Thread: Bemistaken's Workbook

Originally Posted by bemistaken

Thanks CL,

I hate it when I am not in my 'sleep zone.' It stresses me out and hinders my attempts at lucidity. I'm lucky if I can get lucid every couple of weeks with the way I'm sleeping and it can be so frustrating ! I forget to RC at work, I can't meditate by the time I get home, and I'm breaking my own insomnia record with how late I'm going to bed! We all have been there, so I just have to get my sleep schedule in order and I know lucidity will follow.

I'm the same way about my sleep. When I get out of my groove, I tend to kinda beat myself up about it... which makes me feel bad and messes up my lucidity. It's silly, but hey, that's me.

But of course, the past is the past. I can make the right moves tonight, and that is all that matters.

When you mentioned that you forget to RC during the day it totally made me RC. It had been a while for me. No matter how much of this we do, it really takes getting used to the idea that any moment of your life could be a dream. It keeps you on your toes!

By the way... are you dreaming?

By the way... are you dreaming?

Ha! Unfortunately, no, I'm still in RL!

Originally Posted by bemistaken

Ha! Unfortunately, no, I'm still in RL!

Heh heh... yeah, me too it seems. But that's okay... some time soon (like tonight!) you're gonna ask yourself that question and it's gonna be go time!!

For me, so much of the DILD techniques are just about how often you can get yourself to consider the possibility that you might be dreaming. Then a little WBTB to reignite your wakeful and waking life habits, and you get good odds for an LD!

Attention DV!

I have lost something very dear to me and I need your help in finding it! If anyone has seen my AWARENESS, could you please inbox me and tell me where I can pick it up!

I once owned a bumper sticker "Of all the things I lost, I miss my mind the most." I put it on my suitcase, and it got stolen at an airport. No, not my mind. Nor my suitcase. The bumper sticker got stolen.

I once owned a bumper sticker "Of all the things I lost, I miss my mind the most." I put it on my suitcase, and it got stolen at an airport. No, not my mind. Nor my suitcase. The bumper sticker got stolen.

Ha Ha! JoannaB, that is hysterical!

August 29, 2013
Method: MILD & WBTB (DILD)
Total sleep time 8 1/2

Thank you GOD! Success!

Ok, you may think that I am over reacting, but I have been in a (dare I say it out loud?)...dry spell. I was dreaming that I was walking around someone's house and I did a RC to see if I can go through a wall and I did! I calmed down and stabilized the dream by focusing on my surroundings. I came out of the wall still in the same room as on the other side. I wanted to remember my task regarding how the wall felt so, I went back through the wall, but this time slowly. My task is to described how it felt and the only thing I can think of as a comparison is attempting to go through a wet sponge...not really wet, but there was some type of thick resistance. My next goal was to fly so I imagined I was Superman (arm pointed upward and all ) and told myself to fly. I did fly, but I didn't go far and I slowly floated back down like a feather and I started to wake up from I guess all of my dream movement. I did go back into my body, but I DEILD myself back out. Once out my mind started to go everywhere (as far as what can I accomplish now?) and I tried to stay on task. I looked around my surrounding for stabilization and grounded my dream on paying attention to this old fashioned gold scuba helmut sitting on the floor...weird? For some reason this reminded me of the TOTM to ask a DC the meaning of life. Just my luck there was no DC to be found! I looked and looked and I even tried to make the scuba helmut magically turn into a DC to ask the question...but nothing. Frustrated, I made an attempt to fly out of there but I woke up again. "Okay you," I think to myself. "Third times the charm!" I DEILDed my way out and was just floating right above my physical body and couldn't do a damn thing anymore so I gave up and woke myself up!

Note: I'm thankful for this experience. Every fail is a potential an opportunity to learn!

Congratulations! Glad to hear that things are looking up for you.

Date: September 4, 2013
Technique: MILD & WBTB (WILD Successful! DEILD x 2)
Sleep time: 8 1/2 hours

I was able to go right into a WILD from my WBTB this morning. This has never been this easy before and I really don’t know what I did for this to happen because it happened so fast. It may have been from what I read from GAB the previous night on DV (how she waits for a dream to form right in front of her and then she takes a leap into it).

Let’s get to the good stuff!

I saw myself in a dreamlet in a classroom and I was talking to an old friend and I mentally told myself it was time to go (jump into the dream). I felt myself entering the dream so I held steady as the vibrations gave me my warning that it was time. I did a quick RC of levitation (it worked) and I was on my way! I had told myself that I was going to start with the easiest task (for me, it was singing the ABC song for the TOTM), but I wanted to do it while climbing up the wall. I started off trying to keep the dream vivid by rubbing my hands across the wall for stabilization (almost like in a crawling motion). Then, I started singing the song and going up the wall, but I kept sliding down the wall! I finished the ABC song, but still could not get my feet to stick to that damn wall! So I tried again, this time while singing the ABC song I found myself on the other end of my room and instead of going up the wall, I was going up my bathroom door (but still not able to quite stick it.) Instead, I ended up going through the bathroom door ! I gave up and felt myself losing control and I ended up back inside my body. I was able to DEILD out because I was not going to let lucidity get away from me…I had so many other tasks to complete, but that damn wall was still calling me! I decided to forget about singing (already done that…twice) and concentrate on sticking to the wall. I deciding to take off running (I wanted to run up the wall and across the ceiling), but when I did, (can’t quite remember here) I believe I found myself hanging to the top of my bathroom door . So, I had to take the wall and ceiling task as a lost…for now!

I was able to still maintain the vibrations once I ended up back in my body, so I DEILD myself back out of my body and decided to be adventurous. I decided to go outside, so I flew through a window and landed in the front yard. I saw children playing and somehow got wrapped up in what they were doing and lost control of the dream and briefly woke back up. My mentality can only maintain so much, so I gave up for the remaining of the morning and grabbed my DJ and wrote everything down!

All in all, I couldn’t be more proud of myself...I was able to WILD after a WBTB in the morning and complete the TOTM! Yeah! Like I stated earlier, I have done it before, but never was it this smooth.

Thanks GAB!

Fragment:

My son had aged into an old blue eyed fair skinned man with a huge hole in the top of his head.

Hello Lucy!

I haven't been communicating with you lately, but that doesn't mean that I don't miss you! I have put in a great effort to increase my recall, increase my lucids, stabilize my dreams, and stay aware at all times (okay, okay, sometimes!). I decided that I will journal my dreams right here within my workbook, and just copy it to my DJ. I have only been writing my successes (mostly) in the workbook, but that is going to change. Now, I will write everything in the workbook and just copy the dream to the DJ. I probably should have been doing this from the start, but I didn't know. So please understand, I will now be spending more QUALITY time with you because you mean so much to me. Don't give up on my Lucy (yes, I named my workbook Lucy, short for Lucidity ), because I won't give up on you.

Hi Lucy!

Well, just like I promised, I am here for our scheduled quality time! I had only a fragment to report to you today. I got married to Chris Brown (the singer), but I felt that somehow in the dream the wedding was wrong...but I didn't get lucid from that feeling. I just thought that it was normal to be a nervous bride who was marrying Chris Brown . I can't quite remember the other fragments...maybe later on today they will come to me and I will journal them then.

Edit: I also remember another fragment I had regarding eating the best sweet potatoes I ever ate in my life! These were like magical sweet potatoes, that already had butter, brown sugar, and marshmellows in them, all you had to do was cook them and eat them without adding anything! Ah, why couldn't sweet potatoes be like this in RL?

Hello Lucy!

Not much to report...a whole lot of fragments. I don't know if it is because I'm so horny right now, but I have been having so many dreams about . For some reason, my ex boyfriend (not my husband) is the one that I am . When I dream like this, I don't get lucid...this really needs to be my new dream sign. Hopefully, I can get passed this and move onto thinking more in the spiritual terms. Wish me luck!

Date: September 18, 2013
Method: MILD & WBTB
Total Sleep time: 8-9 hours
Fraggle = Fragment

Fraggle:

Something about my sister wanting to spoil my niece and I was trying to stop it.

Fraggle:

Something about me running a race (long distance?) and the people in the little town I was running in didn't want me there and tried to chase me out of their town.

Sigh...I've got to do better with my awareness...

Hey bemistaken! Sorry that I haven't been around nearly as much lately but I had a vacation, followed by back-to-school craziness, then lots of nights and weekends spent working... ayiee!!

So glad to see all of the success you've been having the last couple of weeks. Those wings suit you well!

And I love that your workbook is named Lucy.

Originally Posted by bemistaken

Edit: I also remember another fragment I had regarding eating the best sweet potatoes I ever ate in my life! These were like magical sweet potatoes, that already had butter, brown sugar, and marshmellows in them, all you had to do was cook them and eat them without adding anything! Ah, why couldn't sweet potatoes be like this in RL?

Ahh, dream food is amazing. Those sweet potatoes sound great! Food's a great thing to try in LDs. I once even picked up a rock in a lucid and chewed on it, and it was like the most delicious raisin bars that my mom made when I was growing up as a kid. Tried eating dirt once, too, and that wasn't nearly as nice.

Keep up the great work, bemistaken!

Thanks CL,

Everyone needs a vacation sometime, so no apologize are needed...I did miss you though!

Originally Posted by bemistaken

Thanks CL,

Everyone needs a vacation sometime, so no apologize are needed...I did miss you though!

Aww, thanks... it's great to be back! It's especially nice coming back to see you guys having so much success.

Wat up Lucy?

You will never believe this dream I had...

Dreamed I was at some sort of party and we all were talking about the difficulties of becoming lucid. Then we heard an alarm go off and someone said, "Excuse me, but you know what that means...I have to do my reality check." Then one of the DC looked at me and said, "Aren't you going to do yours." I replied, "I already done it and I know that I am not dreaming!"

WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by bemistaken

Dreamed I was at some sort of party and we all were talking about the difficulties of becoming lucid. Then we heard an alarm go off and someone said, "Excuse me, but you know what that means...I have to do my reality check." Then one of the DC looked at me and said, "Aren't you going to do yours." I replied, "I already done it and I know that I am not dreaming!"

WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!

LOL. I'm so sorry! What can I say? We've all been there at one time or another.

But I'll tell you something else... every time that this has happened to me it was because I really had lucid dreaming on the brain and was ready for another. You're building up momentum for another one, and these kinds of near-lucids make DILDs especially way more likely.

You'll get that next one!

LOL. I'm so sorry! What can I say? We've all been there at one time or another.

But I'll tell you something else... every time that this has happened to me it was because I really had lucid dreaming on the brain and was ready for another. You're building up momentum for another one, and these kinds of near-lucids make DILDs especially way more likely.

You'll get that next one!

You are right...it is all I have been thinking about lately. I have so many things that I want to try, but my WBTB technique is so poor (I can't stay awake, sleep pattern is messed up right now). I know it is right around the corner, I can feel it, so it just pisses me off that I missed becoming lucid. However, it is funny when you think about it! After I said I know I'm not dreaming, I went right back to the party!

Hey Lucy,

I Woke up running out of the bed because I had over slept. I had the entire dream in my mind and by the time my feet hit the floor it had turned into a fragment All I remember was my sister working as a nurse and I was her patient and she was trying to give me blood and I was refusing to take it. She was so adamant about the blood transfusion trying to encourage me that I will be alright if I take the blood, but I continued to refuse...I even remember her chasing me with the syringe full of blood.

Note: I'm seriously over due for a lucid...

Oh Lucy!

Why am I waking up to such f*cked up circumstances??? Day before yesterday I woke up hitting the ground running because I over slept...today, I woke up to my husband's phone alarm blaring some horrid music. The sad part is that he wasn't even in the house to turn the damn thing off ! Needless to say, I woke with my heart racing in a panic trying to figure out what day it was AND of course I didn't have any dream recall! Usually, I can only sleep in on the weekends, so I really cherish my weekend time for practice. Lately, every time I attempt to become lucid, something happens. Oh well...come on Bemistaken! It's not like I haven't been in these situations before...I am just going to have to refocus on my WBTB time (and try not to fall asleep)...maybe even try my best to include some nap time. Practice WILL make perfect! I WON'T GIVE UP!

Note self: Every failure is an opportunity to learn.

Originally Posted by bemistaken

Why am I waking up to such f*cked up circumstances??? Day before yesterday I woke up hitting the ground running because I over slept...today, I woke up to my husband's phone alarm blaring some horrid music. The sad part is that he wasn't even in the house to turn the damn thing off ! Needless to say, I woke with my heart racing in a panic trying to figure out what day it was AND of course I didn't have any dream recall! Usually, I can only sleep in on the weekends, so I really cherish my weekend time for practice. Lately, every time I attempt to become lucid, something happens. Oh well...come on Bemistaken! It's not like I haven't been in these situations before...I am just going to have to refocus on my WBTB time (and try not to fall asleep)...maybe even try my best to include some nap time. Practice WILL make perfect! I WON'T GIVE UP!

Note self: Every failure is an opportunity to learn.

My wife gets up really early on the weekend mornings to run and it used to drive me a little bit nuts. The weekend was my only time to sleep in and her alarm would go off at the crack of dawn, waking me up well before her. I'd get annoyed by this, which would blow my concentration and sometimes prevent me from getting back to sleep at all.

What I finally did was just anticipate that this could/would happen, and consider it to be a WBTB and/or DEILD opportunity, depending on the length of the disturbance. While such "opportunities" have left me with far less than 100% success, they do mean that I keep a relaxed, even frame of mind, less fear and frustration, etc. to drive away my dream recall. It's more a moment of Ah, there it is...,w hich is a lot more pleasant.

I have to say, though, I still wish she'd just sleep in. LOL. But I've kind of built it into my expectations which has helped me form my practices around it and not feel so surprised or unhappy about it.

It's not a perfect approach, but maybe it'll help! Good luck!

My wife gets up really early on the weekend mornings to run and it used to drive me a little bit nuts. The weekend was my only time to sleep in and her alarm would go off at the crack of dawn, waking me up well before her. I'd get annoyed by this, which would blow my concentration and sometimes prevent me from getting back to sleep at all.

What I finally did was just anticipate that this could/would happen, and consider it to be a WBTB and/or DEILD opportunity, depending on the length of the disturbance. While such "opportunities" have left me with far less than 100% success, they do mean that I keep a relaxed, even frame of mind, less fear and frustration, etc. to drive away my dream recall. It's more a moment of Ah, there it is...,w hich is a lot more pleasant.

I have to say, though, I still wish she'd just sleep in. LOL. But I've kind of built it into my expectations which has helped me form my practices around it and not feel so surprised or unhappy about it.

It's not a perfect approach, but maybe it'll help! Good luck!

As usual CL, you have the correct advise to give me. I will keep this strategy in mind...the music from the phone was so loud, it scared the sh*t out of me, so my heart rate (and possibly blood pressure) was too damn high to allow me to go back to sleep. Then panic and confusion set in as I thought today was Monday instead of Sunday and maybe I was late for work. By the time I came to my senses...recall was a figment of my imagination. I don't want to have to bring up another, "Hey, would you mind if...I'm trying to get lucid" talk with my family (sometimes, I believe they get tired and frustrated with my 'practice' as I am the only one in the house with this hobby). As you are already aware, just because you find lucidity fascinating and attainable, doesn't mean that everyone else does.

Ohh, I totally sympathize! It's tough getting scared awake! When my kids were infants, they'd have this habit of shrieking in the middle of the night over the baby monitor for no reason. I'd bolt awake, totally confused and would have a tough time getting back to sleep. Eventually I got used to it, but hopefully this musical alarm thing you won't have to get used to.

I know what you mean about trying to keep your practice from becoming overbearing and requiring too much from the rest of the family. I think that in this case (and many others), it's good to shape it as, "Hey, would it be cool if we did X? That makes it easier for me to make sure I get my catch-up sleep on the weekends. You know how I never manage to get enough during the week..." etc. Even if people don't understand why you want to dream about walking around on the ceiling and singing your ABCs, they usually get the need for more sleep.