Thread: Sharpshoey's Workbook

Why I want to Lucid Dream

- Have a main Persistent Realm/multiple non-main Persistent Realms (one of my main goals)
- Have an epic lightsaber battle with a Sith Lord
- Gain total control of my dreams
- Go on some epic quests based on my favorite games/movies/books
- Have fun being able to do whatever I want

These aren't all of my goals but just some of my main ones that will motivate me the most.

In my first Lucid Dream I want to keep things simple. I want to first just walk around a little and explore the landscape. Then I want to work on flying as I want to learn that Dream Control Technique first because it seems the most useful. Basically I then just want to keep on flying around and looking at all the different things, and then eventually do some cool maneuvers while flying. If I still have time left, I'll land and then maybe talk to some DC's about anything I feel like talking about.

After that, assuming I still have some time left in the dream, I want to work on other Dream Control powers.

Welcome to intro class, Sharpshoey! Awesome dream goals!

Looking forward to reading about your first ld.

Day #1

So today is officially the first day that I really start my Lucid Dreaming Journey. Yesterday I was still figuring out kinda what I wanted to do, I still did some ADA but just a little bit. I have also tried LDing in the past but wasn't nearly as serious about it as I am now so I think that this is officially my first day of training.

Last night, I was tired when I went to bed. I kind of forgot to do my MILD visualizing and repeating of my mantra. I did it for a couple of seconds and then drifted off. (My mantra is, "I know I'm dreaming. Is that a good mantra?) I remembered 4 dreams last night! There was one really long one and then there was one dream that lasted about two seconds. The other two were about medium length. I'm pretty sure in a dream I got lucid last night, but I didn't right it down cause I remember no details about the dream, other than getting lucid. Except I was only lucid for a few seconds if I ever was lucid.

When I woke up, I wrote it my dream journal and got out of bed. I became aware of my surroundings, and then asked, "Am I dreaming?" I then performed a reality check, while still being aware. I went through the nose, hand through palm, and counting fingers RC. Then, after I was done with that I walked downstairs and continued to maintain my level of awareness. I got through about 10 minutes of ADA so I got one session down today. I also did another RC when I was close to being done with my first ADA session. (I say "I realize I'm dreaming." After doing RC's. Do you think that this is good and necessary? Or should I just do my RC and then be done with it, saving my only mantra for MILD?)

P.S. I would love to hear some feedback from you guys so I can see if I'm doing anything wrong. I will also be updating this post throughout the day as I do more RC's and ADA sessions.

Edit: I have changed the mantra I say when doing MILDs to "I'm dreaming". It seems more effective and "I know I'm dreaming" and "I realize I'm dreaming" are really close, so they'd basically be doing the same thing. So I took away "I know I'm dreaming" during my MILDs. I still do "I realize I'm dreaming" though throughout the day and during my ADA and RC's.

I need some help with the ADA though. I get distracted easily and it seems that even when I try to notice everything I'm doing and everything around me, there is always something I am missing. Will this improve over time and get easier to start noticing everything?

Update: I am just going to write this update now, so I don't forget later. I have done a few more ADA sessions and in eah one I have done 2 RC's and said my mantra quite a few times. I have also said my mantra randomly throughout the day. I will be doing a few more ADA later as well.

Hi there! You can use your mantra or number of mantras at any time of the day. It's really helpful to repeat it while doing RCs and ADA and also if you encounter any wake life dream signs. You can attach your mantra to anything, even if you are in the mood repeat it while doing chores and stuff. Usually we recommend using shorter mantras (yours are ok), but what's most important is to use a mantra that sounds good to you.

Day 2

I did my MILD last night, repeating "I'm dreaming" while visualizing. I forgot to do an RC before bed and I also forgot to read my DJ of the dreams I had the night before. During the day yesterday, I repeated another mantra a ton of times and did quite a few ADA sessions, with RC's in them. I only remembered 3 dreams last night, non of which were lucid.

I have also noticed that ADA is very mentally exhausting and in the beginning is very hard to notice everything around you. I think I will start with Puffin's SAT guide, and then work my way up to ADA. Or is Puffin's SAT as good as ADA?

I think what's more important is to remember to be aware, and being aware of things in general rather than trying to be aware of everything all the time. When you practice those techniques, you should feel an enjoyment of sorts which is acquired through practice as well as a side effect from lds, and also curiousity. It shouldn't strain or exhaust you. It's like alert relaxation. It's a bit like if you are working, you lift your head and observe the clouds in gentle examination. If you are going somewhere you listen to the sound of your footsteps.

You can expand this by observing the general situation of what's happening at the moment and relating this to dreams. You can ask yourself whether an item is likely to appear in dreams. This is done more on a sporadic basis otherwise you won't be able to perform anything.

Thank you for that advice. I will try it and it seems like a really good idea.

Day 3 & 4

I didn't have time to make a post yesterday so I'll just do 2 in one. The past two days, I have been practicing ADA as much as possible but I haven't had much time. I even have less time to include RC's with those but I'm sure that's fine, as RC's don't seem to be as important. This morning, I didn't have time to write down my dreams and I ended up forgetting them. I guess I've learned my lesson and won't do that again.

Day 5 - 8

I will try and start posting one a day now, I should have enough time again.

I have been continually doing your suggestion for ADA, focusing on being aware in general rather than trying to be aware of everything at once. It is a lot easier and I think better. I still haven't gotten my first lucid dream, but I am determined to keep trying until I get one. I have been doing all 3 of my RC's at the same time randomly throughout the day when I am aware. I do them in the same order every time.

I hope I get my first Lucid soon.

Day 9

I had my first LD last night! I became Lucid in a weird way though. I didn't ask, "am I dreaming?" or anything like that and I didn't do any RC's. I also didn't have a sudden moment where I said, "I'm dreaming!" I just for some reason knew I was dreaming. I quickly lost Lucidity though either because I didn't do any stabilization, or because I was too focused on shooting a web. (I was spider-man)

I've been lucid before but only for a few seconds. This was still a short amount of time Lucid but it was the longest I've ever been Lucid! I don't count short LD's as being Lucid but since this is my longest one yet, I'm counting it. I will post this dream in my DJ.

I didn't get to do any of my goals for my first LD though. It was like I had to follow the path of the dream for some reason.

EDIT: I just remembered a short LD I had earlier in August. It was when I had basically just joined Dream Views. I can't remember any past short LD's, though I know I've had them. I haven't put that dream in a DJ yet so I will also post that dream I just remembered in my DJ on these forums. This bumps my lucid count up to 2! Yay

QUESTION: OK so I have a quick question I have been wondering about for some time now. Every time I do an RC, do I have to do all three of the ones I chose, in the same order every time? Or each time I remember to do an RC, can I just pick one or two out of the three and do whatever one I feel like at that time? If I did it that way, would I still be able to do it in the dream?

Day 10

Had another LD tonight! This one was my longest and best one yet. I actually did stabilization in the beginning and was able to practice a bit of flying, though I didn't progress past the hovering part. I also wasn't really able to do anything else, I couldn't summon objects and an item that I wanted (a potion to fly) didn't appear in my pockets when I checked them. But that's OK, I'm just excited I finally had a good Lucid. Well, it was good for my standards anyways

I have been doing some general awareness lately, asking myself questions if something is working right, or why its there. I have also been doing RC's randomly. But now, I am going to start practicing the Gravity RC, as that seems to fit my style better than anything else. I have just been doing kind of random type stuff lately and I'm going to stop that and replace it with this RC.

Hopefully the benefits will be greater with the Gravity RC, and all of my hard work will pay off in the future. I'm looking forward to see how it works for me!

Yay! Congrats on the lds! This is so exciting, I can feel more lds coming soon!

QUESTION: OK so I have a quick question I have been wondering about for some time now. Every time I do an RC, do I have to do all three of the ones I chose, in the same order every time? Or each time I remember to do an RC, can I just pick one or two out of the three and do whatever one I feel like at that time? If I did it that way, would I still be able to do it in the dream?

No, you don't need to do all of them in the same order. People do multiple RCs to be sure because we sometimes can get confused and conclude the dream is reality if the RC fails. More RCs would solve that problem.

I have noticed that trying to do the Gravity RC (or any awareness practice) in school is very hard. It's a lot easier than doing the more common RC's, since I don't look like a weirdo but its just so hard to stay focused on your gravity. I usually get lost in thought when doing work or listening to the teacher. Hopefully this will get easier as I practice it more.

You know, you can be focused on people talking or your work and RC on that. What is the teacher saying, does it make sense? Sometimes in dreams especially on the verge of lucidity if you focus on DC speech it will become gibberish. And you can read texts and see if they change.

OK thank you for the advice, I will try that. So as I stated, I have been trying out the Gravity RC. I haven't gotten another lucid after trying this technique out. I'm not expecting the Gravity RC to already get me a lucid but I think its because I stopped doing the ADA in favor of the Gravity RC. Hopefully in the end, the Gravity RC will have a greater reward.

Also, do you recommend that I stick with Gravity RC, or do you think I should go back to the ADA I was doing, where I am aware of what things are doing and then I ask myself why they are there or if they are working correctly.

How about a little bit of both depending on the circumstances. Don't overburden yourself of course. The desire to do these things will come more naturally if you try to connect them with why you are doing them. Think about dreams themselves, how exciting it will be to have an ld, what you will be doing in your next dream. Feel the euphoria during the day and then go on performing your checks or ADA. You want to have an awesome ld, you are excited about all this, could you be dreaming right now? That state of mind makes it easier.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while.

Day 11-16
Had another LD last night. I had a dream within a dream and because of that I realized I was dreaming my second dream. It was weird because I just knew I was dreaming and I had to o what the story line was. The second I woke up though, I was non-lucid again.

I've been practicing the Gravity RC and I've noticed its been getting easier to do and I think I mostly understand it now.

So I don't think I'm going to update you day by day anymore. I don't think its really needed and I don't have that much time to do it. So I will just be keeping you updated with the important things, and I just remembered I still haven't recorded any of my LD's, so I'll get right on that.

I have gone back to doing the awareness like I was doing before, the Gravity RC just doesn't feel natural to me and it seems like I have to make a HUGE effort to remember to do it. It is easier to me with the technique I used before. I have learned that with LDing you should do things that feel natural to you and you feel like doing.

Anyways, when I first started with LDing, I thought that you just had to do constant reality checks and then it will be habit in your dreams and that will make you lucid. Then I learned to keep constant awareness. So does doing RC's increase your awareness or do you have to do RC's and awareness? The reason I was asking is because it is kind of annoying to notice things all day long and then ask yourself if they are working properly or how they might appear in a dream. Is there another way to go about this?

Also just to clarify, when I am aware of my surroundings, do I need to ask questions about everything, or can I just be aware? It is a lot of work and gives me no time to just think about things when I constantly have to ask questions bout my surroundings.

Don't worry about regular updates Sharpshoey. What's important is to keep up the practices, especially questioning reality which is the point of RCs.

The reason I was asking is because it is kind of annoying to notice things all day long and then ask yourself if they are working properly or how they might appear in a dream. Is there another way to go about this?

Doing all this shouldn't be annoying. Just examine things with interest and be more aware, more present. Think about Sherlock Holmes, how does he figure out who did what? He does so by observing the world around him and every item he looks at tells him a little story. He doesn't push it, rather he has this interest in items and people. Reality checks and ADA are like that too. They help you be more present, more aware of what's going on around you, instead of jumping from one activity to the next. If looking at a certain item isn't your thing, then by all means find something to look at/hear/perceive that you like. You can pick one thing or many things and make it your RC. By picking the thing you like you'll be more motivated to perform those checks. Some people pick gravity, others blinking, others focus on more items from the environment. Or you can go with the classical RCs, nose plugging, finger counting, text changes, etc.

Also just to clarify, when I am aware of my surroundings, do I need to ask questions about everything, or can I just be aware? It is a lot of work and gives me no time to just think about things when I constantly have to ask questions bout my surroundings.

Again, that's up to you. The core is to have a little pause in our everyday life and use that pause to raise the awareness. You can focus on yourself or your environment, and think about what is happening (event), who is participating, where you are now or were before. Don't need to do all of these. But be sure to relate all your pauses, RCs, ADA or whatever you do to lds. Why are you doing all this? Because it may be a dream. This is what is exciting, and when you perform your checks try to be excited about that upcoming ld.

Just had another LD last night! It was weird this time though. I was dreaming and in that dream I knew I was dreaming. So it was like a lcid dream within a dream. Except that I never woke up or went to sleep in the dream, I just somehow was asleep at one point and 'awake' the next. I knew in the dream that I should be practicing other things like flying, but I couldn't pull myself away from all the girls All I was doing was talking to them, but I couldn't seem to make myself go away and practice dream control even though I even had the thought I should practice it.

Also, earlier I had a dream and I didn't know if it counted as an LD or not, so I'd like to ask. I got to a certain point and I had to find a hostage in the dream. While I was dreaming, I had the thought that I'd had this dream before, so I knew where to go to find the hostage. (I get thoughts that I've had the dream before a lot) But I don't think I never had a moment where I realized I was dreaming at the time. What do you think about this? Hopefully you understood what I meant.

My first LD can be found in my DJ here First Lucid Dream from the Start of my Journey - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views Just in case you felt like reading it.

My other LD's will be written later but don't worry, they are coming!

I had TERRIBLE recall last night. I only remembered one very tiny dream and then one image from what I think was a dream. I also had to lay in bed and try to remember my dream for about 5 minutes. So not a very good night.

I started a workbook in the dream yoga class by sivason so I think that should help.

I am also going to read Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming and do the reflection-intention technique talked about in their, along with dream yoga. Hopefully, that will help me out a bunch.