Tips for a beginner

**Celestehale** · 05-29-2014 12:16 PM

Hello everyone. My name is Celeste hale, and I discovered lucid dreaming last December. Unfortunately, I have not had much success, probably due to my terrible journaling habits. If any of you have one of those "a-ha!" Tips that just makes everything make sense, I would greatly appreciate them. I also have a weird tendency to dream I have a lucid dream. To give you a better example, here is one of those actual dreams. "I an lying in bed with the lights on, when a cowboy with no legs starts dragging himself across the floor towards me! I say out loud, 'I must be dreaming' and a green fleece blanket jumps up from my bed and clobbers me in the face. throughout the day, I notice strange happenings that remind me I am dreaming. Every time, that darn blanket attacks me. Finally, I am so fed up that I decide to bring my troubles to a reliable adult-my mother. 'Every time I start having a lucid dream this blanket attacks me!' I complain." Thats pretty much it.Isn't that weird? Well, hope you all have nice day. Bye . and do I really need to dream journal?wish-3.jpg

**Starhood** · 05-29-2014 07:29 PM

Hi Celestehale,

I myself am quite the beginner myself, but so far I've read a lot about Lucid Dreaming and had 5 successful LD's.
To answer your question, is a dream journal really necessary? From my experience: YES! You will need a dream journal, to stimulate your mind to recall dreams after they occurred.
You may be able to recall your dreams without writing them down, but when you're looking for dreamsigns in dreams (dreamsigns are explained in multiple guides on this website) it is much easier to look into a dream journal than trying to remember them.

Good luck!

**FryingMan** · 05-30-2014 07:26 AM

If any of you have one of those "a-ha!" Tips that just makes everything make sense, I would greatly appreciate them.

Probably my biggest "aha!" moment was realizing that developing the skill of lucid dreaming is like learning any skill: it takes dedication, effort, time, and patience. My second biggest "aha!" moment was that that nobody could do it for me.

Technically, no, a dream journal is not required. But at least "good" (preferably "excellent") dream recall *is* required. Spending effort every night recalling dreams and journaling them is the #1 recommended way to build dream recall. So you could conclude that keeping a daily dream journal is *highly desirable* for lucid dreaming.

To become an expert at any skill, you need to:

learn theory (fundamentals (self-awareness, memory, expectation, intention), dream recall, reality checks, reflection/intention, DILD, WILD, WBTB, etc.)
practice (choose options from the theory and *do* them, day and night)
analyse your practice and add positives and remove negatives, preferably with an experienced coach

Here on DV you there are lots of great threads for learning theory and suggestions for concrete practice, and lots of helpful people to help you troubleshoot your practice and discuss theory with

. Good luck!

If you haven't yet, start reading in the "Start Here" thread in the Welcome section. Also check out the DV Academy, there are DILD and WILD and introductory courses where you can learn the theory and get feedback from experienced LDers on your practice.