Hi there.

I was directed here by the Wikipedia article about lucid dreaming, I was linked to the Wikipedia article from a dream interpretation website, and I found the dream interpretation website by searching for a way to control my dreams.

I've been reading these forums; all of them, for 3 days straight now and it has been very helpful. I do have a few questions regarding how to start lucid dreaming, though.

My dream recall is abysmal. The last dream I can remember was a nightmare which occurred 2 weeks ago (I was at my grandmother's house with several of my friends, and we were all gathered around a small wooden box. The box opened and a pure black, deformed figure, that somewhat resembled a girl was crawling out. I ran out of the house and my friend yelled that if I left I wouldn't make it past the lawn. I went back inside and the dream ended. The whole time I had a feeling of extreme terror.) And I had no control over it whatsoever.

So I was wondering, is there is anyway to aid my dream recall? So far I've just been telling myself to remember my dreams at night.

Of course, I've only been making an effort to remember my dreams for 3 days now, so I suppose it's possible I just need more time.

My second question is:

Will music/background noise affect my dream recall at all? I sleep with a very large, very loud fan. I also put music on every so often.

My third question is:

I've been wearing a watch and performing reality checks every hour, and was wondering if I should be doing them at shorter/longer intervals.

Those are my questions.

I have several motives for lucid dreaming. One of which is the desire to experience the thrill of (I wonder what he will say...?) FLYING!

The second of which is to simply do as I please, and to do so with the knowledge that nothing can hurt me.

Of course, I don't expect to lucid dream anytime soon (let alone fly in one), so until then I'm stuck with imagining what it must be like.

Thanks.