Just To Introduce Myself...

[Phydeaux_3]

I'm new here but not new to the idea of lucid dreaming. I started my dream journal Saturday May 13th 1995. I was reading the Carlos Castaneda book The Teachings Of Don Juan and when I read about "when next you're dreaming, just look at your hands" I was so very curious. Then along came Queensrÿche with the song Silent Lucidity and I was drawn in yet again. Well over the years I have had the most trouble with the "sustain all efforts" part of the deal, I get all worked up briefly but then my attention wanes and it's back to not thinking about it anymore. A few months ago I started to have very good dream recall so I thought I'd take up the quest yet again, only to almost immediately stop remembering my dreams again, only THIS time I'm sticking with it. I'm super-serious this time. I have been recording all of my dreams in my journal and slowly but surely I'm getting more and more entries every day. I've read all the LaBerge books, I've done the Lucid Dreaming In 7 Days course, I'm sleeping with headphones (with binaural beats) every night now and I'm starting to see some results. Last Wednesday I had the closest thing to lucidity so far. I was walking around with a friend and everything was "weird", just not normal somehow. I said to my buddy "this is just too weird, it must be a dream!" then I am screaming at him at the top of my lungs: "This is a dream!!!" and then I wake up. No reality check but damn, I was so close. I KNOW that I'm right on the brink of a big breakthrough. I even went out and bought the only Castaneda book that I didn't have, The Art Of Dreaming, hoping that it might jump-start my lucidity. I just tonight downloaded the I-dose lucid dreaming .mp3 (read about it on here) to try out tonight while I sleep. I have been using the "lucid remix" file (and a few others) up until now, I attribute my almost-success last week to that playing in the background while I sleep. I found that turning it up almost "too loud" was helpfull in keeping my attention floating above the passed-out-cold mark. The digital watch chime method might work if I was ever to hear the beep in my sleep, problem is I never "hear" anything while I'm out cold. A few things I've found some results with: completely quit smoking any/every thing (after 20-ish years of chronic pot-smoking), when I told my online buddies about my lucidity quest most of them said "you gotta kick the habit" so sadly I did. No looking back. (Told you I was serious this time&#33. Also, getting "too much" sleep seems to help a lot. Whenever I'm getting entirely too much sleep I remember a LOT more of my dreams. Tried melatonin, seemed to have the opposite effect I was looking for, even at minimal doses. Now it's just one multi-vitamin a day. My #1 reason for trying to become lucid is to fly. I used to fly all the time when I was a kid in my dreams, then I grew out of it, I want that back. But first... I just need to look at my hands....

[tyrantt23]

Hey Phydeax_3, welcome to DV! You seem to be on the right track... keep trying, I'm sure you will have a LD really soon. Also, you seem to be interested in a lot of LD literature... you should try reading Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming, by Stephen LaBerge. He was the one that scientifically proved that lucid dreaming was actually possible, among many other things. Feel free to send me a PM if you have any questions, and I'll try to answer as best as I can or point you on the right direction. Good luck on your journey!

[BenQ]

Phydeaux_3, It's awesome to see someone with such enthusiasm and dedication. Sounds like you are doing everything right. I hope to hear more from you as things progress. Take Care, Ben

[Phydeaux_3]

Thanks for the kind words tyrantt23 you didn't notice early in my post I mentioned that I HAD read LaBerge's stuff but thanks just the same. I read Godwin's book way back when also, I should probably re-read that one. Thanks to BenQ too, yeah I'm wayyyy dedicated, onliest thing is that LDing requires a contradictory serious intent without wanting it too much. I'm still struggling with that quandry. I thought today was going to be THE day, I got the rarest of opportunities, I actually got to WBTB (a big thing for me) and I was certain I'd get a little something, then I lay there not being able to sleep for two hours. Shit. Oh well, there's always tonight. Sometimes I think that in my case it should be called 'elusive dreaming'. The I-dose thing made it impossible for me to get to sleep last night, as soon as I turned it down no problem. It's starting to sound like I'm an insomniac, nothing could be further from the truth. I'll try the I-dose again tonight at a lower volume, I was definitely feeling something, kind of a dizzy sort of feeling before I fell asleep, but alas no remembered dreams.

[Serith]

Last Wednesday I had the closest thing to lucidity so far. I was walking around with a friend and everything was "weird", just not normal somehow. I said to my buddy "this is just too weird, it must be a dream!" then I am screaming at him at the top of my lungs: "This is a dream!!!" and then I wake up. No reality check but damn, I was so close. I KNOW that I'm right on the brink of a big breakthrough.[/b] Actually, that does count as a lucid dream, since you knew you were dreaming. You don't need to do a reality check for it to be a lucid dream, they're just for when you aren't certain you're dreaming yet.