Stage 1: Introduction And Greetings

First of all, hello everyone! I really don't want to bore you with my ramblings but I feel that if I write this now, in one organized introduction post it will eventually help me in the future.

I started reading about lucid dreaming two nights ago and have joined this to, hopefully, keep my enthusiasm alive. I've had three lucid dreams before that I can recall. One I could only control myself and not the actions around me. The other was a nitemare. I realized I was dreaming and forced myself to wake up. And the other one was me playing with a bar of soap and then I realized this too was a dream and was actually a quite boring dream so, of my own will, I woke up. That is why, at two in the morning, I decided to look up 'controlling your dreams' (love the google) and eventually found this place.

According to this site my dream recall is fairly good. I remember one dream every night almost 100% of the time and it's usually two. So I was pretty confident when starting my dream journal. The first night I convinced myself that I would remember my dreams, which I did. After every dream that I remembered I woke up. I remembered four dreams. (I woke up at 2:34, 4:26, 6:42, and 8:30) I know the times because right when I woke up I reached under my pillow for my dream journal and recorded the dream and time.

Besides the fact that I was sleepy, I was really pleased with myself. Last night I did the same thing but didn't wake up and only remembered two of my dreams and in less detail then the previous night.

I do a reality check everytime I remember to do one or if something out of the ordinary happens (like when my cat came rolling into my room). I just asked my brother if I could have one of his watches so now I can do a check that way. Unfortunately, I don't know how to get it to chime every hour or if it even does. I have a few questions as well. I realize this might not be the right thread but I think it's less annoying than making multiple new ones.

- Is my dream recall below average, average, or above average? Basically, am I starting off ok?

- I usually fall asleep right after I watch a movie (and usually at 1am). Will this distract me or effect my dream recall in any way?

- Writing out all of the dreams I remember is pretty time consuming. Is it better to write in as much detail as possible or can I just highlight the dream, picking out dream signs?

- Should I set my alarm for a certain time at night (90 minutes after the time I think I will fall asleep) and then just set the alarm ahead 90 more minutes or is that a bad idea?

As a side note, before I went to sleep I wrote in my journal that I would have an obvious dream sign. Both of my dreams included snakes. In the first dream we went to McDonalds and there was one in a seat, just sitting there. I, of course, was to frustrated at McDonalds for not selling me their special flying nugget to pay it to much attention. My second dream I was having a conversation with a very passionate builder / philosopher / actor (he was building a snake theme park) when out of the blew a snake was thrown at my feet and we just stared at it for a while before continuing our conversation. Do you think it helps to kind of...give commands to myself before I dream or if that is just a coincidence. The flying nugget is pretty nice dream sign too...

I say this so that the experienced people can analyze my progress thus far.

As a more proper introduction I'll include a little about myself..I suppose. I'm very laid back and pretty much just enjoy watching how my life proceeds. I find myself wishing for dramatic things happening in my life (mostly envolving someones death) just to see how I would react to it. My dream is to find a nice artsy little house in the country, 40 minutes away from anyone else or any other building, and go insane.

'allo thar. I am new to it myself! Hopefully we can both learn more 'bout lucid dreaming as time goes on. :)

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Originally Posted by Polaris

'allo thar. I am new to it myself! Hopefully we can both learn more 'bout lucid dreaming as time goes on. :)
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Indeed. I hope to maintain my zealousness, which is why I joined in the first place. I have the unfortunate habit of starting off strong and then become bored mid way.

Always glad to meet a new member. Welcome to Dream Views. (... And yes, I am shamelessly trying to increase my post numbers, :P jk.)

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Originally Posted by metcalfracing

Always glad to meet a new member. Welcome to Dream Views. (... And yes, I am shamelessly trying to increase my post numbers, :P jk.)
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Then this will be my first shameless one as well. All jokes aside, thanks for the welcoming, I'm becoming inspired allready!

i'm new too and very excited. lucid dreaming has filled my thoughts for a week now.

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I find myself wishing for dramatic things happening in my life (mostly envolving someones death) just to see how I would react to it. [/b]

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lol. Way too much death note for you.

Anyway, welcome to the forums. I'll try to answer some of your questions, but please remember that I'm not much more experienced than you are in Lucid Dreaming.

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- Is my dream recall below average, average, or above average? Basically, am I starting off ok?[/b]

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I'd say you have a pretty fantastic start. From what I've read, lots of people who've been practicing dream recall for years aren't at your level yet. My own is much worse: I can remember one or two dreams if I consciously try, and none at all if I don't.

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- I usually fall asleep right after I watch a movie (and usually at 1am). Will this distract me or effect my dream recall in any way?[/b]

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No, I doubt it. I've never heard anything like that, anyway. If you aren't sure, you could always try experimenting to see what works best for you.

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- Writing out all of the dreams I remember is pretty time consuming. Is it better to write in as much detail as possible or can I just highlight the dream, picking out dream signs?[/b]

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I wouldn't recommend writing out everything in exhausting detail, especially if you have 4 good-sized dreams to remember per night. On the other hand, you don't want your notes to be so sparse that you can't remember what your dream was about when you read them. Best case scenario is: you jot down just enough notes that you can fill in all the rest of the details mentally when you read your journal at a later time.

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- Should I set my alarm for a certain time at night (90 minutes after the time I think I will fall asleep) and then just set the alarm ahead 90 more minutes or is that a bad idea?[/b]

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I tried this for a week or so, and my dream recall actually dropped. That's only my experience, though... again, I'd suggest experimenting to see what happens.

Hey White Shirou, good choice of site. Dream recall is important for LD'ing so its good that you have a start. Try some things out that you see here, and think about LD'ing and I hope you have some soon :)

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Originally Posted by naikou

lol. Way too much death note for you.[/b]

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I was like that before Death Note but that anime has defiantly made me noticeably more insane.

It's nice to know that I'm starting out ok. I'm easily discouraged to, if I don't have the right amount of motivation.

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Originally Posted by naikou

No, I doubt it. I've never heard anything like that, anyway. If you aren't sure, you could always try experimenting to see what works best for you.[/b]

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And give up watching movies with Alan Rickman in it!? This would be a big sacrifice. Haha...I'm only half joking.

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Originally Posted by naikou

I wouldn't recommend writing out everything in exhausting detail, especially if you have 4 good-sized dreams to remember per night. On the other hand, you don't want your notes to be so sparse that you can't remember what your dream was about when you read them. Best case scenario is: you jot down just enough notes that you can fill in all the rest of the details mentally when you read your journal at a later time.[/b]

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It's strange when I re-read my dreams after only one day of writing them down. When I wake up my dreams are so vivid and I try to sort them as my dream comes rushing back to me. A lot of the times, while I'm recalling, I actually remember something that happened before in the dream so I have to jot down notes in the corner and draw arrows so I know the order in which the events accord. It's pretty crazy to try and keep up with my thoughts. Just last night I had to give up on writing one because I had been up for 40 minutes writing my novel length dream.

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Originally Posted by naikou

I tried this for a week or so, and my dream recall actually dropped. That's only my experience, though... again, I'd suggest experimenting to see what happens.
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My watch doesn't wake me up. This could be because I sleep with earplugs in. (I have a cat, a fan, and a radio obsessed sister). Tonight I think I'm going to give up the earplugs and see if anything unusual occurs in my dream or if it effects my dream recall at all.

Thanks for answering my questions. It's nice to know I'm not the only weird physco Death Note fan. Don't deny it. All Death Note fans are crazy.

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I don&#39;t know why I&#39;m suddenly thinking of this but I have another question. Do most of you dream with dialog and, if so, do you remember it? Most all of my dreams involve people and conversations. Infact, a lot of the times my dreams don&#39;t progress unless someone is speaking. (Like a huge glass of tea won&#39;t just randomly appear and then something exciting happens after that). A lot of people try and tell me their dreams and they don&#39;t make sense. I mean, my dreams are completely and totally random but they seem to actually follow a story within the dream. Like my dream has a plot and though the plot is random my dreams atleast follow this plot. (So, while having a huge glass of tea appear in the room is random, someone actually talking about, and planning to place a huge glass of tea in the room is completely acceptable.) Also, I read and write a lot in my dreams. What I&#39;m reading is usually insanely helpful to the real life me and I feel my self getting excited so I wake up only to forget completely what I was reading. Of course the note could have just read "Don&#39;t forget to do your laundry in the morning." or "There is a flying cobra above you." I do remember one poem that my dream self wrote. It was terrible but I did write it. It was out of character because I don&#39;t write poetry at all.

Thanks for all the replies&#33; Again, sorry for posting this stuff here but I think it would be better than creating multiple threads. (Correct me if I&#39;m wrong in my assumptions.)

Just dropping in to say Welcome to DV :welcome:

And that Death Note is by far one of the, if not the, coolest animes. :D Up until Yotsuba... I can&#39;t wait for that arc to end.

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Originally Posted by ExoByte

Just dropping in to say Welcome to DV :welcome:

And that Death Note is by far one of the, if not the, coolest animes. :D Up until Yotsuba... I can&#39;t wait for that arc to end.
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Why, thank you for the welcome. Yotsuba has slowed it down but I&#39;m really expecting it to pick up. If I wasn&#39;t so lazy I would go read the rest of the manga now...ah...moving the mouse is such a hassle...