October 19, 2015: Had a horrendous time trying to sleep this morning. I went to bed at 12:45am and alarm was set for 5:30, but I awoke spontaneously at 4:40 and was unable to fall asleep again due to my mind racing about life nonsense. I never felt close to the brink of sleep, so I opted not to further frustrate myself by trying FILD. At around 8:30am, I gave up and tried searching Dream Views and Reddit for tips on how to quiet a chatty brain. Found a suggestion about focusing on one's breath while counting backwards from 50 (on the inhale). I also saw something about how being in a chair or recliner can help induce lucidity, so I thought to hell with it and propped myself up on a few pillows too.

Counting my inhales backward from 50 worked wonderfully. I started dozing off while still in the 40s, and probably fell asleep somewhere in the 20s. And I actually ended up having a dream that was about me becoming lucid, but I don't think that I genuinely was (it felt like a normal dream). This marks the first lucidity-themed dream I've had during this latest learning attempt, though. And in the dream I did try to engage my senses (by touching a wall and rubbing hands together). A good sign. There were a few other muddled dreams that followed this one, but they are still of very poor quality and my recall of them is shaky.

Today's task and tonight's goals: In addition to reality checks, I will be practicing sensory awareness. My dream goals tonight are to have memorable dreams and to try FILD.