MrPriority's Workbook

[MrPriority]

Hello everyone, My name is Thom/MrPriority, but you can call me Prio (or whatever else you want) I am a complete newbie here who is trying to learn how to LD. I have done it once before, or at least I think I have. I hope to gain more experience to make the LD longer, more vivid and to remember more of it. Once I have achieved that I have a whole list of things to do in a LD But let's stick to the basics for now and see how it goes! Here's my Workbook: Reality Checks: - Check the clock twice - Hands - Nose breathing Dream Signs: - People I used to know. Often ex-school friends. - Games Short-Term Goals: - Creating a routine, that gives me somewhat regular LD's and that I can keep up for a long time - Try out other techniques( WILD, DEILD and SSILD particularly) Long-Term Goals: - Being able to LD at least 3 times a week - Use LDing to learn about my subconscious mind - Become more self-aware in my lucid dreams Lucid/Dream Recall History: - Lucid: I have realized I was in a dream 3 times up till now. Last time of which I was able to make a car fly and fly a bit myself. I lost it very soon after. The entire experience was quite short. I am trying out various tutorials to help with that. - I also used to have very vivid dreams when I was younger. For example: I once dreamed I was able to breathe under water. I believed it so badly that even the next day I still couldn't believe that it was just a dream. - Dream Recall: Quantity: about 3 per night Quality: usually at least 1 has a distinct plot. Some holes here and there. Not really aware of things that are outside of the plot. And not really aware of taste most of the time. Current Technique: - DILD - MILD just because it is easy to try while doing DILD I tell myself: Ik weet dat ik droom. (wich means I know I am dreaming in dutch) in order to get a lucid dream. Let's see how that works out. - ADA I totally stopped the awareness for now. Instead I am doing Meditation and Dream Yoga. Once I have 3-4 weeks of that under the belt I will start to apply it throughout the day. Dreams recalled: -June Total Dreams: 52 Total Days: 19 Dreams/day: 2,736842105263158 Goals achieved: Spoiler for The list: - Getting to know some others / sharing experiences and making some friends -Having a long, vivid and memorable LD ~ Mr. Priority

[MrPriority]

Update #1 I have succesfully started my dream journal and done RC's these 2 days. I have dropped some of the RC's I didn't like. I have also been reading up more about LDing in general and I am starting to find out what kind of techniques I would like to apply myself. DILD and awareness seem like they are just my cup of tea. Something interested I found out already because of my DJ: I seem to wake up after pretty much every dream.(3-4 times a night) Also I seem to remember bits and pieces of every dream. But if I don't write down my dream as soon as I wake up, chances are I completely forget the dream. Last night I had 3 dreams in a row where I only realised I should write them down after the whole series. The first dream was really hard to remember even bits and pieces. The second dream was completely gone. The third however I could remember quite some bits and pieces. Then again it seemed like a rather short dream. Once I have some more bits and pieces over the next couple of days I will probably summarize them in one online DJ entry since they are not interesting enough.(since I don't remember even close to all) I really hope my memory of the dreams will get better over time. If anyone knows any method, any help is greatly appreciated. That is all for this one!

[MrPriority]

Update #2 So far I am still going strong. I'm doing RC's more than 20 times a day. I do a big awareness check about 5 times a day, where I really take my time to take in all of my senses. And I try to be more aware throughout the day. Only problems I have are in a regular sleeping schedule. But I am going to bed a little earlier each day so I'm slowly making progress there. And still need to get my MILD goals going. Getting a proper mantra and generally I'd like to learn more about it so I can practice it properly. So those are the good points and the points I can progress in. On to the Results! New Weird Experience Last night I had a new experience. I had a series of waking up and falling asleep, very fast in a row. I was quite aware through the entire thing. The strange thing is: I never really knew whether I was awake or asleep. I was aware of myself and my senses, but not aware of my state (dream or wake). Unfortunately I don't really remember what happened since I didn't write it down and my recall isn't the best. I only have some keywords and this strange memory of that weird sensation. I don't really know how to explain it. Let's hope that I am smart enough to write it all down next time. Recall progress I have been working on my recall. I have been writing down all my dreams whenever I remembered and I noticed that I have quite a lot. I don't usually remember the whole thing. Once I only remembered having a dream, but I didn't have a clue what it was about. And all of them are quite short. Perhaps I am only remembering the final bits of the dream? I am still on an average of remembering 3 dreams a night. Sometimes bits and pieces. Sometimes a short story. Overall I remember more when it gets closer to daytime. But not always. All in all I am not sure what it all means. Or if I am any closer to having an LD. If this is normal or if I'm going to slow. Or if im doing something wrong. But I'm still staying positive! Tomorrow will be the night! I will post a summary of all the most interesting parts of the last couple of nights in my DJ. If anyone is interested. That is all for this one.

[501]

Great progress so far! Your longer dreams are always later in the night closer to morning. This is when your mind has had its share of deep sleep and its time to play. Your brain starts firing the neurons and warming up like a car engine getting ready for the day. This is the reason people do their WBTB later in the day after 4.5 or more hours of sleep.

[MrPriority]

Thanks for the reply 501! I've been wanting to look more into WBTB. I think I already am doing that since I wake up naturally. Sometimes I go to the bathroom, sometimes I just write down my dreams. I'll look into more of that. It seems like MILD and SSILD is also the best time to do that, though I am trying not to do to many things at the same time. There's just so much to read and so many things to try I was actually just about to make a new update so I'll just keep that in the same post. Update #3 I updated my goals and RC's. And I rephrased some things to more match what I am actually doing, since I had no idea what I was about to do when I wrote it. Upcoming next Wednesday is my first week of DV. It's also my first week of using a DJ. So I will be analyzing the details. Try to find a dream sign. Compare dream quality and quantity with time out of bed and the time I awoke. I am also thinking about changing up my DJ layout. Some minor adjustments to make it easier to write down everything that is important. And I am trying to lay down even longer before doing to much after a dream. Try to recall more, or just try thinking random things like: Was my brother in the dream? Hoping to hit something that can trigger the memory. Lastly I might shift some things (or even all) over to Thursday since Wednesday is my birthday That is all for now!

[MrPriority]

Tuesday 17/06/14 After reading through some of other people's workbooks I have decided that I'm going to try to post progress here daily. I am starting to try and add something to my ADA. At the moment I take my time to take in everything from every sense I can, about 5-6 times a day 2-3mins per. And I try to question and be aware of reality in as much detail as often as I think of doing it. Along with the RC and Mantra of course. Now I will try to be conscious of my breathing at all times. If I only take that 1 thing I think I can perhaps work my way up from there. I had a strange dream again. This time I knew I was aware that I was dreaming. I somehow suddenly realized I could feel my leg, but not the rest. So I knew it was a dream. But I totally forgot what happened after that. Or before that even. EDIT: I want to try out some Dream Yoga. It can't really hurt the other techniques and is easy to add to my list so why not . I will collect some data from a week of DJ and make some new adjustments, but that is for tomorrow. Dont trust anyone

[NyxCC]

Lastly I might shift some things (or even all) over to Thursday since Wednesday is my birthday Happy Birthday, Mr. Priority!

[MrPriority]

Happy Birthday, Mr. Priority! Thank you very much! I already got a fine present in the form of some great dreams! 6 to be exact. That's a new record! Also a very short lucid moment and some weird dreams. I'd say that's some fine progress I am making And a great start of the day! It'll be a good one

[MrPriority]

19/06/14 Ok then big changes for this update! First of all I read all my dreams again. Trying to find some Dream Signs. I found 3 so they will be added. I will pay more attention when I encounter those. Second I am not happy with my RC's and my ADA round I do daily. Basically I want to try things a little differently. Whenever I do a round of awareness I am never sure what I am really doing. And honestly, I think I am doing it wrong. I think that, once you have had some LDs, you know what to look for. What to be aware of. Since I have really no clue what I should be aware of, and how to be aware of all these things at a time I want to try things a little easier. One step at a time. I decided I want to try being aware of my breathing at all times. That way I have an easy task, that I know I can accomplish. I have been trying this out a bit and I have noticed this also interrupts my dozing of. Every time I start mindlessly doing stuff I realize I am not aware of my breathing. And therefor stop dozing off. So it helps to keep me aware. This also gave me a good idea. Since I now have multiple times a day, where I realize I am not paying enough attention. They are the perfect time to do a RC. This makes me do way over 20 RC's a day. And it even motivates me to become more aware. The more aware I become, the less RC's I will have to do. Lastly there is the point of my RC's. I had a lot of trouble, truly questioning reality. So I want to try and pick one thing and focus on that while I question reality. I decided to pay additional focus to my gravity whenever I RC. Since gravity is something you are usually not aware of, it is quite easy for me to question if it still is the proper 1g. That get's me in the mood to believe I might just be dreaming. So then my other RC's will become more valuable. That is the basic idea. Third I have also started Dream Yoga, since I am usually awake for a bit in my bed before falling asleep. Who knows, it might help. So TL;DR New Dream Signs. Dream Yoga. New RC (gravity check) + old ones. And I switched up ADA with being aware of breathing for now. That is all for now! Repressed feelings and Water fun

[NyxCC]

^^ It looks like an excellent strategy Mr. Priority. With respect to ADA and RCs, you don't indeed have to focus on everything at all times but rather be more mindful about your surroundings. The version of focusing on one thing - like your breath or gravity still counts. There have been a number of successful dreamers with this technique - gravity check, breathing focus or blinking focus. Doing RCs multiple times is also good and carrying them out with more thought instead of mindlessly. All in all, a good plan. I wish you luck with your new strategy.

[MrPriority]

20/06/14 Thanks for the feedback! Helps a lot! And I guess it worked! I got my first LD today! Thanks for all the help here! To you and all the dream guides My first Lucid

[OpheliaBlue]

.

[NyxCC]

Congrats! Oh and what a great scene change! I love beach dreams!

[MrPriority]

Thank youuu Yeah me too! They can be so much fun, yet so relaxing as well

[501]

Awesome!!! I had a feeling you would have one coming your way soon enough! Very long for your first one too! Still to this day I get too excited and I just spiral right out. You did very well controlling your excitement and clearing the dream up with your senses. What is one of the greatest things about lucid dreaming is that if its your first, 10th or 30th the excitement and sheer awe is always there. At least for me it is. Looking forward to more good news!

[MrPriority]

Thanks! And I sure hope it stays that way! Though I also hope I become a little bit less shocked by everything It made me hesitate to do any really crazy stuff last time. But I guess that's mostly because I didn't know what to expect. 22/06/2014: Latest update: I just returned from a weekend away. A lot of fun! But 2 short nights and a lot of alcohol. In the end I only have 1`dream recalled and that one is too vague to really make a decent story. Perhaps I will write it with my next night, perhaps I will leave it out entirely. We'll see. Either way, IRC gave me some good inspiration and motivation once again. I am really tired, but also really pumped to go to bed! With the first LD out of the way, now is the time to actually get to do some awesome things! Since my first LD took me about 2weeks. Between, looking up things, finding DV, signing up and practicing. So that will be the new deadline. Get a lucid dream within 2 weeks. The sooner the better though! This will be my backup motivation. Let's hope I won't need to use it and that I have one way before that time! That's all for today. See you tomorrow with some, hopefully, awesome dreams!

[MrPriority]

Tuesday 24/06/14 I should have updated yesterday, but honestly, there wasn't much to say. So let's continue the update here. The weekend certainly brought me some bad recall. I feel that, tonight will be the first day it will be back to normal. So from tonight on, the hunt for a LD is on! I have refined my MILD technique a bit. I still wasn't happy with the Visualization I was doing. I am now doing a combo, between Naiya's MILD technique and I believe it was Memm who posted something on Memory. In the end what I came up with is: Think about my last dream. Visualize it. Then make it strange. Then visualize yourself getting lucid from that. Lastly really believe I will have that dream next! Rinse and repeat for every time I WBTB. I am still debating whether or not I should also use this for my daydreaming. Because that would mean I would have to start the day with that exercise. Otherwise I wouldn't remember what my last dream was well enough. And I am not sure if it is worth the trouble. Also, I may want to reserve daydreaming for dream goals. We'll see. Next up: Dream yoga. This will be the exercise I do after MILD. If I fall asleep while doing that, so be it. I put less emphasize on that one. Lastly: My DJ. I want to change it up. Use Sensei's Dream Journal method. Eventually also his Dream Goal Journal. Once I have had at least 5 LD's in 1 month, I will try out his week by week goal plan. To really push myself to the limit. If I can get 5 in a month once I should be able to get it consistently. As for the normal Dream Journal, I am still figuring out, how I can record all that information without it becoming a hassle. I'll try and tweak that a bit. Perhaps only put down the dream and the time when I wake up, but then put all the other information in later. We'll see. I think it is very important to do this properly, as the DJ has done the most for me so far. All in all, I feel like I am getting closer and closer to a schedule which I am happy with. Once I have one I want to stick with, the plan is to make that into a habit. Only when I have that habit, I will start trying out other things, like DEILD and WILD. But first I want to create a good basic routine for myself, that I can keep doing for a loooong while. That's all for this update!

[MrPriority]

25/06/14 Waiter! One weird dream with a little bit of Lucid on the side please. Yep yep, number 2 in the back. Going strong! A LD a week is easy peasy! I did do some things wrong though. I should've taken more time to stabilize. Also I got over excited. I think I did not keep my calm because I really did not anticipate having no hands. My subconscious threw me curve ball there. If I had known that was possible I would've probably been a little more calm and tried to visualize untill I had my hands again. Where as now I had no idea what to do xD Oh well. Lesson learned. Because I didn't take my time stabilizing, the dream didn't feel "real". That is a bit too bad. But it's still way clearer than any dream. After thinking about it for a while, I'm pretty sure it was a MILD. I had a clear intention of having a lucid dream before I even became lucid. It's a combination of the MILD, the overall intent and interest in LDing, and properly RCing. That gave me the LD in the end. At least that is my diagnose so far. In further news: I made a new journal. Not the one I wanted, but a waking day journal. It helps me write off all thoughts and go to bed peacefully. Therefor making my MILD much more useful. It's also useful training for long term memory. And I simply enjoy it . I still need to switch up my DJ, to get more information easier. I am getting closer and closer to an every day routine that works for me. The quest continues! Number 2 in the bag!

[NyxCC]

That is great news! Congrats! You know I've also had and sometimes still have lds where some of the senses are not working properly. While it's important not to expect this happening, if it does, I find it helpful to concentrate on other available elements of the dream until things return back to normal.

[MrPriority]

Thank you, kind sir! Yeah, I think if I just stay calm and do some awareness/stabilization that I can make it all come back. I know I can active senses. It's what I did in my first dream The biggest problem for now is that I wake up rather fast. It's not that I am afraid I will wake up. I just need to take more time to anchor myself and calm down. I get too excited xD. I hope the excitement will fade a little, once I have some more dreams under my belt Thanks for the reply! Now on to the updates! : 26/06/14 A bad day for recall. Almost nothing here. I lost one dream because I didn't write it down before I fell asleep. And the other one was kinda fuzzy. So nothing big here. Oh well, these things happen. Let's move on! 27/06/14 A very good day for recall! Even though I, again, was too lazy to write down 2 dreams, I did wrote down about a page just on 1 dream. It was a pretty epic one. Nothing near lucidity. But the dream totally makes up for that. I had a blast dreaming it, and then again when I wrote it in my DJ here. I'll probably give myself a bit of a breather this weekend since I have been obsessing a bit over the course of the week. I need to keep my spirits up! That's all for this one! A Medieval Adventure

[MrPriority]

28&29/06/2014 Again 2 days in one. Some days I just don't have anything to say, so I will go back to making a post, only when I have something to say. I have finally started my Meditation. 15 mins twice a day for a week. Then 30 min twice a day for another week. Then 1 hour twice a day for a week. After all that, I'll see how it goes and what I want to do. I'm still fiddling around with how I want to change my Dream Journal. On one hand I want use a tag system, because I have trouble focusing my eyes when I just wake up. So the less I have to write the better. I am on the other hand getting quite used to, remembering the dream first and then writing it down. A habit is slowly forming. I'll try out some things, see how they go. And I'll report back here when I am satisfied with my DJ. I have been experimenting with alcohol. I like having a few drinks with some friends in the weekend, but I don't want to ruin all chances for a good dream. So far it seems that if I don't go overboard with the alcohol, I can still have plenty of dreams. But I will keep a close eye on it during the weekends. Lastly, I have found a new Dream Sign. A lot of my dreams, have me going to the toilet at some point. I guess this is because I am a pit pee-shy. I can't go if I know someone is watching, or waiting for me. And I find this really annoying, since it makes no sense at all. Perhaps it is a blessing in disguise though. Since it is really easy to turn this into a RC. That's all for this one. As usual, the dreams below: To the Dream Journal Machine!

[MrPriority]

30/06/2014 And there we have it. Number 3 already! I am going like a train! When I first got lucid, for like a second, I started to show more interest in it. Then I found DV and I started to take it more seriously. All in all it took me 9 days to get from that first taste of a LD to get my first real LD. Then it took me only 7 days to get the second, and now I had my 3rd only 5 days after the last one. Thank you DV, your teachings are working Aside from that, I am still keeping up my meditation. That is going not too bad. And I wrote down a little less details this time in my DJ. I'm not sure whether I like that yet. Time will tell. Lastly I slept with my blinds closed for the first time. I was wondering if I would wake up less if I do that. But it turns out it doesn't affect much so far. I woke up around the same times I have been these last 3 weeks. 5 Dreams recalled is pretty good I'd say. I did one WBTB as well for the first time. Since I was too hyped after I woke up from my lucid. All the dreams after that were really vivid I have to say. I have this new idea I want to try. Instead of doing a regular RC I want to have one word. It will guide me through all the steps I need to take to see if it is indeed a dream. And if it is, what to do next. Because it doesn't stop after the RC. I want to do some stabilization and awareness before I start doing anything. And then I need to step back a bit and think about what my goals are. So far I have come up with: RESI Relax/Reality check ; Very important to do both before anything else. Enjoy ; Although I do admit I added this to make it a little catchier, it is never a bad idea to start a dream with a smile on your face. Stabilize ; Take some time to do some awareness and stabilize the dream Intent ; Take a step back and think about what my intentions are from this dream. What do I want to do? I might fiddle with the name a bit. See if I can make up something better. And then I will start to practice it. Think RESI(or whatever it will become) before every RC. And every now and then, visualize that it does work and go through all the steps. I want to have a very clear idea of what RESI is and what I should do. Just like RC's it has to be burned into my memory, so that when I become Lucid I will only have to think RESI and then realize what I should be doing. If I can get it to a point where I always start with that, I think it will help the quality of the LD greatly. That is all I have to say for today! To the Dream Cave!

[MrPriority]

01/07/2014 I have been thinking about this RESI idea quite a bit. And I am not sure if it is such a good idea. I don't want to become dependent of a technique. So I have decided that, for now I want to try something else. I still want to see if I can stay in the dream a bit longer. Though my idea is now, to just go along with the dream for a bit. As long as I do a regular RC it should be ok. I want to see if I can immerse myself more that way. Instead of forcing my will upon the dream immediately. If I can get a feeling of a dream where I am more immersed, that should help me get a feel for how I go deeper into the dream without relying on anything. Since I don't have to focus on that, I can focus on changing my sleep schedule a bit. I want to go to bed a little earlier and do some regular WBTB's. I have the time now, I should use it wisely. So after my first awakening (usually between 2 and 4 hours of sleep) if I remember a dream, I will do a WBTB. Well fiddle with it, and see what works. That is my message for today! To the Journal Frontier!

[MrPriority]

02/07/2014 Nothing much today. I didn't have any good dreams. The one I recall the most is not that long and not that interesting either. Perhaps I throw that one with my dreams tomorrow. I didn't feel like the meditation went fast enough. I felt like I could do more, so I did a 30min session. That was pretty successful. It was a little tough near the end, but that will get better as I progress I hope. I got to about the 20min mark without any trouble. At least what I think was the 20min mark, since I never really opened my eyes :p Just making it through is a good first step I'd say. I want to make my way up to 1 hour sessions as fast as I can. Meditation really seems to help me in waking life as well. I feel much better. I can now easily notice when I am thinking negatively and then clear my mind. So only positivity on this front. I tried my fist WILD after reading some of the classes. I did a 30min WBTB, then tried it out. I couldn't fall asleep at all. So after about 20min I gave up and tried to sleep normally, to avoid not getting any sleep at all. It took me an hour to fall back to sleep. Next WBTB I will try out 5min. See if I fall asleep then. I'd rather fall asleep without remaining conscious by accident, then not to be able to sleep. So I will start low and make my way up until I feel progress. Edit: I have 52 dreams recalled in June. Since I started at the 12th, that means I had 19 days of using a DJ. Wich gives me an average of 2,736842105263158 dreams per night. Let's hope I can go above 3 for July! That is all for today, no DJ this time!

[NyxCC]

I didn't feel like the meditation went fast enough. I felt like I could do more, so I did a 30min session. That was pretty successful. It was a little tough near the end, but that will get better as I progress I hope. I got to about the 20min mark without any trouble. At least what I think was the 20min mark, since I never really opened my eyes :p Just making it through is a good first step I'd say. I want to make my way up to 1 hour sessions as fast as I can. Meditation really seems to help me in waking life as well. I feel much better. I can now easily notice when I am thinking negatively and then clear my mind. So only positivity on this front. I also find that the longer the meditation time, the better. It takes me around 10 mins to get into a calmer state and anything beyond 30 mins is very conductive for deeper states of meditation, less mind chatter and so on. My simple EEG device also shows that the longer I do this the more the slower brainwaves like theta and delta are stimulated. Wich gives me an average of 2,736842105263158 dreams per night. Let's hope I can go above 3 for July! Lol! Thanks for letting us know the exact number! I wish you to have at least 3, 7412857395 dreams per night in July!