Questions and Answers

[PercyLucid]

Post your questions here. I will answer them sooner or later. Be patient and wait for your response.

[JP]

Is there any particular foods or drugs we should avoid before going to bed?

[Shadowmilo]

ok two. So say i want to dream about driving a camero. And i MILD it, thinking of it most of the day and me doing it, it is impossible because i have no idea what the interior of the car looks like, am i right? AND: i think that i have a semi-lucid everynight, becaus ei always find i go, "Shoot a fireball or paralyzing needle at them, its a dream" Although i keep going along with the plot. I normally get chased by something in my dreams, how can i make that a good thing? And something usable to get me lucid?

[bennerman]

Could the reason that my recent dreams have been so full of fear because I have been stressed out lately and have been going to bed with bad thoughts?

[Wallboy]

Is it true that the older you get, the harder it is to remember your dreams and have lucid dreams?

[StonedApe]

Do we have to post all our dreams in the workbook? I recalled at least 8 last night and I write them in a physical notebook. Can I just copy the lucids here or do I have put them all? Also, do you have any tips for staying focused on dreaming when going back to sleep in the middle of the night. Sometimes it's really easy, sometimes my mind wanders like crazy. Do you have any kind of technique or things you do when you wake up to stay focused?

[PercyLucid]

Is there any particular foods or drugs we should avoid before going to bed? That is another whole new story. There are some foods and vitamins that increases lucidity and other who decreases them. But I do not believe this is 100% true. I do not worry about this. However, you want to drink additional water to wake up in the middle of the night to go pee. This way, you might do a WBTB (We will go over this on 3rd class) Also, avoid overeating and eating before going to bed. Otherwise, you will not have a rested night. ok two. So say i want to dream about driving a camero. And i MILD it, thinking of it most of the day and me doing it, it is impossible because i have no idea what the interior of the car looks like, am i right? AND: i think that i have a semi-lucid everynight, becaus ei always find i go, "Shoot a fireball or paralyzing needle at them, its a dream" Although i keep going along with the plot. I normally get chased by something in my dreams, how can i make that a good thing? And something usable to get me lucid? Do you know how a Camero is? On the outside? Then it does not matter. If you want to drive a Camero, you will have a vehicle that will look similar both on the inside and the outside of it. The vehicle will speed like a Camero (probably more) and you will feel rewarded. So, the interior is not important at all. In the dream, you will probably just open the door, sit on the driver's seat and in a second later, you will be speeding... Yeah, you probably are semi-lucid. If something chases you in a dream, you need to be lucid and stop the chase. The ask to whatever is chasing you, "Who are you? Who do you represent? Do you need something from me? Should I know something?" It will reply to you and give you responses. Then it will probably vanish into your dream body. If a dog or other animal chases you, talk with it as well, it will speak. Could the reason that my recent dreams have been so full of fear because I have been stressed out lately and have been going to bed with bad thoughts? I know very well my fears and my dreams, but not yours. Just repeat to yourself that lucidity is not something to be afraid on. Repeat to yourself that you will not be afraid in your next lucid. Once you manage to not stay afraid in your lucids, once you turn lucid ask to the dream, "Show me my fears and help me overcome them." From there, you are on your own, but you are lucid so you cannot be harmed. You will learn what is going on in your head and you will get over it. Is it true that the older you get, the harder it is to remember your dreams and have lucid dreams? With age, memory decreases, true. However, if you work on your dreams, the older you get, the wiser you will be, the more lucids you will have. Forgetting lucids is a lot harder than regular dreams, and the more you work on lucids, the more lucids you have. The more lucids you have, the easier is to LD in future dreams. So, on people who works on dreams and lucidity will not have a decrease of ability with age, but an improvement. Do we have to post all our dreams in the workbook? I recalled at least 8 last night and I write them in a physical notebook. Can I just copy the lucids here or do I have put them all? Also, do you have any tips for staying focused on dreaming when going back to sleep in the middle of the night. Sometimes it's really easy, sometimes my mind wanders like crazy. Do you have any kind of technique or things you do when you wake up to stay focused? It will be better if you do, but if takes a lot of time. Point out you have eight dreams. If you have lucids, please post them. For your second question, that will be covered on the 2nd class

[mikeac]

I enjoy listening to music, especially before bed, but I also piece out each individual instrument a vocal instead of listening to the song as a whole, so I get the whole song and not just the beat or the vocals. How would this affect my lucid dreaming, if it does?

[PercyLucid]

I enjoy listening to music, especially before bed, but I also piece out each individual instrument a vocal instead of listening to the song as a whole, so I get the whole song and not just the beat or the vocals. How would this affect my lucid dreaming, if it does? Well, it might trigger music in your own dreams. Also, if you fall asleep focused only on the music, you are not focused on LD so you decrease your chances. If you can hear music and focus on LDing at the same time, you will be fine!

[mikeac]

Okay, thanks. I can multifocus. :3

[Scratch]

I have some since I'm not able to go to IRC at the time of the classes. I know that in the last one, reading before going to sleep was mentioned. Is reading fiction ok? What about listening to audio books, also fiction? And are there any tips for people who fall asleep very hard? I always try to think about dreams and stuff, but for me it usually takes more than an hour to fall asleep, every night. And, as hard as I'm trying, at some point it gets boring/frustrating to think of the same thing over and over again for so long, and I start thinking of other stuff without even realizing it. Thanks.

[StonedApe]

I asked a similar question in class by it was lost in all the spam. I assume reading fiction is fine, but is reading non-fiction in any way better? It seems like it could go either way. Fiction is more imaginative which might help give you stranger and more vivid dreams, but at the same time it can kind of lull you to sleep in the same kind of passive/receptive way TV does. Non-fiction makes you think harder so I could see it being better so long as it didn't consume all of your focus and make you forget about dreaming. I dunno, what do you think Percy?

[PercyLucid]

I have some since I'm not able to go to IRC at the time of the classes. I know that in the last one, reading before going to sleep was mentioned. Is reading fiction ok? What about listening to audio books, also fiction? And are there any tips for people who fall asleep very hard? I always try to think about dreams and stuff, but for me it usually takes more than an hour to fall asleep, every night. And, as hard as I'm trying, at some point it gets boring/frustrating to think of the same thing over and over again for so long, and I start thinking of other stuff without even realizing it. Thanks. Reading fiction is fine. Ready anything is actually good. You might dream the fiction and your dream will be weirder. It may increase slightly the chances. For hard sleepers, will be taught on the next or 3rd class I asked a similar question in class by it was lost in all the spam. I assume reading fiction is fine, but is reading non-fiction in any way better? It seems like it could go either way. Fiction is more imaginative which might help give you stranger and more vivid dreams, but at the same time it can kind of lull you to sleep in the same kind of passive/receptive way TV does. Non-fiction makes you think harder so I could see it being better so long as it didn't consume all of your focus and make you forget about dreaming. I dunno, what do you think Percy? The TV triggers a piece of your brain that makes you become receptive. Reading does trigger your right side of the dream, and if you read fiction, you also trigger your left side, but you do not decrease, increase awareness. It is the TV itself that turns you to be receptive.

[Scratch]

^Thank you.

[NoDaniel]

When I become a more advanced LDer, I REALLY want to create my own world. I even have a layout of it! lol Why is it so hard, if we can actually control our own dreams?

[Amity]

Just checking that I've understood this properly: As well as thinking about our dream goals and rewards to get ourselves excited, we can also take positive feelings and excitement from other things (eg. your birthday party example) and associate our dream scenario with them? So, train ourselves to think about the concert whenever we have the most exciting feelings of the day... Is that correct?

[zebrah]

Hey I'm not enrolled so I hope you don't mind the question. I want to do the basic ToTm which is getting struck by lightning. Maybe I visualize being in the mid west in an open field with a big storm heading my way. Would this be to realistic to allow me to become lucid? Or would I just know? Thanks

[PercyLucid]

Just checking that I've understood this properly: As well as thinking about our dream goals and rewards to get ourselves excited, we can also take positive feelings and excitement from other things (eg. your birthday party example) and associate our dream scenario with them? So, train ourselves to think about the concert whenever we have the most exciting feelings of the day... Is that correct? Yes, kinda. You want to visualize a reward and a feeling for accomplishing your goal. Recall a very happy moment (like birthdays) in order to get the feeling. But them you will need to associate that feeling with the accomplishment of your dream goal. When I become a more advanced LDer, I REALLY want to create my own world. I even have a layout of it! lol Why is it so hard, if we can actually control our own dreams? Well, there are ways to control the dreams, some people is better at some, some is not. Creating a whole world require extremely control and brain power. You can visualize the planet that would be your world and fly to it... but create it insitu... is too much. Hey I'm not enrolled so I hope you don't mind the question. I want to do the basic ToTm which is getting struck by lightning. Maybe I visualize being in the mid west in an open field with a big storm heading my way. Would this be to realistic to allow me to become lucid? Or would I just know? Thanks Badly visualize. In real life, a storm heading your way might sudden-switch directions and go to other way. In dreams this is dramatically multiplied. Just focus yourself under the rain on a very stormy night (night will work better) Visualize yourself in the middle of an empty field. Pretty much that's it. Do not visualize the hit... that is too random. If you manage to spawn in the middle of nowhere under a bad storm... your logic and subconscious will take care of striking you with the lighting-bolt.

[StonedApe]

I've been trying to do the same goal for about a week now and can't seem to get it. I've been trying to pull a cigarette case out of my pocket full of joints. I have been having a few less lucids since, but still at least one every 3 nights(and when I have one I almost always have 2 or 3). I just can't seem to make it happen. I pull other things out, but all I can ever get is the stuff that's usually in my pockets, change, chapstick, cellphone, etc. Here's how I've been visualizing it. I visualize myself walking around an old dusty house with low lights. I become lucid and feel light and excited. I reach into my pocket and feel a cigarette case. I feel the coldness of the metal, the grooves of the design and the weight of it. I pull it out. I open it and imagine the click it makes. I see a row of joints. I pull one out. I feel the paper in my hands, then on my lips. I light it up and feel how hard it draws and taste the weed. Would changing the scene of where I become lucid help? Am I visualizing too much of it?

[NoDaniel]

What is the difference between Incubation and Dream Scenery?

[Snowboy]

This is also in my workbook, but I also feel like posting it here... Do you have any tips for keeping the incubation/dream scene in mind? I'm often doing something, so I have a hard time thinking about and remembering the concert scene.

[StonedApe]

Can't edit sooooooooo Would it be a good idea to stop after visualizing taking out the cigarette case? Also I know you went over this in class, but do you have any other tips for visualizing dream scenery, like what kinds of details are good to focus on? I know it will be different depending on what senses you use, but I'm looking for more specific objects and settings that work well. I have a hard time really developing the setting. I've been thinking a lot about the incubation technique today and it occurred to me that it would probably be a good idea to get excited about LDing (how you are going to have one soon, how you are going to accomplish your goal) every time you do a RC. What do you think Percy? Has anyone ever tried this?

[PercyLucid]

I've been trying to do the same goal for about a week now and can't seem to get it. I've been trying to pull a cigarette case out of my pocket full of joints. I have been having a few less lucids since, but still at least one every 3 nights(and when I have one I almost always have 2 or 3). I just can't seem to make it happen. I pull other things out, but all I can ever get is the stuff that's usually in my pockets, change, chapstick, cellphone, etc. Here's how I've been visualizing it. I visualize myself walking around an old dusty house with low lights. I become lucid and feel light and excited. I reach into my pocket and feel a cigarette case. I feel the coldness of the metal, the grooves of the design and the weight of it. I pull it out. I open it and imagine the click it makes. I see a row of joints. I pull one out. I feel the paper in my hands, then on my lips. I light it up and feel how hard it draws and taste the weed. Would changing the scene of where I become lucid help? Am I visualizing too much of it? Pulling stuff from your pocket, triggers something random. Rather than visualizing in waking, you must visualize within the lucid dream. Place your hand inside the pocked and visualize (while lucid) a case with joints, visualize also the joints (no the taste) and pull them out from your pocket. It is very likely you will pull the case with joints. What is the difference between Incubation and Dream Scenery? Easy example, dream incubation is watching five minutes of a movie. Dream Scenery is pausing that movie and visualizing the static image. This is also in my workbook, but I also feel like posting it here... Do you have any tips for keeping the incubation/dream scene in mind? I'm often doing something, so I have a hard time thinking about and remembering the concert scene. Have you tried with different, one or more of your senses? Can't edit sooooooooo Would it be a good idea to stop after visualizing taking out the cigarette case? Also I know you went over this in class, but do you have any other tips for visualizing dream scenery, like what kinds of details are good to focus on? I know it will be different depending on what senses you use, but I'm looking for more specific objects and settings that work well. I have a hard time really developing the setting. I've been thinking a lot about the incubation technique today and it occurred to me that it would probably be a good idea to get excited about LDing (how you are going to have one soon, how you are going to accomplish your goal) every time you do a RC. What do you think Percy? Has anyone ever tried this? The case thing is fine.. if all you want to do is smoke a joint in a lucid dream, you should focus within the dream. About the detail of dream incubation, as much as possible, the more your mind wanders in the scenery, the better, take a look and even visualize the clothes the DC from the crowd wear, the smell of perfume and even visualize a hot DC. If you want to focus on imaginary, just imagine a photo from a concert. You will see a lot of heads and hands, a few lights at the end of the photo and a few sweaty folks with a microphone and instruments. Do not get too exited while RC about turning lucid. This might backfire you, and waking up prematurely due excessive excitement when RC in a LD.

[StonedApe]

Last night I had 5 LDs and was able to get the case all 3 times I tried but it kept coming up with cigarettes in it, usually nasty looking half smoked hand-rolled ones at that. I think I know what to do now though. I need to visualize the doobie before I open the case as well. This was more of an experiment in dream control than just wanting to smoke a doobie, I already did that twice since I've been trying this but I haven;t been able to do it the way I wanted, with the case. I just wanna get to the point where if I want some object I can get it easily and there's no way I'm gonna do it other than practicing. With the RC thing I was noticing that when I do RCs I do them kind of routinely, with no passion behind it. I'm gonna start associate all the feelings of becoming lucid with them for a bit, it worked well yesterday. Not really the overly excited sort of thing(like in your birthday candles example) more or less just a kind of awe of my surroundings. I feel that way in LDs all the time but regular life gets kind of mundane and loses that feeling though it doesn't have to. I'll try visualizing DCs more, I never do. And there's always a million of them, more than you'd expect.

[PercyLucid]

Yep. Randomness triggers every time you open something or pull something from the unseen (pockets) But, the case might have something inside, so you need to visualize the joint before opening it. When you succeed, try to paint the join (before opening the case) visualize blue, green, yellow (one color at a time) joints. You will pull them on the desired color. I do not smoke, but I guess joints have a very strong flavor. When you master color change, try to lit the joint (snapping fingers is a great lighter I used that to create fireballs) once the join is lit, focus on a flavor (like apple pie) and smoke... you will be amazed in smoking perfectly built purple joints that taste like apple pie... everything from your personal cigarette case!