start in terms of getting your recall back up. I'm like you, sometimes I remember the dream later in the day. Thank god for smartphones so I can last minute journal haha! Your dream signs are really interesting: anger, colors and ice! The unique signs are good, they'll help you later on.
Good luck on the DILD and DEILD, and I look forward to catching up on your progress!
Interesting dream! Yes, that is a huge step towards lucidity. Just a little bit more to really push you over the edge (not in a violent way lol). I get lots of dreams like those too – where I talk to DCs about seeing them in a previous dream, and even mentioning that it is a dream right at that moment. I just can't seem to get that lucid snap to make me realize "what am I saying? This IS a dream!" as opposed to "this seems like a dream. Cool."
Keep up the awareness practice and the reality checks and I'm sure you'll get there in no time :3
We all have off nights, it's to be expected really. Shows how delicate the balance for good dream recall and lucidity can be! The best recommendation I can make is to find some motivation to get those dreams written down in the middle of the night, for me, it's one of the key things that increases my lucidity chances. Not only does writing it down help you boost your recall but the action of sitting up and writing a dream gives your mind just enough time to wake up and get into the mindset for lucidity.
It's great that your recognising your progress though, being aware of those small advances really helps with the motivation to continue. Keep it up!
Actually, If you can sleep late after a night of little drinking it can be a nice lucid aid. It sometimes works for me. I don't know about getting to bed at 4AM though. :D
You totally get it about awareness. I am impressed. Looking for dream signs and doing RCs helps a ton but won't work if you don't put your full attention and awareness into it.
Ha! And I am totally like you with putting my imagery in my mind. I find that when I play some video games or watch movies or TV, my dream become more interesting. And yeah, if you were to notice that you are dreaming about a movie you watched then I could see that triggering lucidity.
Ahh, that is the thing a lot of people struggle with during DEILDs, which is quite normal. One tip I could give (which might be quite vague) is to visualize the dream you just exited. I know it sounds quite basic, but focusing on the mental aspects will shift your focus, and thus slowly disregard the physical aspects. Another tip I can give is....dun dun dunn....Quote:
Originally Posted by Booney
...just move! Just try not to move too much though. Whenever I DEILD, I usually roll over, or move my arm or leg to get more comfort. And I can still achieve DEILDs. The trick is that even though you move, you should try not to think about it too much, which makes you linger in the physicals. DEILD is so much more mental, that even if you move, as long as you're in the proper mindset, it should still work. :)
DEILD is a tricky one, it's incredibly easy to achieve if you get it right and I think most people tend to have DEILDs just as flukes. My best DEILDs have been when I haven't even thought about it. The same principles of WILD can apply to DEILD too, as DEILD is simply just that except executed at a different time. When you're expecting to have a DEILD, that is, fading through from waking state into a dream, your adrenaline is going to shoot through the roof when the thing you're waiting for actually starts to happen and most of the time this completely kills the attempt. This could be why you're wanting to move so much also, the build up of adrenaline and anticipation will do that.
So, in short, I agree with Paige. Focus on the dream you just had or even a completely new one (but plan the new one before bed so you don't have to go through the mental practice of crafting a new dream scene on the spot) and then just go back to sleep while remaining still and ignoring any of the "noise" that occurs through the WILD transition. Your goal shouldn't be to have a DEILD because that subconsciously signals you to notice the "noise" that you shouldn't be noticing.
It's actually really good that you're being hard on yourself when it comes to classifying what a lucid dream actually is. Many people on this forum simply class a vague awareness, or even just vividness in their dreams as a lucid dream. This is fine, but it's not really being honest with yourself and makes it a lot harder to progress. Especially considering the actual definition of "lucid" is "Expressed clearly; easy to understand."
Lovin your post! So real quick question, sorry if I didn't get it right. You will keep the dice in your pocket when you go to bed, but no dice there in the day? This is interesting
I don't think there's anything wrong with focusing on the dice thing, or any other thing to help you get lucid. Recall sometimes gets better when some focus is taken off of it. Different for everyone of course.
I have to say, I rather love the idea of checking your pocket from time to time. If you ever feel dice there, you must be dreaming! Definitely let us know how that goes!
Sounds good to me! Good luck, Booney.Quote:
Originally Posted by Booney
You're correct about WBTB. It is an extremely powerful technique and IMO a necessary power tool in just about every lucid dreamer's tool bag. The honest truth is that I've had only very few lucid dreams that were not preceded by a WBTB. I resisted doing it when I first tried to LD but this was a mistake. The technique really is that good and greatly enhances almost every other tech you might try.
Let us know how it goes!
That is a great idea and observation. Don't forget to perform reality checks whenever you're doing something routine for you. It can be hard to remember while you're doing it, but do them whenever you're filing papers or cooking, and not just at times when you're not doing anything. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Booney
Week 02 Day 6 Lesson II:
After being awake for almost 24 hours I went to bed today at 09:00 AM
I woke up half an hour ago at 02:00 PM.
I have recalled one dream so far, lots of lucidity chances but none taken unfortunately.
After 5 hours of sleep doing a WBTB now would be a good idea, if it weren't for the construction site across the street.
I'll try to go to bed at 03:00 PM but I don't think I can get back to sleep.
I'll update on my progress today later tonight,
No worries on missing an opportunity here or there. Just take a little time to think about those opportunities and go over in your mind why you should have become lucid. Leave more mnemonic tripwires behind for yourself to stumble upon later.
With this construction going on (and your apparent late sleeping hours), perhaps some form of ear plug would be a good idea for you?
I love how you call them mnemonic tripwires. It's a good way of phrasing what I'm actually trying to achieve here.
And with that I'm almost finished, after this week I hope to have set up my way to lucid dreaming in all my sleeping circumstances.
I have thought about earplugs and mask/blindfolds but I think I will get used to it eventually. Having things in my ears just adds to the discomfort for me.
As for the dream I mentioned earlier, funny thing about that.
From todays DJ entry
Quote:
I log on to a computer to see when my appointment with Mr. M is, 2:00 PM and I look on the clock which says 2:06.
To be sure I check the schedule again and it's indeed 2:06. Realizing I'm late I get stressed and wake up.
The time I wake up is 1:56.
Week 02 Day 7 Lesson II:
Went to bed at 03:00 AM 'till 09:00 AM
Recalled a bit about being in an office (watched 5 or 6 Madmen episodes in a row before bed so it was to be expected).
I noted the dreams, went to the bathroom and got back to bed to sleep again for 3 hours.
After that I woke up from a zombie adventure dream it was awesome.
I really wish I could have battled more of them with my weaponset.
I should mention having a bit of dreamcontrole in the last dream, making a mental note of that feeling.
End of Week 02 evaluation.
This week was strangely enough all about dreamcontrole.
The way I handel myself in dreamsituations is starting to change. I can tell even though I'm not lucid I take controle of the situation more, I behave more resourcefull in my dreams if that makes sense.
I'm also happy to have recalled something every day of the week, be it fragments or complete dreams.
And I guess the biggest step forward was the moment I realised I was dreaming and used the spinning technique to get out of a difficult situation.
Man, just thinking about that moment gets me excited again.
Can't forget the somewhat succesfull first try at DEILDing
You could say my dreaminstincts are finally kicking in, so lucidity is in my grasp I can feel it!
That's awesome, lucid dreaming really is all about patience and persistence. The more you do it the more your instincts builds and you come to understand how it feels to be inside of your own head. Make sure you keep hold of those feelings, even the small ones. They will really help you out.
One thing I like to do is keep a piece of paper in the back of my dream journal with the various ways my dreams have felt, both non-lucid, lucid and most importantly how it felt at the moment of realising that I'm dreaming. It's nice to refer to them.
Onto week 3, and good luck!
Week 03 Day 1 Lesson II:
Another graveyard shift, bedtime 08:00 AM
I find these shifts to be the hardest on LDing, they tire me out which makes me lose focus.
Had a good dream recall though.
After tonight I will get back into my prefered sleeping schedule so I expect to be fully back in the game by the end of this week.
Oh yeah, my focus is still on the MILD and DILD with trying to get some DEILDs here and there.
Week 03 Day 2 Lesson II:
Well that's it for now as the graveyard shifts are concerend.
Went to bed at 05:15 AM, woke up with a mind full of dreams and experiences but was to exhausted to write them down.
I'm sure some fragments will reach the surface during the day.
I also found some kind of meditation video on YouTube, but my tools to rip audio from YouTube have seemed to stop working. Which is a shame cause I would love to have the audio as an mp3 so I can listen to it in bed. As I don't want my computer to be on all night.
Now the graveyardshifts are over for a while I will get back to more awareness and better MILD attempts.
I think I can help you with the YouTube thing. If you have an Android device try tubemate. It won't be in the market you have to google search it. Also do you mind sharing the link? Id like to get it on mp3 myself. I like to occasionally experiment with those. I can even share the file in my box account if you prefer.
Thanks for the tip, I ended up using GetTube works great.Quote:
Originally Posted by Xanous
Here's the link: Sleep Hypnosis Easy Lucid Dreaming - YouTube
It didn't do much for me in the end, it got me relaxed but nothing more and I even question if my relaxation was because of this video.
These things never work for me, no matter how open I try to be to the idea. Oh well.
Week 03 Day 4 Lesson II:
It's been a busy weekend which is why I didn't update yesterday, but there wasn't much development anyway.
Yesterday was another pubnight went to bed pissed and still had the best recall ever!
Amazing dreams, kinda scary and surreal, even Salvador Dali popped in to say hi.
The main theme last night was the lack of time, a feeling of; I must hurry or else!
Also a blind man was chasing me, it was scary as hell.
New change in waking life, bought an electric guitar, so I'll have to look out for music related dreamsigns now.
Oh that one... Yeah. I found it to be annoying more than helpful. :roll:
Yeah, didn't do much for me either.
Week 04 Day 1 Lesson II:
Haven't been updating much these last few days. This is for one because there isn't much to update about since progress is slowing down.
But! This doesn't mean I'm not making any progress at all. I've been working on my recall this week. And succeeding!
I've had the most vivid dreams as of late.
And one thing that really stood out was me going to Australia.
For me, dreamwise, this is a big deal.
Ever since I started journaling my dreams there have been set locations in which the dreams take place.
And this year so far I've never recalled going to a new dreamlocation but tonight I did.
I remember feeling excited about this when I woke up in the morning. I felt fresh and new, change.
Also I've been noticing my awareness is growing inside the dreams. I've yet to make the real connection in the dream but it's coming.
Week 05:
It has been a slow week for me and recall made a drastic drop.
But I know why! Which I guess is a step in the right direction. I think I've finally found out what my ideal sleep schedule is.
At first I thought my inconsistent working schedule would cause my LD attempts to fail, I thought I needed routine and stability.
But for me, I found out this is not the case, what works best for me is to attempt LDs during a natural sleeping cycle.
I came to this conclusion after two weeks of stable working hours. I thought it was perfect, finally I could focus and adjust to my regular bedtimes but no. Recall dropped and so there is no way of knowing if I had any LDs these last two weeks.
I did have one very vivid flying dream and made a mental/physical note of how it felt for future reference.
Also after reading a thread here about bending the elements I ended up bending air I was a full fleshed airbender, again made notes of the sensations.
So even though at the end, the dream recall came back and my dreams became more vivid it didn't come as easy as it used to be.
Next week I'll be back into my prefered working schedule which fits my natural sleeping schedule.
I expect great things then. Because I know I can, I've done it once, almost achieved it two weeks ago. It's just a matter of time and that time is soon.
Great to hear you'll be getting back to a better schedule. And even better to hear, airbending!
:D
Yeah it was really fun controlling elements I'm definitely going to do some more of that in the future.
I was airbending one of those air spheres the ones Aang rides on sometimes. First I created a small airsphere between my hands which felt like the resistence you feel when you hold two magnets close to each other when the same magnetic poles point to each other.
The first few times it just blew up in my face, literally. Untill finally I was able to controle it, make it bigger and ride it for a bit. A great dream.
Had one of those dreams that ruins your day last night.
It was about a girl I met last summer on vacation.
We really hit it off back then and I kept in touch through facebook just chat every few days. I even had plans to visit her while I was in the neighborhood. But then all of the sudden she stopped replying.
I remember being pissed off about it, because I didn't understand it and still don't but I'm over it now.
In the dream I'm sitting in some loungey room. She's there with her cousin (who was also with her that summer)
I probably asked her the question of why she never talks to me anymore before my memory of the dream takes over.
She talks to me about why she doesn't talk to me or anything, and her cousin then acts surprised about the answer since it's not what she has been telling her all this time.
So I look at her again but she avoids eyecontact clearly her cousin was telling the truth.
But I just let it go, I tell her that even if her cousin i telling the truth I have moved on anyway which leads to her reaction all defensive which again I don't understand.
The whole dream felt like a messy break-up.
Bleh, feelings.
Week 06: Succesfull WILD!
I decided to give WILD a shot yesterday.
Slept for about 4 hours did a WBTB for 5 min and went back to bed.
I was imagining creating matter out of thin air, mind you I was still awake at this time.
So I was imagining creating a small sphere which I then tried to transform into a cube. I pictured how the points and edges of the cube would feel to my fingertips. Then I tried to make it larger, first with just my thumb and indexfinger.
But I wanted my cube to be bigger so I used my arms to make it even bigger.
I think it was here that I might have gone into a dreamstate.
A random thought just popped into my head; I could never lift this in the real world.
My sight went from first to third person for a second, I saw myself struggeling to keep my gigantic cube in the air, by now it was the size of a normal sized house, it was also more detailed.
When creating the matter it was just an unknown grey ball/block. The thing I was now lifting looked like solid rock, crumbling and with moss on it, like a piece of rock that came from an ancient temple out in the rainforest.
I told myself I was dreaming and I threw the rock up in the air.
As I watched the rock fly up in the air I pointed my finger at it and made it explode.
At this point a memory of the TotM came to me and the exploding rock became the Northern Lights.
But unfortunately it faded away very soon and now all kinds of different sized rocks came falling down from the sky, I knew I wasn't able to dodge them all and as a reflex I closed my eyes and turned.
Then I woke up.
---
It was weird to just go from a daydreaming state into an actual dreamstate without realizing it.
I guess when things started to happen out of my controle I attained lucidity.
During this week I will continue tweaking my WBTB routine and also I will continue with my Reverse Dreamjournaling.
The Reverse Dreamjournaling hasn't been working as I want it to but I do believe it played a big part in attaining lucidity last night since it makes me experience lucidity while awake in my mind.
I feel like I'm rambling now so I'll just stop typing. Can't wait for tonight after this little taste of actual lucidity.
Have to stay calm though.
Week 07 Day 1 Lesson IV:
Well, finally after six weeks I had an experience I can call a lucid dream.
I want to use this post to summarize some of my findings, things that have worked for me for future reference.
During these weeks I have tried almost every technique, DILD, MILD, DEILD, WILD.
- DILD; This one has been kind of working for me. By practicing ADA and using personal RCs, I have created several opportunities to become lucid.
It has worked for me to achieve it for a few seconds, but during the transition from dreaming to becomming aware the dream tends to stir things up which then breaks my train of thought, leaving me back in the dream unaware.
- MILD; You could say that most beginners at lucid dreaming are practicing MILD, not a day goes by without thinking about it, remembering past dreams during the day. But the mantra's and thinking involved right before going to bed doesn't work with me it feels a bit forced. But that's probably because I'm doing something wrong.
- DEILD; This one got me as close as I came to lucid dreaming before I attained my first LD. But this could also have something to do with what happend during the initial waking up. I hurt my hand and this pain came with me in the dream like an anchor to the real world or something. For what it's worth it was the most powerfull RC I have ever had.
- WILD; Combined with WBTB for about 5 to 10 minutes has brought me my first lucid dream and so I will stick with this technique.
That moment of realizing you're in a dream, amazing.
So, after trying several techniques for a few weeks and attaining my first LD (woohoo! still so happy I made it!) I will now focus on keeping this up and move on to Lesson IV!
Dream stabilization
I think this will be my biggest obstacle in sustaining a lucid dream.
Like with my first lucid and also with non lucids my dreams tend to build up as they go in everything.
What I mean is that my dreams begin very boring and mundane no emotion, than real life situations happen with normal emotions, then strange things happen and emotions get stronger (point where lucidity can be attained).
After that third build up I reach a fourth stage where everything stops making sense, bright colours, most amazing sounds from big orchestra's to eerie crashing trains and emotions so strong they stay with you even after waking up.
My goal will have to be to try and keep it at the 3rd stage.
I'll name these 4 stages the stages of dream intensity.
- Stage 1, little colour, no sound or emotions
- Stage 2, real life environment with realistic emotions.
- Stage 3, things stop to make sense, randomness laws of the real world do not apply, the average dreamworld
- Stage 4, Oh my God this is the most amazing thing ever I can't believe this happening what the fuck! Chaos everywhere and emotions are kept after waking up.
Dream Control :
I don't expect this to be a big problem for me. In non-lucids I show having a good deal of controle and I also took controle in my first lucid when the giant rock nearly made me collapse.
Well maybe when I reach stage 4 of dream intensity and chaos takes over, yeah that might get difficult.
As I'm writing this I remember a dream I had a few weeks ago, I believe I also wrote it in a DJ-entry.
I was being chased and I remembered a technique I read about in a LaBerge book. It was the one that says to close your eyes and spin around.
This technique works very well for me, have to remember that one and focus on it when I start to lose controle or when things start to happen that I don't want to.
---
Well I hope to get a lot of lucids from here on out. The holidays are coming which makes it easy for me to go back to me most profitable sleeping schedule.
I will now update my goals and what not in my first post and also make a new entry about my first lucid. My description of it in my earlier post isn't that accurate and was written on a whim.
Yeah! Congrats on that WILD Booney :happy:
That feeling of slipping from awake and day dreaming, to a lucid dream without a break is pretty awesome ain't it. And now that you've done it you'll be able to remember the feeling of the transition, and repeat the process again. So I agree you should definitely stick with that technique. Well done, it took me 8 years to get WILDing down. What a great student! :)
Thanks Opheilia.
I forgot to metion it, but even though it's an individual achievement, everyone here at DV certainly made it easier to obtain.
Just reading about other experiences made me realize just how delicate lucid dreaming is and also a personal thing. You just can't copy a guide or tutorial and expect it to work.
A mistake I made when I first started a year ago.
Week 07 Day 4 Lesson IV:
My dreams have gone mad! Tonight recall was way up there, I couldn't even write it all down and it was all so vivid and detailed.
I got licked on the cheek (don't ask) and the detail of the experience was so real, I could feel the wetness and how that little area on my face felt cooler as the breeze past me. I was at a park at the time and I could even smell a little of the trees.
During two dreams I was on the verge of attaining lucidity again(DILD), but it felt to real too act on it. I have to put more trust in my reality checks.
It's difficult because I'm a thinker and overthink a lot of things. I still haven't found that sweetspot of awareness but not think to much and wake myself up.
I also had another semi-succesfull WILD this morning.
I was daydreaming/visualizing myself in a field just walking. Then I started running as I noticed to lose the feel of my body about to enter the dreamstate. I started to jump as hard as I could to start flying and I did! I looked down and saw the field I was running in, the forrest surrounding this huge field and further down I saw a little suburb.
But unfortunatly this all happend in the few seconds of still getting in the dream, and I guess I could still hear things, so the noise of my father walking around in the living room woke me up again.
I can't imagine what that dream would be like if it went on. Conditions were perfect, I was relaxed at the latter stages of sleep so long REM.
Next time!
It's funny though. I found my way to lucid dream, but I realize the fun is now just beginning The real deal hasn't even started yet, exciting stuff.
Great great progress, Booney! I know how you feel when you say the dreams are too crazy that you dont even write some of them down anymore. Happens to me a lot too :D Anyway, good to see you're getting the hang of WILD, and it shows in your attempts. Good luck!
Thanks Paig!
I just noticed I didn't mention it before but last night was my first with a big glass of applejuice during the WBTB, if that's what's responsible for the vividness I'm definatly going to use that some more in the future.
Still can't get over the fact that I had 2 freaking WILDs in just 5 days, madness I tell you!
I'm kind of worried about losing it though, I'm working nightshifts again which haven't done much good in the past.
But I can't let those thoughts keep me busy, must stay positive.
Awesome jobs on the WILDs. Those can be tough to get the hang of. It seems like this is a good month for a lot of us. I understand the fear there. I try to stay positive even if it feels like I am lying to myself.
I noticed that too, about a lot of us making big progress. Maybe it's because a lot of us finaly get some time to truly unwind and relax this time of year?
I notice a change in my own environment as well, non lucid dreamers having better recall then usual.
Nice observation. My wife has been telling more dreams than usual. Hmmm interesting.
Week 07 Day 6 Lesson IV:
My previous lucids are still leaving traces in my dreams.
Last night I had a very long and vivid dream and I kept zoning in and out of it.
During some parts I did come to the realization that I was dreaming, but it didn't really sink in if you know what I mean. I have this all the time and it's such a shame because I let so many DILDs go to waste this way.
Anyone have an idea how to tackle this problem?
I can also tell that this weeks shift in my working schedule is having an effect on my sleep. I always use my natural wake ups for WBTBs but I just sleep in one go right now. I know I could use alarms and such but I don't want to, I want my lucid dreaming to be as natural as possible. I believe in the end this will make it easier if I don't rely on alarm clocks or lucid aids. I know I've used applejuice once and I'm glad it worked but now I won't use it untill it's neccesary, I don't want to have to depend on it in order to sustain a certain vividness.
This has been a rule for me ever since I started, I want to do it myself or not at all.
The only form of help I take in is all the info on this forum which I need to utilize again today!
Naps! How do you do it?
I want to explore the world of lucid naps during weeks like I have now with nightshifts.
So I want to know how you take a nap and which methods and techniques you use to induce a lucid.
Maybe I'll make a seperate thread about it but for now I'll just see if any of my classmates have anything to say about it. :)
A little sketch that I edited in PS.
I want to try and do this with more interesting LDs in the future, this one is about my first induced lucid dream.
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2.../firstwild.png
Wow that's great, Booney! It really gives us a visual aspect of the dream. I'm definitely looking forward to reading more of these :D
Thanks, it's also much easier to give people some visuals to bring them a bit of the feel of the dream you know?
Week 08 Day 3:
I've had my focus on recall these last few days since my schedule wasn't suitable for my WILDing and WBTB.
Starting today that has changed so starting now I will begin with the more serious WILD attempts.
My non lucids are still showing an increase in vividness and all around me people seem to recall more dreams which I think is pretty interesting.
I don't talk much about lucid dreaming or dreaming in general out in the real world, so it's not like I'm making the people around me more aware of their dreams, it's really something that is happening now.
Last night I had one of those dreams that felt like it contained a deeper meaning of the subconsious or something. I had two conversations with DCs that really got to me.
Might update my DV journal with them.
Week 08 Day 4:
I'm finally back in the schedule that gave me the best results so far which gets me excited.
It led to a very long and vivid dream last night, lots of details and characters. It was fun to see all these people in my dreams.
I'm not sure if I ever mentioned it here on DV or in my personal DJ but I was getting bored with the lack of social interaction in my dreams. For weeks I was alone in my dreams.
But these last few days all kinds of people and crazy characters have shown up, which makes my enjoy my non-lucids more but on the other hand distracts me from achieving lucidity.
So far DCs have been the reason my DILDs fail, but that will be solved in time.
My plan of action for the next few weeks will be to start the real development of my island.
It is a set location in the dreamworld I first mentioned it here in this entry; Becoming a new citizen in the dreamworld. - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views
There are lots of worlds I've visited in my dreams over the years and the more interesting once need a revisit.
Now lots of people create an antire world but that's to much. I try to create a small floating island way bigger than the island I mention in the DJ entry but it's not huge either. I guess about half of the Skyrim map in the last Elder Scrolls game.
As a base I will use places I've visited many times in my mind which come from a fantasy story I started writing a few years back.
It's perfect for these kind of things because it is a very plain world. I will not bore you with the details of this story though.
Another plus to this idea is that I might spent some more time developing some characters. I'm thinking about implementing the protagonist of the story into this island. Someone to take controle when I'm not there. Or my mental back-up memory file.
Don't confuse this with tulpa's or dreamguides though, I don't believe they exist. It feels harsh that I need to point that out so specifically but I want to make it clear how I few the dreamworld.
To me the dreamworld is identical to the world in which the stories I write take place, pure imagination. Non-lucids or regular dreams are just the imaginative world run on autopilot.
To summarize for myself what I want to do and accomplish.
1) Create my own island in the dreamworld
2) Develop my default DC named Rutger.
These two things will help me with attaining better dreamcontrole and I'm hoping a world you consiously create will be easier to stabilize.
This is also the best way for me to stay focused and excited about lucid dreaming.
Your idea sounds great! In ETWOLD Stephen Laberge describes under the Chapter "Creative Problem Solving" How one could "build" his own "lucid dream workshop". Since I read this I have an similiar wish to yours, I want to build my own dream house with a specific landscape around (I don't want to go into depth here it is your Workbook after all), that I can easily access later through incubation, or if lucid changing the dream scene to it. Anyway, I wish you great success with your Island, hold me up-to-date :D The idea with the waterfalls is great! I will probably try something similiar when the moment has come, though probably with simple doors. Also I will probably try to develop two DCs in my dream base who I hope will always be there when I visit it, a Butler and a creature.
I am excited to see if this works, but if you say you know from others who created similiar things before and even Stephen Laberge writes about it for solving creative problems, I believe that it is possible to create such places.
It's funny how LaBerge mentions it in Creative Problem solving. Since a big part of building this is to interact with my stories in a new way, to help me with new ideas and solve writersblock.
As for the portals, doors are a very wise decision, waterfalls are a bit over the top. But I'm creating this world having attained advanced lucid controle and stability in mind. I'm aware that it will take a while to incubate this detailed world into my dreams or even while lucid it's probably not going to be easy to get there. But I've got time. I can wait.
Sounds like you have been working on this for a while also. Be sure you'll also keep us up to date with your progress. :)
Week 08 Day 5: At last a DILD!
I finally broke this curse I had with DILDs and got to close the circle. It was probably the most boring lucid dream I will ever have but also the most amazing so far.
My first two WILDs were amazing, no doubt. I mean, you don't get to fly everyday or explode giant rocks by pointing at them which turns them into the Northern Light.
But even though they are fantastic dreams they were kind of fuzzy and dark, like a layer of shadows was covering it up.
Not this lucid though.
I was at home at night time, I'm lying in my bed and something troubles me. So I decide to get out of bed and go downstairs to go to the toilet.
While I walk down the stairs I decide to slide on on the railing (haven't done this since I was a kid) when I'm almost down I make a jump and land in the hallway. And here's the important part, when I land I go through my knees to ease the landing, as I get up I kind of jump or float up slightly. But I didn't think about it.
I go to the toilet and sit there for a while and I recall my jump and how weird it was. Then this thought popped in my head; I'm not lucid dreaming am I?
In waking life before I do reality checks I observe my surroundings, the feel temperature, sounds all that. Back to the dream.
So I had this thought, I looked around in our toiletroom (it's a very small room just the toilet) I touched the wall in front of me and thought no, this can't be a dream this is real.
But I start to think back, where was I before the jump? The bedroom I came out of wasn't my room like it is now. Nothing made sense, but the wall was so real!
Finally I do the nose plug RC and I'm shocked. I can still breath!
I touch the wall again look at the lamp above me, it's all there, just in real life, nose plug RC still breathing.
So it's true, I am lucid dreaming and am overwhelmed with this euphoric feeling. But I try to stay calm.
Still once I look at the wall that looks so real I doubt it once again, the RC could be wrong if this was a dream I could float around. I then look at my legs, and see I still have my pants down, but that doesn't matter.
I look down and try to make myself go up, and I do!
Slowly I feel my cheeks seperating from the toiletseat and I drop back down. I'm now completely baffled and just sit there for a moment with my hands to my face in disbelief.
I try it again, I lift up very stable to my surprise, and make a 360 degree turn and sit down again.
Now for the dumbest part. I wanted to get out of the restroom, but then I was thinking about wiping.
So I wipe, float around a bit and wipe again which causes me to lose lucidity.
---
This experience has made me doubt my first two experience at first, but now that I look at how the initial feeling of this particular LD is also fading away I'm sure they were lucids too.
The only difference is that this DILD was so real! It was exactly like the restroom at home, it's crazy.
Also the way I attained my first DILD here makes it clear why they are so hard to attain for me. Constant doubt and uncertainty. But I don't think it's a bad thing.
It looks like once I know it's a dream for a 100% sure it's on. I even did some stabilizing techniques but they felt useless as in they didn't help anything the dream was stable allready.
I wonder if this will apply to other dreams in the future?
Since this one was very easy to keep stable, but it was a very small room.
I laughed through that whole dream. 3 cheers for toilet flying!
It's so interesting that DILD was a more elusive way to achieve lucidity for you than other ways. I'm the opposite: I always DILDed just on accident, and then DILDed even more after finding this site and improving recall and awareness and such. Took me 8 years after joining DV and trying different stuff to finally WILD. My DILDs are usually clearer and more realistic than WILDs as well, which seems to be the opposite of everyone else. Weird.
But anyway, congrats! I know that feeling is awesome, when you realize "DOH! I'm dreaming!"
Well I still can't believe it to be honest. As a matter of fact I came to this forum being very skeptical about lucid dreaming.
I only came here to be proven wrong, and the only way that would happen is if I would experience this myself. And now after this DILD I'm almost rid of all doubt.
The WILDs were just lucky I think. The DILD is what really got me in this thing now.
LDing is real, it's fucking weird and I want more haha.
I'm really happy for you, Booney! To be honest, all people can really do is tell you about lucid dreaming, and give you advice, and motivate you. But it is indeed a completely different experience once you do it yourself and explore your own mind in your dreams. Words can never live up to how it feels, even after many successes. Hopefully you get many more lucids to comea, good luck :) and congrats.
Thanks Paigeyemps!
It really is hard to explain isn't it. Especially if you want to describe the difference between non-lucids and lucids.
Sometimes I'll mention lucid dreaming with my friends but then it always ends up in telling stories of these crazy dreams they once had.
They're cool stories, but I can tell they don't have a complete understanding what lucid dreaming actually is.
Week 09 Day 1:
Last night was a bit like the night before, just some fragments. A guy I know from highschool popped up again. Gotta look out for him as a dreamsign.
I was also attacked again, some guy tried to chop me in half with an axe! He said he was part of the Tile Gang, which is very funny because I know how the subject of tiles got in the dream but that's to much to explain.
In the end this old highschool friend turns up and saves me.
The strange thing though, the place where I was attacked looked like some kind of public square, it could very well fit the designs of my Island so that's interesting.
---
Today is my last day at work before the holidays. I will spent the first nights increasing recall again, since I kind of let it go.
Awareness, awareness, awareness or the knowing that I'm a lucid dreamer is the next step.
I also love how this forum and its members still give me new ways to look at lucid dreaming. I swear my view has changed almost every week since I started actively being on here when I started this workbook.
I know what you mean! Even after all the years I've been here, I still learn something new every day. And it's usually from being in DVA. There are so many different LD styles, and ideas, and teachers, and students. It's really cool and I wouldn't trade my experience teaching this class and learning from this class for ANYthing.Quote:
Originally Posted by Booney
So I'm glad you were able to discover new things about LDing here Booney :)
I run into this a lot. I've given up on it. At least there's dreamviews! :DQuote:
Thanks Paigeyemps!
It really is hard to explain isn't it. Especially if you want to describe the difference between non-lucids and lucids.
Sometimes I'll mention lucid dreaming with my friends but then it always ends up in telling stories of these crazy dreams they once had.
They're cool stories, but I can tell they don't have a complete understanding what lucid dreaming actually is.
It's been two weeks since my last post and I have nothing to report.
I've quit DJing but still managed to recal one or two dreams a night. My expectations or plans were to go and be very dedicated but I guess life got in the way. Also my sleep was way better than before so I'm gonna take this as a sign to stop doing wild. I'm going to try and get back into it. But only some mild/sold and no wilds and wbtbs.
And best wishes to all!
Sometimes a break is good. I would just continue daytime awareness and hope for random DILD. Best of luck!
Week 14:
I think I'm finally good to go again. This probably has something to do with my workshedules getting back to what they were. I've been reading some threads on DV again and it brought some motivation back.
Motivation was lacking these last few weeks. And even though I consider lucid dreaming as a main hobby I practice, it still hasn't found its place in my day to day life routine.
Last few nights brought some very vivid and. if dreams so I'm getting familiar with the dreamworld all over again. The excitement is back, so that's a good thing.
Booney! Im glad to see you're back. This site and the people have been my main source of motivation as well.
Welcome back Booney! :3
Thanks for the welcome back guys.
I've slowly been DJing again pumpin' up the recall. Loved last nights dreams, I strongly remember the scenery because they were so big and detailed. I don't remember the themes of the dreams much but the locations were beautifull.
One of them was about me being a lumberjack in Canada and my parents were visiting me.
I was a bit older, had a wife and a 6 year old daughter.
I've been sporadically trying to induce certain themes and locations in my dreams. But what about stopping certain things from appearing?
It's frustrating for I still don't have the lucid abillities to controle everything. Are there ways, non-lucid to keep certain thoughts out of your dreamworld?
I've tried to focus even more on my dream incubation in hopes of it taking up all of my "dreamspace" if you will. But last night it all went downhill again.
That's a tough one dude. I think most of us try focus on what we want to see and just deal the best we can with things we don't. Contoling "everything" is seems more high level. Maybe look into dream yoga? I just started reading The Tibetan Yogas Of Dream And Sleep byQuote:
Originally Posted by Booney
Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche. It's some pretty intense stuff but I plan to start practicing this once I have thoroughly studied up on it. One of the things that I found interesting is that is sounds like maybe he disagrees with the whole "No sailor controls the sea" train of thought.
Perhaps this is more of what you are describing. Or am I totally off here? Anyway if you haven't already I recommend reading it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche
Ah yes, that hit the nail right on the head.
Definitely something I'll look into. Thanks!
Funny thing is, yesterday I was typing this big rant about what might cause these thoughts and as I came close to submit the entry I read it over once more and all frustration was gone.
It always helps me to write these things down and try to look at them as an outsider.
---
As for last nights dreams, had a moment of clarity this afternoon about a dream I had. Turns out I had a few lucid thoughts in my dream.
It's fun how quickly I reach these points in attaining lucidity again, I just got back into it this week and I'm already in a place that took me weeks when I first started.
Cool im glad that helped.
Maybe lucid dreaming is a bit like riding a bike. Ive put it down and picked it up again many times and it was never as hard as the first time. :D
Week 15:
Still going strong and working on getting my old recall back.
To do this I've taken some new steps, like with my DJ. I write things down in advance to organize it better.
It kinda looks like this per page.
Date/bedtime
Dream #1 wake up time
Where was I;
Who was I with;
What was I doing;
How did I feel;
Fragments;
Dream #2 etc..
What has also helped me improve my recall is how I work with fragments. When I just have a few fragments I start playing the association game.
For example last night I had this image about my old English teacher walking his dog. Teacher = school. And then I remembered most of the dream was inside a school.
I'm beginning to get very good at playing my dreams backwards from the last thing I remember of them. Also what helps me is having a good memory of the day before.
It's fun to look back and see how the mind constructs dreams with the thoughts that occupy your mind.
I'm going to try and see if in time I can predict my non-lucids, find out which events or thoughts during the day will end up in my dreams.
Last night I had one of those dreams where little dreams just flow into each other.
I was doing something on a computer, it kind of looked like google earth but more detailed. I even mentioned it during the dream; look how detailed this is!.
It was Google Earth only with a stronger zoom. You could zoom in on plants leaves cells molecules and even atoms!
During this I ended up in the program sort of and was walking in somekind of mixture between ancient egypt and rome.
I think reading old DJ entries triggered the imagination and vividness of the dream. Also I think these vivid dreams are a sign that my next lucid might be coming up.
Since I started last week I've got everything up pretty fast.
[x] Regular bedtimes (impossible with my workschedules but I've still managed to keep some sort of rythem)
[x] Keeping DJ
[x] Recall, back up to +5
[x] Realism, detailed dreams in colour not blurry and with sound and touch.
I think the last thing I need to work on right now is RCs.
Since everything looks like it's getting back to what it used to be I might attempt a few days of ADA.
Figured out ADA is what brought me down in December because of how exhausting it is to be aware 24/7 it really took away the fun of it all. I decided I will use ADA only when chances of LDing are high.
And looking at my progress during the weekend and last night I decided to start today, so hopefully I will achieve some "lucid glimpse" tonight.
I like your DJ organization. I may borrow that. I usually just take short habd notes but Ive been really bad about recording the full dream. I guess putting just the important stuff down would be easier.
Im glad you're getting back to normal. One thing I've noticed about ADA is that it can make you mentally tired. There's nothing wrong with pulling back a bit. I end up doing something more like the sporadic awareness tech anyway. But my goal is lucidity all the time. Its a learning process that will take a long time to master. Pushing your self too hard is never good.
Week 15 summary;
Last week started out promissing with my new way of DJing and increased recall. Unfortunately the ambitious plan with the ADA ripped it apart.
I guess I was a bit overconfident with the feeling of LDs being in my grasp. Looking back I should of stick with what I was doing untill then.
Also I caught a cold last week and my workschedule wasn't my favorite in terms of LD attempts. So last week will be remembered for the few awesome dreams it brought.
Week 16 plan of action;
This week I will restore my recall which shouldn't take more than 1 or two nights. I also have a way better workschedule this week that suits my preferred sleepcycle.
I just hope I'll lose this cold soon.
EDIT:
I've also been designing this dreamlocation and trying to incubate it and I think I had some succes last night. I wasn't lucid but I remember being in a wooden construction that felt spiritual.
The night before I was looking at stave churches.
Hey Booney, just curious, do you have any drawings of these dreamlocations? Must be cool to actually have a blueprint of them or something ;)
With pleasure!
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...ps0ae3e673.png
These are the first rough sketches just to get an image out there.
It started with Gorillaz' Feel Good Inc video in mind which is what the floating island in the middle is based on.
For a place to live in I at first though of a treehouse which is shown at the bottom, which is based on a story I started last year but today I dismissed that idea. I did some research on architecture during my favorite era's in history so I might design a few buildings with mixed architectural influences.
Like the sketched church like building at the top of the image which is based on old scandinavian stavkirke or stave church.
The crater on the left is part of the mountain but I'm thinking about losing the whole floating island idea and instead make some sort of little village or fortress inside the crater alone.
As you can tell it's still in a very early stage and nothing is set in stone yet.
But I do feel like the wooden construction I was in last night could have been a stave church like building.
I'm getting close. There's a strong possibility that I've visited the church like building last night.
I was with friends and we were going to our holiday destination. It was in a forrest and we had to climb a very steep and high hill to get there. I remember seeing something that looked and awefull lot like a stivkirke when I lookd up through the trees!
This got me very exited, also like I expected my recall has jumped back up to the 5+ dreams a night. I think I remember about 4 solid dream scenes and a handfull of dreamfragments.
I don't know what's happening to my recall. Feb 6th, amazing recall - Feb 7th, nothing - And today I woke up twice during the night no recall what so ever.
Untill in the morning after 6/7 hours of sleep all these fragments and dreams pop up. I can't even keep track of all of them.
Are these really from that last couple of hours or could I be remembering dreams from earlier that night?
I'm relieved that the recall came back in the morning, but I'm used to having my most vivid dreams around 5 or 6 AM at normal bedtimes. Everything was cramped up in the end today.
Also had my first real conversation with a DC since a while. He was an old classmate but he said his name wasn't what I called him and he pointed me to someone else I know with the same name.
It was fun how difficult it was to keep the conversation going, the longer I kept asking questions the more he stopped making sense. A shame I didn't attain lucidity right there.
I wish I could help on the recall. There are so many things affecting us all the time that some times we just have bad recall and we don't know why. I think just keeping to what you have been doing will get you back on track.
I think I needed more time awake during cycles. I've been starting to use the WBTB again and recall skyrocketed.
Now I'm back to having to much content to write in the morning, it's great!
End of week 16:
This week I came to some new insights about dreaming and lucid dreaming. I have been experiencing a lot of things that I've only read about that have to do how the dreaming brain works. Last week was also a good week for tracking down the experiences that are causing my dreams.
I want to keep a seperate notebook were I explain the origin of my dreams. I think I can explain 80% of my dreams with previous experiences throughout the day no matter how weird they are.
It surprised me how a very small clip of video or a single sentence can be the base of a whole dreamstory but I found it to be so. This also has blown my believes in the interpretting dreaming busisness out of the window. For now I stick to dreams being imaginations brought by everyday life, at least for non lucids.
I guess this is also a sign of my memory improving and me being more aware during the day. How else could I notice these things?
My new DJ template has helped a lot so far too. It has been a great way to organize thoughts that are so random when you're groggy.
Lucid progress was also present last week. I am getting better at noticing lucid opportunities. I've noticed a distinct feel when my dreams start to slow down to a reallife pace. Must keep an eye out for that.
Alcohol, I have to cut down on my weekend drinking if I want this to work. I noticed last weekend gave me more dreaming content then ever. Also I think when you drink a lot during the weekend you spent the next 2 or three nights getting everything back to normal. Just enjoy a few.
For the record, it's not like I spent every weekend hungover from bingedrinking, I know my limits and I never go overboard. But for lucid dreaming it is still too much I think.
Week 17:
I'm going to keep up the WBTB in my routine, it helped me before and I have no idea why I stopped using it in the first place.
EDIT:
Just noticed I'm recalling a dream which I didn't record in my DJ. For the obvious reason of emotional stuff. I'm getting tired of it though, these dreams provoke feelings I don't have in real life.
But I don't want to bore you with the details, it's a very cliche problem and will pass. Just needed to get it out of my system here because I can't be bothered to write it down in my physical journal.
Week 17 Day 2:
I've been noticing a change on my non lucids. Or more a change in my behaviour. I notice more things in the dreams. Like yesterday I mentioned how the pace seems to slow down when I'm close to becoming lucid. I now also noticed (within the dream) how weird interactions with DCs are.
Last night I was looking for someone and I kind of expected her to be the first female I would encounter since that's kind of how dreams work, you think about something and it happens before you even seem to finish your thought.
But this time I stopped and checked before asking my question and I noticed as she turned around her face was still morphing to its final form, this took a few seconds and she wasn't who I was looking for.
The next one was the correct woman but like the first time it took some time before her face was " right" I did notice a change in hairstyle and she looked older.
I've also been looking through my workbook here and it's fun to relive the progress leading to my first lucids. But I also realize that those lucids were probably beginners luck or flukes. But they are important for knowing the feeling.
I can tell that the progress I'm making more is more stable and I'm gradually getting closer to achieving an actual induced lucid dreaming.
I think I will look into some DILD and DEILD tutorials this week just to refresh the knowledge.
I'm starting to act like a lucid dreamer in my dreams, it's just a matter of time before it's a reality.
That's great progress! Keep it going. You are about to get massively lucid. :goodjob:
You have no idea how right you are Xanous, it's frustrating how close I am to gain awareness in my dreams.
Concerning dreamsigns, my progress is best described in the words of Calvin Candie;
Dreamsigns, you had my curiosity. But now you have my attention.
It's actualy very exciting. Two nights straight I had the realization of something not being right, but so far I am constantly being distracted by DCs. I'm betting before the end of week 18 I'll have had another LD if not multiple.
Had a classic dream last night filled with dreamsigns but alas, none were seen.
It was a funny one though, in short.
I was at some sort of clay pigeon shooting range, and I was doing pretty well with my shotgun. All of the sudden crows are flying around the range and getting close and I purposely shot one, or tried to.
The crow landed on my shotgun and I wanted to take its picture with my phone when I noticed it was about to take a dump and I swiftly avoided being shat on.
Now this crow keeps flying after me trying to crap me all over and its about to succeed.
As an act of desperation I try to swing my gun at the crow, but as I swing my gun I notice it has changed to a tennis racket and the crow just took its biggest dump yet.
I hit the crap with my racket birdcrap everywhere.
I think every category of dreamsign was represented in that one dream,
-Inner awareness; the thought of wanting to kill that bird at the beginning of the dream and my eye sight was superb without glasses maybe even better than waking life and with glasses
-Action; the bird is unharmed after being hit close range.
-Form; the transforming shotgun
-Context; I've never shot a shotgun before nor have I ever been clay pigeon shooting.
I guess the dream was to short to sink in and get lucid, I was having way too much fun shooting and once the whole crow-crap-fiasco started it was all chaos.
Week 18:
My motivation has dropped a bit the last few days, but I don't want it to.
Maybe I should switch from the DILDs back to the WILD technique, maybe the first two LDs attained through WILDing weren't a fluke?
Anyway, I've been noticing these dramatic sounds at the end of my sleep. I remember having them, a lot when I was younger. Could they be signs of hypnagogia? I think they are, what else could it be?
They are very loud in my head and give me an uncomfortable feeling like something bad is about to happen. I want to try and be able to listen to them instead of them waking me up halfway through falling asleep.
So I guess I'll time my LD attempts during the last few hours of sleep might go to bed a bit earlier when possible.
I think sometimes switching techniques is a good think when you feel like the current one isnt' working for you. It keep things fresh.Quote:
My motivation has dropped a bit the last few days, but I don't want it to.
Maybe I should switch from the DILDs back to the WILD technique, maybe the first two LDs attained through WILDing weren't a fluke?
Maybe you are entering REM atonia? Do you feel paralyzed during the sounds or do you wake up and remember the sounds like it was a dream? The noise can be pretty crazy. I think paigeyemps said she hears sounds like someone being murder or something similar. :shock:Quote:
Anyway, I've been noticing these dramatic sounds at the end of my sleep. I remember having them, a lot when I was younger. Could they be signs of hypnagogia? I think they are, what else could it be?
They are very loud in my head and give me an uncomfortable feeling like something bad is about to happen. I want to try and be able to listen to them instead of them waking me up halfway through falling asleep.
So I guess I'll time my LD attempts during the last few hours of sleep might go to bed a bit earlier when possible.
To me the sounds are like an orchestra playing the eeriest sound you'll ever here. The way it builds up is what gets to you.
I don't have the feeling of being paralyzed but it does feel like I was about to enter the dream state when these sounds start and then the continue for e few seconds when I wake up.
Creepy. I guess Im lucky. I dont notice it anymore but all used to hear was a buzzing/ringing sound. I bet youre really close when this happens. If you could learn to ignore it and relax I bet you'd make it to the dream state.
that has been labeled as hypnopompic hallucinations...
Hypnopompic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Very similar to the hynagogic stage but it occurs when leaving sleep instead of when entering sleep. This is actually a good sign because you are aware when you are waking up. You can utilize that awareness to practice DEILD and hopefully get some lucids! :)
Agreed, they are most probably hypnopompic hallucinations. Don't worry, if you really think about it, it's kinda cool to be able to notice those things your mind is conjuring up :D
I personally get auditory hallucinations (right before or right after sleep) all the time. They're usually creepy and involve door-banging sounds, chains across the floor being dragged right next to me, children screaming in my ear, or some dude whispering my name. But over time, as I understood them more, I learned to turn them into pleasant things like I'd make the screaming turn into Morgan Freeman's voice or morph the banging and chain dragging sounds into some cool funky beat. Lol
You can definitely play with them and experiment, no need to think of it negatively :3
Thanks for the tips guys!
They don't scare me as much now, but during my childhood and teens it did sometimes freak me out. Now it's just annoying because it surprises me. I don't even have them that often anymore, which I guess is a shame because now I can't work with it.
End of Week 19:
Updates have been slow, life's been busy but this last week progress was there.
Two seperate times I gained awareness and asked myself the question if I were dreaming and during one dream I was convinced I was but the nose-plug backfired.
The second time which was last night I didn't feel the need to check I knew I was dreaming.
In that dream I was with a girl/woman I never met before just a random, yet beautifull, DC.
We sat down after something work related when I figured I never met this women and that we weren't at work at all, everything was off. It was at that moment that a sexual tension grew between us. I kept telling myself this is a dream dammit make a move it's ok!
But I didn't, even knowing I was dreaming at the time I kept behaving in a waking life manner.
This also happenend during my first DILD. I knew I was dreaming, I succesfully checked to make sure. And even levitated a little. But then I shut down and don't know what to do.
Maybe it's kind of a fear of the unknown?
It's weird because I have written pages full of things I want to do in my lucids but when I am I'm to scared or shy or I think to much about the consequences to do anything.
I guess it's because the lucids are so vivid and life like.
I should probably work on my confidence somehow but I have no idea how to do it. Especially because I don't feel unconfident in waking life.
Week 20:
I have been looking back at my progress up to where I am today. And even though my last lucid was 12 weeks ago, I can tell I'm better at lucid dreaming than I was in, lets say, week 14.
Even though the lucid dreaming isn't there yet I can see improvement when I look at the big picture over the course of these 20 weeks.
The last 2 or 3 weeks I've been taking a more relaxed attitude towards LDing. Not worrying about doing RCs or keeping up with my DJ. And it has been working. I can tell that I'm starting to apply all the lessons and tutorials I've read here since I joined sinking in. But really sinking in deep this time.
Recall dropped when I quit DJing but got back up on its own a few days later.
I'm now at the point where I'm regularly doubting my surroundings in my dreams.
I feel once I have my fourth and fifth LD things will be more consistent.
My focus right now is on concentration when I doubt in the dream and to stabilize.
I've also made the personal discovery that nose plug and finger RCs don't work for me right now.
I'm better of questioning myself and my surroundings.
That's great to hear, Booney. I think the best thing about this update is that there's an element of patience—which is often overshadowed when people start getting lucids. For some people, they go like "oh i had some lucids" and don't really focus on the essentials as much anymore. But personally I think the nonlucid phase is just as important and beneficial as the lucid phase. It's during those nonlucid phases that we get to adjust our technique, tinker around with our attempts and utlimately figure out what works for us and what doesn't work for us. And if you truly understand the importance of that, then I'm sure once you get lucid, you'll have the best lucids!
Good luck, and keep it up :)
Thanks Paige!
I agree that patience is the key to LDing for me now. And I think more beginners should take the time to look at their non lucids when they feel they aren't making any progress.
To me it's clear that things are still changing for the better.
Week 21:
Lots of time to sleep and prepare for LDing this week and the next. Still notice in a change of feel towards my dreams. The atmosphere has changed, like they are no longer just things I remember but things I am experiencing.
I'm thinking of going back to some MILD and WILD attempts.
Lookin like some great progress booney!
From what I know of reality checks, they are actions that get you to question yourself and your surroundings. So if you are the type of person that can do that without a physical action, that is good news! The goal is to get your mind into that questioning setting, then observing your surroundings within space, and time, to assess whether you are dreaming or not.
Awesome! :)
Ahh definitely! Seeing your progress these past few weeks, i can tell you're gonna be doing well.Quote:
I'm thinking of going back to some MILD and WILD attempts
Well, I haven't been around on here as much the last month which also means lucid dreaming has been put on the background during that time.
But my dreams have been leaving impressions on me the last few days, so maybe now is a good time to pick it up again.
I'll just start journaling again, I seem to pick that up pretty fast every time.
I've been recalling some of my most recent dreams from memory and was able to gather quite a few old and new dreamsigns to look out for.
It's comforting to know that after every period of time where I lose some interest, the moment I start again I seem to go back where left much faster.
So even though the constant moments with loss of interest/motivation/discipline slow the progress down it never disappears completely.
Kind of a two steps forward one step back kind of deal.
Welcome back. I always think it's like riding a bike.
Hey folks!
So, it's been three months since I've been active on this forum. No room for LDing during that time.
But the last few days I'm getting these moments of awareness/lucidity in my dreams but I don't have a chance to really enjoy them because DC are attacking me.
I seem to remember reading a lot about this in topics of other beginners, about DCs attacking the dreamer as soon as awareness kicks in. So I wonder if there is a reason our mind triggers this? And the logical follow up question, how to take controle.
I've been shoving daggers up in peoples necks for days now. :p
Booney! Welcome back, I have missed you :)
Well, I'm not entirely sure why it happens. Perhaps it's simply a mechanism for your dreaming mind to distract you once you start having awareness, because it's no longer the 'normal' way. I mean it might be just like when you become lucid and the dream starts destabilizing, and you have to ground yourself to stay in the dream—perhaps it's a form of dream destabilization when your DC's start attacking you (but more about destabilizing your mindset than the actual dream environment, if that makes sense), in order for you to return to your normal dreaming mind which is non-lucid.
As for how to control it, I would recommend practicing more awareness once again so your mindset would be much firmer about being lucid. I think it would help a lot so that when you start becoming aware, you become even MORE aware right away rather than kind of just having that 'i might be dreaming but im not sure' head-floaty feeling. And when you gain a high amount of awareness right away, you're able to think more clearly and act against the DC's or any other obstacles. You can practice more awareness by delving into your reality checks and reality check on yourself reality checking (haha). Know your mantras by heart, don't slack off on journaling too! The journaling is probably as much help as practicing awareness itself, in this situation. Personally i think it's because your dj is how you get to familiarize yourself with how your dream world works, and once you really read your journal and understand how things happen in your dreams, you are at a better mindset to be lucid and react accordingly.
Hope this helps! See you around :D
Hey, welcome back, Booney! Good to see you around these parts again.Quote:
Originally Posted by Booney
What an excellent question. My best guess on this is that like most things that happen in dreams, it's a product of some fear of expectation that you have. Perhaps in some earlier dream you had the sense that dreams were an alien environment and that you were somehow unwelcome.
This may have led to an attack, which of course feeds into ideas you've picked up from reading about other peoples' experiences. Combine that with any self-doubt about whether your conscious mind is welcome in your dreamworld, and I think that you have the recipe for a situation like this.
My advice would be to remain almost in denial of what's happening. Your dreams are your domain, and these attackers don't have an ounce of strength that they don't borrow from you. If you ignore them or channel their energy in some other direction, they'll have nothing. As they approach, try to imagine them just passing right by you. Imagine that they know what you know -- that this is your world, and only your rules apply.
Hey man, would you mind if we pulled this question in for an episode of the Q&A podcast? I'd dig hearing all the hosts' thoughts on something like this.
Anyway, hope to see you around! :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by paigeyemps
Hi guys, it's nice to be back. The community here always welcomes you with a feeling like I've never been gone.Quote:
Originally Posted by CanisLucidus
I think this is the main issue I had in the last few dreams. The loss of familiarity I had with my dreams, so restarting my journal is the best step to start with. Tricky how such basic tools for lucid dreaming are forgotten, thanks for reminding me! :)Quote:
Originally Posted by paigeyemps
* I agree, the sudden realization made me grasp into my most recent memories about the subject which were other experiences of fellow beginner.Quote:
Originally Posted by CanisLucidus
And about sense of being in an alien/unwelcome enivironment. This made me think about another thing.
These dreams in which I get attacked all have the same point of view, which is through the eyes of someone else, or sometimes it feels like I'm a bystander in the whole of the dream. So a big part of the focus from the DCs to the dreamer could be explained with the dreamers sudden self awareness.
I guess it's like when you feel uncomfertable on the beach when you're changing clothes, the self awareness and the feeling that everyone is looking at you. In a dream that feeling will become your reality.
** Another way to deal with it could be to ignore them all together. Accept their presence and don't think nothing of it. Just like beach example.
*** Go right ahead, I'd love to hear what others have to say about this. Be sure to let me know when it's up :)
Exactly! The beach scene is a great example. Okay, yeah, some people are going to be looking at you, granted. But unless you insist on looking at these people, all of the horror and embarrassment you feel comes from within. And in a dream, there is no other audience! Just you.Quote:
Originally Posted by Booney
In dreams, brushing off problems and just ignoring them is great advice. Without your energy, they simply can't gather strength and overtake you. It takes practice to actually follow this advice, but it really does work.
Let us know how it all goes for you!
Sounds great, will do! :goodjob2:Quote:
Originally Posted by Booney
I want to make a little update about my plans.
As I'm writing this I'm nearing the end of a graveyard shift at work and have been reading some old posts on page 4 of this thread.
It's fun to read about the problems I had during those weeks and how they were solved. It's obvious now that I will have to expect facing them again now.
Yesterday I started a fresh DJ for the second season of LDing '13.
Timing couldn't be worse though. I'm going on vacation by the end of this week which means I'll have no regular sleep patern and when I get back I'm going right back into the midnight working hours.
But instead of worrying I see these nights as an opportunity to really read into some dreams related material. Really focus on recall familiarize once again with the dreamworld environment.
So, my plan of action for Lucid Season 2 2013.
First three weeks will be spent on recall only. (DILDing in the background)
When recall is back to where I want it to be I'll have to figure out what LD technique fits best in my current situation.
I've reached small amounts of lucidity with all the basic techniques so I can't point out a favorite yet.
As I'm sure I've mentioned before, being back here really is a big motivator. I'm not a very active member but read a lot.
It makes a big difference when you have all this knowledge and experience available that the members offer. And it's fun to read the experience of others.
I guess it makes it more accesable. It changes LDing from some vague spiritual hobby to something you can talk in depth about with fellow dreamers.
I couldn't agree more. Discussing and reading the experiences of other dedicated dreamers is a huge motivator for me. I shudder to think where my practices would be if I'd continued trying to go it alone. I've learned a ton here.Quote:
Originally Posted by Booney
Hey, your work situation sounds like a bit of a sleep challenge. So you are working midnight-early morning shift, something along those lines? If you're sleeping during the day, are you able to block out light and other stimulation to get some good rest? Even though I have pretty normal working hours, I'm a little sensitive to the morning sun so I've taken to wearing a sleep mask lately. That's been a help. It may be something to consider if you have any concerns/problems with your sleep quality.
Yeah my work situation is the main reason my progress isn't where I think it could be. The biggest challenge is lack of routine.Quote:
Originally Posted by CanisLucidus
For example, yesterday I indeed had a midnight-early morning shift. But today and tomorrow I have an afternoon-midnight shift. I've had weeks where I had to deal with three different shifts and 1 day off. I work on a laboratory for a pharmaceutical company. We are one of the last stages for testing new medication which involves testing it on volunteers, and these studies just go on 24/7.
But as sleeping is concerned, I can darken my room enough to not be bothered by light. And the noise is something I'm trying to learn to live with but obviously it is a big annoyance.*
I have thought about earplugs but never got around to actually buying a pair and trying it out.
Right now I just try to block all these signals and impulses and focus on my inner self. I guess you could call it a form of meditation. It has worked sporadically.
* The noise is caused by a building site right in front of our house. The builders should be on their summervacation but due to deadlines they have to continue building through the summer.
I just had my last graveyard shift! It's all regular shifts from now on for two weeks. Dream recall is up, and I've stopped killing people in my dreams.
This is partially because of a change in my emotional state when I go to bed (thanks to the podcast).
But looking back it also went together with me finishing a book trilogy I was reading during that time which was set during the roman empire, so I was reading a lot about blood and gore and I have a very vivid imagination.
One thing I noticed about my dreams lately though, is that they are very, how do I say this, busy? Or chaotic or stressfull. I can't quite express the feeling I get from them but I can say that they are the complete opposite of my waking life.
This is making it hard for me to really focus in dreams, I keep getting distracted because there is so much going on.
--Funny how I just finished a wall of text about how I don't understand the stressy dreams because of my relaxed waking life, but I allready found the problem while writing this. I suspect it's got something to do with a small drama in my social circle.
And here I thought it didn't affect me because it doens't concern me....
Wonderful news, Booney! :happy: I'm really happy to hear that your dream world is at peace again. Very very good.Quote:
Originally Posted by Booney
Also good to hear that the graveyard shift is ending!
Well there you go! I just wish I could take any credit for helping you figure that out. :chuckle: Hopefully the drama will work itself out. And if not, at the very least it sounds like you know what to do -- try not to get wrapped up in it, stay happy and contented with your own life, and definitely don't think about it before bed. I'm glad that you have an answer!Quote:
Originally Posted by Booney
So close!
Last night I was trying to take a picture with my phone in the dream, but people kept standing in front of what I was trying to photograph. (It was a little tree with a coat hanging on it with a little coffee table in front of it full of random stuff)
But as people kept blocking my view I got more frustrated when the atmosphere suddenly changed. People were fleeing from something I don't know, I think even in the dream I was confused about the sudden panic.
So I turned to this girl I knew that didn't run off in fear.. yet. I tried to get her to focus on me and not the chaos around us because I wanted to sent her a message through WhatsApp to confirm to myself in the morning if this whole situation was real or not.
She send a text back and now I'm confused. Because I watched her type the message and send it, but what I received from her on my phone did not match what she typed.
It was that moment that my alarm went off. I think I even heard it coming through in the dream and thinking no, no, no!
That last part could be my imagination adding something after the fact but I was very glad about 2 things I did in this dream.
1) I tried to calm the situation down, we are our dream so you could say I was calming myself down through the girl.
2) I did some elaborate RC with my phone that comes down to just reading something twice.
I feel like I could have turned things around in that dream if it wasn't for my alarm clock.
I'm starting to get the same feeling like when I was about to have my first LD in terms of progress.
Last night I had another convo with a DC that was very similair to a conversation I've had before. Basically we discussed seeing eachother again, in the dreamworld.
Right there and then I was talking to a DC about us being in a dream, and I didn't realize it fully.
All I can do is laugh about it now, but upon awakening it was frustrating.
Next week they will be working on the road in my street, we'll have two kids over that will spent the night and I'm working graveyardshifts again. Let's see how it goes.
Definately buying earplugs now.
Aww good luck man, I understand how stressful roadside constructions can be. Pretty much have it here everyday for a few more years. The area across my house is being turned into some kind of condominium and there's nonstop drilling and whatnot :/ earplugs wont even work for me because my house vibrates all the time haha. Good luck!Quote:
Originally Posted by Booney
Hi.
My LD period has begun once more. I figured I'd just use my old thread here in the intro class to start from scratch.
Looking forward to picking it up again.
Woo! Welcome back Booney!
Thanks, it's great to be back Ophelia! :-)
Well it's been about a week since I picked up LDing again and I've been keeping a DJ.
I can remember a substantial amount of dreams now, then again, recall was never the problem. Reality checks and awareness are my pittfalls when it comes to lucid dreaming.
When remembering my dreams I realize so many obvious dreamsigns are present it's almost frustrating to know I missed them.
As to the awareness, I signed in to Sivason's classes on Dream Yoga.
It seems obvious now for me to follow them along with the basic steps towards lucid dreaming.
Recall is still increasing which is good. It went from a dream and tons of fragments to more dreams.
And I think I had a somewhat DEILD last night? I'm not sure though.
I was at a club in some sort of lounge room with a view of the dancefloor when my sister walks in with some girls I don't know. One of them later takes the form of a familiar face don't know her name though.
Anyway we were having fun and this girls starts whispering something in my ear that wakes me up.
I remember being bummed out for waking up and trying to get back to where I left and I think I returned to the same location but I wasn't in the lounge room anymore. I got some water and returned and the girl was there but we just exchanged looks and that was it.
Further down the dream I remember trying to contact her but then it starts getting fuzzy.
So in the club I was dreaming, I seem to remember thinking some things were off but I didn't think much of it. And now that I'm writing this here I'm almost certain I succesfully re-entered the dream be it not really lucid though.
My biggest accomplishments this week are definitely the quick increase of recall. I hope I can keep it up.
It's funny how one can miss obvious signs.
How to fly a burned out car. - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views
He's freaking teaching another one to use powers in LDs and it still doesn't register.:lol:
My dreams were full of people last night, like big crowds counting up to the hundreds.
Also Jesse Pinkman (Breaking Bad) tried to jab me with an icepick. I think it's because of me watching the Walking Dead again.
Strange thing about that. First I was resisting him, but than I saw his face, like for real. I noticed his teeth looked weird because he had very bad teeth and started to look less like the "real" Jesse.
And my memory isn't great here but I remember at one point accepting the situation and just let him puncture my brain. Maybe I started to realize I was dreaming and simply let it happen because it wasn't real.
I hope this isn't going to become a trend in my dreams though. A few nights earlier someone kept trying to break my arms and last night I set myself on fire. No fun.