Lesson 2

So having read through the text for lesson two it seems that I'm using MILD more that DILD, as stated in my response to Lesson 1 in the post above. This is because both nights I've incorporated a mantra before going to sleep. Having noted the listed "con" of MILD in the lesson notes, I think I need to this with a bit more purpose and conviction for a better chance of results. Tonight I will also try incubating a dream scenario to focus on.

I was pleased to have dream recall again last night, again confirming the importance of recording dreams as I awake from them in a journal. However, last night my dreams were a lot less easy to cling on to as I wrote them down, and I retained less details that last night. I had two alcoholic drinks last night, but only one the previous night, and this potentially a factor? Tonight I will abstain from alcohol and note any differences.

Again, I did not achieve lucidity. Here are my notes from Night 2:

In bed at 11:45pm

02:20am: I was dreaming of going to bed in a bunk bed, which was in a lovely floating wooden cabin on a lake. A heavy rainstorm hit, and this worried me at first, but then I relax and enjoy it. As I relax I drift out of the dream and I awaken IRL.

03:11am: I was on a fairground ride (note: I can't remember what type and I didn't record this at the time). I get off the ride and re-queue for it. I then try desperately to look at my hands to do my RC, however I suspect I was already out of the dream at this stage and was doing it retrospectively.

04:41am: I was returning from a hospital to a car park. An ex-colleague of mine is pointing out signs that instruct to take off your shoes! There is a canal in the car park, and I attempt to walk around the ridge of one of the barges. This has the effect of causing the barge to drift away. There are two elderly couples on the barge, one of the ladies is fine with what happened, another is quite annoyed.

08:00am: A female friend of mine are (somehow) using dreams to get at a girl she doesn't like. (Note: IRL she is the least vindictive person you could meet!). The character of Freddy Krueger was there, but he did some kind of deal that meant he wouldn't get this girl, but in the end he gave her the head of a toad! Freddy seemed to find it interesting that this girl now had "a hot body" (as he said in the dream) but with the head of a toad!

At 08:30 I was fully awake.

I need to make plans in advance that sleeping in until 08:30am is a rarity for me, from tomorrow that will change and I'll most likely be getting woken up between 6am and 7am. I will need to adjust my bedtime accordingly. Looking at the notes from the last two nights I'm dreaming 6.5 to 8.25 hours after getting into bed. On that basis I need to get to bed at around 10pm usually.

So I'll continue to focus on the MILD, doing my RCs during the day and getting a proper focus and "will" before I sleep to get the intent to be lucid dialled in. I've also looked at the Awareness techniques and will build them into my routine too.