Thread: Greetings and Salutations

Hi and welcome, sylarcookie! Looks like more Aussies are joining lately Yay!
As for your first question- I've actually never heard of that before. Seeing as i've spent a good, good many hours infront of the computer screen during this Summer holidays and my recall is just about fine and i've had a good many lucids, I don't think that's really much of a problem.
As for your second question- which i can't really find, try and really question your reality and give yourself a 'burst of awareness' when you reality check.

If you want me to elaborate further on anything, just post in this thread again xP

Welcome to DreamViews!

Originally Posted by sylarcookie

For starters, just two questions. The first is that I have read in several places electrical lighting (television and computer screens) is bad in terms of getting easily to sleep and it may prevent dream memories from staying intact. This is a concern for me, because I have found that I have great difficulty becoming tired if I do not either watch something, write/read a story, or do some digital art before bed. These practices relax me, and to an extent can influence my dream content. So I am wondering if it's OK to keep doing these things and still hope to become lucid/remember dreams?

It is usually not recommended to spend a lot of time behind the TV or your computer right before going to bed. This is because the bright light from your TV or computer screen can make it more difficult for you to fall asleep. However, if you find using the computer before going to bed relaxes you, then I don't see why you should stop doing so. Be advised though that staring at a bright screen in a dark room is bad for your eyes. Be sure to either turn on some lights or lower the brightness of your screen at night. I have never heard of this affecting your dream memories though.

Originally Posted by sylarcookie

Which leads me to my second question. Over the past fortnight I have had two dreams that involve aspects of lucid dreaming, however I am slightly concerned I am merely dreaming about being lucid and not actually being lucid. These dreams included observing my hands to find more fingers/strange highlights around my hand, time travel (via looking and a watch and the use of the famous TARDIS from Dr Who on seperate occasions) and pushing my finger through my palm, which I achieved last night/this morning. However, besides subject matter, I don't believe I had any influence over what was happening, and I never really thought about the fact I was dreaming until right at the end of both dreams. I do note that for both these dreams upon waking I could remember what happened in each with much more detail than I am accustomed to.

When doing reality checks during the day, make sure that you don't just practise the motion without thinking about it. Really question if you could be dreaming as genuinely as you can. If you don't question your reality during the day, then you probably won't do so in dreams either. This can result in you doing reality checks in your dreams, and not becoming lucid, even if those reality checks passed.

I hope this helped to clear things up a bit. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask them.

Thanks for the welcome, fOrceez. Yay for Australian members! I have to say, it's great to know that I can continue my nighty rituals without having to alter my behaviour. These past few weeks without the computer or TV have been rough, I can tell you. As for your response Enjyu (and thanks for the welcome to you as well), I can assure you that living with my grandmother pretty much ensures I don't do anything potentially damaging like that. The moment I forget to turn on my lamp or something she'll stick her head in the door and tell me to turn it on. She really looks after me

As for reality checks, I have been doing them often and in various forms, seeing what works best for me. I do the nose check whenever I wake up/finish writing in my dream diary, or am reminded of dreaming, and also do threshold checks as well as many others. I do have to confess that since I've only been at it for a fortnight it is indeed quite possible I'm merely doing the checks but not thinking about them, though I have gotten over automatically assuming I'm awake during the day. This, like any other skill, is something I have to build, it seems. Thank you for your feedback, though, both of you. It's been very helpful in figuring a few of the simple things out.

Just to be certain though, having the thought I'm dreaming in a dream, but not really changing much except say, the environment, and otherwise observing the dream still counts as being lucid, then? Or is that being semi-lucid or something along those lines? If so, I think my lucid dream count is around three

If during a dream you are aware that you are dreaming, even for just a fragment of the dream, it is a lucid dream. The amount of control you have in a lucid dream varies, though. It is even possible to have a lucid dream where you have no control at all (though that rarely happens).

Congratulations on your first few lucid dreams!

Aye, being lucid in a dream means to know you are dreaming, semi-lucid (although technically still lucid) means to be aware you are dreaming, but have no control at all of the dream, as if you were just watching a movie.

Then it's time to celebrate, because I've accomplished three lucid dreams!

Congratulations!