Thread: A newbie question....

Well...Yesterday I tried to focus on remembering my dreams...And to my suprise I actually woke up after about 5 hours without an alarm clock... I tried to remember and think about my dreams, but no. I couldnt remember a single thing...I 'punished' myself, just a little zap from a 9V battery and told myself ''Next time you will remember the dream or you'll get another punishment''...Went back to sleep. Woke up after like, 4 hours, no alarm clock...Nothing again...Damnit...

My question is...Is it even possible to dream withing such a short time as 5 hours and then 4 hours after it?

first of all, punishing yourself if you don't remember anything is bad. if you're going to do something like that then you should reward yourself if you DO, and then only if you do.

you have dreams during REM, and the legth of each REM period increases the longer you sleep. I think you should get at least 5-6 hours of sleep before you try to recall your dreams.

when you first wake up, lay still and keep your eyes closed. (getting up and moving around can make recalling dreams more difficult.) consentrate only on remembering what you just dreamed about, nothing else. if you can't remember anything, think about things you've been thinking about alot lately. dreams are a reflection of your thoughts during your everyday life. also think about places you go to alot and people you often see. if you get anything at all, no matter how much or little, write it down. writing it down can help you remember more. it can be frustrating at first, but don't get stressed out...keeping a god attitude about it and avoiding stress is really, really helpful.

I have had times where I felt my sleep was just a total black out...no dreams at all.

Everyone is diffferent, obviously. For me, I am a vivid dreamer. But upon awakening, IF I don't lie still and think of them, I will lose them, much of them.

I have recently returned to dream journalling. I find this helps too. Along with the daily RCs.

All of my LD/oobs are spontaneous and I am trying to change that and take control of dreams and oob's etc.

Can you wake up without an alarm by chance? I trained my self at a very early age to never need an alarm...I detested waking up startled and rattled from a loud obnoxious noise (other than a sister/roommate and now husband letting one fly! ) geesh!

Anyway, if you can do this and become proficient, Then you can actually start Reminding yourself within your dream to "Remember this"
For me, I have actually had a part of my dream REPLAY when I have said, "ok, I want to remember this part." And too, I find more and more I am indeed trying to remember the sequence as the dream continues...all While I am asleep and dreaming. And when I awaken, things are easily remembered.
It is too a matter of discipline!

I know this is helping me climb those stairs to finally achieve regular lucidity. I do hit dry spells too, often when I AM trying too hard, it seems everything shuts down. So I back off and give it a few days, and sure enough, all activiy seems to return.

Anyway, hang in there and Don't give up! Be patient but be persistent too 8)

Keep us posted

"Hang Lucid"
ofp

Originally posted by Paperdoll EP
first of all, punishing yourself if you don't remember anything is bad. if you're going to do something like that then you should reward yourself if you DO, and then only if you do.

Agreed, i'm a big believer in carrot instead of the stick. Plus punishing yourself is pretty futile, you aren't teaching yourself much at all, the reward method is more of a way to ween yourself onto LDing. Taking something addictive as a reward is a brilliant way to do it, though be careful WHAT you take of course.

when you first wake up, lay still and keep your eyes closed.[/b]

But upon awakening, IF I don't lie still and think of them, I will lose them, much of them. [/b]

This is the kind of trick/tip I've been wanting to hear. never thought about that one...

Yeah I do keep a dream journal (11 entries and 3 tiny ones)...It used to be the only thing that helped me get better with dream recal...before april 22nd I've never even thought about dreaming and they've been distinguished from my memory, never remembered ANY dreams...
now i remember one about every 5-7 days without even trying... I just wake up and there it is...
But now I might start remembering them more often...

Can you wake up without an alarm by chance?[/b]

I dunno really. Ive never tried it seriously. But now I just might. Well I'm still gonna make it go off, in case I sleep for too long in the morning and am late of school (my school is so freaking uptight) But put it to alarm later and try to wake myself before the alarm goes off...Thank goodness summer vacation is coming...

I just wanted to try the Punishment Induced technique...but apparently its not good..
I used to do the reward thing.. but I just couldn't think of anything addictive enough...
Any ideas?

If you're looking for an idea of how to reward yourself, just think of the things you like the most. Which kinds of foods/drinks do you like? Which TV shows or movies? You could even try getting a jar and putting something in it (like a marble) and tell yourself that when you get so many things in it you'll do something really fun. That would also give you a visual reminder, especially if you kept it by your bed.

And on a quick note, I wouldn't try waking up without an alarm clock unless you're on a steady sleep schedule. This past school year I never seemed to go to bed or wake up at the same times and so I didn't dare go to sleep without setting an alarm clock. But if you do go to bed and wake up around the same times, then go ahead and try it. I used to have myself trained to the point where I could usually tell myself, "I need to get up and ~this~ time" and would. Just make sure you don't have anything crucially important, just in case

Sweet lucid dreams

-Amé

I'm not sure what happened this morning... felt like I woke up.. looked at the clock and it was something like 6:00... then I started trying to remember my dreams... then the alarm goes off and i set it to 7:00... then i looked at the clock again and it was 7:00...

Yeah Im not if this is that steady... but.. usually i just set the alarm to 6:25 except on tuesdays... and weekends of course...

That sounds pretty much like a false awakening to me (you dream that you wake up). A great habit would be to do a reality check whenever you wake up, so that you would also do it when you experience a false awakening.

that's right, you should get into a habit of doing Reality Checks whenever you wake up in case of False Awakenings.

also if you're going to do the reward system be sure you ONLY reward yourself if you accomplish your goal, if you reward yourself anyway it doesn't work.

I had a lucid dream last night... It wasn't long lasting and good but still...And this time im 100% sure...
Well I woke up...I tried to get up but couldn't, I woke up again...Right away I knew what was going on...It was still very early so I went back to sleep. I ''woke up'' again. I held my nose and breathed, I was sure I was dreaming. I woke up trying to get up...dozens of times...Then when I woke up one more time... I held my nose and tried to move my legs first...Then I tried to stand up. I was still holding my nose... The feeling of success, oh yeah. I was gonna get outside but couldn't... By the time I got to my sisters room (next to mine, no doors even) i knew i was starting to awaken. Everything started going black and fading away. I tried to spin but I somehow just couldn't. I woke up again and wrote my experience in my dream journal...

How can I prevent this waking up? Or is it just that It happened so early? (I've been trying this 3 days less than a month... (April 20th))

I'll post a longer version of that night (I recalled many dreams, or what I thought were dreams) in my introduction thread. But now I'm in a hurry. See you...

Originally posted by queensofthestoneage
How can I prevent this waking up? Or is it just that It happened so early?

One trick that might work, at least it usually does for me, is rubbing your hands together so that you really feel it. You could also try spinning, but it might also take you to somewhere else. I've also understood that focusing on something or using a sense intensively would help; I guess the hand-rubbing trick is based on it.