Thread: BadAssLongCoat's Workbook.

So I have noticed a few things over the last few days (since my first unintentional LD in years and having begun reading about how to induce them).

Starting with dream journaling (Last night/This morning) and RCing, I have already begun noticing small things about the world and why I seemed to not only stop LDing as a child (This I already know and understand) but stopped remembering dreams altogether in everyday life.

I no longer go absolutely everywhere with my headphones on to listen to music, I have chosen to do this to increase my waking life lucidity, which has severely dropped off in recent months due to intensity and duration of work and alcohol consumption (bordering on dependency). I find that during work I am merely going through the motions, doing things that come to me automatically and making easy decisions in much the same way, the only time I become fully lucid IRL is when the pressure goes up and I need to consciously make critical decisions fast or when something that is not simply 'everyday' occurs like someone or myself injures themselves or an event happens/requires planning. For any reading this who don't know, I am a chef and work long and tedious hours which can also be stressful, so 'zoning out' and being a passenger in my own life is a good way to take the edge off of that.

I digress (sorry if this becomes a TL;DR), Removing my headphones stops me zoning out from the world and I have already noticed that by concentrating on everything and nothing at once I can feel like I am almost in a meditative state even while walking between locations. I notice the smell of exhaust fumes of bypassing cars, the patterns on leaves as I walk by, the shape of the clouds, the colour of the shirt someone is wearing when I speak to them (which has already become easier as I don't seem to drift off mid conversation as easily).
While I haven't yet filled many pages in my dream journal to find dream signs, I have, through the aforementioned improvements in daily lucidity, noticed points in time which are great for performing RCs. If someone stares at me as I approach or as they drive past me, I RC. If I do something out of the ordinary, such as walking into a fast food outlet, I RC. because these things are slightly abnormal for me.
I have also noticed mundane things that I do that I can use to trigger the habit, such as lighting a cigarette or tossing it away, I RC then now. The same with when I get into the elevator in my apartment building, go into or out of my house or get to work. I feel the work one will be handy as I often remember snippets of bad dreams involving work.

I have committed to this as well as meditation, which I plan on doing before bed each night and eventually when I set a regular body clock, first thing after waking up and writing an entry into my dream journal. (By the way, anyone wishing to see my dream journal entries, for now until I understand them better I have and will be marking them for only contacts and moderators to see.)

I actually find comfort in doing the reality checks, and I plan on doing them fairly intensely for the next 14 days, by which time they should be habit.

I'm going to read through a lesson now and see what I can do

Short entry today, had a weird one last night, fell asleep during meditation, saw HIs but they never focused as I woke up, my eyes started hurting and I realised I couldn't hear anything? Any way, switched to a more normal sleeping position and drifted off but I remember feeling like I was lucid but everything was dark, I couldn't even perform reality checks because I didn't have a body to touch or look at. Not sure what's going on there :/.

Better night tonight even though no lucidity I managed to record 2 normal dreams, one as I woke up and another after a WBTB with a 30 minute gap in between, it feels good to have a few dreams already in my journal and honestly I just want to go back to bed, but I am very well refreshed, which is strange for me

I will post links here to both dreams in my dream journal when they are up, got excited and just wanted to post here to my work book first.

Shooting Digger
Hotel Breaking Bad

Good news includes that in my two dreams last night I interacted with things I should be able to focus on to help me attain lucidity, in both dreams there were phones, although not like my mobile phone, one was an old school Nokia, like one I used to own and the other in my second dream was a cordless from a hotel which I tried to dial numbers on. There was also an elevator in the second, I have an elevator in my building and I will continue to do RCs in it each time I use it. Maybe as far as mobile phones go, I might RC each time I have to dial a number into it?

Gonna go do my DJ entries now

Tricky morning, had a gard time focussing and staying Lucid in waking life for long enough to write last night's dream down into my DJ. Got the gist of it down, but the first part about it, where I was in a house that felt familiar even though my dream self had never been there let alone my waking self I managed to take down an incredible amount of detail about the rooms I went through before meeting my brother.

Originally Posted by BadAssLongCoat

Short entry today, had a weird one last night, fell asleep during meditation, saw HIs but they never focused as I woke up, my eyes started hurting and I realised I couldn't hear anything? Any way, switched to a more normal sleeping position and drifted off but I remember feeling like I was lucid but everything was dark, I couldn't even perform reality checks because I didn't have a body to touch or look at. Not sure what's going on there :/.

That happened to me once, when I tried to WILD when going to sleep..... I wondered about it as well, somebody told me to have a look at "being lucid in delta sleep". This makes sense to me..... not in REM, no dream, just a void....

Originally Posted by Hirondelle

That happened to me once, when I tried to WILD when going to sleep..... I wondered about it as well, somebody told me to have a look at "being lucid in delta sleep". This makes sense to me..... not in REM, no dream, just a void....

Nothing I could think of here worked to either wake me up or trigger a dream let alone a lucid dream. Last night I thought it happenned again but on more thorough inspection of my dream recall I was in fact dreaming, just the only thing I could properly remember was thinking "I need to do a reality check" but for some reason couldn't remember how. Perhaps working on my perspective memory for a while will build up the discipline I had as a child again.

As for the void dream, if I wasn't focused on trying to lucid I think it could have been blossful and peaceful.

Been away on holiday with no internet, back now had a lucid dream while I was there, only about 7 minutes long but I was stoked when I realized I was dreaming and lucid haha. Had a hard time stabilizing through my excitement but I started building my castle. Was great fun, need to work on my imagination though

So recorded two NDs last night, I actually woke up in between them and because I didn't want to move to record the first one I meditated on it for a short while basically re-watching it then attempted a WBTB sort of dream entry for the second one. Didn't manage to maintain consciousness unfortunately but I did learn from this: I remembered my first dream better than my second dream, I woke up from the second a little fitful and was unable to meditate on it. I think I had actually overslept and my body needed to move around.

I have also decided to start reading back through my dream journal each night. If not right before I decide to go to bed I will read it from here, easier to understand as when I write first thing in the morning the last thing my body seems capable of is maintaining the fine motor skills required for readable hand-writing, other wise I will read from my journal.

Going to attempt a WILD tonight as I got some good sleep in last night and a nice meditation session this afternoon, eating some tuna for dinner to help with that.

Really counter productive night last night, fitful sleep and actually wound up being pretty tense the whole time. remember fragments of more than 4 dreams that all blend in together but the first ruined the lot for me. Wound up waking up to some noise and thought I'd go for a WILD from there and found myself in NREM, all I could see was from the corner of my room as if I were standing above myself and the same scene kept repeating where a cowboy would climb through my window and get shot by something unseen from the other side of my bed room door. After that I managed to force myself awake enough to re-position and get relaxed again but found myself in yet another repetitive dream, my eyes were closed and I was in control this time but it was more like watching a movie or reading a book than being able to interact with it, I only remember that sensation and not the actual dream. 2 dreams fragments were NDs, both playing minecraft except I was the character being played, not the player playing the character (Bizarre) and another was fragments from a giant hide and seek game that resulted in fatality if you lost but in hilarious ways.

Really don't feel that well rested and my sleep cycles were all messed up, gonna reset this arvo with some meditation followed by a 90 minute nap about 8 hours before I plan on going to bed tonight, might smash the tryptophan foods dinner as well.

Hey there! Came and looked because of the cool name and can see you seem to be on the right track. Also congrats on the lucid .
From what I can gather you seem to maybe be a struggling a bit with dream recall and reality checks, which sounds similar to me even just a few months ago. On recall I personally can't over recommend journaling. When I first got into LDing my recall was patchy as anything, I had brief bursts of a 2 or 3 a night and then long weeks of nothing, my average was probably about 1 a week or something terrible like that. I could never keep journaling consistently so that probably contributed to the sporadic nature of it. In December though I decided to journal every single day, even if I remembered nothing, and since then my recall has jumped to an average of 3+ a night, which compared to my mediocre baseline is a huge jump. Although it can be hard to consistently aim for recall getting that habit going of writing done something (even just that you didn't recall anything) and reaching for recall every single day is crucial for rapid gains. Even if you think you didn't have any dreams lay there for a few minutes and see if anything comes to you, it often will. Oh also I don't know if you already know this but try not to move around when you wake up, that can scatter dream memories.

As for RC's If finger through the palm and drawing on your hand aren't working out/viable for you I can suggest a few other techniques you might want to try. Pinching your nose and trying to breath (not the most discreet admittedly), feeling whether gravity is affecting you normally, remembering what you did 15 minutes ago and how you got to where you are now (aka a Reverse Reality Check) and trying to shoot a fireball out of your hand or some other dream power like that are all good RC's. You should do whatever works best for you, as long as it shows if you are in a dream and gets you thinking about the world around you.

I hope my ramblings have been of some use at least to you. You seem to have quite a nice foundation and I just thought I could offer you a few pointers I have learned to maybe help you out. Good luck!

Thanks BlairBros! It's jard to form habits like thought based RRCs and even RCs with my job but I do try. As a chef you get lost in what you are doing to hold back the pressure and it's easy to lose self awareness as your full mental capacity moves to environmental-awareness totally, however on my days off I get to gain some ground which is great. Other things with the job are common crutches such as drinking and smoking which are normal in my line of work but detrimental to more than just sleep and dream recall, so I am working to try and reduce stress in my life through meditation and sorring out issues extra-work like debts and personal stuff to make it easier to let go of said crutches.

It is getting gradually easier each week and I can see how it should work, it's just getting that to be a part of who I am, LDing will be more inportant in my life than the novelty value so it has a high priority in things I am trying to acheive in life right now. I know I will get there and thanks for the motivation and kind words

Lots of work recently and probably a bit too much alcohol in the evenings to really have much going on after lights out that I can report but I have been keeping up with maintaining self awareness, working on being genuinely surprised each time I catch myself zoning out. Is becoming easier each day to remain self aware and periods of zoning out are becoming shorter and more infrequent which is good news.

Also noticed that building my dream recall and setting intentions for bed is helping my waking memory. I now do a two step for intention setting before bed, the forst one for real life while I am still up and about, telling my brain to remind me of important events coming up when I need to remember them and then a while after working on the intention to remember my dreams upon waking.

I have decided to stop 'pushing' for lucids, the one I had last week came when I wasn't trying but kept LD on my mind when not otherwise occupied so I think I will focus on this forst and take a step back and just slow down. Slow and steady wins the race, also I feel that if I work up to it slower I can be more thorough which will in turn build a stronger, more reliable and more consistent skillset.

Been a pretty tough week with work, not getting breaks during the day due to large amounts of prep needing to be done which has hurt the amount of time I can spend meditating. It has actually been close to a week since I meditated but before bed tomight as I say my mantras I want to have a nice clear mind to put the week behind me before my day off tomorrow. I don't have a strict wake up time which is nice but I do have a few things I need to do tomorrow so I should get a few good dreams in as I tend to the night before a day off.

Tonight I will have a Lucid dream though, at least one, I have saturated my thoughts with it and awareness all day and for most of yesterday too. No alcohol tonight to mess up my recall or any attempts and by now I am already feeling pretty relaxed. Going for a shower next, then I am going to again practice the stabilization ritual I have planned out for when I wake into the dream, starting with my pinch test, when that fails I will move onto memory testing with my standard RRC 'Where was I five minutes ago? and before that? But right now I am me, only I am dreaming. In five minutes I will be fully lucid' generally while looking around affirming that things are not as they should be because I am dreaming. I like to pull my phone out after that to make sure that the last SMS I received is one I don't remember, then I turn around and reach to the floor to touch some grass in the clearing surrounded by trees I want to be my quiet place. I will then rub my hands together and feel the warmth they generate and head toward the tree line toward the rest of my dream.

I will try something advanced, it should work, I can't reason anything as to why not. I read Hyu's post about persistent realms, I will go to the realm of Takeshi Kovaks, if you have ever read Altered Carbon and its sequels by Richard K. Morgan then you will know I am in for a crazy sci-fi ride.

Also when I feel myself wake up I will go back with a DEILD to prove it is in fact persistent and to make sure the body I choose when I get in fits still

happy dreaming! I will report back when I wake back into waking reality.

Keep up the good work Badasslongcoat! A lucid is on its way!

No lucids last night, but oh well had 2 pretty interesting NDs, one with zombies where I had to murder an old gardener because he makes this pizza that it turns out was attracting the zombies and another where I was at work, I had to change something on the till quickly before a customer ordered it because we were out of stock for that item, the customer shows interest in what I am doing thinking I will take his order but the loud-mouthed bastard winds up next to me watching what I am doing so I shoved him enough to bump the spirits shelf and make a few bottles fall off. I get in the shit but I am happy because I know I will get fired from my shitty job at this shitty place with this shitty company and I am drinking with my boss who can't seem to get over the fact I forgot to order wombok cabbage (Which isn't true it just came in and was eaten by cabbage moth larvae).

Sorry just gonna leave them there as tags, won't have time this morning to properly journal them so hopefully I can recall them through meditation later on today.

Was sick all last night with flu and still am today, gotta say though, if theres one thing that sucks about noticing each and every micro-wakening it's when you have flu. I must have woken about 40 times last night and each time was harder to get back to sleep. Had scattered dreams though which weren't too bad, don't recall them now but I do remember knowing I was dreaming in one but not getting beyond that, same as the night before, knowing I should do a reality check and knowing I am dreaming but feeling more like I'm watching a movie.

It's definitely good progress though, soon I should be able to start gaining good control and breaking through that barrier of 'barely there' lucidity .

Well, still sick with flu (kind of, just the cough I always have at the back end of it and a few sniffles but the bad part is over) and not really helping by going to the staff party last night. Only happens once a year though so really I wanted to make an effort, especially seeing as I didn't go last year.

Woke up super early this morning finding it hard to breathe, so I got up and grabbed some water and went to the toilet and such, being upright helped after a while and I went back to sleep only to have back to back LUCIDS BABY! the second was a FA from the first, but brain didn't realise that I am most likely to RC after just waking up, especially if I feel like I have forgotten something (like an event). Seems to have really worked out, using waking and it's various effects to RC, It is by far the most powerful RC I have yet, has worked twice in as many times that I can remember. I can't recall any NDs with a FA so I'm going to go ahead and say it has worked 100% for me so far

I knocked flying off my sig list of things to do in an LD, I managed to fly with what felt like good control but lost lucidity at some point, probably due to the fact that I forgot to focus on my senses and lost sight of the ground, I woke into another LD though and that was pretty cool. I almost knocked the talking to a DC about them being in an LD and almost had LD sex :3

Well last night sucked, but I made progress nonetheless so I can live with that. Webt to bed, slept maybe 3 hours, remember a dream fragment involving some cooked fish, I go to RC and wake up right there, I am awake for maybe half a second and go straight for DEILD, I'm pretty aware all of a sudden and it's seconds before my body is asleep again but as the HI hits I get the sensation of being pulled under which is good but then I seemed to just skip off the top of a bubble. I try to hold on to that but too late. So I decide by now trying to go straight into DEILD would be futile, I sit up and drink some water, RC just in case, it's happenned before. I check the time and see it's 3am. I decide to just meditate until I can fall asleep again, I repeat the same mantra I was repeating before bed: 'I am coming, wait for me' as I visualize the Girl in the Red Dress. After what must have been close to an hour, I am deeply relaxed and I am letting my thoughts flitter about a little now, keeping them close but letting them do their own thing.
I hear a voice for a split second, at first I couldn't make out what it was saying or who it was but then I catch the echo off the void. "Leila" or maybe Laila? I think it doesn't matter, I'll go with Leila. I was wondering if she would ever tell me, or if I would have to guess or remember ir if she had ever told me her name. Since then I feel a closeness to her despite not being able to see or touch. I like the feeling.

I feel like she is definitely my dream guide, and now I can call to her each night as I go to where she is in my dreams.

Since then I feel a closeness to her despite not being able to see or touch. I like the feeling.

Sounds great seeing someone you don't know in RL in multiple dreams, getting to know that person.... I suppose it makes going to sleep a real adventure!

Originally Posted by Hirondelle

Sounds great seeing someone you don't know in RL in multiple dreams, getting to know that person.... I suppose it makes going to sleep a real adventure!

I guess she is a part of me haha. I wonder if a dream guide is the embodiment of something to a person? Like maybe the subconscious or the creative mind? Or maybe they represent the barrier between the conscious and subconscious and allow you to pass it? Still not sure if Leila even is my dream guide but I intend on finding out next time I dream.

Another dreamless night last night, slept well at least and didn't notice any microwakenings but I am a little more stressed than usual. quitting smoking and extra hours at work don't really mix, especially when you work as a chef :3 Tomorrow off though and I feel that once today is finished the knowledge of that will help relax me. I always remember dreams when I have the next day off

I wonder if a dream guide is the embodiment of something to a person?

I couldn't answer that, because I don't think I have one, or maybe that is yet to come? I do know that there are some threads about this subject, you've probably already checked these out!

Working as a chef... I couldn't... I get stressed when I have to cook for 8 people!

Lol well I am on my 7th day straight today, covering for the head chef. Maybe that is why I had another absolute shocker of a night last night, again, slept maybe 3-4 hrs then woke up, unable to sleep for 2-3 more. Still though, starting to give WILD a shot due to this, got nothing to lose really and I am beginning to make progress there too.

Well, old Hefe is going to be off work until Saturday, which means I don't get my day off on Friday (which after today, which I worked, was my only other day off) which sucks. Especially seeing as from here on out, I will have less than 8 hours between shift end and shift start which will greatly hinder any progress I can make with dream recall as I won't have time to make any entries, even if I lucid

I had a shocker again last night as I mentioned above, but I did take a ping at WILD (as I also mentioned above) and learned something. I seem to hit a barrier where I am 'numb' but not fully asleep (body wise), if I hadn't been surrounded by actual external noises (my house-mate getting up at 5am to have a shower and go to the gym, cooking breakfast and washing his last night's dishes all seemingly while wearing one-man-band gear) I may have succeeded. I found that tinitis, a disease associated with modern living where in the absence of noise the ears ring audibly, seemed to help a little. When I focussed purely on this ringing my eyes relaxed far more effectively which not only allowed HI to start forming but for my eyes to dart around as they wished without it being uncomfortable (or painful as it can be for me), I even felt my mind sliding ever closer to genuine sleep as opposed to just my body being on the threshold as is usually the case and the ringing began to change pitch in some places just before a slamming door would snap me back out of it all or the sound of pots and pans being smashed around the sink.

WILD isn't my priority, DILD is, but I felt it was worth a shot seeing as I wasn't going to get to sleep any other way besides. I did end up falling asleep by the way, after my house-mate left the apartment. I still recall fragments involving my good friend Simon, he had decided to become a chef like me and was stealing cooking trays from a floor level department store, then I was in the staff room of said store trying to WILD and a girl came in and made some noise that stopped me (ironic, huh?) I didn't recognise her so I woke up about three minutes before my alarm, which I naturally RC'd to and found I was really awake.

Originally Posted by BadAssLongCoat

Well, old Hefe is going to be off work until Saturday, which means I don't get my day off on Friday (which after today, which I worked, was my only other day off) which sucks. Especially seeing as from here on out, I will have less than 8 hours between shift end and shift start which will greatly hinder any progress I can make with dream recall as I won't have time to make any entries, even if I lucid

I had a shocker again last night as I mentioned above, but I did take a ping at WILD (as I also mentioned above) and learned something. I seem to hit a barrier where I am 'numb' but not fully asleep (body wise), if I hadn't been surrounded by actual external noises (my house-mate getting up at 5am to have a shower and go to the gym, cooking breakfast and washing his last night's dishes all seemingly while wearing one-man-band gear) I may have succeeded. I found that tinitis, a disease associated with modern living where in the absence of noise the ears ring audibly, seemed to help a little. When I focussed purely on this ringing my eyes relaxed far more effectively which not only allowed HI to start forming but for my eyes to dart around as they wished without it being uncomfortable (or painful as it can be for me), I even felt my mind sliding ever closer to genuine sleep as opposed to just my body being on the threshold as is usually the case and the ringing began to change pitch in some places just before a slamming door would snap me back out of it all or the sound of pots and pans being smashed around the sink.

WILD isn't my priority, DILD is, but I felt it was worth a shot seeing as I wasn't going to get to sleep any other way besides. I did end up falling asleep by the way, after my house-mate left the apartment. I still recall fragments involving my good friend Simon, he had decided to become a chef like me and was stealing cooking trays from a floor level department store, then I was in the staff room of said store trying to WILD and a girl came in and made some noise that stopped me (ironic, huh?) I didn't recognise her so I woke up about three minutes before my alarm, which I naturally RC'd to and found I was really awake.

Hello, have you been to the doctors regarding tinitus? I've had it before and it was caused due to the build up of wax and listening to music all the time. If random noises bother you while trying to attempt a WILD you could simply use ear buds to block it out.