Thread: lumiina's Workbook

Becoming lucid in a place of the past sounds like a good plan. From personal observation, I tend to have a lot of dreams in places where I used to live before. Sometimes when I ld through wild, my dreams would even automatically begin there. Very interesting. To facilitate becoming lucid in non-lds, I like to repeat mantras like if I am at place X, I realize that I am dreaming.

Good luck with your future tasks!

Dreams are feeling really foggy lately. I still remember a lot of details from my dreams. But they don't feel vivid and I don't feel a sense of awareness. Rather, it feels like I'm just passively watching them. Rather than existing inside my own dream self. So I feel like there's less chance I'll become lucid.

Usually my dreams are like this, but it really hit me when it felt like this, even during a false awakening intruder dream early in the morning after a WBTB. Usually they are so realistic and I'm automatically lucid. But it wasn't this way this time.

I think first I need to work on my sleep schedule. I've been going to bed too late and waking up too late. And I still feel tired when I wake up. I think it's because I have my period, which makes me more tired. Once I get up, I'm fine. But it's really tempting to just stay in bed.

I'm also doing a foreign language reading contest. Lucid dreaming is great for this because I can read a few pages of manga during WBTB. But the contest is not great for lucid dreaming because I just want to stay up reading all night, so I end up going to bed late. But, I'm really happy I have this hobby of lucid dreaming, because it pushes me to have a healthier sleep schedule. It's good for me in so many ways. Such as how it also makes me look forward to dreaming, when I used to dread it.

I think I have to focus more on my mantras and visualization during WBTB too. I've been so tired, I kind of do them, but I'm not focused enough and fall back to sleep shortly. I think this is the problem. I'm just too tired. It's either because of my period or because I need to fix my sleep schedule, maybe a little bit of both.

For me recall tends to suffer the most when there are large deviations in sleep schedule and/or when I expose myself to too much bright lights or PC/tablet screens in the hours before bed. Both affect natural melatonin production and brain chemistry and not only is my recall worse off, but I also tend to sleep quite poorly on such occasions.

Good luck with the language contest!

Thank you! The contest is going well. I've read two novels, onto my third novel and a lot of manga!

My dream vividness and the feeling of experiencing my dreams as if they are actually happening in real life has returned to normal! I'm also back to a normal sleep schedule and no longer sleeping in past 8:30am.

Lately in my dreams there have been snowy roads. I don't know if this is a temporary dream sign, given the season, or a new dream sign that'll keep appearing. I haven't gotten a chance to write down my dreams on this site yet, but I've written a lot in my dream journal and they are really interesting, from needing heart surgery and taking out my heart and blowing it up like a balloon to giving birth to Jesus reborn and having to hide from bad people.

I accomplished one of my dream plans!
I seem to have a two week gap between establishing a dream plan and accomplishing it.

I accomplished the dream plan in which I say my favorite quote in Japanese to a dream character. I didn't get much of a response <(^_^). It was my mom as a DC and she kind of just said to me "yes" briefly and went on with her business. I'm not even sure if she really understood me.

Now, in real life, my mom doesn't know Japanese. So perhaps that played a role. Another thing is that it was really hard to get the words out of my mouth. Is it because sometimes talking while lucid can be difficult, because I was trying to say a specific quote, or because it was in Japanese? That would be interesting to keep an eye on as I continue trying to talk in Japanese while lucid.

Congrats on your task success! Sometimes it can be hard for me to also talk with DCs, like it takes a great amount of effort to utter the words. No idea why that is. However, it doesn't always have to be a challenge.

Do other DCs speak to you in Japanese?

Yup! In my non-lucid dreams DC talk to me in Japanese. I haven't had enough lucid dreams with DC to tell yet if DC will talk to me in Japanese while lucid.

Ah, that is so cool! One other interesting thing you might try although a bit tricky would be to try to read something in Japanese. I know letters change quite often but maybe you can read a title or something short that makes sense.

That's a great idea!

Update 04/20/2014

I haven't been on these forums in a while! Got preoccupied. But still keeping up with dream journaling in waking life.

I once had a dream that I was dream journaling a dream I had that night. Unfortuently, I forgot what it was about by the time I woke up, but I knew while I was "journaling" in my dream it was a good one. Too bad I wasn't really writing it down! I often have dreams of me doing something in a fake "waking" life in thinking I'm effecting my environment when I'm not.

I had a really creepy sleep paralysis experience while falling asleep on the couch after a night of little sleep. I could hear the TV show I left on in the background throughout the whole experience. I thought I had left the tea pot on and heard it, though deep inside I knew it wasn't really on. I kept trying to wake myself up and get off the couch. There was bacon and eggs on the table and someone was "there", not my husband, but maybe my husband. I just wanted to wake up because I had to go to school soon. I knew the entire time no one was really there and the teapot was off but still felt a little frightened. Then I finally woke up randomly (none of my attempts to wake up worked, it just happened randomly) and the sound of the teapot went away, TV still on and continuing as normal.

This morning I woke up, dream journaled an amazing dream about my husband wanting to go to space and me trying to stop him (that I hope to put in my DJ here too later when I get the chance) and then went back to sleep and had multiple false awakenings at my mom's. The first false awakening, suddenly I realized I was dreaming, and the realization was painful! I immediately jolted out of the dream and was "awake" but paralyzed, could not see my surroundings. I just wanted to wake up but kept falling asleep into the same false awakening at my mom's. I was afraid to realize I was dreaming so kept the thought in. I originally thought I would lucid dream and control my dreams the first time but was surprised when I was kicked out of the dream.

Hey lumiina, good to hear from you.

Sorry to hear your ld experiences were not quite on the positive side. On the other hand, I am confident that with more practice you can turn the situation around and feel more comfortable during those false awakenings and even SP. One thing that helps is to recognize that there really is no threat in these situations and to direct the attention to one's own mind. You are fully capable of supressing any bad thoughts even in the dream and prevent them from materializing.

Sometimes I also freak out, out of good old habit loosing the grip on self control and start thinking that something will happen in the dream, etc, but with more experience come to remind myself to stop doing this and how stupid I am for doing it (it actually helps a lot!) and then nothing bad happens. An even better way would be to focus on positive experiences - we put the same effort, whether we expect something terrible or something nice. One good thing to do is to summon and listen to some dream music - it sounds great in dreams and we can just chill out even in cases of SP or being unable to wake up. Basically, use every opportunity and turn it to your advantage.

Sweet dreams!

I like the idea of summoning up some dream music!

I've been away from the forums for a while, really busy with school. I know I should be more consistent if I want to improve my lucid dreaming skills, so I want to stay more committed. After finals are over I hope to come back and get back at it, at least for the summer! Lucid dreaming was so good for my OCD, and I recently had a really back OCD attack involving a hypnogognic image of two demons and being unable to sleep that reminded me why I love lucid dreaming and why I need it. It's enjoyable and makes me look forward to sleeping. I also had a really interesting dream last night. It was long! I've been so sleep deprived this week due to my OCD so I had no energy to write it down (right after finals are over, I plan to consistently write my dreams again every time I wake up). But it did inspire me for what I want to do next while lucid. I dreamed that I could move things telepathically and I can now see how I would do this lucid and want to try it. Once finals are over, I want to add telepathy to my list of lucid dream goals.

So I'll see you guys again soon!

Update - Dream Plan 05/11/14

I've added another dream plan to my journal:

---
I've woken up somewhere and notice that I am dreaming through performing a gravity check. I realize this is my chance to try out telekinesis. I see a nearby object and put my hands out and focus my attention on the object in order to make it move. I'm happy with the results and stabilize the dream by rubbing my hands together.
---
**Note: I did not accomplish this dream plan, it's just a scenario to help me visualize during MILD what my dream might be like.

My semester ends this Wednesday and I'm so excited to get back into lucid dreaming and make it a habit over the summer so that next semester I don't fall away from it like I did this semester.

Meanwhile I'm working on an essay for my dreaming class. I found this inventory of peer-reviewed journals called International Journal of Dream Research. It is so interesting and I thought I'd share it. I'm thinking about doing my essay on the article about dream characters and math.

The article is giving me so many ideas, I've decided I'm not going to wait until the semester ends. I want to start up my lucid dreaming again tonight! I'm so excited.

Another goal I'm thinking of, going off of your comment NyxCC about reading in Japanese in my dream and the article's fact that dream characters can write and draw is that perhaps in my dream I can also ask a dream character to write in Japanese.

First night back at attempting lucid dreaming! While I didn't lucid dream, I am impressed that I woke up at 3:30am (autosuggested myself to wake up at 4am for WBTB). When I stopped attempting lucid dreaming, I never woke up during the night. Autosuggestion is amazing.

I slept in and remembered my dreams between 6am and 8:30am then 8:30am and 10:30am. I wrote them in my physical dream journal.

Around 3am I did faintly remember a dream. I was trying to work it out in my mind and figure out what I can write in my dream journal, but then I lost it because I started getting lost in thought. By the time I really became aware and woke up at 3:30am, I forgot the dream completely. I wrote about this experience in my dream journal too.

Great to see you back Lumiina!

I've woken up somewhere and notice that I am dreaming through performing a gravity check. I realize this is my chance to try out telekinesis. I see a nearby object and put my hands out and focus my attention on the object in order to make it move. I'm happy with the results and stabilize the dream by rubbing my hands together.

Congrats on the ld and task completion! By the way, telekinesis is currently one of the basic tasks in our task of the month, you can post it there if you like and get wings.

http://www.dreamviews.com/tasks-mont...ay-2014-a.html

Making a dream character write in Japanese sounds like a great task! Best of luck with it!

Thanks for linking that journal, I'll be sure to check it out - didn't know it existed and all the great info there. And it's a monthly edition too? Awesome!

Sweet lucid dreams!!!

Oh, I didn't accomplish that! That is the dream I want to accomplish, hehe. I'll add a note to be extra clear.

But, if I do accomplish it, then I'd also be accomplishing the task of the month! I didn't know that! I'm even more excited then.

Oh! Then it's a post from the future!

Today I kept pressing snooze until around 11am. I wanted to sleep but I knew I had to get up. This triggered sleep paralysis. I wasn't sure if I was awake. My fan was on my bed and I felt the wind in my face as I knelt down next to the bed (in waking life it was on the laundry basket). I even thought about trying the thumb through palm RC, but I was so sure I was awake, I didn't fully attempt it. Then I was back on my bed and my arms were paralyzed and I kept trying to move them because I knew I had to get up. Then finally I woke up.

If I had fallen back to sleep, I think I could've had a lucid dream, but it was 11am so I knew I had to get up. But this is good, because if I keep my mind focused on this experience, maybe I can have a lucid dream soon. I'm glad I almost did an RC in the dream! It wasn't a lucid dream because I never actually realized I was dreaming. I thought I was awake the whole time. I suppose this is what people call a partially lucid dream, where you're so close to becoming lucid but don't.

You were super close! Those FAs can be extremely realistic but with more practice you will be able to catch more of them. From your experiences and posts here and in the forum, I get the impression that you are very sensitive to transition phases and I think you are also more likely to experience lucid dreams.

Update - Achieved Dream Plan!! 05/30/14

I used telekinesis while lucid! And not only did I use it, I used it in battle again my enemies. It was amazing and epic! I didn't think I'd be able to use it so well right off the bat, since flying took me so long to learn.

A lot of firsts happened in this dream. It was the first time I've had a lucid dream that wasn't a FA and that was triggered by realizing I was dreaming in another dream since I joined DreamViews. It was the first time I used telekinesis lucid. And it was my first battle while lucid.

Up to this point my husband, a very close friend of mine and the girl I nanny have all had lucid dreams! And I was wondering, when am I going to have my lucid dream. Things kept building up and I finally had one again!

Very impressive lumiina! Congrats on the awesome ld and getting your first set of wings! Those DCs will now think twice before behaving in a menacing way.

This morning as I was trying to fall back to sleep, I was transitioning into a lucid dream (like a WILD). I saw my bed and particularly the pattern of my blanket like I was laying on my stomach and my head was facing the bottom of the bed, and I realized it so I wanted to try to fly and started to (like always), but then I realized my real body is paralyzed so I shook out of it.

I always do that!! I still haven't trained myself to remain calm. The good thing is is I thought about remaining calm? Idk why but for some reason I become afraid of losing control when this happens.

It's also interesting that I happen to trigger a WILD accidentally often now. I don't think this happened before I joined this forum. Instead I just had sleep paralysis and false awakenings.

Maybe I need to think more during the day that if a WILD ever happens to stay calm and focus on flying. Don't worry about my body being paralyzed because I can move my dream body. And say that to myself before I fall asleep when WILDs are more likely to happen to (late morning after waking up). Visualize what would happen and my feelings during an accidental WILD.

I don't think I want to trigger a WILD on purpose. I like MILD better. But if I'm going to have them accidentally I might as well learn to calm down and enjoy the lucid dream since the opportunity of lucid dreaming was given to me.

It's also interesting that I happen to trigger a WILD accidentally often now. I don't think this happened before I joined this forum. Instead I just had sleep paralysis and false awakenings.

I can relate to this. Whenever my sleep is disturbed and/or I get a bit of insomnia even if not planning a wbtb, I have a high chance of an ld, quite often one immediately after falling asleep. I think we just become more sensitive and aware from all the ld experience we are gathering. One thing to help overcome any anxiety is to focus on one's dream goals and go after them even if one didn't plan an ld. Lding is so awesome, so take advantage of this bonus situation.

I made some progress in that area! Recently before waking up for work and pressing the snooze button a lot, I had a vivid dream about a pet store and shark tank and debated turning it into a dream where I could go to Japan, because I realized I was dreaming, or waking up for work. Well, I decided to wake up for work, which was the right decision because it was getting late. But I felt calm, even though I felt the paralysis.

This morning I had some lucid moments. My dreams weren't vivid and were more like a stream of thought with some vision and a plot line. I felt like controlling my dream and knew I was dreaming, but nothing came out of it. I believe it's because they weren't vivid enough.

I feel I'll be going to Japan in a lucid dream soon enough! It keeps reoccurring in my thought pattern as I sleep. I just haven't had the right timing and atmosphere to do it.