I guess I'm saying hello

[CallofNatur3]

Well then, I don't really know how this is usually done, so I'm just going to go with what feels right. I became interested in lucid dreaming a few months ago when I saw a picture of technique (I think it was basically a WILD variation), and starting to look it up, but i quickly became uninterested in it. But yesterday I rediscovered lucid dreaming on reddit, and eventually ended up here, where there seemed to be a really nice community. I read through the basic guides and the main page, but I got a bit discouraged because it has been years since my last dream that I could remember. So last night, I tried doing the mantra thing where I told myself "I will remember my dreams.". It wasn't quite a success, because I can't at all recall my dream(s), but I do remember that I woke up in the middle of the night, and I remember the feeling of being proud of myself because I could finally remember my dream (I fell asleep about 5 seconds after waking up), and then woke up in the morning. Today I have tried WILD twice and I think that once I got really close to the start of getting in the dream (I don't think it will work out for me since usually it takes 0.5-1.5 hours for me to fall asleep after I go to bed). I will end this post now, since I fear breaking a rule or just being irritating. I will probably answer everyone either today or tomorrow. PS.: Sorry for any gramatical errors or typos (english is not my first language)

[Matte87]

Hi and welcome to DV! Your English is fine, don't worry about it! What you want to do is to increase your recall dramatically. If you wake up a few times each night, you'll probably have something to write down. You want to wake up when you're in REM or just after it at the end of every cycle. They're around 90-100 minutes long. You probably had a dream which you forgot. Always remember to write down a few keywords on some paper, that'll trigger the memory of the dream and you'll be able to remember it all in the morning. Set up a goal or two and start visualizing, but what I think you need to do is to realise that it might take a while to get good at this. You sound a bit impatient, don't be! You have all your life to learn. If you're not the kind of person who can fall asleep easily then I suggest you focus on the other techniques. DILD and MILD are just as effective when used correctly. If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask!

[CallofNatur3]

I was planning in trying Naiya's method tonight (have been looking around the forums for a while, sorry if I spelled it wrong). It's usually very hard for me to fall asleep, but when I do, no thunderstorm can wake me up (My mom even called the firefighters to break the door once, because I didn't wake up and she couldn't open the door. They eventually broke in our french window to our balcony after waking up the whole neighborhood. We live on the top floor by the way.). Thank you for the suggestions, I was planning on starting a dream journal but I couldn't do it last night since I fell asleep a few seconds after wakin up, but will keep on trying. I also have a question relating a really old dream of mine. It was a really long dream, but the important part is, I got to a part which I didn't like, and replayed it like 6 times (while altering small things, until the last time where I just left the dream go as it wanted to), but I don't think I was aware that i was dreaming. Is that considered as an LD? I was just observing the dream, wasn't part of it. I'm also going to mention that I used to have a lot of nightmares before I started to not remember any of my dreams (don't know if I still have them and just don't remember them). Thanks for the quick reply by the way.

[Arch]

Hey and welcome to DV, You do still have dreams, you just don't remember them, don't worry the recall become better with perseverance. To be lucid is to realise you are dreaming, sounded like a pretty cool dream though!

[CallofNatur3]

Thanks for the welcome, and it was a crazy dream. Won't go into detail but I remember a garden/playground with a library in it where there was a little white kitty, and when we left it alone it started reading books and planning to kill us and take over the world. Also there was a woman chasing a white glowing butterfly while fighting gangs in an american-type school diner(?) with spikey fences. I used to have incredibly crazy deams when I was younger (not like I'm not young now). One more thing, I read somewhere that I shouldn't be on the computer/watch TV for about 2 hours before going to sleep. Is this true, and if it is, how much those this effect lucid dreaming/dream recall? Thanks in advance.

[Matte87]

I used to read or meditate 30 minutes or so before falling asleep and I had better recall then than I have now. Not sure how much it affects you really, but you could try it out. Learning how to lucid dream is a great way of battling nightmares.

[CallofNatur3]

Thanks, I don't really know what meditation consists of, but I'll try. I just noticed you are Swedish, so I would like to ask: What language does/do your dream/DCs speak in?

[Matte87]

Meditation is great when you're stressed out and want to calm down and relax. You just keep your mind blank or focus on a thought or so. MILD is a form of meditation really. My DC's usually speak Swedish but a few dreams a month are in English.

[CallofNatur3]

Thanks for all the answers. The situation right now isn't really advantegous for my LD tries, so I'll resume my attempts (I tried WBTB today but there was too much noise and I couldn't concentrate on my breathing) on wednesday when I get home. PS.: Am I right in assuming that gaining levels unlocks signatures, etc.? EDIT:Nevermind, I will see with time.