Thread: Mike's Workbook

Reality Checks:
- Looking at my hands
- Read something, look away, then read again.
- Try to breath with my nose plugged

Dream Signs:
- Broken objects
- Going to the bathroom and completely losing the ability to aim.
- Being at the gym

Short-Term Goals:
- LD once a week
- Improve my prospective memory
- Achieve heavy sleep paralysis

Long-Term Goals:
- Make lucidity a more consistent part of my dreaming experience.
- Participate in the monthly challenges .
- Try to share my enthusiasm of dreaming with others.

Lucid/Dream Recall History:
- Dream recall has never been an issue for me. I have always enjoyed dreaming and have my dreams have always been topics of conversation that I share with my wife and kids. Until the beginning of January however, I have never actually written any of them down. I have been keeping a consistent dream journal now for a month and have found that my dream recall has improved even more. I typically can remember 3 to 4 dreams a night and I write them down immediately regardless of the hour.

Lucidity on the other hand is something that has only happened a few times in my life. There were a couple of instances when I was a kid when I realized I was dreaming, but never really knew what to do with it since it came as a surprise and I really didn't have a plan.

Since starting on my attempts at lucidity, I have had one, and only one incredible experience. The very first time I ever attempted it, I used a ramp timer at about 3:30 in the morning. I went into heavy sleep paralysis, with vibrations so severe, I was highly tempted to arch my back to try to reduce the vibrations in my vertebrae. I rode it out however, and I woke up. I was so excited, I woke my wife up and told her all about it, and then I woke up. I realized I had had a false awakening. I told my wife about it and then went to shower for work. I realized at that point that I always go to the gym before showering, so something was strange. It was a dream. As soon as I realized it, I woke up. I was really flipping out at this point. I was so excited, but my wife was not in bed so I couldn't tell her about it. Then, I woke up once more and felt the vibrations start again. At this point, I had the thought, "if I don't get up now, I may not get another chance." I stood up, and looked back at my body still lying in bed. The room was flooded with purple light. I walked through the door into my bathroom and was suddenly in a mountain cabin. I needed to do a reality check, but I couldn't think of any, so I stuck out my tongue and stretched it out to arms length. That did it. I was lucid and started flying. I flew out the door, and my alarm rang, waking me up for real this time. It was so incredible.

After that experience, I thought "Oh man! this is easy!" One month later, and I haven't made it happen again since.

I feel like I am making progress, but just haven't gotten to the point of lucidity. I can make it to a state of moderate vibrations 9 out of 10 times I try, close to paralysis, but it is a weak paralysis, and the trance or state just isn't deep enough to shift into a dream.

I am open to suggestions on what can help me progress.

Current Technique:
- DILD
- MILD
- WBTB/WILD

Holy crap!!! I did it again! Oh man this is awesome when it works. I didn't even do anything cool, but just succeeding after a month of effort has completely made my day.

My dream:
I woke up and my phone was ringing in my pocket, but it was the wrong ringtone. I answered it and it was a lady thanking my for calling and asking what she could do to help. I was about to tell her that she called me when I looked through the door of my bathroom and saw my guitar. It was all fuzzy and out of focus. I realized it was a dream and I looked at my hands. They were out of focus and blurred just like my guitar. The scene suddenly began to destabilize so I started spinning. That worked for a second, but then it started breaking up again. Yesterday I listened to the Dream Views podcast that talked about stabilizing by making out with the ground, and that is what I did. I dove onto the floor and just started making out with my bedroom carpet. Rubbing my face all over the floor. I stood back up and things were so clear, I thought I had actually overdone it and woken myself up. I walked out into the hall, and everything was still crystal clear. I decided I'd better go back to bed, write it in my dream journal before I forgot, and try again. I got to bed and the mattresses were all hanging off the bed. I was annoyed. I sat down, picked up my phone and was going to start recording my journal entry, but all my journal entries were gone. I started to have the feeling that I was still dreaming and was just about to become lucid again, when I really woke up.

My 11 year old son asked me today what I was typing, and I told him that I was writing in my dream journal. We got to talking about LDs and he wants to try it. I found him a notebook to record his dreams in and told him about reality checks, etc. How cool will it be if my son is successful and I have this awesome thing that I can share with him!? My wife listens to my excited ramblings, but doesn't particularly like dreaming because most of her dreams are stressful so doesn't really understand wanting to remember them better or my love for it. I am really excited that I may have someone to share this with. Probably too early to get my hopes up, but fingers crossed, he will have some early success and that will make him want to stick with it.

I was hoping that I would be able to repeat my success from Saturday night, and I got close, but unfortunately, no dice. I remembered an abnormally large number of dreams last night. I usually don't remember more than 3, and last night I recorded 6. The very last one was so close to becoming an LD. I was in my backyard and my daughter yelled "look daddy!!" There was a giant green snake slithering through our grass. I actually said to myself "I should do a reality check! There are no giant snakes in this area! I am probably dreaming.", but then I got distracted and never actually performed the check... bummer. Still, a succesful night for dream journaling in general.

I think that I am going to try to accomplish one of the tasks of the month for February. Going into it, I know my chances are slim because I am still not consistent enough, but I figure it can't hurt. right? I will probably start with the "eat a dog bisquit". I eat in my dreams all the time, so if I can just get that in my subconcious, I think it would be the most likely to work out for me.
Wish me luck...

Another night where I got sooooo close. I was standing in a green room sized elevator, and was talking to a girl in the corner. I told her "you know, I probably shouldn't tell you this, but in the last dream I had about an elevator, the elevator fell and I had to fly to save everyone." (this was a dream I had last week). So, in my dream, I remembered a previous dream, but I didn't know that I was currently in a dream. Dang it! Almost there.

On happier note, I had a flying dream last night as well. Soaring with a magical device the size of a thimble that shot gas from one side, and when lit, would freeze into white vapor and ice crystals. I soard through the air, making designs with gas, and then I would use my ice lighter, light it all and float there, looking at my beautiful designs. What a great dream!

No luck yet on the task of the month. I spent my dreams last night eating vegetables with some strange family in my house. Oh well. I've still got time.

Last night was a good one for dream recall. I recorded 4 long dreams and ended the night by hiding in the back seat of a car, then surprising the girl who was driving, who in turn, promptly started screaming, drove into a lake, and killed us all.

No LDs, but a good night none the less.

I think that I have discovered the secret to having a massive number of dreams (that I remember) in one night. For the past two nights I have had a cup of coffee about an hour before bed. The caffine keeps me from falling asleep too deeply I think, and then getting up to pee throughout the night means I have plenty of chances to remember my dreams and write them down. The down side is I am a little tired today.

I recorded 7 dreams last night. Unfortunately, none of them lucid. I always get so close. I saw multiple dream signs and even spent my last dream of the night discussing LDs with a boy in a parking lot, telling him how amazing they are and I wished that I could have them more often. doh!!
If only I could have spent some time telling him about reality checks, maybe I could have turned it into an LD on accident....
Oh well. Maybe I will have some luck with the weekend ahead of me.
cheers.

Hey mike! Caffeine indeed prevents one from going into deep sleep, but it's not such a good idea to have a coffee before bed. We are programmed in such way that we first go into deeper stages of sleep which are very restorative and extremely important for the body. It may be more appropriate to move your caffeine intake to a wbtb, where you take the time to think about lding, your goals, etc., doing induction practices. That way sleep interference will be less.

Good luck!

Hey Mike,

Sounds like you are making some awesome process. I myself am still working towards consistent lucid dreams at least once or twice a week. I haven't found my magic routine yet to guarantee me one though. My wife doesn't like to talk about it either, she thinks that I am a weirdo for writing all the dreams down and trying this. I however think it is a fascinating hobby and the lucid dreams I do have here and there have kept me doing it. It has messed with my sleep a bit off and on but have learned to deal with it. I think as I really find out what will get me lucid, that perfect mixture of vitamins/food/drink and sleep it will be a bit better. Good luck to you!

What are everyone's thoughts on self hypnosis. It occurred to me the other day that there has to be a better/easier way to lucid dream. I have talked to a couple folks who have been doing this for years and they still say that a large part of becoming lucid is luck.

I started reading about self hypnosis and suggestions to your subconscious and the state of mind they describe seems incredibly similar to the one required to induce a WILD for example. I had the thought that if I could use self hypnosis to tell my subconscious to LD or to remember to do reality checks when dreaming, etc, it may be more effective than the repetition of RCs and mantras I am using when in a conscious state.

Anyone else out there ever try it? I'm going to give it a shot. I will continue with all the normal stuff, but figure this can't hurt and possibly could take some of the luck out of it if I am successful.

Well, that's similar to how mantras work. You can repeat different mantras throughout the day and eventually they sink in your subcon, just like with RCs.

Some common ones would be to repeat "I am dreaming/realize that am dreaming" while looking at a particular object or your hands. You don't have to vocalize it, unless the circumstances permit. You can also use a mantra that reminds you to RC, or one that relates to your dream signs.

You can repeat your mantras on the go, pre bed or at wbtb.

By the way, they are some apps with self-hypnosis that tell you to relax and that you will have a lucid dream. I quickly lose interest in such things, so can't really tell how effective they are.

Thank you for the response! I'm a check out what apps are available just in case any of them look interesting. Thanks again

Another close call last night. I remember thinking that I don't have to worry about consequences in my dream last night because it was a dream, but I never actually took control.

That sounds like a mini-lucid moment there, very good! Do you have any tasks ready for your next ld? These will help keep your focus, so you won't be that distracted by dream scenario.

I do. I am actually still focusing on the task of the month. Eating a dog biscuit. I eat all the time in my dreams so that shouldn't be hard if I can get lucid and remember to eat.

last night was one of those nights where my subconscious was either trying extremely hard to make me lucid, or laughing while it waived the fact that I couldn't get lucid in my face. First I walked into my bathroom to take a shower and everything looks different and it occurs to me that I have probably never actually taken a shower in my bathroom before which is insane since I have lived in my house for 10 years. Then I undressed and when I turned around my shower was completely different it changed from black tile to pink tile and of course my thought was "this is odd".
Then one of my dreams signs tends to be broken things, especially my phone. And last night I took my phone out of my pocket and there was a little smudge on it and as I clean that that's much turned into a giant blob of slime and the more I cleaned it the more my phone was covered and finally my entire phone was coated with, and even filled with some sort of custard. Even behind the screen you could see custard.
Finally, in my bedroom there were arms coming out of the floor. My wife had had them installed. all over the place. I asked why she didn't get any legs installed. She told me I was being silly. You can't install legs in a floor.

I remember I once had 4 FAs in a row, where things were broken in the bathroom, etc. and I only figured it out at FA number four. It'd be nice to catch more of these and sooner. Be sure to RC after waking up and make this a habit, it might help. Next time you see something's off, you will realize it's a dream!

Finally, in my bedroom there were arms coming out of the floor. My wife had had them installed. all over the place. I asked why she didn't get any legs installed. She told me I was being silly. You can't install legs in a floor.

Lol, you made my day with this one!

More progress I think. This week I captured a shadow demon in my bathroom and told my wife not to worry because it was just a dream, then last night I was flying and then stopped to talk to someone and I explained that flying requires a lot of dream energy so I can only do it for a limited amount of time. Somehow, I didn't become lucid in either dream even though my dream self was aware that he wasn't in the real world. This sort of thing is getting more and more frequent. I figure it is a good step in the right direction and that as I continue my nonstop dream journaling, reading, reality checks, etc, it can only be a matter of time before it just clicks and I can make a more frequent entry into lucidity.
By the way, if you ever wondered what a shadow demon feels like, she feels like sleep paralysis on whatever you touch her with. Grab her and your hand will start vibrating and grow numb. Put her in a headlock and your whole arm and chest will vibrate and go numb. It is quite the experience. Just in case you ever wondered.

That's very encouraging indeed. Possibly even some sort of low level lucidity! Keep up the good work, it's really staring to pay off.

Thanks for the shadow demon explanation! It's pretty cool what our subcon can come up with in dreams.