ClockFace's Workbook

Sleeping schedule:
- About 11 to 6:30 every day. (I keep track via my Fitbit.) I usually get 7 hours a night and maybe once a week get 8 hours. I wake up 3x a night no matter what.

Reality Checks:
- My phone periodically asks me, "Are you dreaming?" I stop and look around, try to remember what I've been doing to that point, etc.
- Look at my hands (I think this doesn't work because I don't do this during the day without prompting)

Dream Signs:
- Celebrities. I don't even live in LA any more :chuckle: and celebrities/movie stars/TV stars are everywhere in my dreams, playing nearly all the roles.
- A type of flying I call "weak flying." I fly all the time in my dreams (without being or becoming lucid!) but often it's "weak" -- closer to a putt-putt motor than Superman-type flying. Good for getting short distances.
- Water: torrential rains, rising tides, floods. (I've heard this is a sign of overwhelming emotion, but I generally don't feel emotional waking up!)

Short-Term Goals:
- To have a lucid dream
- To get some answers to questions
- To become more aware during my day the way I want to be more aware at night

Long-Term Goals:
- To use more dream material in my writing
- To have the feeling of control in my day and night
- To meet a dream mentor

Lucid/Dream Recall History:
- None. Or should I say, I think I had one once, over a decade ago, where I read a newspaper headline, realized I couldn't read it, thought I must be dreaming, and woke up.

Current Technique:
- MILD. I drift off to sleep with my mantras. I wake up several times during the night and say the mantras when going back to sleep.
- I'm transcribing my dream journals every day (or so), and paying attention to the dream signs. So far this hasn't helped, but I'm making a "key word list" of the biggest ones.

Welcome to DV and Intro class, Clockface! :)

Like I mentioned in my introduction, since returning to being intentional about keeping a dream journal (rather than having a book by my bedside I sometimes scribbled in if the dream was intense enough), my dreams have exploded in length, story, and SYMBOLISM. Seriously, it's like my subconscious has said, "Hey, the line's open! Let me say ALL THE THINGS." I feel kind of overwhelmed, frankly. I could probably spend an hour or so a day, just trying to unpack these dreams.

I review my dreams by typing them into a Scrivener file (my handwriting is atrocious) and assign keywords to them.

I did do my mantra last night: "I am going to become lucid in a dream. I recognize I'm in a dream."

I have been doing RCs throughout the day, prompted by the phone app I've been using (LucidDream, iOS), but today I'm adding Naiya's suggestion of really intentional awareness throughout the day, unprompted.

"Well...how did I get here?"

Last night I did a different mantra: I'm working on a writing project and I need some more help/clarity. So last night I asked for help before going to sleep.

And my dreams were a muddled, incoherent mess. I could barely remember wisps of elements to the dreams when I woke up. I had to write "Couldn't remember dreams" in my journal, because I couldn't write down one thing with any certitude.

Good to hear you're already making progress, Clockface. A little tip on the mantras, I think it is better to use shorter mantras/sentences. Use a few key words such as "I become lucid" or "I will have clarity" and put your intent or strong desire into the mantra every time you say it. That way it will be more efficient and the message will get more easily to your subcon :).

So, since starting this journal...

...my dream recall has VANISHED.

Not only is telling myself "I recognize I'm dreaming," "I become lucid in dreams," etc. not helping, I'm guessing it's putting too much pressure on me. Ugh. I need to write down the snippets I can remember from dreams. (Given that I had a dream that filled two pages of my dream journal the day before opening an account here, I'm kind of bummed.)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NyxCC

Good to hear you're already making progress, Clockface. A little tip on the mantras, I think it is better to use shorter mantras/sentences. Use a few key words such as "I become lucid" or "I will have clarity" and put your intent or strong desire into the mantra every time you say it. That way it will be more efficient and the message will get more easily to your subcon :).

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Ooo. I will try this. Definitely need to try something different.

Okay, remembered two dreams last night, so Dream recall is returning after the sudden outage. Now to get back to mantras and RCs.

That's good to hear Clockface! :)

Okay, still working on bringing back the level of dream recall I was having.

Something I've noticed, though, even on the really long and detailed dreams I can remember: they don't seem very vibrant or vivid when I wake up. I remember them is sort of being sepia tone or something I've watched on the fuzzy TV. Do most people feel immersed in their dreams? As though they were really clear?

Hell no, currently my dreams are generally in semi-darkness or so it would seem.
Analyzing my dreams (looking for clues from my subconscious) has led me to see I have little awareness during "waking" time and need to work on my ADA and RCs and not be so lazy.
As with everything it will improve.

btw good name ^^

Hmmm, I would say there might be a difference between being in the dream and it feeling vivid at the time and then remembering the dream vividly. The latter may have to do more with recall than actual dream vividness. Also, it seems more emotional dreams might feel more vivid both during and afterwards. I think that for most people the level of vividness will vary from one night to another.