Thread: Hi from another newcomer.

Hi, fellow dreamers... My name is Meidosemme, I'm 26, French, and somewhat new to the world of lucid dreaming. Dream Views is the first non-newagey, non-commercial, no-nonsense website on the topic I've encountered… Congrats to its creators and administrators!

My main interest in lucid dreaming is therapeutic: as far as I can remember, my nights have been plagued by gory and sometimes devastating nightmares. I have been very interested in dream lucidity and control since childhood and had many spontaneous experiences, but I've never learnt how to have such dreams at will.

I have good dream recall skills. I've just started a dream journal, and I can name a few recurrences that I can use as dream signs. I guess that filling my journal with dream recollections and comments will keep me busy for some time before trying to induce lucid states. It's a difficult exercise as it is: I woke up this morning with three full dreams and fragments of others swarming in my head, grabbed my journal but forgot one dream as I was jotting the two others down… It was very chaotic anyway, barely translatable into words. Do you have any advice on how to deal with those ones?

That said, I expect to have a hard time becoming a lucid dreamer, because I actually rarely dream about my everyday life and most induction techniques count on this. Deep fears, ghosts of the past and long-term issues occupy most of my dreamspace. I have also difficulties staying awake: I suffer from hypersomnia, attention deficit, often fall asleep while meditating, relaxing or even reading, and hardly ever reach high levels of lucidity in dreams.

Before getting too pessimistic, I'd like to read stories from people who began studying LD in similar circumstances. Thanks in advance for any kind of help!

Hey there and welcome to the forum!
It is a good thing you are keeping a Dream Journal. You should also check out the tutorials as well, as they can help you progress.
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

Originally posted by Meidosemme+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Meidosemme)</div>

I have good dream recall skills.[/b]

Great, it's one of the most important aspects overall, indeed.

<!--QuoteBegin-Meidosemme
I expect to have a hard time becoming a lucid dreamer, because I actually rarely dream about my everyday life and most induction techniques count on this.

How very untrue. Ask yourself what reality checks are in the first place. They're oddities, concepts that appear only in dreams and would never happen in the waking everyday world. Thus, the more inconceivably chaotic and completely insane your dreams the more chances you have to notice you're dreaming. Reality checking and being aware of one's own state are similar in nature; reality checks are just simpler less complex ways that can be implemented into everyday life much easier than constantly being aware of one's state. Thus, perhaps you were misinformed about lucid dream induction techniques but I assure you absolutely anyone can learn to lucid dream and you already have all the needed prerequisites for it: dream recall and familiarity with what your dreams are like.

Congrats, I'm sure you'll be on your way to lucid dreams in no time and as most everyone else will surely point out: you have nothing to be pessimistic about. Good luck.

Welcome fellow resident of La France

It's good to see you already have some experience, enjoy the forum and hope you have many more lucid experiences!

Welcome. You have very noble amibitions for lucid dreaming, in that you wish to have control over the nightmares (rather than just for pleasure, although that is one good thing too). Although there is profound sense of fulfillment when you can achieve this esoteric gift.

Having good dream recall is a great step. I am starting to get better, but only because I am keeping a dream journal. BTW, French is a beautiful language, though I don't have time to learn it.

welcome to you
don't worry, very few people can have lucid dreams "at will"... mostly it just happens
and your reason is also a lot sensible!
(yeah, GMT+1 gains popularity )

Originally posted by Meidosemme
Hi, fellow dreamers... My name is Meidosemme, I'm 26, French, and somewhat new to the world of lucid dreaming. Dream Views is the first non-newagey, non-commercial, no-nonsense website on the topic I've encountered… Congrats to its creators and administrators!

Thanks! This is quite a unique site that has drawn members from all different countries, religions, beliefs, races, etc. We are a very open-minded and friendly group, so I'll think you'll enjoy it here very much. Plus, it's top-notch for learning how to LD!

I hope you are able to find some information in the tutorials to get started, but feel free to post any questions or experiences you may have. Also, you may PM me or another Dream Guide with questions.

Good luck and have fun!

Welcome to the forum. It's awesome to have you here!!!

Hello,

It's been ten days since I posted here and I didn't take the time to thank you all for your nice welcome… Shame on me!

I've been diligently recording all the dreams I could remember during that time. I often had to struggle against my habit of smothering fresh memories of nightmares with daydreams and thoughts of the day to come; there were a lot of ugly dreams that I could have remembered but didn't want to. I also noticed a few dream signs, but too often forgot to do reality checks while I was awake.

This morning I woke up and soon was angry with myself, because I had forgotten everything! But I fell back into sleep and surprise… I had a lucid dream! Lucidity didn't last long but it was amazing and quite pleasant. I could easily defeat my enemy (floating corpse parts), touched and looked at things, and could almost eat the chocolate I promised to treat myself with in my first LD.
I had a false awakening in which I shouted to my housemate “I did it! Oh, I have to write it before I forget” and his answer was “Cool, now it should be easier for you to do it again.” Followed by the real awakening in which I chose to write it first and tell my friend about it only afterwards. He told me that I called him in my sleep before I woke up... Indeed.

That's great. That made my day!

Thanks a lot for your supporting words, they helped!

Congratulations on your success!

Regarding:

That said, I expect to have a hard time becoming a lucid dreamer, because I actually rarely dream about my everyday life and most induction techniques count on this. Deep fears, ghosts of the past and long-term issues occupy most of my dreamspace.[/b]

I don't dream about everyday life at all - almost everything is from my past or odd settings that I'm just never really in. What counts is to become aware of those recurring elements - including settings, characters, roles, feelings and emotions, things and events. For me, I'm finding that intense emotion is my most common dreamsign - intense anger, sadness, sense of loss, etc. I rarely experience these things in real life. They are very common in my dreams.

Keep plugging... it only gets better!

Hey congrats, Meido!

It's been ten days since I posted here and I didn't take the time to thank you all for your nice welcome… Shame on me! [/b]

That's quite alright, we'd rather you spend the time working on your journal and reality checks and getting back to us with your success stories

This morning I woke up and soon was angry with myself, because I had forgotten everything! But I fell back into sleep and surprise… I had a lucid dream![/b]

Ah, the chances of having a lucid dream increase as you approach the later hours of your sleep cycle (in the mornings) when your REM periods are longer. You may want to look into the Wake Back To Bed technique which takes advantage of this fact. You can read more about it in our tutorials section.

Also, when you wake up, try to take the time to lie still in your bed and "recap" what you were just dreaming. Once you move and direct your attention away from your thoughts the dream fading process begins.

Keep up the good work

Originally posted by pj+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(pj)</div>

I don't dream about everyday life at all - almost everything is from my past or odd settings that I'm just never really in.[/b]

So you cannot really RC your dreamsigns in waking life? How do you train yourself to recognize them in dreams? Through fantasy, imagining yourself in a dream stumbling upon them and becoming lucid?

Originally posted by Tornado Joe@
You may want to look into the Wake Back To Bed technique which takes advantage of this fact.

In fact, I have had another lucid episode two days ago. Once again I woke up empty headed, spent some time focusing on having a LD, and fell to sleep one hour later. It took place in a false awakening: I fetched my dream journal to write the previous dream down, and noticed it was different from my real journal. That's how I knew I was dreaming. I felt elated, but decided just to look around me. Unfortunately, the more effort I put into looking, the more my vision became clouded. I woke up a bit confused...

Yes, the WBTB technique seems to work for me!

<!--QuoteBegin-Tornado Joe
Also, when you wake up, try to take the time to lie still in your bed and "recap" what you were just dreaming.

You're right, it works better if you "recap" first and write afterward (rather than recalling while writing).