A Reborn Dreamer's Endeavours [Beware the wall of text]

[Raedrob]

Hey, all! I'm a reborn dreamer, and would like to share my recent experiences with dreaming. First off, I can't remember any of the dreams I've had this year. I generally remember very few dreams, and when I do, it's mostly single details of the whole dream. Nothing near a whole dream. The only dreams I somewhat remember are some weird nightmare'ish ones I had when I was much younger. For whatever reason, I suddenly got very interested in dreams and remembering them. I think the interest was ignited by the WILD "instructions" that's been floating around tumblr and the likes. Obviously they are really shallow, somewhat vague and downright misinforming (the one I stumbled upon told to WILD right as you go to sleep). I was so interested that I sought out multiple sources of lucid dreaming, both articles and videos on the subject. I wanted to gather as much info as I could. The first night I still didn't know WILD should be attempted after some sleep, and other than a very strong heartbeat and increased breathing (probably due to expectations and really wanting to lucid dream) I didn't experience much. I wanted to keep at it though, and read more about lucid dreaming, especially the WILD method. It was the first one I heard about, and I found it interesting. At the end of day three, right before I went to bed, I wrote down the events of the day (as suggested in a thread to improve dream recall), and I started to note a few improvements. For first time in ever, I remembered a few grains of a dream. I could even remember that I'd had more than one dream. I didn't remember more of the others than that they existed. I even woke up by myself at my ideal WILD time, as I've been suggesting to myself with my mantra. The night before this I woke abruptly to an alarm clock. Tonight/this morning went much like last time, with waking at an ideal time by myself and remembering a few details of a couple dreams (I'm mostly being able to remember the fact that I have more than one dream, not so much detailing yet). The huge difference with this attempt was that the dream turned lucid at the very end, if only for a few seconds. In the dream I was trying to find out why a person was upset, with two friends at my school, when out of nowhere we start to beatbox dubstep. Once the drop happens the sound went from pretty bad beatboxing to actual dubstep, and the sound comes from within my head. I realise this is impossible, and that I have to be dreaming! For a few seconds I'm in control of myself, but soon stuff in the dream starts to clip and get unclear. I watch my hands and try spinning, but after a few more seconds I get pulled out. My theory to why this happened is that I had my alarm set to 07:30 am, and my body usually wakes up a few seconds before my alarm goes off (This has become second nature after many years of waking to it). Overall it felt really good to make it happen, if even for such a short while, and I feel very motivated to keep trying! The only thing I feel is "wrong", is the whole LDHSW part. For whatever reason I haven't had this work at all yet. I never really get an urge to move ever, so holding still in itself isn't a problem. I try to keep focused by reciting my mantra in my mind, with every breath I take. I've just thrown in the towel after about an hour the few times I've tried this. At times it feels like something might happen, but regardless of my mental preparedness, my body gets way too excited. I guess that's something to work on.. Sorry for all the rambling, I just really felt like venting out all of this dreaming stuff I've had in my head the last 4-5 days. I hope some of you might find it interesting to read about the endeavours of a "reborn dreamer". Lastly, a huge thanks to everyone on this site. It seems like a very friendly community, and it's already been very helpful to me, even though this is my first actual post.

[paigeyemps]

Hey Raedrob! First of all, congrats on the lucid! It's great to know that you spent time trying to research about the subject. Many people see those WILD posts and are misled, thinking it's that simple. Then they complain about not getting lucid, etc. So I commend you for that! What you experienced was pretty common. I often wake up naturally right before an alarm, and just as I get lucid. Though it might be the other way around – I got lucid because I was starting to wake up and gain consciousness. It's also nice that you started up a dream journal already. If you want, you can share some of your dreams with us, or read other members' dreams via the dream journal system on this site. I suggest you check this out: WILD (Sageous) if you want to pursue WILD. Don't forget to read http://www.dreamviews.com/f20/beginn...eaming-124786/ if you haven't yet. oh If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask! good luck!

[Wincell]

I tried all sorts of methods in the beginning. Really, the only thing that worked for me was focusing hard on dream recall and dream journaling. I love to write and can type pretty fast, so you'd think dream journaling would be easy for me, right? Wrong! One thing I found out is that my mind tries very hard to prevent me from remembering my dreams, or even recalling those I do remember. I seem to have a built-in resistance that causes me to be uncharacteristically lazy where dreams are concerned. I even feel lazy about typing out the dreams that are bounding about freely in my memory. Through study I've found that this is fairly normal for lots of people. It's a hurdle that must be dealt with. So, early on, I was simply stuck with hoping for an instance of "waking up" inside one of my dreams. The whole "reality check" thing simply didn't work for me - or so I thought! Slowly I am starting to recognize a few dream signs that have come out in my journaling. Currently my #1 sign is reading stuff. Just last night I became lucid for a brief moment because, in the dream, I was trying to read my t-shirt! I was looking really hard at the shapes and words on my shirt, then suddenly I realized! I'm dreaming! So there's certainly merit to it, I'm just slow to master it. Now, though, I'm starting to have some success with WILD techniques. But I cannot be wakeful whatsoever for it to work. If I'm fully awake, the only thing I can do is daydream until I drop off. But it's when I wake in the middle of the night, when I'm still delirious with sleep, that's when I can sometimes fall into a lucid dream. I've found a few things that work for me that increase my lucid chances, some of which are usually anathema to other dreamers. But I've read older techniques, from occult sources, that promote some of the very things modern day lucid dreamers frown upon. Please don't assume I'm into witchcraft! But the occult has long had interest in OBE and lucidity, so I'll take the wheat from the chaff. That's my bottom line. There is great resource in these forums and in modern literature. But different things for different people. And very often some techniques that some master quickly take much longer for others. And not all that's taboo is taboo for all. Peace!

[Robot_Butler]

WILD is all about finding the right balance between attentiveness and sleepiness. Some people need something to keep them more awake, while others need something to help them fall asleep. It sounds like you are on the right track. The only way to learn it is to experiment, get a feel for how you fall asleep, and find what works for you.

[Raedrob]

Thanks for the warm welcome! This night didn't turn out the greatest, you'll get a somewhat mixed bag regardless, I guess. I woke up a little earlier than I would want tonight, around 3:15 am, but decided to attempt WILD regardless. It still didn't go the way everyone wishes for, but I think it went slightly better than the other attempts. I couldn't remember anything from my dreams, but I also forgot to write down the day's events before I went to bed. Pretty sure that's at least one of the factors explaining why I had no recall. By the way, is this the right thread for me to update how this goes? I wouldn't want to unneccesarily bump my intro thread if there are other places for this.

[paigeyemps]

Nice, good to hear it's getting better As for your question, perhaps you can start up a thread on Lucid Experiences? That way you can keep it updated whenever you have news about your attempts :3

[Raedrob]

Sure, I think I'll do that once I have something to "report". Thanks for the heads up =)