Advice for a newbie? (List of past attempts, etc.)

I have been infatuated with Lucidity for about a month now. I don't remember how I found out about it, but it has been on my mind for some time.

I have not had a successful lucid yet, as far as I can remember. :(

The closest I have come was about 2 weeks ago, where I was talking to my mother in a dream, and for some peculiar reason, the words "This is just a dream" happened to be my reply to a question that she asked me. After I experienced this insight, everything went black, and I assumed that I had woke up. After doing some PDF reading, i'm kind of wondering if this was a false awakening. :P Blast.

Another strange moment, and possibly close encounter, happened 2 nights ago, where I woke up in the middle of the night, stayed still, kept my eyes closed, and envisioned myself spinning, as advised in a guidebook. After the spinning became more "realistic," I attempted to lift myself out of my body. The "weight" of this "body" was extreme, and I could not separate completely. It was very strange. After this, I assume that I went to normal sleep, since I don't recall anything afterwards.

Here are my problems:

1.) I have problems remembering my dreams. I keep a dream journal, but when I wake some mornings it almost seems as if I closed my eyes at night, and opened them in the morning, with nothing in between. Sometimes I will remember full dreams in the middle of the day. Take today for example. I was taking a shower around 10:00AM, and had a single dream make a full recovery.

2.) When in the dreams that I DO remember, I seem completely oblivious to the fact that I AM dreaming. I listen to a loop every night before I go to bed that says, "The next time I am dreaming, I will realize that I am dreaming. Am I dreaming? Is this a dream?" and it still doesn't seem to help me have insight while dreaming.

3.) My dreams are FOGGY. The dreams that I DO remember seem extremely foggy. I remember people telling of the vividness of their dreams when I was in high school. These people had no clue what Lucid Dreams were, nor did they ever contemplate the importance of dreams, but they still seemed to have better recall. :?

Anyways, I hope that is enough background info to conjure up some advice.

Thanks in advance,

LD

Bump. :P

Is this too much to read for most people? :shadewink:

I think that the vividness and the recall of your dreams will improve as you become more immersed in the dream realm, I know mine did. When I first started attempting to lucid dream I never could remember even a shred of my dreams, of course I was smoking a lot weed at the time which I think was the cause, but regardless, as I've increased my knowledge and understanding of lucid dreaming I feel like I'm a lot more aware of what is going on in my brain when I'm asleep. However several months of obsession with lucid dreaming has only granted me two lucid dreams, both being accidental. I think that if you keep at it eventually something will click on it's own and you will lucid dream, as happened with me. It's been a long process for me, I think that as long as you keep trying you will lucid dream eventually.

Also the vividness of my first lucid dream caught me quite off guard. I remember having a few weird experiences kind of like the ones you described prior to my first lucid that I wasn't sure about. Anyways when you have a lucid dream you WILL know it.

When I had my first lucid I rolled out of my body like a lot of places suggest, you said you tried it so I'm hoping this will help somehow. It wasn't hard when I did it, I really didn't even think it would work, I just figured what the heck I'll go for it and so I sat up, just like I normally would when I woke up, and I had absolutely no idea that I was dreaming, If it weren't for reality checks I think I might have continued going about my normal wake up routine with no clue that I was actually in a dream. So I guess I don't know what the heavy feeling was about but I hope I helped.

Welcome to DreamViews! :)

I'm a newbie myself, I just started on the forum a few days ago.

Anyways, I keep having the same problem you are having with remembering dreams. It DOES seem like I just close my eyes to go to sleep and open them up again to find that it's the morning. It's very frustrating, too. I don't have an answer; but I'm sure if you keep trying to remember them upon waking, you will surely remember your dreams after awhile. :)
Here's a tip: Once you wake up from your dream, lie there very still, and try to remember the last part of your dream. Now imagine it backwards, like what action you did before the end, and then the action before that, and so on.
Then, once you get the hang of it, you'll hopefully remember your whole dream from there! :)
Also, if you wake up in the middle of the night and don't feel like writing in your dream journal (I feel like not doing it from time to time) just write down some keywords from your dream. That way, once you read over the keywords in the morning, the dream will come flooding back, and then you'll be able to write it down in your dream journal! :)

Haha, I can't really help you with problem number 2, but you can go to the tutorial section and read all the tutorials that they have on all sorts of techniques for lucid dreaming: http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...splay.php?f=25

For problem number 3, that happens to me A LOT. So don't worry, I think the vividness will get better over time. :)

I hope this helps!

Happy dreams,
-xFaithfully

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For problem number 3, that happens to me A LOT. So don't worry, I think the vividness will get better over time.

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I personally think everyone has vivid dreams, it's just a matter of recall. Once you stay consistent with DJing you'll realize that there is a lot more to your dreams than you first thought.

Just keep dream journaling as often as possible. Every detail is necessary to improve dream recall, no matter how insignificant it may seem. Try to get everything on the paper and you'll notice how your dreams will become more and more interesting.

Good luck, you two! :D

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Originally Posted by StareHed

I think that the vividness and the recall of your dreams will improve as you become more immersed in the dream realm, I know mine did. When I first started attempting to lucid dream I never could remember even a shred of my dreams, of course I was smoking a lot weed at the time which I think was the cause, but regardless, as I've increased my knowledge and understanding of lucid dreaming I feel like I'm a lot more aware of what is going on in my brain when I'm asleep. However several months of obsession with lucid dreaming has only granted me two lucid dreams, both being accidental. I think that if you keep at it eventually something will click on it's own and you will lucid dream, as happened with me. It's been a long process for me, I think that as long as you keep trying you will lucid dream eventually.

Also the vividness of my first lucid dream caught me quite off guard. I remember having a few weird experiences kind of like the ones you described prior to my first lucid that I wasn't sure about. Anyways when you have a lucid dream you WILL know it.

When I had my first lucid I rolled out of my body like a lot of places suggest, you said you tried it so I'm hoping this will help somehow. It wasn't hard when I did it, I really didn't even think it would work, I just figured what the heck I'll go for it and so I sat up, just like I normally would when I woke up, and I had absolutely no idea that I was dreaming, If it weren't for reality checks I think I might have continued going about my normal wake up routine with no clue that I was actually in a dream. So I guess I don't know what the heavy feeling was about but I hope I helped.

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Ah, thanks for the reply! :D

First off, I don't do drugs or drink alcohol, so i shouldn't be hindered by either. I like to try and stay as aware as possible, not because of lucid dreaming, but because of college. It's paid off so far. (4.0! yes!) :banana:

Anyway, I'm not too sure about the heaviness either. If I was just awake, then I was having some major physical problems. Perhaps some variation of sleep paralysis is the culprit? :shock:

I won't think much of it then. But now, the first encounter, I was fully aware of the fact that I was dreaming! I'm not sure what exactly happened though, whether I woke up, or lost lucidity extremely fast, or what. It just happened. I wasn't even trying to think of whether I was dreaming or not. It just slipped out of my mouth and surprised me, almost as if I had a timer set in my head to say, "This is just a dream."

Thanks for the reply. Hopefully I will have my first true lucid soon, as I am excited to have such an experience. Just think, 2 months ago I had no clue one could do such things with their mind. I'm sure it will be mind-blowing, and in the end, extremely useful, if not just outright fun. :D

LD

Oh, I didn't see the other two replies! :D

Thanks, both of you.

xFaithfully, I've read of moving after waking almost ruining recall, but the thing is, I don't remember ever waking up still. The first thing I remember every morning is the moment my eyes are open, and my body is stretching. :( I know right? Pretty much the worst thing you could do. I guess I could find some way to train myself to stay still. Heheh.

Thanks XeL. I'll try to be more detailed in my DJ from now on. Right now it's basically cliffnotes. :cheeky:

I never remember a straight lapse of time in my dreams, if that makes sense. They always seem to jump from place to place, from time to time, almost like in a film. So that's pretty much how I have to write it in the DJ, but oh well, i'm sure things will fall into place one of these nights.

Sadly, I have nothing to write in my DJ today. It is one of those unfortunate days where it seems I didn't dream at all. But I know all the details are buried in my noggin somehow, I just need to dig it out! :eek:

Thanks again to everyone for all the help.

Again, one of these nights! :mwahaha:

LD

Just an FYI, i finally went lucid for real this time. :D

You can read about it here: http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=98078

I have some questions on my last post there, if you are interested in answering.

Oh nice! I haven't gone lucid yet, but I'm trying, though. :P

Oh, you'll get it. Definitely. I had my doubts, but if I can achieve lucidity, anyone can. ;)

I'm just hoping I can have another tonight. I think listening to Dr. LaBerge is helping. Not to mention my "waking" journal that I just started. (Writing your waking moments as if it is a dream journal. Exercises your memory to increase dream recall.)

Yes, I am starting one too. I started it yesterday, it didn't work though. Couldn't remember anything. :P
I will try again though, because it takes a few days of getting used to. Yeah, one of your goals should be to increase dream recall. That's mine now. ;)
I've heard of someone dreaming almost 9 dreams per night with a waking journal! :)
You should try to make that your goal.

Dang, 9 dreams. :shock:

I remembered only one last night. haha. I can't believe I didn't become lucid, as my main dream sign came up... again. :?

Maybe tonight? :D

Good luck!

LD

Haha I know right, that's a ton! :eek:
Yeah, I hear that happens to most people. It happened to me, too. I got really frustrated.
Your right, there's always tonight!