newbie here,with 2 questions!

[rockchick26]

Hi everyone,i'm glad to be here! Its hard to find others who are into lucid dreaming. Ok so i just started training for this about 3 nights go. I have this book called The Art of Lucid Dreaming,and i've also been reading websites on it. So,here's my progress so far...every single night since i started this,i've been waking up at exactly the same time,with a few dreams to write down,and then EVERY SINGLE HOUR after that i wake up with more to write down! This might sound great but,each time i wake up i have a harder time sitting up,finding my book and my light and my pen...and then when my alarm goes off,i can barely drag myself out of bed! I fall back asleep quickly each time but its that i wake up EVERY single hour with all these dreams to write down! So i'm not getting a full nights sleep and i've been dragging at work and my eyes are burning all day long! Is this normal? I dont know how much longer i can keep this up,do you have to keep a dream journal every night of your life from now on? And my 2nd question was,was this a lucid dream or not; I was dreaming and my grandpa came into the dream (who has passed away) so i knew it was a dream then and right away i started floating up into the air and i thought it was so cool,and i spun around to keep it going,but i dont remember willing myself to do any of this,it was like thats how my dream was going to go anyway. Then when i landed i tried to imagine a certain person and i even called out to them and they never appeared. I thought when you are lucid dreaming you can make anything show up just by thinking it? So i'm not sure if that was a lucid dream or not,cuz i've never flown in dreams before but i also didnt feel like i was controlling anything in it,even though i knew i was dreaming after i saw my grandpa. But this happened in another dream too,i thought "i hope this isnt real..." then i plugged my nose and i could breathe so i plugged it harder and i couldn't breathe (but i was still dreaming!) so i said "darn i'm not dreaming" but i was!! How did that trick not work for me? I would appreciate any thoughts on my experiences! THANKS IN ADVANCE! :-)

[Chris182t]

I think its only a good thing if you're able to remember all your dreams and write them down if at the same time you are getting a sufficient amount of sleep. If it's affecting you at work then i'd say don't bother with writing them all down every time you wake up. That does sound like a lucid dream, yes. From what i've heard, you can be lucid without actually being able to control anything thats happening. With more practice and experience however, im sure you will be able to have control over what happens

[Redrivertears]

Hey there, Like the previous poster said, it's a matter of finding a balance between getting a good night's sleep and doing various techniques, recording dreams, and what not. You don't have to record all your dreams, just as many as you feel comfortable with (perhaps only those you remember in the morning). One of the most important things, in my opinion, is to always ensure that what you are doing is fun and pleasant, and doesn't become a chore, or a task that you dread doing. If you find yourself in the second situation, it'll start negatively influencing both your waking life AND your dream life. As for your second question. Firstly its important to realise there's many levels of lucidity. While the official term of lucid dream groups them all together, there are huge differences between lucid dreams. In some you're barely aware you're dreaming at all, in others you have as much consciousness as you do while reading this. Additionally, the same counts for control. While lucidity and control do have an influence on one another, it's not an exclusive influence. There are other factors which influence the control you have in a dream, even in a lucid dream. Your own expectations, your beliefs, your capability of suspension of disbelief, your fears, your desires, you worries, your loves, your hatreds. All these things combine to create a final effect, and either make the control you want to do work, or fail, or end up having a different effect then expected. One thing which i find useful is to analyse my moments of dreamcontrol. I tried this and this happened? Why? What could be factors that have aided me in succeeded? What could have stopped me from succeeding? How might I have done things differently? And ofcourse, remember that it is, ultimately *your* dream, pretty much anything is possible, it's simply a matter of overcoming the obstacles. Hope that helps, -Redrivertears-

[Wavefunction]

Well, you've been helped by the intelligent members here. I just hold up the big sign.

[rockchick26]

thanks for the welcome!! :-) I still havent had much progress since i first posted,mostly because i had to quit writing in my dream journal during the night because i have been working 12 hour days and i've also been stressed cuz i have to make a few really important decisions soon,so i'm stressed out and i need my sleep. I thought maybe taking the break would help but not so far. I had a dream the other night where i noticed a clock had changed times and the second hand was flying around super fast,but in my dream i just thought 'hmm thats wierd' even though before i fall asleep i tell myself "remember to recognize when something seems odd". Guess it takes a while,i'll keep trying!

[Wavefunction]

thanks for the welcome!! :-) I still havent had much progress since i first posted,mostly because i had to quit writing in my dream journal during the night because i have been working 12 hour days and i've also been stressed cuz i have to make a few really important decisions soon,so i'm stressed out and i need my sleep. I thought maybe taking the break would help but not so far. I had a dream the other night where i noticed a clock had changed times and the second hand was flying around super fast,but in my dream i just thought 'hmm thats wierd' even though before i fall asleep i tell myself "remember to recognize when something seems odd". Guess it takes a while,i'll keep trying! It can take time to get steady lucid dreams. It took me close to 2 months. Also, stress and little sleep aren't going to help. It's good that you recognized that something is odd in the dream (the clock). Before I had my first LD I did a nose RC in the dream, and just said "cool, I can breathe through my nose!" But after that, I started having more steady DILDs . You might want to try, instead of "I will recognize when something seems odd", saying "If I see something odd, I will know that I am dreaming".

[peppy]

Hey there, to Dreamviews!

[rockchick26]

Update! I had another lucid dream last night,although like my first one i didnt feel 100% in control,i know that comes with time,but,i just had to tell everyone how excited i am! I found myself flying above the ground pretty far like i was above mountains and stuff and i did the nose pinch test and then i knew i was dreaming so it got even more exciting then! I am glad this time when i did the pinch test,i RECOGNIZED being able to breathe meant youre dreaming! Ok so i flew around for a while,then i spun around to change the scenery (boy is spinning in mid air FUN!!) and everything went black,but i was still lucid. My next goal was to make this certain guy appear but so far i've been unable to conjure him up. A tv appeared instead,so i thought 'ok i'll just imagine he's on tv then i can jump right in there' but nothing would come up on the tv! It was all scrambled and fuzzy. I read somewhere to imagine a tv and whatever you want will come up on it then you can jump into it,so i'm wondering why that didnt work? Is it because it is an electronic device and those never work in dreams? But i know i read that somewhere,to try that. Is that not a good way to go about it? Cuz so far i haven't been able to make things appear just by thinking of them,i know that comes with time but i'm just wondering why the tv trick didnt work. I also remember seeing a big steel door and i thought 'i'm gonna fly through that!' but then when i got up to it,i just hit it and stopped. I had the confidence,i dont know why i didnt float right through it. Do i still need more practice and patience? lol I guess i try to get ahead of myself sometimes,but i am soooo excited that i have had 2 LD's now in my first week of this,i thought maybe i could do it all now!

[Chris182t]

Congratulations! As you suggested, i think those things you tried didn't work because it's only your second lucid dream. As you have more, and become more used to the lucid world, you should find yourself being able to do the more adventurous stuff

[Wavefunction]

Congratulations! It's only your second LD, don't worry about the control. It'll improve on its own We also have a Dream Contol forum if you have specific questions.

[TheTimeKeep]

I know the feeling, but your miles ahead of me in terms of dream recall and amount of lucid dreams, I can only remember one every 3 or 4 times out of the week. I wish you good luck with lucid dreaming, it can be a blast! (Sometimes literally :-) )

[rockchick26]

I thought i'd post again on my progress in the last few weeks...i started a new shift at work 2 weeks ago so i'm sleeping at night now rather than during the day,and the first week i kept waking up a lot and didnt dream much,and now this week i'm more used to my new schedule but i'm sleeping TOO good now where i dont wake up until its time to get up,so i kinda feel like i'm too tired to "awaken" in my dreams. Every night i tell myself "Remember to recognize that i'm dreaming" yet i never do. I know some people take longer,but i had 2 lucid dreams the first week of this and now i'm hitting a dry spell already. Another thing i want to adress...they say to check electronic devices and clocks in your dreams,but i never dream about those things. Even now that i know to watch for them,they never appear in my dreams. I dreamt about a clock ONCE and it failed to register in my mind that it was going really fast. But i've noticed this about my dreams that they almost completely lack any type of electrical devices. So,without those to cue me,and since the "strangeness" of them doesnt cue me,i guess i'm left with the only option of keeping up my practicing.

[rockchick26]

Its been about 3 weeks since i had an LD and i just had another one today! I think what triggered it was that i was laying in bed awake for about an hour first,and this was morning so it was easy to enter back into REM sleep. I was awake then i felt my body vibrating (sleep paralysis setting in,i'm sure),next thing i knew i was in my moms livingroom,and i knew it was a dream the whole time cuz i dont think my mind ever shut down,this all happened over a period of a minute or two! Then i made myself float and was coming at the wall and said 'i wonder if i can float through it' and i did! then i was on the other side floating towards the ceiling but things were getting fuzzy and dark so i said "clarity NOW!" but nothing happened in fact it got even more dark and fuzzy. I yelled it again and tried spinning at the same time but i just woke up. Its kinda frustrating when you have LD's so infrequently,that when you finally get a chance to practice what you've learned,its over too fast! How do you get to the next level when you barely have any time to practice?

[Moonbeam]

Don't worry, you're doing really well. I wish I had more lucid time too. For me it is slow progress, but eventually more abilities and skill are acquired. I feel your pain, but hang in there!