I only found out it was possible to learn to LD about a week ago. I'm onto it! I've always thought people who could do it were so lucky. Sorry for the long post:

Reality Checks:
- Counting fingers, looking at hands
- Push my thumb through my hand

Dream Signs:
- My ex (!) I hardly ever see him in waking life but he has turned up twice in dreams in the last week.
- Finding myself naked/semi-naked in public (so embarrassing!)

Short-Term Goals:
- To improve my recall
- To remember to RC regularly during the day
- To attempt WBTB
- To remember to RC in a dream
- To have an LD and be able to keep it stable
- To fly lucid. I have flown non-lucid many times.

Long-Term Goals:
These are psychological:
- To find a dream guide who can encourage my experiences
- To communicate with my unconscious and learn about myself
- To improve my self-esteem and self-confidence in dreams and then hopefully in waking life
- To improve my mental health
- And also have some fun.

Lucid/Dream Recall History:
- I have been keeping a DJ for the past week, since I found out it was possible to learn to LD. My recall has improved from hardly ever remembering anything to recalling a couple of snippets of different dreamscapes a night.
- In the past I have been able to awaken and realize I had been dreaming and then keep my eyes closed and go back into the dream. I’ve done this when the dream has been particularly pleasant, but I can’t do it at will. As soon as I am back in the dream, I am unaware I am dreaming again. But I’ve never before believed I could be lucid, maybe now I could learn.

Current Technique:
- Tried unsuccessfully to MILD. It keeps me awake, though. My only current mantra is “I remember my dreams”. It’s hard to stay focused when also trying to drop off to sleep. I am considering abandoning this for now.
- Writing down ANYTHING I remember from my dreams as soon as I wake and also in the night, if I wake up then.
- Trying to remember to do RCs in the day
- Trying to remember to do RCs when I wake up. Have had a FA in this last week and if only I had RCed I might have been lucid.
- Trying to DEILD, like I have done non-lucidly before.

My sleep schedule:
- Erratic. I live alone and like the early morning hours after having slept, so I often go to sleep around 7pm, then I wake up around 7-8 hours later. Some nights I can’t fall asleep and am awake till 10 or 11 or later. But I generally sleep for 7-8 hours no matter when I fall asleep.
- I sometimes take sleeping tablets when I can’t sleep. Will this influence my dreaming? If it will, I will take them a lot less!

Thank you so much for this course and this opportunity.