I'm dusting off my workbook. :)
Firstly, I'd just like to say thank you so much Nyx for all your encouragement when I started this workbook. It was such a great help and motivation to get back into lucid dreaming!
My recall improved dramatically, in large part because I had promised myself I would update this workbook with my recall efforts every day.
I had a great few months with my LDs steadily increasing from almost none in the months pre-workbook, to 23 LDs in August.
My frequency has dipped again though, down to <10 per month.
I know that my focus and sleep schedule are the main issues:
- My attention has been elsewhere lately, with a few significant life events (both positive and negative) happening in quick succession recently. Some of those have been on my mind immediately upon waking, so my recall has been quite poor. I've also spent much less time on dream incubation.
- I've only been sleeping in small blocks (a few hours at a time,) but I nap a few times throughout the day at completely irregular times.
I also recognised last month that I was feeling overwhelmed by taking on too many tasks at once. I really enjoy lucid tasks, and they've been a great source of motivation for me in the past. But with my dream frequency decreasing and my task list getting bigger, I noticed some negative feelings creeping in... I felt like I wasn't succeeding, and I was having trouble deciding which tasks to focus on, so none of them got my full attention.
Once I realised this, I decided to sit out of the TotM this month, and requested that no further lucid dares be assigned to me until I've completed some of my current dares. I also spoke to CanisLucidus about pausing our challenge for the time being so it didn't become a source of stress. I said I'd still be excited to feature in his dreams if he chooses to summon me, but we won't be counting points or approaching it competitively.
Instead of in-dream tasks, I tried to focus on allowing my positivity to build around the idea of lucid dreaming again. I wanted to feel like there was no pressure to "succeed" outside of enjoying myself and feeling relaxed. This had an immediate positive effect and I had a few very nice, peaceful lucid dreams soon after.
I also wanted to return my focus to inducing lucid dreams in the first place.
I joined Sageous' WILD class which I've been making some progress in. My DEILD attempts are starting to be successful more often, and I'm experiencing less noise during transitions.
I still haven't read through all the WILD lessons, so that's something I'd like to work on in the near future.
I am still struggling with my recall and doing very minimal day work.
I decided to update my workbook with some new goals to help keep me on track. :)
Day Goals:
- Daily MILD meditation for 15+ minutes
- Start a paper DJ (I've been talking about this for ages!) and write notes every day
- Mantra throughout the day: "I have lucid dreams"
- Nose plug + hand RCs with a few moments of focused awareness as often as I think of it
Dream Goals:
I will try to live out the motto in my signature: Be free, be positive, be present.
I won't have any specific tasks in mind, but I will choose a scene to incubate during my meditation.
Anotherdreamer and I are going to try posting every day in the "Share your dream from last night in one sentence" thread to help motivate us to recall our dreams.
I'll make it a goal to do that every day in December on days where I recall dreams (I'll just choose one dream to summarise and post.)
I'm not going to tackle my sleeping pattern yet because I think it's likely it'll be irregular for the remainder of the year. Hopefully things will settle down in the new year and I can work on that next, as well as getting back into WBTB.
:dreaming:
