Thank you, Dream Views!

[Small Town Wizard]

Hey, fellow dreamers. So here's my story. All my life I've been an avid dreamer and have enjoyed dreaming immensely. It wasn't until recently, while discussing dreams with a friend, that I became aware of Lucid Dreaming. My friend, you see, is a natural lucid dreamer and immediately stoked a jealousy in me that would not be quieted until I learned to do this for myself. For the first time in my life, I was dissatisfied with my dream life. So a couple of days ago, a quick google search brought me here. I read about the simple techniques for doing a Reality Check and immediately put it into practice. That night I was very excited, and being a natural insomniac, I didn't get much sleep. Lots of tossing and turning. When I did manage to fall asleep, alas, no lucid dreams. I was not discouraged. My vigilant reality checking continued the following day (yesterday) and I looked forward to my first night of success. I was not disappointed. Last night, while dreaming, I became aware. Unfortunately, I was so excited by this, that I immediately awakened. This happened two or three more times; lucidity, wakefulness, lucidity, wakefulness. Eventually, I decided I needed to stop trying, or I wouldn't get a good night's sleep! Nevertheless, I am thoroughly excited and encouraged by such immediate success. After all, it's only been two days! So I wished to share the beginnings of my success and hopefully the start of a long life of lucid dreams with you all. Thank you, to all who contribute to this website, for your generous instructions.

[marwanin]

yes, congrats i am too when i got aware, i woke up :S

[Supernova]

First off, welcome to DreamViews Secondly, that's common at first, but with a little practice you should be able to get them to last longer. Good luck with the lucid dreaming, although I'd say with sucess after only two nights you should do just fine

[Mancon]

You became aware fast! I just discovered this site about a week yet no lucid dreams . BUT my recall has been better.

[Small Town Wizard]

You'll get there, Mancon. I came at this with the benefit of already having excellent dream recall, since dreams and their interpretations have been an important part of my life. It's just an area I'm gifted in. But I'm sure you'll start having lucid dreams before too long. Just stay disciplined with those reality checks! That was key for me. I think it also helps that I have a very active and inquisitive mind. Try to get into the habit of questioning things around you. This isn't just beneficial for your dreams, but you'll learn a lot about yourself and the world, too!

[Hidden]

Welcome to Dream Views! It's awesome that you became lucid several times on the night of your first success; you'll be a pro in no time.

[Small Town Wizard]

Thanks, Hidden. I look forward to being able to share my future dream adventures with everyone. *abruptly does a reality check after realizing it's been several hours since the last one* Yep. I'm awake.

[Hidden]

Hehe. You made me reality check too. =P

[RetroReality]

Good job with those lucids in such short time. Just keep at it and it should be alittle easier to stay into them each time as you will get use to them.

[ninja9578]

Becoming excited is not uncommon for the first couple. Your brain is also trying to comprehend it's new state of consciousness, so it may wake you up. After a few though, that will go away and you'll be able to have nice long lucid dreams. And congrats on becoming lucid so quickly, keep up those reality checks.

[Small Town Wizard]

Thanks for the encouragement guys. Unfortunately, insomnia kept me up most of the night (and morning) again. When I did fall asleep, no lucidity. Alas. As an aside, insomnia has been a big problem for me all my life. Even since childhood. Does anyone here have any useful advice for overcoming that? I've tried meditation and have had mixed success.

[Hidden]

You could try taking melatonin. Your body produces it naturally to help you fall asleep.

[Small Town Wizard]

Melatonin didn't do jack for me, unfortunately. I've tried many different sleep aids. The only thing that's been somewhat successful is ambien, but I'd prefer not to rely on a drug just to function normally.

[Hidden]

Hmm, well, sorry, that's all I can think of. There are probably plenty of threads about insomnia in the Sleep/Health (or something along those lines) board, and if not then you can always make one.

[Bizarre Jester]

Yea, dreamviews is a great website. I too would like to thank the administrators and mods for keeping this forum active and helping us.

[Novise]

Hey again STW. That's great you have a good background on dream recall. As far as staying lucid longer and not waking up is trying to sit back and chill and observe in the dream, but also try to keep moving and stay with the "plot" of the dream. This made a big difference with me. I have never really dealt with insomnia unless my mind was overexcited by playing too much videogames or worried about tomorrow or something like that. But I did find, at a time when I was disciplined in my practices, that I could go to sleep any time I had the slightest hint of grogginess/sleepyness. This is not something I can do anymore, I have to be pretty tired to fall asleep now, but I haven't stuck to my "rules" in a long time either. But the one thing that seemed to make it easier to fall asleep was the fact that at that time I fixed my own meals, I never ate out. I would always be slightly hungry, I ate very simply, but it was not painful it was calming and peaceful. So usually right after work I'd be a little hungry and I found that it was better to just go to sleep right then, instead of fixing something and then trying to go to sleep. So changing your diet (at least the timing, and way it is done) could make a big difference. When I did this I would go to sleep kinda hungry and wake up feeling fine, I'd still be hungry but the hunger pangs would be gone and I'd just know I was hungry, but only in that way that our society has taught us to be (hungry unless we feel overstuffed). There is a sort of patience that comes along with that sort of light-fasting attitude. Not literally fasting, but sort of living with a slight hunger that's really not detrimental, just in this society most anyone who does the fast food thing, eats out a lot is stuffed way more than they need to be. I really paid attention during this time, and it seemed to come down to that. I don't know how busy you are at home, but if you can unregulate your sleep that may be a huge help to. If you decide to yourself to just go to sleep whenever you feel tired, even if it's early evening, this can work I have done it at times. And I always feel great when I do it because it means you never settle for any grogginess. Well I hope you got the idea, it's more of an attitude backed by simple action, I just found it amazingly easy to go to sleep when I was living this way - on simple meals and unregulated sleep. If you haven't tried that, it might hold part of your answer.

[Small Town Wizard]

Thanks for the advice, Novise. I never considered that a lifestyle of fasting may help with sleeping patterns. There was a time in my life where I fasted one day a week, but that was several years ago. Oh to be so disciplined again... I don't recall if it had a beneficial effect on my sleeping habits, though. Really my insomnia has only gotten this bad in the last couple of years and I don't know why. Mounting stress and anxiety, perhaps.

[Small Town Wizard]

UPDATE! I managed to get lucid again the other night. I don't recall what triggered it as the memory is somewhat hazy, but I distinctly remember realizing that I was dreaming. Fortunately, unlike the first few times, I did not wake up immediately from excitement. The dream lasted a little longer. Unfortunately, I think I lost lucidity soon after, as the memory becomes murky. I may have even woke up shortly afterward. I can't say for certain. But I just wanted post a little update on my progress.

[Novise]

Very nice, grats on going lucid again. Noticing your sig it's funny I read a summary of "The Apology" at work the other day.

[Hidden]

Congrats on the lucid. =D