ccrinbama's Workbook

[ccrinbama]

This is a workbook. Dream Journal Dream Signs: Open windows exposing me to extreme weather/elements and bright light.

[ccrinbama]

Recorded a dream this morning, and from reading my old DJ that exists as a regular thread on this site, and a written one I've been recording a few in here and there while in Whitefish, I think a DS of mine is being exposed to incredibly intense weather conditions accompanied by bright light, while looking out of an open window. Also, on every occasion I can remember, there's been someone else with me that wanted to close the window(s), due to the fact that the elements would probably wreak havoc upon and possibly destroy whatever room I was in at the time.

[ccrinbama]

Homework Lesson I 1. Start your own workbook thread in this subforum. Done. 2. Start a Dreamviews dream journal and record each dream. I started one. 3. Do at least one reality check a day, and list it in your workbook. I try to push my finger through my palm at least twice a day, while taking note of and criticizing the authenticity of the sensory data I'm taking in. I try to remember to do it immediately after I wake up, to fend off non-lucid FA. 4. Extra Credit: If you notice recurring elements in your dream journal (aka dream signs), list it in your workbook for 10 hall points. There seems to be a DS involving me being exposed to extreme weather/elements through an open window, along with very bright light. People are also always there telling me to close the window, as it's dangerous.

[Caenis]

Hello ccrinbama, welcome to the class! That's a pretty distinct dream sign you have. Do you have any idea why that's a regular situation in your dreams? Are you always in the same house, or particular houses? Or do the houses change frequently? How about the DCs, are they often they same or different? So I can see you've been part of this forum for a while, and I know your first LD was years ago (I was glancing over your previous posts, I like stalking students). So have you kept a DJ regularly for the past few years? How often have you been LDing lately? Which techniques do you use to induce LDs? When was your most recent LD, what was it like? What are your long and short term goals for this class and LDing in general?

[ccrinbama]

Three of the four walls from my childhood bedroom were all windows. We bought an old house, and I wanted the old sunroom as my bedroom, as it had a slanted ceiling. When I look for apartments, a big thing I focus on is having the most amount of windows possible. Floor to ceiling, entire walls would be perfect. I also love horrible storms, so I'm guessing these factors contribute to having this scenario recur in my dreams. I'm almost never in the same house; sometimes it's a house, sometimes an apartment, sometimes I've lived there and sometimes I haven't. DCs are pretty regular, my close friends are usually the only people present during dreams as main characters, I rarely conjure fake people. So, the DCs are often the same. I haven't kept a regular DJ for the past few years. It's scattered across multiple resources: spiral notebooks here and there, some webposts, and a decent amount of audio logs on my iphone. I haven't been LDing at all lately, and my recall has dropped off horribly. That really prompted my return here. WBTB techniques have always worked the best for me, and I had a brief stint where recreating dreams I had just woke up from worked really well for me. I've never fully completely a WILD, but I've had a few really intense experiences where I get almost there, have a ton of really incredibly auditory hallucinations, but get way too excited and my heart rate starts to race and I can't pull all the way through it to the dream. My most recent LD was... a while ago, while I was in Birmingham, but I honestly can't remember it and would have to dig through tons of notebooks for a recording of it. I moved to Montana, recently, and I spent about two weeks sleeping in hotels, and my sleep cycle has been very irregular since I arrived here. My short term goals are to get my dream recall back, which is usually really strong but has fallen off to basically nothing at this point, find out if my dreamsigns have gone through a drastic shift or if they are still pretty much the same as they used to be, make solid progress in WBTB techniques and complete a WILD. Long term, I want to become a regular LDer and WILDer, maintain a well documented account of all my physical and mental experiences regarding WILDing, and observe how higher cognitive functions and computational skills are affected by being in a lucid dreamstate.

[Caenis]

That certainly explains why you dream about closing windows in storms! Interesting that those dreams might have some anxiety in them, despite the fact that you love both storms and rooms with many/large windows. I've read from other members that moving from one place to another disrupts their sleep schedules so much that they can't dream. =/ When do you think things will calm down? Definitely try to increase your recall in the meantime, but it would be easiest to remember your dreams once you develop a routine again. So other than keeping a DJ again and trying to make a bedtime routine again, what do you think you'll do to improve recall? Mantras, change in diet, meditation? I hope things settle down for you soon. Have you looked at Sageous' WILD class? It's a heck of a lot to read, but it gives a lot of interesting ideas. I haven't the slightest clue how to WILD (I've tried, I can't get far), and I find the lessons make for interesting reads. I found out recently that your heart rate increasing might actually be a hallucination. I had that once and found it too distracting to get any farther. It's cool that you've had the visual hallucinations though, you got pretty close! Long term, I want to become a regular LDer and WILDer, maintain a well documented account of all my physical and mental experiences regarding WILDing, and observe how higher cognitive functions and computational skills are affected by being in a lucid dreamstate. Fascinating. I know I do some pretty derpy things in dreams, lucid and non-lucid. Math is definitely very difficult for me. But apparently that changes with each dream! Just as the vividness of the dream can change, so can your ability to use logic/math etc. I'd like to explore that for myself. Mainly because it'd be nice to have a dream where I don't do stupid stuff. If you get results, let us know.

[ccrinbama]

That certainly explains why you dream about closing windows in storms! Interesting that those dreams might have some anxiety in them, despite the fact that you love both storms and rooms with many/large windows. My answer was somewhat misleading. I never feel anxiety about the windows being open or the storms coming in. It's just the people around me that say they need to be closed. If I were alone, I would just leave them open, but I never seem to be. Actually, that's something I've never noticed before. Thanks for leading me down that train of thought. I don't really know when things will calm down, and I don't see any chance of a strict sleep regiment in sight. I sleep in the living room, which is the computer room, which means that someone is almost always awake in there unless it's between the hours of 5AM and 10AM. So, aside from keeping a dream journal and trying to get some scarecrow of a standard sleep cycle back, I didn't really know what else I could do. Maybe I could try meditation, that's not a bad idea. I noticed the WILD class. I don't want to join it until I have at least a reasonable level of dream recall, and the ability to easily move into that... trance-like state associated with self-hypnosis that you enter when going to bed without falling asleep. I'm so exhausted when I go to sleep, because of my weird sleeping habits, that it's hard to keep myself awake long enough. I had a longer and more thorough reply typed out, but it vanished because I hit the reply to thread button after typing everything into the quick reply box. Oh well.

[ccrinbama]

Attempted to WILD last night at the beginning of my sleep. I felt like I was moving into the state. Body started pulsing and shaking, whole body felt cold and extremities were basically non-existent, tunnel hearing, I was making progress. Then my body just forced me do some kind of weird swallow thing, and it started to fade. I plateaued in a physical and mental state that was nothing like my normal waking state, but where I was no long making progress towards a conscious sleeping state. I attempted this at 6:30 in the morning. Gave up at about 7:15, I believe. I did go on to have some pretty interesting dreams, though.

[Caenis]

Glad I was able to help! Sometimes other people can notice trends in your own dreams. I noticed the WILD class. I don't want to join it until I have at least a reasonable level of dream recall, and the ability to easily move into that... trance-like state associated with self-hypnosis that you enter when going to bed without falling asleep. Yeah, I can understand that. I'm surprised you even keep attempting WILD, I wouldn't want to sacrifice precious sleep to experiment with it. I hope this class helps you until you have a better sleep schedule/improved dream recall, so you can later join the WILD class! One of the other students used this class as a stepping stone into the WILD class, so I'm sure you can do it too. Oh, as far as other ideas, Lesson 1 mentions that apple juice and bananas can help give you more vivid dreams. Vivid dreams are easier to remember, so that could potentially be helpful too. There are a ton of other foods/supplements, but I don't know enough about them to recommend anything. Glad that your WILD still was relatively successful! Shaking body and interesting dreams afterward, that's a very promising start.

[ccrinbama]

Homework Lesson II 1. Maintain your Workbook and your Dream Journal. Staying the course. 2. Continue to do at least one reality check a day, and list it in your workbook. Doing the reality checks daily. 3. Select an induction technique from Lesson II, and begin practicing daily. Post your results in your workbook daily as well. WILDing. Gonna be posting daily. 4. Recall more than 3 dreams each night, for at least 3 nights this week, and you will be awarded 20 hall points.

[paigeyemps]

Hello ccrinbama! Don't mind me, just stalking your workbook and stuff. Lol Anyway, keep it up! Can't wait to hear about your WILD attempts

[ccrinbama]

Woken up by a doorbell chime going off directly above my head. Just... destroyed the entire night of dreaming, somehow. I only remembered one scene from a dream. Attempted a WILD afterwards, and failed miserably. Couldn't get comfortable, and felt pretty sick to my stomach while doing it. A sad experience. = /

[realdealmagic]

At least you got yourself a scene, that's better than nothing! Off days just tend to happen, you can't let them get you down though. If you let the negativity seep through into other nights, it'll kill your lucid experience altogether. If you feel pretty sick while doing something, don't do it! Sometimes you're better to recuperate and have a break rather than strain yourself for another attempt.

[paigeyemps]

Just a thought: August is coming up! Why don't you create a list of personal lucid goals you would like to achieve this month? It can help motivate you and put you in a better mindset to get lucid sooner! Good luck.

[ccrinbama]

That's a good idea, Paige. I suppose I could do that now! These will be low goals, but I'm in quite the rut. August LD Goals: Remember at least 2 dreams a night, four nights a week. Have at least one fully lucid dream every two weeks. Have at least one successful WILD. REGULATE MY SLEEP CYCLE.

[realdealmagic]

These goals are pretty much exactly the same as my own xD

[ccrinbama]

Don't remember anything from my dreams at all last night. Which is down from the one line I recalled last night to put into my dream journal. Very frustrating, feels like backwards progress!

[ccrinbama]

Oh, I recalled fragments of two dreams, and three entire dreams, basically. Last night in DV chat, people were suggesting I just try to focus entirely on mantras as I go to sleep, something that seems simple and straightforward, but that I haven't done in over a year, probably. It worked wonderfully, and had more recall last night than I've had in... well, over a year, probably. Thanks for the tip, guys. If this works consistently, my recall will have returned, and then I can move on to actual induction again!

[OpheliaBlue]

Glad you upped your recall! What induction technique are you going for then, WBTB/WILD?

[ccrinbama]

Gonna try WILDing again, which I woke up for this morning, but couldn't try because I was feeling sick, but that's ok because I went lucid after giving up on the WILD anyway! And!, for the first time in my life, I wasn't losing stability in the lucid, I was instead gaining it! I woke up pretty soon after I went lucid because of the alarm, but that's ok, because the dream I was in had indications of becoming an extended, lucid experience; I felt that I was in no danger of waking up, all of my senses were going full blast, I was in control of the situation, and there was a DC that I had immediately turned subservient to my wishes. Oh, this is very exciting. I woke up bummed that I couldn't remember dreams, then all of a sudden many of them flooded back to me, which I recorded. Went to do the WILD, felt sick, went to sleep, then this happened. The method I used to induce stability came to me on the fly, probably from my constant use of DV chat and every talking about awareness. As I became lucid, I immediately started to lose stability, like I always do. So, I just immediately decided to become hyper aware of every piece of sensory data that my mind should be taking in, processing, and returning to me. He started to talk, I could barely hear him, so I forced my mind to focus and return to me what he was saying. I focused on the feel of my feet against the floor, the internal feelings of my dream body, the smells, the lighting, the relation of my physical area around me in a proportionate sense to myself, and the DC walking towards me. As he reached the bottom of the stairs, I struck him in the head, and focused on the texture of his scalp, the feel of my hand slamming against his head. I focused on the sound and intonation of my voice as I commanded him to take me upstairs, which he turned to do. I got excited, which is usually my downfall, but contained the excitement. This was a great experience, and for the first time I really felt that I had full control of what was going on, and the entire method and feel just flowed out of me naturally.

[realdealmagic]

Wow ccrinbama, that's amazing progress! Congratulations! Well done with stabilizing and paying close attention to the senses. They're an important factor that a lot of people tend to forget about. It definitely sounds to me like you had full control! Congratz again

[paigeyemps]

Hey ccrinbama! I know we spoke on chat, but I just wanted to congratulate you again on the lucid!! I'm really happy for you. Keep it up!

[ccrinbama]

So I said I was gonna be posting my attempts at WILDing every night. I have in no way been doing that. Time to get on that.

[realdealmagic]

You don't have to update on a daily basis. You could do it on a weekly basis for instance, or every few days!

[ccrinbama]

So I tried to WILD in the bedroom I just got for the first time this morning, ended up falling asleep the first two times. The third time, I realized that my window is like three feet from the common area outside, and that it sounds like every conversation is happening right beside my bed. = / It did not go well. Need to find something to make some kind of background noise, which is unfortunate, because I do much better without it.