My LD journey , from South Africa

[moonlightress]

Hello everyone. I am brand new to this. I only found out that it was possible to learn to do this even if you have never done it before, about 5 days ago. I thought it was something only some lucky people could do. I have now done a stack of reading and started keeping a dream journal. I have gone from hardly ever remembering dreams to recalling at least one per night, in the space of 3 days. The power of the mind is amazing! Still have to try and remember to do RCs, I tend to get wrapped up in the day and forget. I have the constraint of having to have a full uninterrupted night's sleep in order to keep my sleep/wake cycle regular, due to a condition I have. This rules out WBTB and possibly WILD (doesn't it?) But still leaves me with plenty else to try. I go to sleep focusing on "I remember my dreams" and "I will have a lucid dream". I am so excited about this journey! Thanks for having me here.

[moonlightress]

Just woke up and I have a question. Last night I had a dream and then dreamt that I woke up and recorded the dream and then went back to sleep. However when I woke this morning, there was nothing in my DJ, so I must've dreamt it. Is this what is known as a false awakening? I even have a little penlight that I put by my DJ so I don't have to turn on the full light in the night, if I wake up then, and I clearly dreamt I turned it on and wrote. I also remembered a lot more detail then, than I did this morning. I am definitely dreaming more vividly since I started recalling. I am also amazed that since starting my DJ, I have been able to recall one a night, when I was under the impression that I didn't dream every night, before. This is progress, no?

[moonlightress]

Um, should I rather ask this question in one of the other forums?

[NrElAx]

If you woke up and were still dreaming and then work up for real, then yea, that a false awakening. And keep writing your dreams down because that will help with your dream recall a lot. Its hard becoming lucid during false awakenings at first because they seem so real

[moonlightress]

Thanks for your reply, NrElAx. That awakening was incredibly real, I can still recall it clearly. I would have sworn I was awake and had recorded the dream, except that my DJ was empty. I really need encouragement in this start up time as I wake up disappointed if I can't remember a dream and I guess I will have hiccups along the way. I'm not really trying to LD at this stage and I am going to drop the "I will lucid dream tonight" mantra for now as it will just set me up for disappointment at this stage, I think. My focus should probably be on dream recall now. Thanks for answering.

[PennyRoyal]

I really need encouragement in this start up time as I wake up disappointed if I can't remember a dream and I guess I will have hiccups along the way. I'm not really trying to LD at this stage and I am going to drop the "I will lucid dream tonight" mantra for now as it will just set me up for disappointment at this stage, I think. My focus should probably be on dream recall now. Thanks for answering. Definitely sounds like a false awakening. Don't get discouraged! Just stay persistent and you will reap the benefits eventually. I have pretty decent recall and I'm in a dry spell at the moment (Havn't remembered any dreams in almost a week). These things happen. Just stick to your techniques/practices and your recall will improve. Good luck, Welcome to Dreamviews

[moonlightress]

Thanks for the encouragement, Penny Royal. I find myself longing for bedtime every day, eager to get this going. I can see this is going to be a great test of patience for me.

[JoannaB]

Yes, thus type of false awakening is the reason why it is recommended to do a reality check every time you wake up, something I alas regularly forget to do. Also I find that my mind after a while gets lazy, and starts tricking me into not writing in the dream journal by giving me false memories of having written in it already or telling me that a dream is too boring, got to watch out for that. Welcome to DV by the way!

[moonlightress]

Thanks Joanna. I never thought to do a reality check after I wake up, but of course it makes sense now. It would have helped then. I'll definitely start doing that.