C.J.'s Workbook

Hey there, I'm C.J., an aspiring lucid dreamer.
I'm not completely new to all this but it's been a long time since I've practiced and I don't have nearly as much experience as I'd like.
So I'm just trying to start from the top in a sense.
If there's anything I should know about having a work book or if there are certain things that I should write down just let me know. ^_^

Reality Checks:
-Breathing trough noes
-Pushing finger through palm
-Noticing things that are out of place

Dream Signs:
-My dad's apartment
-Zombie apocalypse
-Losing something
-Uncomfortable Situation

Short-Term Goals:
-Train my telekinesis
-Do a successful WILD
-Summon things
-Improve recall
-Get a DC to admit that this is a dream

Long-Term Goals:
-Discover a dream guide
-Create a persistent realm
-Have regular lucid dreams

Lucid/Dream Recall History:
-38 successfully recorded dreams.
-11 recorded lucid dreams, a few unrecorded ones

Current Technique:
-DILD
-DEILD
-trying to WILD still

Welcome to the class C.J.

Workbook looks great to me, I see you've already had some success with lucidity. How did you accomplish them, just curious?

And yeaaaah, zombie Apocalypse! You know, I have those dreams sometimes, but I don't get lucid from them, so annoying. I think it's because in the dream, I'm not that involved, more like I'm watching it on TV. Since in real life, I'm usually watching zombie apocalypses on TV lol. Gotta break that curse!

Surprisingly most of my lucid dreams have been DEILDs, but they only happen when I have nightmares (save a few exceptions). What will happen is I'll instinctively wake myself up, realize that I was dreaming, and re-enter to get some payback on whatever the nightmare was. That's my most common anyway, and I almost never do it on purpose, so to speak. As for zombie apocalypses, I've lived through so many I've become accustomed to them. I once became lucid just because I was in a zombie apocalypse, thinking to myself, "Wow, another zombie apocalypse? Can't my brain think of anything original anymore?" After having literally around 40 dreams about them, even my dream self isn't dumb enough to be fooled. However apparently he's foolish enough to think guys can get pregnant. >.>

1st week review (late I know)
February 3rd - February 10th

So I became lucid once and semi-lucid twice. That's a pretty good first week back in the game if you ask me. :D
I had two nightmares, one that I wasn't able to beat, and one I was able to beat with semi-lucid passive control.
Had a few weird dreams, a few good ones, and some scares. Overall pretty good though.

Dream Control 6/10: I was able to successfully use dream control both times during semi lucidity, but had absolutely none while being fully lucid.
I'm practicing a method that I think will improve my dream telekinesis, where I pretty much imagine using it throughout the day,
(levitating objects, throwing around cars, etc...) so my brain is more familiarized with the idea, while also familiarizing myself,
making my access to telekinesis in dreams a lot easier.

Dream Recall 8/10: As usual dream recall is pretty stellar. I had an off day but kind of made up for it by remembering many dreams from single nights.
Trying to practice methods of improving it like the typical 'retrace your steps' and 'go throughout the day and see if anything reminds you
of your dream' techniques. Or the RYS and GTTDSIARYYD techniques. :P

Lucidity 6/10: I'm constantly kicking myself for waking up and realizing painfully obvious dream signs (which I hear is quite common). I'm stepping up my
awareness and RCs, but it's a bit easier said than done. Even right now as I type this I'm not completely self aware, there's just the computer and this text.
It's difficult, and I need to break out of some habits, but I'll get it down. I've set an app to give me an RC reminder every half hour, it'll help me with just general
awareness of the existence the dreaming world (so easy to forget we go to a land of near infinite possibility when we go to sleep), and eventually will
even bleed into my dreams as day residue, which will cause a DILD when the alarm goes off in my dream.


Homework

My DJ is in full swing (even though I don't post all my dreams on DV).
I haven't really been recording my sleep pasterns since, because of sleep issues, my routine hasn't really been on.
I've been doing RCs when I experience dream like things throughout the day, but that happens so often that I haven't really written them all down.
I have a plan for my next lucid dream and have reminded myself why I really want to do this whole thing, and just what possibilities I want to be able to explore.
As for nighttime routines, I'm working on it. :P As I said, my sleep schedule has been less than normal lately. I'll put it back on track though!



If there's anything you think I should add to this weekly review thing let me know :D

Hey CJ, welcome to the class. Your workbook looks good :)

One tip I can give regarding dream signs is to try to memorize or recall them before you go to bed. That personally helps me remember and notice them once I'm dreaming. I hope it helps you too

Good luck

2nd week review
February 11th - February 17th

So I got sick on friday, so I've been weighing lying down and resting over typing up this review for a bit, however I'm good to go now!
I didn't have any lucids, but I did have moments where I rejected my reality as true.
There's a bit of a difference, I guess it's pretty much semi lucidity.
I hadn't any nightmares, and most of my dreams were pretty nice.
There was the whole getting pregnant thing, but other than that pretty
straight forward.
Except of course the fact that a DC beat me up, something I had already thought wasn't possible, but I guess that makes things interesting no?
Something REALLY interesting happened recently, but I'll get into that later.

Dream Control 3/10: The only thing you could possibly call dream control was me killing an evil DC. He tried to kill my dog so I stabbed him, harsh
I know, but dream me is crazy like that. There was also me using my will to manipulate people's minds, but that kind of happens by itself. Other than that,
there wasn't any dream control that I used. I need to keep up on that...

Dream Recall 7/10: Dream recall is still good, but I had 2 off days this week. The first I could only remember a phrase, the other I remembered one
scene, and I can remember there was more to the dream than just that, but that was it. However, one day I had almost forgotten my dream. I was pretty
frustrated since I could remember that it was long, and I had neglected to write it down when I had the chance. Then when I looked in the mirror and saw
my mustache, everything kind of rushed back to me. This happens almost all the time when I forget a dream, I see something that reminds me of a certain
scene, then I retrace my steps to go back from that scene, and then do the same thing but forwards, which leads me to remember most of the dream. Those
who don't try that already should! :)

Lucidity 3/10: I didn't get lucid this week, but I think I made a good connection in my head that was very much needed. I was able to recognize the
fallacy in my given situation. It almost lead to a DILD the first time but my revelation destabilized the dream. The other time, well, let's just say in the end I
didn't want to reject my reality. >.> Things were a bit tough but at least I'm making some breakthroughs.

Homework

Everything is pretty much the same as last week. I was getting back into a pattern when I got sick, so woe is me.
However, I'm going to attempt to impose a sleep pattern, no matter how difficult that is.



Also I changed the scales for lucidity and dream control since I thought they were a bit harsh previously.




Side notes: I feel as though the more dreams I record the longer the weeks seem to feel. It feels as though these 2 weeks have dragged on forever.
Also, if just a regular DC can beat me up, what about the irregular ones? That's just something I'm gonna have to find out on a later date.

Good job Au. Don't worry about the dragging feeling. It's quite normal to feel as though everything is longer and slower when you start to pay attention to things you never did before. And since you are trying to recall as many dreams as you can, it can take a toll on your mind trying to salvage those memories. It'll be easier in time, keep it up!

3rd week review
February 18th - February 24th

So this week I had a very peculiar dream that was pretty interesting.
The short version is that I found out that my subconscious is suppressing my nightmares.
This is the long version.
That was pretty much the most eventful thing that happened this week.
On another note, this week went by a lot quicker than the previous one.
I watched all of the series archer this week (fantastic show) so my dreams had some characters from it in them.

Dream Control 1/10: I didn't have any dream control this week. Pretty self explanatory... >.>

Dream Recall 9/10: Funny that the week I only make one DJ post is the week I have the best recall. I remembered every night,
however I only remembered a lot from a few dreams, the other nights were only short bits. Still though, recall is as good as ever.

Lucidity 4/10: I did get lucid this week, on the first day no less, however I didn't totally use my lucidity to my advantage. Problem was,
the dream was a bit chaotic, some teacher's were chasing me because I was escaping from detention, and even though I knew I was dreaming,
I only used that knowledge to comfort myself knowing that I wasn't actually in trouble and that I was actually being chased. That said, I still made a run for it,
and a couple minutes later the dream destabilized.

Homework

So I have finally started marking down my sleep times, I have also established a regular sleep pattern. The only problem is, this is how it looks like...

Quote:

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Wed 5:30 am - 2:00 pm
Thurs 5:30 am - 3:00 pm
Fri 7:00 am - 4:00 pm
Sat 7:30 am - 4:00 pm

---

So yeah... That's a bit of a problem. I'll try to get that back on track though.

Oh wow, do you work night shifts, or just have a hard time sleeping at night?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by paigeyemps

One tip I can give regarding dream signs is to try to memorize or recall them before you go to bed. That personally helps me remember and notice them once I'm dreaming. I hope it helps you too

---

Reaaaaaally good advice there. I had another NON lucid tornado dream just last night :bang:

Welcome HippieAu!

Very nice workbook, and well organized too. :)
That is interesting about your subconscious suppressing your nightmares. It is a natural thing for people to do, suppressing fears and the like. Exploring those dream themes is a great idea. The sooner you uncover them, the sooner they will no longer be nightmares, only especially dark dreams.

4th/5th week review
February 25th - March 12th

Well March break has finally come (or as you americans say, 'spring break', 'cept it's still freezing up here), and I can finally breath a sigh of relief.
School had been choking me out for work assignments for the previous 2 weeks which really screwed with my dream recording, I haven't recorded a dream in a while.
However, I do still remember them, and the last few weeks have been out of the ordinary.
Now, it seems as though I'm having a nightmare every other day, which is strange since during the third week, I discovered that my subconscious had been suppressing them.
Now it seems that the flood gates have opened, as k/nightmares have been coming after me the past two weeks, even last night.
Lucidity has been helping me out in that regard, since if a nightmare lasts long enough, I'll eventually realize that I'm in a dream and that I'm not in any danger, though that's only happened maybe 2 times of the 6 or so nightmares I've had.
This all started after I took this.
The first night afterward I had a very vivid dream that I recorded, it was probably one of the most vivid dreams I've ever had.
Though it wasn't lucid, it wasn't a nightmare either, it was just a peaceful typical dream adventure, though the night afterward was different.
I wasn't as vivid as the last one though still more vivid than most, and you guessed it, it was a nightmare.
It kind of struck me as odd, since I hadn't had a nightmare in weeks, and before that, months.
My subconscious told me that it had quarantined all of my knightmares into something called the quarantine zone, so did it break? Is my subconscious no longer suppressing them? Why?
These were all the questions that were going through my head, afterward things from supernatural beings to friends I knew years ago have been trying to kill me in my dreams.
Now that I can relax I'll probably start recording my dreams again, it may help who knows?

Dream Control 5/10: Still one of my weak points, however recently the non-lucid me has been able to use it to suppress
knightmares and change dream events to go in my favor, though those events are still few and far between.

Dream Recall 6/10: Since I'd been rushing to complete assignments before march break I'd forgotten about trying to remember my dreams
during the day, however that didn't stop me from doing it subconsciously anyway. I've been able to remember quite a few dreams but my recall
isn't really up to par to how good it should be. I'll definitely be trying to improve that and get out of my slump.

Lucidity 4/10: Lucidity has actually been pretty good over the past few weeks. It's getting easier to spot the ludicrous characteristics
of certain dreams, though lucidity these days has been more of a reconciliation than it has been an invitation to have fun.


Homework

I've had homework of my own to do recently so I've been slacking pretty hard in this department.
I had a stable sleep schedule before the march break, but during, well, I don't usually get the chance to sleep in till 2:00 p.m., kind of taking advantage of that.




P.S. There are probably some mistakes above but I've been writing so many paragraphs recently I just can't be bothered to proof read.

Quick update, had another nightmare last night, this one was actually pretty scary and disturbing. It's really starting to discourage me from recording dreams.

One last quick update. I got pretty hammered last night (bad for trying ti lucid dream I know), but it seems that when I fell to sleep, I didn't have any nightmares! Quite the inefficient quick-fix for the problem I know, but it may have just been enough to jolt my brain out of this nightmare slump. I'll make a full update in two days.

Sorry to hear about the nightmares, although it sounds like you are making some good progress in your dreaming regardless.
Lemme give you a couple tips about nightmares that might help you. In my dream life, nightmares are pretty common. When I was a kid, I learned to lucid dream through nightmares I would have. Anyway, here are just a couple basic things you can do to create a better dream environment:

1. Before going to sleep, remember the most positive feeling you have every felt; the happiest memory. Let that feeling flow through you and fill you up.

2. Tell yourself before sleep that you will accept whatever happens in your dreams. No matter what, commit to experiencing whatever the dream has waiting. This is very important, because the content of the nightmare is already present in the subconscious, its just a matter of allowing it to express itself and hopefully in time, a resolution of the nightmare's source.

3. This one is easy. Do your best to avoid sugar a couple hours before sleep. This will cause a sugar high, then a crash while you are sleeping. The crash often causes nightmares due to the effect on the brain.

Becoming lucid is also a great way to overcome nightmares. Once you are lucid, accept whatever the experience might be, then change it. The acceptance releases the fear, then you are free to change whatever problem has arisen. Fear is most easily dissipated through laughter, so if you can think of something funny in the dream, that helps tremendously.
Just remember, nightmares can be remedied without the use of lucidity. While becoming lucid is extremely effective, one must first become lucid which does not always happen, then one must utilize their lucidity properly to resolve the nightmare. It is possible to become lucid, and still be out of control while the nightmare continues. Those can be particular negative experiences.

anyway, good progress, and Im looking forward to seeing more! :)