I will hereby rely on your hospitality

**Lews** · 07-14-2008 08:05 PM

Introduction

The name's John Espling and I'm a little nerdy guy from Sweden currently residing in Japan together with huge amounts of homework.

I remember my brother telleing me way back about his lucid dreaming nad how fantastic it was, but never did I think I could possibly be able to do that. My mind has always been a bit shy of it's own mysteries, but one day it happened. One night I realized I was dreaming, but no, in my euphoria I woke up. But it made me a bit more optimistic towards this strange new world within my mind.

You see, I've never been good at recalling dreams. Perhaps 0.3% of my dreams I could remember, the rest I am oblivious to. Then, moving to Japan, I started remembering more dreams and also had the aforementioned lucid one. I decided to start with my dreamjournal, but as of yet I've only recorded one single dream. This can be attributed to the fact that I've only been half-heartedly trying to recall my inner adventures this past week, but now the time of change is upon me.

And as if it was fate playing a joke upon me I stumbled upon this site today and thought "Heck! Why not?"

My dreams

I think the reason for my inability to recall dreams lies in the surreal way the dreams are presented. Not only the happenings or illogical things presented in them, but rather the "story-telling" in it's whole.

For example, the last dream I had was told first as a comic. 2D images with speechbubbles, twenty seconds per frame. I actually felt like I was sitting and reading it rather than dreaming, but suddenly it became som kind of movie trailer with epic music playing in the backround. Generally quite a hard thing to put your finger on when you wake up since your brain tries to rationalize it.

Other things that often happen are what I classify as the "Wasp-dream". A wasp, or any other icky being, tries to attack/sting/kill/bite you and you wake up convicted that they are in your bed and that you don't want to share it with them resulting in panic. And blissfull ignorance one hour later.

And lastly is the sarcastic comment-dream. A dream where you have an interesting conversation, but suddenly your friend throws an insidiously sarcastic comment that throws you into an embaressed wakefulness with only the taste of the words left in your ears.

Help me

With advice preferably. I am quite sane, but a bit... Pessimistic. There are some general thing I'd like to know and we could start with some tips or advice that might have sprung up in your mind regarding my dreams. Right now my dream journal, for example, is planned to be used for selective recollection. I do not like remembering nightmares, but if that is a necessary component of it, then please tell me.

Other things:
1. Strolling around here I often find New Ageish stuff mashed with what I would call "practical information". How do I discern one from the other?
2. I was though was interested were might I find information on such things as "Dream Guides" and the like? If so only to understand a conversation fully so my comment would not be completely useless.
3. Lastly, any no-can-does that I should know about, either here on the forums, or in my dream-studying?

Thanks for your patience with me, and I hope I'm not being too demanding. I eagerly await reply in whatever form it might be.

//Lews

EDIT: Ten points to the first one who can identify my avatar.

**Serith** · 07-15-2008 02:18 AM

Welcome to Dreamviews!

About your dream journal: the main point of a dream journal is to increase your ability to remember dreams. As you write them down, not only does it keep them from fading from your memory, but it also allows you to remember dreams you had forgotten. Although you don't have to write down your nightmares to gain the benefits of a dream journal, it's likely to help you to remember other parts of the dream and other dreams you had forgotten, so I'd recommend it.

1. For a lucid dreaming forum, Dreamviews has a surprisingly low amount of New-Agey stuff. Avoid the beyond dreaming forum, and the dream interpretation forum, and almost everything you see will be practical rather than New-Agey. Also, there are many skeptics here, so if anyone posts anything elswhere that isn't practical, you'll be able to tell because people will question it.

2.The best place to find basic information about lucid dreaming and dreams in general is the Tutorial subforum. That is a great source of practical information, and the only New-Agey thread there is "of stones and stuff". Information on things not included there can be quickly found with the search function.

3. I'm sure that this forum has a rules page somewhere, but I'm pretty sure that it, like every other forum rules page ever, doesn't really have any rules that can't just be summed up as "1. Don't be a jerk". As for things you shouldn't do while learning about dreams, there's not much, mostly just covered by common sense. I reccomend not spending money on things to help you lucid dream, (except possibly books. There are a few good ones, especially "Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming".) since at best they're not necessary, and at worse they're scams. Besides that, nothng really comes to mind.

PS: Stay away from the Religion and Spirituality subforum, your life will be happier because of it.

**RockNRoller123** · 07-15-2008 02:35 AM

Welcome to the site!

1. Strolling around here I often find New Ageish stuff mashed with what I would call "practical information". How do I discern one from the other?

Answer: If I say it, it is practical and 100% correct!

Good luck to you sir!

Ps: Nerd? Jesus Christ! Get some freakin' confidence!

**seeker28** · 07-15-2008 02:45 AM

to Dream Views, Lews! It is always refreshinng to read a post by a "newb" that is so well written and well thought out.

I will do my best to adress each of your questions.
Dream Journaling (DJing) can be done any way you like -- on line, on paper, on a digital voice recorder. If you don't want to write down nightmares you don't have to. However, the more entries you can make in your dream journal the better your dream recall ability will become. Plus, sometimes it is interesting to go back and look at nightmares from the past, as a measure of how far you have progressed. When writing down dreams it is important to include as much detail as possible. When you start recalling several dreams per night you can pick which dreams you want to get detailed about, just so your dream journaling won't take hours. Three of the main reasons to keep a DJ are to improve your dream recall, to provide a long term (if you want) record of your dreams (which can be useful in a lot of ways), and to help your conscious (awake or lucid) mind get used to the way dreams "feel." That is why detail is important. While writing down dreams try to "relive" the dream as much as possible. Imagine ways in which you may have become lucid as well as what you may have done if you'd become lucid. This gives your conscious mind practice, so becoming lucid in a dream will be easier.

Telling if something is New Age stuff or practicle information: There are a few ways you can tell. If you are in the "Beyond Dreaming" or "Religion / Spirituality" sections you will find a lot of "New Age" or religious/spiritual content. If you want you don't ever have to go to these sections. Some places, like the "Lucid Aids" section have a lot of info on foods, suppliments, herbs, etc that may all have an effect on LDing. I'm not sure if you would define any of this as "New Age." Other times you will find things all mixed up. For example, in this thread:
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=57283
called "The Nature of Dream Control" by The Cusp there is a mix of very useful practicle info mixed with discussion on how waking life is like a dream and wether or not it can be controled the same way. In this thread, and in threads like it, try to be discerning. Since I don't know how you define "New Age" I can't exactly tell you want to watch for. However, there is a lot of Jungian psychology, etc that all applies beautifully (and is very practical) in dreams. If you can't figure out what is and isn't practicle advice feel free to PM me the post # and thread. I'll look it over and let you know. As always I'm just happy to help.

Dream Guides: Here on DV (dream views) there are two types of Dream Guides. I'm one kind. Anyone you see with 3 stars and their name in green is called a "Dream Guide." We're members of the staff that help people with questions, do research on LDing, and try to keep the site organized, free of spam, and make sure the rules are obeyed. The second type of Dream Guide is defined as someone in a dream who gives you good advice, helps you, knows about you, etc. Here is a good thread on Dream Guides and how to find yours:
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=32145

No-can-does: The major one I can think of at the moment is that if you decide to use the WILD technique, don't try to do it first thing when you go to bed. It is extreemly unlikely you'll have any success. This is because the first REM (dream) phase of the night starts about 90 mins after you fall asleep. And this first REM phase will be really short. If you want to WILD do it after 3-6 hours of sleep, or during a nap in the middle of the day.

General information I think you should know:
For a list and deffinition of most of the acronyms we use here check out:
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ead.php?t=2954
For a good guide for newbs trying to get lucid, check out:
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ead.php?t=1518
Also, if you have any questions feel free to post a thread. Or PM me or any of the other Dream Guides (listed under the "staff" tab).

**Lews** · 07-15-2008 11:02 AM

Originally Posted by Serith

Welcome to Dreamviews!

About your dream journal: the main point of a dream journal is to increase your ability to remember dreams. As you write them down, not only does it keep them from fading from your memory, but it also allows you to remember dreams you had forgotten. Although you don't have to write down your nightmares to gain the benefits of a dream journal, it's likely to help you to remember other parts of the dream and other dreams you had forgotten, so I'd recommend it.

PS: Stay away from the Religion and Spirituality subforum, your life will be happier because of it.

I'll keep that in mind. Maybe if my nightmares are easier for myself to put into words after I've gotten better at dream recalling. They just make me a bit whack from time to time. Thanks for the other information, too! Although... I thought the religion subforum seemt very... tasty...

Originally Posted by RockNRoller123

Welcome to the site!

Answer: If I say it, it is practical and 100% correct!

Ps: Nerd? Jesus Christ! Get some freakin' confidence!

I will remember this! Straightforward answers like this is what the world really needs.

And about my nerdyness I actually believe I have the right to call myself that as I happen to be a manga/anime/PnP-RPG/Internet/poetry/art/game/study/philosophy-lover, which makes me part of all the hierarchies of nerddom. I have utter confidence in my ability to use these interests positively in my life though, as rethorics was an important part of philosophy and as lying and politics are the heart and bone of PnP-RPG they can help me greatly in affirming some kind of superiority over my "fellow humans".

I am of course joking.

Originally Posted by seeker28

to Dream Views, Lews! It is always refreshinng to read a post by a "newb" that is so well written and well thought out.

I thank you greatly for all the information and will do my best to be a rightful and just lea... Newb. I thank you for your compliment and find myself bathing in pride. Yes, I am very vane and quite prone to ranting. That aside...

I thank you all for your nice greeting and promise to bugger you about stuff that I might think completely ludicrous, just doesn't make sense or simply seem interesting.

Time for some coma and wild hallucinating!

---------EDIT-----------
Stupid me! I forgot one improtant point.

The major one I can think of at the moment is that if you decide to use the WILD technique, don't try to do it first thing when you go to bed. It is extreemly unlikely you'll have any success. This is because the first REM (dream) phase of the night starts about 90 mins after you fall asleep. And this first REM phase will be really short. If you want to WILD do it after 3-6 hours of sleep, or during a nap in the middle of the day.

I think I've almost induced myself using the WILD technique you here describe in the way you advice me not to go about it, but until now didn't realize what I was doing.

You see, I have a hard time falling asleep so I go through my homemade relaxation exercise, which just happens to be extremely close to how the WILD technique is described, but without the higher expectations of Lucidness and I must say that I had a lot of vivid dreams doing this relaxation, but none longer than five seconds, before falling asleep.

Talk about a coincidence, eh?

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