Thread: lucid dreaming book

Originally Posted by TripleX223

I have a small request on the book. There should be a small section for "Beginers" it should state that everyone is different. Some techniques work good for some people, while other may not be able to do it. It's all about the experimenting, which takes time. I just think this would stop the whole... WHATS THE BEST TECHNIQUE..... just my simple 2 cents

Good point, thanks.

There's something related at the end of the Introduction:

There are scientifically proven methods to obtain lucidity within your dreams, which we will explain in detail. The lucid dreaming community popularly classifies them using acronyms. For example, many techniques are classed as DILDs, meaning dream initiated lucid dream. As well as the main techniques, you will learn many relevant pieces of information, such as when the best time to gain lucidity is. The techniques will be guides that you can use, but also expand upon. You may even create ways on your own that best fit your lifestyle. Lucid dreaming involves creativity: if one way doesn't seem to work for you, then you can adapt it and make your own method. The goal behind this book is more than just to teach you popular techniques; it is aimed to help you learn to lucid dream on your own and do so masterfully. All told, lucidity is more of a personal achievement rather than a series of learned techniques.

(my emphasis).

but I think it should explicitly include the point you make about there not being any one best technique.

If anyone were actually still writing the book, I'm sure they'd want to address your point .

Hmmm, it seems this is a little more active now, I will pm a few of the people who were active and see if they can help again.

It seems like a good idea to me. make a book about different scenarios to do perhaps. different techniques and stuff. =D
not like all other books which is "what is Lucid Dreaming" and that kind of stuff.

I think in one of those chapters, maybe the "Dream Control" chapter, there should be a section for Dream Stability, and remaining in it after you achieve a Lucid Dream. I didn't read this whole thread, but from what I've read so far, there doesn't seem to be plans for that part.

What ever happened in here?

Come on guys, lets get this book up and running again, it seems that either i have missed something or you guys have completely forgotten about this. If it helps, i'd be willing to type up some sections, i've been doing a lot of article writing online during my free time so i should be able to offer some quick material. It doesn't have to be a final, getting together a rough draft of the book would be good at least.

well, this would work a lot better if the people who were helping out before had time to work on this. Sure you can write up something, just look around until you find something that needs to be typed or edited and just ask me if thats OK.

I think things should pick up around summer though.

I agree there, but all i'm saying is that i'm willing to give a helping hand during my free time to help get this to a first draft stage at least.

Times a bitch, but i'd like to help make it a bit easier so that when you guys come to sorting out a final version its a little easier.

I'm sending you a PM Sugarglider.

I'm still available for copy-editing.

Guys, I'm available on a limitted bases for proof reading. PM me if there is something I can do.

ok good, I think we will need some proof reading and editing after lucid seeker finishes putting everything that we allready have together.

I should have a rough draft done by Friday if that is cool with you guys. Then thats it for me, i'm going to be too busy to do anything after that until my exams are over.

Hopefully what i get up will be somewhat helpful.

EDIT - I just took a look and i got quite a lot i really should be doing later this week, so i've started now and should have a rough draft by the end of tonight, hopefully it will be good enough, i've added some sections as well as some text to start off, i may not have the best English writing skills, but hopefully these sections will enable some better writers to add some better content, thats if the section is appealing of course.

Haha hello DV book forum (takes off some spider webs in his way).

Any help is very welcome. Don't worry about English: we're aiming at an easily-understood book, not some epic poetry. Mistakes will be corrected.

I should be working on this a lil bit too. Been overwhelmed by so many things though. I will try and make some time for it.

Hey, just to update, i am just going through Chapter 4 doing some revisions and i should have an orderly version up.

I'll say now what i have done.

I have added a foreword which basically describes the purpose of the book.

I have edited out any grammer and bad sentence structures in Chapter 1.

Chapter 2 i have added an introduction to get you started on the History section.

Chapter 3 i just edited out the grammer and bad sentence structures again.

Chapter 4 i am adding a ton of my own revisions to hopefully make it better, i would have done it for the rest but i simply don't have that much time at the moment to dedicate. Hopefully by me doing a revision on Chapter 4 i should be able to show you what i mean in terms of how i have changed it.

I will also add some suggestions at the end as to what could be added to this book. Oh, please bare in mind that there still maybe some mistakes that i have not noticed, so sorry if you come across them.

I'll be putting up the revision/ordering of the book shortly.

Here it is, please do bare in mind that there are still a lot of errors, but hopefully it is a little more structured, it is unfortunately all i have time for. I will try and add to it when ever i have spare time, but this is all i could do tonight. I am tempted to do a whole re-do of it, when i say that i mean re-write it completely based on what has been written, it may be easier than manually correcting the grammar mistakes. What has been written is good, it just needs tidying up i think before we continue and get ahead. Its a pity the summer isn't here, otherwise i would have had tons of time to go over this.

Sorry that this is all i could offer at this stage.

The Lucid Dreaming Book Project


Foreword

Here in the DreamViews community there is a lot of growing interest in lucid dreaming and many have been inspired by how lucid dreaming has changed their lives, however actually transferring ideas and information on lucid dreaming can be difficult. This book was created was to help inform others and help them learn more about the topic of lucid dreaming. This book will hopefully help people not only learn more about the subject but dive deep into the world of lucid dreaming. The possibilities are endless with lucid dreaming, so why not share the interest in lucid dreaming that drove these members to create this book by reading through the detailed chapters and opening your mind to the vast world of lucid dreaming.

[Consider revising the above section]

Chapter 1: Introduction

I was in an apocalyptic version of my house. Everything around me was brown and in ruins and the horizon was black and depressing. My father told me we had to get out of there, as it was no longer safe to hide at home. After some running, I faced what was supposed to be my school. It was also in ruins, and this time there were bodies all over. This view was so awful that I told myself "No, this can't be true! I was here yesterday and my school wasn't like this!" That sentence immediately brought up an intense feeling. I knew all I was seeing wasn't real, but if it wasn't real, where was I? I took a closer look at my surroundings. Everything was mysteriously unknown but rather familiar at the same time. It could only be a dream. And it was. By the time I realized I was inside my own dream, and aware of it, I thought about the limitless possibilities the situation held. I was in charge of my own dream, and I could do anything I wanted. That said, I looked around one more time and then up at the sky. The sky seemed beautiful now, in a shade of blue I had never seen before. And so I took off, using a propelling jump to fly my way out of that ruined atmosphere. Flying felt great: I could feel the wind on my face, and I could see the small buildings below me. At that moment, I was free and nothing could stop me. I could fly without wings, swim without breathing, lift cars and conjure explosions out of thin air. However, the most amazing thing in all this is how real the dream was. At any point I could have mistaken it for reality; the detail filled me with awe. It was like a second life, but a life in which I was the superhero.

--Lucid dream account by Bruno Lepri (Dream Views Member - Kromoh)

Exhilarating, liberating, and awe-inspiring are just a few ways to describe the wonder of lucid dreams. Within them, anything is possible: you could fly over a sun-bathed city, walk through walls, feel incredible joy, compose music, create your own worlds, and influence any aspect of your dream. The best news is that this vast realm of possibilities is available to any who pursue it. By the time you have finished this book you will have learned the fundamentals of lucid dreaming, the historical and scientific contexts, how to better remember your dreams, techniques to induce lucidity, various lucid aids and more.

Have you ever had a dream where you knew you were dreaming? If so, you too have experienced the unique sensation that is lucidity. You might have pinched yourself and tried to wake up, or ran to do something you couldn’t in waking life. Whatever happened, this dream probably sticks out in your mind. Compare this to the non-lucid dream we are all familiar with. In the average dream it can seem as if you were handed a movie script and told to play out your part exactly as written. In truth the scenery, characters and situations are all a product of your own subconscious, but you believe everything, no matter how ridiculous, and accept it as reality.

The benefits to lucid dreaming are far greater than meets the eye. How much time do you spend asleep over your lifetime? Most people spend a third of their lives unconscious, missing out on grand opportunities to be as awake and alive as their waking life. The most obvious use of lucidity is pure enjoyment, but if you pursue it further there are many potential therapeutic and psychological benefits. Through lucidity you can overcome nightmares, face your fears, learn about yourself, gain artistic ideas and insights, boost confidence, problem solve and release a new level of freedom in your life.

Lucid dreaming is perfectly natural, but at present it is not widely known about. Most dreams are not lucid, and in general people don't spend much time thinking about dreams, so it isn't surprising if you've never heard of lucid dreams before. In the past few decades, scientists have studied lucid dreaming and its existence is firmly established. Although it is natural, most people have to make an effort to have regular lucid dreams. The exceptions are a lucky few that have had frequent lucid dreams from an early age; these select few are often surprised when they discover that it is not as easily attained amongst the overall majority! If you try the techniques in this book, you should not worry that you will be stuck with regular lucid dreams against your will and be unable to stop them.

In the endeavor to become lucid in your dreams, the ability to recall dreams is an important one. In daily lives, our chores can leave us little time to know ourselves better. Many of us lose the ability to remember our dreams in the tiring routine. Some of us might even conclude that they are not dreaming anymore; that is hopefully not the case! We all average about five dreams in a good night of sleep. If that were all there was to it, we would remember our dreams with great ease. But there is also the fact that, while we're having a regular dream, we're mostly unconscious. That makes recalling dreams a challenge of key importance to lucid dreaming. Good dream recall will not only increase your lucidity rate, but also make sure you do not forget your lucid dream when you have one.


To improve dream recall, there is a consensus that keeping a Dream Journal is of utmost importance. It could be anything that stores information about your dreams from a simple spiral bound notebook, a computer or tape recorder. Since dream recall is so important we will come back to it in later chapters.

This book provides you with a range of relaxation methods to help you fall asleep, which are also rather important. Though these techniques do not directly induce lucidity, they do play a huge role in the process of attaining lucidity.

There are scientifically proven methods to obtain lucidity within your dreams, which we will explain in detail. The lucid dreaming community popularly classifies them using acronyms. For example, many techniques are classed as DILDs, meaning dream initiated lucid dream. As well as the main techniques, you will learn many relevant pieces of information, such as when the best time to gain lucidity is. The techniques will be guides that you can use, but also expand upon. You may even create ways on your own that best fit your lifestyle. Lucid dreaming involves creativity: if one way doesn't seem to work for you, then you can adapt it and make your own method. The goal behind this book is more than just to teach you popular techniques; it is aimed to help you learn to lucid dream on your own and do so masterfully. All told, lucidity is more of a personal achievement rather than a series of learned techniques.

Now then, you’re ready to begin your path to lucid knowledge. If you have never experienced a lucid dream before, take heart: it is only a matter of time and patience. Let us guide your first steps into the realm of lucid dreaming.


Chapter 2: History of Lucid Dreaming

Lucid dreaming has been around for many years, maybe hundred or even thousands. The development of the brain is largely dependant on dreams and it is unknown as to when dreams and lucid dreams could be achieved by humans or even animals for that matter. The far back history of dreaming and lucid dreaming is quite uncertain, however, it is only in the past few decades that lucid dreaming has been taken further due to new research and findings as a result.

Lucid dreaming was more of a concept and was not proven due to the technicalities behind proving its existence. It would be a very difficult task for anyone to prove that they could have conscious awareness within a dream. Word of mouth was not enough evidence and hardly proved that the concept of lucid dreaming was possible. This all changed though when one man made it his goal to prove and research lucid dreaming further. That mans name was Stephen LaBerge.

Stephen LaBerge played one of the biggest roles when it came to proving and sharing lucid dreaming to the world. It all began back in…

[Insert more history on the subject, the above is a started/intro to the chapter]


Chapter 3: The Aspects of Dreaming

Before we plunge into the vast study of lucid dreaming it is important to understand some principles of the sleeping cycle, and of dreaming itself. The use of this may not be readily apparent to you, but the knowledge will help in all aspects including dream recall and the timing of various techniques.


The stages of sleep

Most dream and sleep research is conducted through the use of an electroencephalogram (EEG). This machine can measure the distinctive rhythms, or waves, of resting neurons. From these waves, different stages of sleep were classified. The sleep cycle, as it is called, has been thoroughly] studied, and as of now many concepts are agreed between scientists. The following is the complete cycle the body goes through approximately every seventy to ninety minutes of sleep.



In stage one, which means soon after falling asleep, you slip into a state of light unconsciousness, which lasts about ten minutes, during which brain activity follows a theta wave pattern. At this time, your brain activity will be akin to a calm and relaxed waking mind.

In stage two the EEG shows a change from theta waves into the slower beta waves. The body’s functions will progressively slow, though a sleeper can easily be woken by sounds.

Stage three is the beginning of deep sleep. This stage occurs after about thirty to forty-five minutes of sleep. Brain activity has slowed into a delta wave pattern. It can be hard to wake someone up when he or she is sleeping at this stage; and when it is done, the sleeper might wake up confused and disorientated.

Soon this will shift into stage four, the deepest sleep. Bodily functions decline in deep physical rest and delta waves are over fifty percent. During this stage, waking up the sleeper may prove extremely hard.

After stage four ends you will gradually move up the stages, eventually entering stage one emergent, or more commonly known as REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Here the treasures of the subconscious are unearthed. You guessed it - dreams. During REM your breathing is irregular, your eyes have bursts of movement and your pulse rate rises again. At this point your body comes under a sleep paralysis that relaxes your muscles and ceases motor messages sent by your brain. This is thought to be for preventing involuntary movements that could get your sleeping-self hurt. You may have experienced this phenomena, waking to find you are unable to move at all; while experiencing a tingling or electric sensation through your body. Sleep paralysis prevents all your major muscles from moving, thus allowing you to move your dreaming body, while having your physical body perfectly safe and still.


This first dream period may last a short ten minutes, after which you will go through the sleep cycle over again from stage 2. Fortunately as the night goes on stage three and four vanish, leaving REM periods longer (eventually up to an hour) and the time between them shorter.

Knowing how the sleep cycle works has many advantages when inducing lucid dreaming. Some techniques will rely on this information, as will be seen in the respective chapters.


The Nature of Dreams

The study of dreams is something that has always challenged the boundaries of human knowledge. It is not easy to study what happens during sleep, since we are unconscious through most of it. Dreaming itself was not scientifically proven until recently. Theses can be made, however, based on the psychological views of dreaming.

[[decided to remove the sentence, there was nothing I could add to it that isn't already explained]]

In our daily lives, our brain maintains a mental image of our body: an updated set of information, regarding the position we are in, what we see and hear, if we are hungry, and several other data important to our survival. This body image is what allows us to close our eyes, and still know where our arms are placed. During sleep, however, the situation changes: the sensory input our brain retrieves from our body is so little, that our mind has trouble to work out where we are or what we are doing, correctly. In its desperate struggle to understand our current situation, based on the scarce information it has, our mind will often produce a whole mental conception of the scenario around us. But, since it is based on such ambiguous and limited information, it will often create a wrong scenario around us: a scenario we are not in at the moment. That’s when dreaming starts.

Being under the effects of Sleep Paralysis, which prevents any major movement from our muscles, our mind is able to displace the mental image of the body, while our real body is lying still, immobile. For our brain, it is as if we were moving, when in fact, we aren’t moving at all.

This situation opens up a wide gamut of possibilities. When our mental body image does not correspond to our physical body position, we start to dream: the world then seen is not the real one, but one designed by our minds. The laws of physics do not limit that world: it is a world in which anything we believe is possible. Dreams often carry a sense of freedom: our dream selves are able to do the impossible, from flying without wings to seeing people who are no longer with us.

Dreams do indeed offer the possibility to do whatever we want, but even so, they are affected by our beliefs, knowledge and experiences. For an example of that, read the following story:

John walked down the street. On his way to school, he found a dog. He instantly remembered his own dog: a playful Yorkshire. When he finally got to his school, he met many of his friends.

Assumptions, be they conscious or subconscious, ruled the way you interpreted the meaning of that small paragraph. I expect you imagined that John walked with his legs, and not with his hands. You might have also assumed that the dog John found was walking on the street, and not driving a car. You probably also concluded that John wasn’t accompanied by his dog at the moment he walked to school. Finally, you might have imagined John’s friends as humans, rather than whales.

This story was used to explain the assumptions you make throughout your existence. Your brain uses those to quickly deduce meaning from situations, speech, and text. These assumptions can be conscious or unconscious. It is completely normal for a person to assume a lot from what he or she reads.

When dealing with dreaming, however, assumptions play an even more important role. Most people would never expect to see a frog watching soap opera on a couch. For that reason, then, chances are they’ll never dream of that. That is explained by your assumptions. In a dream, only things that you believe can happen will happen. This can, though, be pushed by your experiences, such as seeing a talking dog on television, and subconsciously believing it is possible. In that case, dreaming of a talking dog is rather likely.

The schemas laws that rule our way of thinking in waking life are also present when dreaming. Everything that happens in a dream happens because your mind expects it to happen. If you believe, for example, that broccoli tastes awful, then it’s highly likely to taste the same in a dream.

Our beliefs can also be bad, especially for lucid dreaming. In our daily lives, we don’t ever ask ourselves if we are dreaming. That is, of course, because in light of consciousness, we don’t expect to be dreaming. Not expecting to be dreaming will make you believe the same thing when you are indeed in a dream. Your subconscious will carry that belief, making you not question the world around you. For that reason, even the most absurd situations will sound completely usual to us, in a dream: we don’t expect to be dreaming, after all.

For that matter, there is a type of lucid dream induction that is based on exactly that. Dreams, as made by our mind, will often contain inaccuracies, rather unlikely or even impossible situations. Even in the most vivid and convincing dreams, some things will reveal it as a dream. One example would be a flying dog, or finding your bedroom is now pink (if it wasn’t already). These indicators are called dream signs, for, upon seeing one, one can question whether if he is facing reality, or just experiencing a dream. This kind of realization can make that person lucid, by becoming aware that what he sees is only inside his dreaming mind. It goes without mention that this realization is only possible if you expect you could be in a dream.

Now that you know how dreams work, you can move on to the first concepts of lucid dreaming. On the next chapter, you will see exactly that: the aspects of a dream, its comparison to reality, and how you can use those to induce lucid dreams.


Chapter 4: Lucid Dreaming

Now you are about to begin your journey into lucid dreaming. There are many things you can do to make your first steps; in this chapter you will be advised through some of the first steps you can take towards having lucid dreams yourself. Anyone can achieve lucidity within a dream, it may not come straight away for some, but I can guarantee that the results will be well worth the wait. Lucid dreaming should not be viewed as something you would struggle throughout, it should be viewed as an opportunity to change your life, you have to take easy steps and feel confident in your movements towards attaining lucidity. One thing that many people seem to forget is that a positive mind can get you many places, a positive mind in lucid dreaming can really help improve your chances of having a lucid dream, stay positive and confident and you can achieve anything.

Perhaps the most important thing about lucid dreaming is that it isn’t just enough to have them, you need remember them or the experience will be lost. Even our greatest lucid dreams can be forgotten if our dream recall is bad. Actually, you could have had lots of lucid dreams in your life, and what happens is that you just won't remember them.

Recalling dreams is hard for a reason: most of our regular dreaming experiences happen on a subconscious level, and not all our mental faculties are present. As soon as we wake up, our mind will attempt to erase the memories of the dreams you had, for they are considered unimportant to your daily life.

While some people find it easy to remember their nightly journeys, statistically women recall dreams more easily than men and the reason for this can be traced back to the biology of men and women. With men having high levels of testosterone they are more prone to aggression and stress, which are huge factors which help prevent the recalling of dreams. Women on the other hand have much lower levels of testosterone and are not as aggressive as men which enables them to recall dreams just that little bit better. Of course, this is a generalization because there are many variables from person to person.

Other people could even start believing that they do not dream at all. That is not true: every person has at least five dreams daily, depending on their sleep schedule. If you are under the impression that you do not have dreams, then all that's happening is that you cannot recall them. Remembering dreams can be practiced through simple steps.

The most important step on the path to recalling your dreams is to keep a dream journal, which as you will learn, greatly improves your chances of attaining lucidity within the dream state. A dream journal can be anything, from a small notebook to an Internet blog. For best effectiveness you should try and include as many details as you possibly can, of course, if you feel you are short for time you can write down key points in the dream, and that way when you return and have more time you can always expand. However, the more detailed you are and the more information you can get down, the better your recall becomes. It is actually incredibly easy to improve your dream recall, and the steps follow.

1. You need to get a journal, specifically for recording your dreams. Place it next to your bed for writing down entries. You could try to use your computer for this, but having a piece of paper is a much better option; especially if you want to take down quick notes before forgetting them.
2. When going to bed you should want to remember dreams, this is important because it is suggestive and is in a way manifests itself so that one of your first thoughts upon waking is to write down and recall your dreams.
3. When falling asleep, try repeating this affirmation to yourself in your head “I will remember my dreams, I will wake up after each and every dream and recall the events that occurred” This will hep manifest the thoughts into your head and if these thoughts are manifested sub-consciously you are more likely to remember to wake up and write down the events that occurred in your dreams.
4. When you wake up, try your best not to move, and immediately try and recall your dreams, try and separate what you recall into sections so that you know how many dreams you recalled in total. Ask yourself “What was I doing just now?” “What was I thinking a while ago” “What events occurred since I fell asleep last”. Then slowly and gently reach for your notepad and jot down what you can. Writing down key points is good since it can allow memories to trigger when you decide to fully wake.
5. Concentrate hard on remembering your dream: you will find that if you concentrate on it that you will recall things with better detail. A good tip is to try and work backwards from memories since you will find that things will be revealed that you may not have remembered had you not thought backwards.
6. If, even after trying hard, nothing more can be remembered, just write down what you can, you will often find that working with what you have got can lead to remembering more details.
7. After you have written down all you could remember you can then try and organise the information into a clear description, which you can easily refer back to. You don’t have to do this straight away, though it is known to help out since it allows you to try and fill in the missing gaps, which can seem easier to remember when you have a nicely ordered dream in front of you. Think of it like putting a jigsaw puzzle together.
8. The next day, read your dreams from the previous night. This will help, as it will let your subconscious know that you want to remember your dreams. It will manifest as important and this will most likely stay within your subconscious and carry on into the following night and enable you to remember more dreams and details.

When you record your dreams in your dream journal, record it in the present tense; this will make your subconscious more familiar with your dream world, thus increasing your chances of becoming lucid in the dream. You should also never give up on your dream journal. You need to find a way of motivating yourself to keep it up, if results do not come suddenly, be patient as you may be being too impatient, results will come. Don't regard it as a chore, but rather as something fun. If your first attempts at recalling your dreams are completely unfruitful, don't worry: dream recalling has a snowball effect: as soon as you start it, it will get better and better. By simply sitting down to write to write your dream, you are already improving your recall, even if you don't manage to write anything at all.

Before you begin to seriously try lucid dreaming, you should build a recall of about 2-3 dreams a night, although by recalling one dream per night you probably won't forget any lucid dreams you have. Many lucid induction techniques rely on information you gather through dream recall, so remembering your dreams is a really important thing to do. Actually, just by starting a dream journal, chances are you will have lucid dreams naturally. Most people who build an average recall (Remembering 2-3 dreams per night) report having one or a few lucid dream a month without any effort. Dream recall should be the easiest thing when you are used to it, so there is no reason to worry about it so much. You may even see dream recall improving greatly the first night.

One major difference in the dream world is that you lack much conscious thought. We tend to rationalize rather than think logically, and we do not have access to our full mental faculties. What is absurd in reality is completely normal in a dream. Of course, this is down to how dreams are structured, we naturally do not have conscious awareness in dreams and this makes us blind to what is happening. It is our logical thought through conscious awareness which allows us to determine what is reality and what is a dream. There are some who can naturally have conscious awareness in a dream, of course it varies from person to person, but the overall majority dream without conscious awareness.

When you are unsure as to whether or not you are dreaming or witnessing reality, you are going to want to check which you are in. To determine if you are dreaming or witnessing reality you need to do a reality check. The reality check that is least likely to fail is to pinch your nose, close your mouth and try to breath through your nose. It is likely that if you are dreaming you will be able to breath even with your nose and mouth closed. Of course in real life you would not be able to breath. This test will determine whether you are awake or dreaming. There are a variety of available reality checks for you to try, but try to be imaginative, try and come up with something that you think will work for you, because chances are that it will probably work for you.

After you have recorded a decent amount of dreams, you look for something similar in them. If you find one, that is your dream sign. Whenever your dream sign appears, do a reality check. Your dream sign can become your best friend when it comes to lucid dreaming.

In real life you would think something was wrong if you saw a pig fly, but in a dream it would be perfectly normal. Knowing this fact about dreams can help you become lucid with these simple steps.

1. During your normal day, look around, and know that everything is normal. Now make sure everything is normal, and if anything isn’t, do a reality check.

2. Now pretend those something normal like a bird was a flying pig, now do a reality check, actually believe the bird is a flying pig, so that when you are dreaming if something similar happens you will become lucid.

3. Now pretend that you just became lucid in a dream, and what you would do, and think about it.

If you have already discovered your dream sign, pretend that you have just seen it, do a reality check, this way you will do that in a dream you could use that for step 2. You should then do a reality check as part of step 3, so you remember to reality check whenever you see your dream sign.

The main reason why we are not lucid in our dreams is because, subconsciously, we believe what we are facing is real. Without the wise judgment from consciousness and logical thinking, even the most unlikely or impossible situations seem just seem natural.

For that reason, is it can be hard to determine for sure whether you are in a dream or awake. When in the waking state, you are usually sure that you are awake. But so are you in a dream. Luckily, there is a method for determining whether or not you are dreaming or awake. It's called Reality Checking.

[I added revisions to Chapter 4 overall, so please feel free to change if you do not agree with the changes. There are still a lot of mistakes that need to be fixed but I made as many changes as I could]

good job, I can see a lot of things that would need to added though.

About the Foreword:

• Looks like a good idea to me.

The Introduction dives straight in with a dream journal extract etc, so the Foreword lets us explain where the book is coming from before that. I think there may be a few lines in the Introduction about the book in general that could be moved to the Foreword, or can be removed now we have a Foreword.

• The first part of the first sentence is borked.

Since Lucid Dreaming is the entire point of DreamViews, it doesn't make sense to say that there's a growing interest _within_ the "DreamViews community". Instead, you might 1) claim that there's a growing interest in Lucid Dreaming in popular culture, or 2) explain that the DreamViews community is large and still growing. I think the second option is better, because a newbie could very easily verify it by looking at the forum stats at the bottom of the forum pages. The first option would be more of an unsubstantiated claim :-).

• It says "lucid dreaming" too many times.

The first and last sentences repeat it no less than three times, which I can't stand. Here's a suggestion to fix that:

Here in the DreamViews community there is a lot of growing interest in lucid dreaming and many have been inspired by how lucid dreamingit has changed their lives, however actually transferring ideas and information on lucid dreaming can be difficult. This book was created was to help inform others and help them learn more about the topic of lucid dreaming. This book will hopefully help people not only learn more about the subject but dive deep into the world of lucid dreaming. The possibilities are endless with lucid dreaming, so why not share the interest in lucid dreaming that drove these members to create this book by reading through the detailed chapters and opening your mind to the vast world of lucid dreaming.

Yeah, as i said, i think the foreword could use rewriting, but from what i've put can you see what i had in mind?

Listen, depending on how i manage my time, i may be able to help out with this a bit more, so just give me the thumbs up if its okay for me to go over this again in more detail, should i have the time of course.

Lucid Seeker, that really is some quality work over there!!! I liked it verily.

Should I suggest one thing, it'd be to post each specific chapter review at its specific thread, so as to make things a bit more organised - but that is only a suggestion.

I might take tiem to contribute with a few things myself, once I get rid of this cold and have some extra time.

I'm really glad to see someone's not only interested but takign part in the project. Here is my thumb up: Tell me if you need anything done, from writing to proof-reading to Tango'ing etc.

What i was thinking of doing was re-writing the entire thing to make sure i correct any sentences that are wrong or could be written better. Plus i can add things where necessary

I'll need to find the time first of course. But i can hopefully make a tidier copy with a lot less mistakes so that its easier edit.

I'll let you guys know when i have time, i'm hoping Friday but i'm making no promises as of yet, lets see how much work i can get done tomorrow, then i will know for sure.

I just don't want to see such a good idea go to waste, not saying that it was, but it was inactive for some time and i just want to revive it and get some more people getting back into it. But i'll help when i can.

Hey guys. In order to make this whole project more entertaining, I've had the idea of passing it to a wiki software. Not only would it make comparison between revisions easier, but also many other things such as templates and whatnot?

I've got something cooked, but I need your opinion on it. This forum would remain active, of course, to bring in new members, but the content would be worked on at the wiki website.

I'd like it. Easy deltas between any revisions, easy for multiple people to edit. Might also be useful for sharing notes. I'm not sure what you would use templates for though.

It'd also help encourage people to work on things "online" instead of working in private for several days + only sharing when they've "finished". Though maybe I'm too nosy.

What do you mean you've got something cooked? Have you been working on some more content, or playing with wiki hosting? I would say you need to be a bit careful about hosting issues. Have you considered Wikia?

1 - Templates can be used to identify parts or sections that need expading, proof-reading, revision or rewritting.

2 - Exactly.

3 - Been playing with wiki hostage to try to find a decent one. Tried several of the custom wiki softwares there are, and I really prefer the MediaWiki software - when I'm about to get impressed by a wiki software, there is this essential feature which is only available if you pay for it.

4 - I don't think Wikia would allow for a private project. :<

Right, ICT coursework is done and dusted, out the way. I have free time again, so i am going to get the version i remade and do a huge proof read on it. Once doing so i will put a bit more effort into making it a little better presentable. The material is great, but there is a lot of problems in terms of grammar that need fixing in my opinion.

I'll have a review of it over the weekend and see what i can come up with in terms of an update.

I know this isn't exactly my project at all, but could i possibly be able to start adding to this more frequently. I like to see things finished and this is one thing that some people are finding hard to complete due to lack of time.

I have some ideas for this, maybe some picture included to make it also a bit of a visual experience for the reader also. Its always good to have pictures that explain things via visual implification.

I don't know what you guys think, i don't want to be taking this over or anything, i hope i am not, but once i started on that revision, i just knew that i needed to help get this finished since it is a good idea.

What are your thoughts?

EDIT - Just wanted to get approval from you guys before i do anything. So please let me know.

Just thought I'd post some of my recent experience with lulu. They are very picky about how the PDFs are set up and even working PDFs with embedded fonts may not work. I would recommend writing the book with LaTeX over OOo or Word.