BiMermaid Introduction

Hello!

I've kinda been lurking on this forum for a little while as I work on improving my dream recall and setting myself up to hopefully have a DILD. I first started using a dream journal at the beginning of August so it hasn't quite been a full month yet, but I'm excited to say nearly every night of that I've remember at least one, if not many, dreams! I've always kind of been someone who generally remembers their dreams so I didn't think dream recall would be too difficult for me, but I didn't realize just how much I dream and in how much detail. I feel like now that I'm recording my dreams, I realize how many cool or crazy dreams I've probably forgotten because I didn't have a dream journal. I've even had dreams now where I'm certain I've dreamed it before but I never remember dreaming it before until I dreamed it again.

I haven't quite had a lucid dream yet but I'm not too discouraged. I try to remind myself I'm still fairly new to my lucid dreaming journey. I do think that lately I've been having dreams where I'm on the cusp of becoming lucid so I don't think it should be too far off! It started last week I think. I had been thinking a lot about hypnogogic imagery that I've heard about from some of the lucid dreaming books I've been reading. That night in my dream I found myself thinking about hypangogic imagery. Then in a dream I had a few days ago, while in the dream I opened up my DJ app on my phone and was trying to type out my dream but was having difficulty. Then I remembered the app also has a voice record option so I was going to do that, but then got interrupted by a DC. When I woke I almost kicked myself because if I had just tried to look through my DJ and try to read it, I probably would have noticed I was dreaming. And then this morning I had an interesting dream where my dream self knew it was a dream landscape and that strange dream things could happen and were normal, but I don't feel like I was actually lucid or aware that I was really dreaming until I woke up. Even still, this was exciting for me as my interest in lucid dreaming is starting to appear more in my normal dreams so hopefully that means my RCs will make an appearance soon enough!

I was kind of starting to loose a bit of motivation (I have unmedicated adhd and it's hard for me to stick with things for long periods of time unless I'm hyper-focusing on it) but these latest developments in my dreams have got me excited again! I'll try to have patience and not get discouraged. I'm sure the wait and perseverance will well have been worth it once I finally get to experience being lucid!

If you see this, what have your experiences been so far with LD? Have you had one yet? How long did it take for you to LD and what methods work best for you? I'd love to know! :)

Hello :) Welcome to the forums. We're happy to have you.

I think the biggest help for me in getting lucid is building a critical reflective attitude and prospective memory skills. To do that, you practice reality checking to pre-set triggers throughout the day. You also reality check to anything strange or weird that happens. I find it's very helpful for increasing DILDs.

Reading the book Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming by Stephen Laberge is also incredibly helpful, and he talks about the reality checking triggers, etc.

Good luck. Feel free to check out our tasks of the season and tasks of the year. See you around. :)

Welcome to the forum!!