Repetition...

[Blackrain_artifact]

Hello you all! I´m a 22 year old Swede and I picked up Ld about a year ago and has since then ambitiously entered my dream journal every morning after dream rememberance. I´we been quite close to give up since I´ve tended to stagnate in progress after the "recall part" that´s included in most Ld-methods. The recall part has never been any problem, I´ve gotten aprox. two dreams clear to me per morning (on an average) even those times when I didn´t really focus on remembering the night before. The rescue came one hot mid-summers night this summer when I suddenly found myself doing a combination of the nose-pinch and the look-at-palm reality tests! A totaly amazing, almost divine feeling I must say, even though it lasted for just a couple of seconds. The surroundings where dark and gloomy and I took the opportunity to conjure some stuff while I could. Think I managed to provoke a bowl of fruit or something like that. Anyhow, I now really wish to make progress in my dream-recognition, because it almost feels like I went several steps back in "recognition ability" after my Ld success this summer. I´m really serious about doing regular reality checks, at least a couple/hour (varying kinds). The journal gets it´s share every morning still, and I´m getting a good amount of sleep as well. I´m also kind of aware of my personal dream signs, even though they have changed a bit during the last year. The part where I fail, I believe, is the one regarding repetition prior to the falling asleep. Like last night, I repeated lika a mantra; "I will do a reality check. I will do a reality check" foor a good while until my mind couldn´t cope with it anymore. My main question is: Is the repetition part really my issue, and what can I do tho improve it? Another thought of mine is wheter personal dream signs change with time, and by which moments should I "update" myself of them? Sincerely // H

[seeker28]

Because people change over time their dream signs also change. I think it would indicate some sort of problem if they never changed! Because of this it is a good idea to update your dream signs from time to time. I know some of mine are fairly stable -- Christmas time and a certain group of friends, but the rest come and go. When I write in my DJ I keep a hilighter pen with me so I can mark anything that pops out over and over. I also go back and re-read my DJ so I can catch any emerging dream signs. The mantra part of LD induction works surprisingly well for most people. A big part of making it work for you is finding a mantra that makes sense to you. I personally like "I realize when I'm dreaming." It isn't necessary to keep repeating the mantra up until the moment you fall asleep. I usually only repeat it until I start having a hard time hanging on to it because my mind is drifting randomly. For me the random thoughts stage is a big indicator that I'm about to fall asleep. It sounds like you are doing everything pretty well. Perhaps you should update your dream signs and experiment to find a mantra that works the best for you. Good luck!

[Robot_Butler]

Blackrain. Congratulations on your success so far. It sounds like you are on the right track. I know that my personal dream signs change all the time. I read back through my journal every once and a while to see what the current trends are. I also try to stay aware of any repeating themes as I write in my journal day to day. Have you tried incorporating a Wake Back To Bed (WBTB) into your sleep schedule? Do you wake up in the middle of the night to record your dreams? Or do you remember them all at once in the morning? If you are waking up in the middle of the night anyways, you can just be more aware of it, and turn it into a WBTB. Next time you are doing the repetition, try to imagine yourself acting it out. Imagine yourself in a dream. Imagine the dream feeling. Now imagine performing a reality check. This might help make it stick in your brain. Instead of imagining a new dream, you can just remember a dream you had recently. This is how MILD works.

[Blackrain_artifact]

Thank you for quick replies guys! I´ll adopt these advises in my coming Ld attempts as soon as possible. Really looking forward to chare my experience with you people at this site Cheers!