# Lucid Dreaming > DV Academy > Current Courses > Intro Class >  >  Smudgefish's Workbook

## Smudgefish

Some success to date, several long breaks, keep coming back to it...

*Reality Checks:*
    -Look at hand, count fingers.
    -Gravity checks.
    -Try to change something in the environment: perhaps sky, or the colour of something else. 

*Dream Signs:*
    -Driving
    -Anything medical

*Short-Term Goals:*
    -To have my first LD (since I was a teenager), or an OBE or anything really!
    -Find a good technique for inducing the above.

*Long-Term Goals:*
    -Use lucid dreaming for spiritual advancement.
    -To do all the usual stuff: adventuring, exploring, flying.
    -Meet my spirit guides and talk to them and get advice and guidance.
    -To explore the more advanced sides of lucid dreaming, I have lots of ideas: enter ecstatic states, explore past lives, explore other dimensions and states of mind. 

*Lucid/Dream Recall History:*
    -One spontaneous lucid dream as a teenager, several low lucidity lucid dreams only to date.
    -Recall at least 1 dream daily, often up to 4.

*Current Technique:*
    -MILD, DILD, lucid mindset.
    -Reading/watching/learning everything I can about lucid dreaming.
    -Meditation on trying to become lucid.

EDITED AND UPDATED ON 5/9/2016

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## Smudgefish

Just posted about my WILD attempts here.

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## Smudgefish

Been reading more about lucid dreaming and getting advice from any website I can, as well as this one. Have found some more good advice on *_Link removed_*

My daytime awareness has not been as good as it could be I need to start doing this more and experiment with different ways of doing it, and try to do it something specific at least every hour. I'm going to try asking myself how I got to where I am ie 'What was I doing just before this moment?', and checking for anything unusual around me. From my memory of my LDs when I was young I became immediately aware that I was dreaming, so I'm going to remember my reality checks but not concentrate on those as much as just trying to get myself to recognise that I'm dreaming in the first place.

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## NyxCC

Welcome Smudgefish, it's great to have you here!  :smiley: 

Asking yourself where you were the moment before is an excellent way to get into a critical mindset. You may also try to question main elements of your environment such as the people/DCs present, look for weird objects, etc. Don't forget to always relate the analysis to the possibility of it being a dream right now as the mind tends to explain all sorts of scenarios as normal. 

I had to remove the link to the other website as links to other ld forums are not allowed here. However, if you feel like discussing any topic in particular or have any questions, don't hesitate to ask us - here or elsewhere in the forum.

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## Smudgefish

Thanks NyxCC for the welcome and advice. (Didn't know about that rule! apologies)

I'm asking plenty on the forum thanks, getting good advice. Will keep up the critical thinking, difficult life is so busy at the moment I keep forgetting. No LDs yet, and no time to WILD last night due to children being up late into the night.

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## Smudgefish

I've been having trouble remembering to do reality checks.

Yesterday I thought why not simplify it totally and just tried remembering to remember that I had to remember 'something'. Each time I thought of that I though 'what have I got to remember?' and thought to do a quick check to see if I was dreaming. It worked really well and I could do it literally every few minutes.

Hopefully if I keep that up I will do it in a dream soon.

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## Smudgefish

I had my first semi-lucid dream last night, at least I think that is what I would call it.

I can't remember all the details, but I found myself doing stabilisation exercises, rubbing my hands together (although I didn't look at them), then looking at objects around me in detail and feeling them, and remembering to move quickly from one object to another. Then I remember showing someone that I could fly and trying to levitate myself off the ground. Then I became worried that I might wake up and started to become aware of my real body, and woke up.

It wasn't a real lucid dream because I wasn't really in control or fully conscious, more that I felt I was just going through the motions.

Is this a step in the right direction? I hope so.

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## NyxCC

Well, it sounds like an ld to me! Congrats!  :smiley:  There are different levels of awareness in lucid dreams, in some instances I would say some are lower awareness lds, but yours seems like a normal ld actually - you knew you were dreaming, had control over your own actions as well as dream control. By the way dream control doesn't always mean high or low lucidity. So, by all means - I think it's time to celebrate!  ::breakitdown::

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## Smudgefish

Thanks NyxCC. I'm not sure. It actually was nothing like the ones I remember from years ago when I REALLY was aware that I was dreaming, this one didn't really click into full awareness, and I wasn't in control of what I was doing, but it was verging on a proper lucid dream so I'm very happy with that. Just hope I get some more.

I was up late last night. Absolutely no dream recall this morning first time ever.

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## Smudgefish

WOW! I had a sleep this afternoon, trying to WILD. Drifting in and out of sleep again. Suddenly became aware that my left leg could move on it's own and it felt real, not just like the attempts I have made at separating before when I was trying to imagine moving limbs, I really could move it all over the place. Tried to move my right leg and it went too, so tried to levitate my body upwards and it was stuck by my left shoulder. I could roll over to the left but not to the right. I tried to rotate my whole body around by the hips, but it was still stuck by the left shoudler still. This was very frustrating.

I could hear some strange sounds whilst I was doing this, almost like a rushing noise but not quite.

Then one of my children came crashing past the bedroom and I felt myself pulled back in totally and waking properly.

This was real. Not sure how I did it, not sure if I can repeat it again. I was within a hair's breadth of having an OBE at last. I forgot about the swimming technique, or trying to move out by swinging up and down along the body, or creating an extra body to move into. I'm going to have to read through separation techniques again I think if I had not been interrupted or maybe been just a bit more forceful, or remembered some more techniques, I would have done it; or perhaps I could have started a dream to move into. And why didn't I try opening my eyes?? I'm quite shocked at how real it felt.

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## NyxCC

Wow, that's sounds like a really cool experience!  :smiley:  Yes, I think that perhaps you just needed a bit more time and your dream body would have completely freed itself and you would have been able to explore around. I definitely think that if it has happened once, you can surely do it again!  ::goodjob2::

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## Smudgefish

I'm quite determined to get the hang of astral projection, I'm reading several books on it, and watching some Youtube tutorials - particularly about developing full waking awareness, I'm really trying to do that at the moment.

I'm finding my afternoon WILD attempts much more productive than night time attempts. I can't get comfortable when I WILD at night and my mind seems to find all sorts of excuses to bottle out just as I start to get close - it all happens very fast at night, last night it was easy to get into dreams reamining fully aware, but just as it started to get real I felt frightened or uncomfortable and each time felt myself pulling out, and the itching drives me mad! I feel myself thinking how uncomfortable I am and focusing on that. Each time I pull out I can't move immediately so I know I'm really close, it's so frustrating. I don't know why but I seem to have a mental block on going any further at night.
Afternoon WILDing is slower but I don't have any fear.

And my dream recall is awful! It started out good a few weeks ago now I forget everything within seconds of waking long before I can write it down.

I feel like I'm close but just can't let myself go.

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## Smudgefish

WILDing this afternoon: woke 4 times - 1) I became aware of the sound of my own breathing which made me realise I was asleep, but woke too fast got excited and couldn't separate woke up fully, 2) Woke again I think I was talking about waking in a dream, got excited, same again 3) Woke, not sure why, got excited but not so much, telling myself to calm down. 4) Same again. Then spent a long time just drifting around the point of falling asleep, my whole body went numb, I felt some vibrations spreading, but i think my mind was too active, then the cat started moving around so called it a day and got up.

This time I really enjoyed playing around the point of sleep and felt very comfortable with it. No fear of RA, in fact I was hoping it would happen.

It's all quite gentle and fun during afternoon sleeps.  :Off to Bed:  Night time is a different story it happens fast, I itch everywhere, the hallucinations come thick and fast, it's much more scary. I need to get over my fear. it's going to happen soon.....

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## Smudgefish

I'm going to keep writing in here everyday until this works!

Major disappointment this morning. I was determined that I was going to LD last night and made myself really believe it before I fell asleep. I woke with almost no dream recall and no LDs. I tried to WILD overnight again but really couldn't concentrate on what I was trying to do so it didn't work at all. I'm disappointed. I think maybe I'm not staying up long enough to do a proper WBTB.

Also when I WILD in the daytime I seemto get to a point of feeling very relaxed, not really aware of anything, in and out of sleep, but no sign of any dreams forming, or any vibrations or anything - could it be NREM? I feel like I am actually asleep and inside my head very often but can't be sure if it is really sleep or just a deep trance like state. Either way nothing happens.

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## CanisLucidus

> And my dream recall is awful! It started out good a few weeks ago now I forget everything within seconds of waking long before I can write it down.



One thing you may want to try is laying there for just a moment and running through all of your dreams in your mind.  Try to just lie there quietly until you have a pretty good handle on at least the basic inventory of dreams.  That will anchor you for when you start writing.  Then once the pen starts going, you'll find yourself recalling more and more details of what you experienced overnight.

And it sounds like you're very close on those nighttime WILDs!  You know exactly what to do: let go of the fear.  In the light of day, you know that _you are perfectly safe_ when you're dreaming.  Once you internalize that fact, you'll be able to relax just like with your afternoon WILDs.  And feeling relaxed and positive is such an important component of lucid dreaming!

Good luck and keep up the good work!   ::goodjob2::

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## Smudgefish

Thanks CanisLucidus.

Another WILD session, this time late morning.

In and out of sleep again not sure how many times. No panic or over-excitement, at least much less than before. Awareness of my body coming and going. Numerous attempts to separate nothing really happened not sure I was ever really in RA and no dreaming that I remember. One episode of coming to awareness and feeling vibrations but lost it, several episodes of feeling myself diving down but couldn't hold awareness.

Much better dream recall this morning, I have started writing my dream journal on dreamviews. In one dream I counted my fingers and I had three! Seemed quite reasonable at the time, so no lucidity  ::doh::

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## Smudgefish

I have eventually managed to have a good WILD session in the early morning 5am in that I managed to relax properly. I think getting up for 20 minutes for WBTB made a big difference, I usually only get up for 5 minutes.

Again drifting in and out of sleep for an hour, good control over staying concious, and a strong feeling of just drifting around. Stangely though absolutely no dreams formed. One episode of vibrations starting to spread over my whole body and a pressure on my chest, but I got far too excited again, no fear just plain excitement, and I couldn't hold it my breathing and heart rate sped up and I lost concentration totally.

No lucid dreams and very poor dream recall again. The memory was on the edge of my awareness for ages but I just couldn't latch onto it and remember any details.

I'm concentrating now on trying to do astral projection. Read several books yesterday. I am totally determined to do this even if it takes months.

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## MeohMyoh

Way to go Smudge! I'm really impressed with your strong intentions and a having a good routine, which will surely pay great dividends in the long term...from little seeds will grow a mighty oak =^^=

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## Smudgefish

I haven't really done WILD when I go to bed because everyone says you shouldn't. My books on astral projection suggest it's a good time for that so I tried last night, and think I'm going to keep trying then as it suits me well.

I thought I had been trying for about 10 minutes last night but looked at the clock and it was over an hour, time really does fly when you do it properly! Had a lot of vibrations and electric sensations in my arms and face each time I felt myself slipping into sleep. As usual I thought 'here we go!' got really excited and just could not control myself and ended up waking myself. I really don't know how to stop it happening but it must be my frame of mind and I suppose I just have to keep doing it until I sort of get bored.

One thing I have noticed is that because I am trying to achieve astral projection I'm not getting any dreams forming during my WILDs. Maybe I should try to get this happening and I might be able to step into one. I might try that again soon.

Away on holiday for 5 days from tomorrow. I will keep trying but won't be writing anything here.

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## NyxCC

If you are trying to wild at bed time or do astral projection, it may take a while to get to the REM stage. I guess this is why you say there is no dream forming. However, ther may be a little window of opportunity to have an ld even at bed time. Before deep sleep begins there is a short stage that resembles REM and you might be able to experience it. 

While the best time to try for wild is after couple of hours of sleep (or naps), you can still experiment at bed time. It seems to work for some people, you come to know the early sleep cycles well and there is a lot of interesting stuff to explore there.  :smiley:

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## Smudgefish

5 days away and had a break from everything, so my dream recall didn't happen.

Going to get back to it now. Making a big effort to get the dream journal going again and to increase my daytime awareness. Thinking through my dreams from last night there were so many points I could have realised I was dreaming but didn't. I remember consulting with a patient and saying to her this is very strange I'm lying in bed talking to you for instance.

Still trying to astral project. Reading as many books as possible and WILDing when I can.

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## NyxCC

I'm sure you'll get back into the swing of things in no time, Smudgefish! You have been doing really well so far!  :smiley:

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## Smudgefish

Every morning when I wake up I remember plenty of my dreams, run through them in my head and try to commit them to memory. By the time I get downstairs to write it all down at least half of it is gone.
I can't write in the bedroom because it's dark and I don't want to wake my wife. I could do with a voice recorder but I can't do that either for the same reason. It's frustrating.

Still no lucidity or any astral projection. During my afternoon WILD yesterday I actually became concious and was calm for the first time ever, but had no vibrations and couldn't separate, or bring on a dream before I woke fully. I suppose being calm is some progress.

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## Smudgefish

I was meditating last night as I do every night and made a small step in the right direction. I'm now treating my meditations as a WILD session with the intention of astrally projecting as a bonus.

I have always had trouble with just observing dreams as they start to form, the moment I feel like they are becoming 'real' I pull myself out. I think this is my reaction to a loss of control that I feel at that moment, because to continue does entail a certain amount of loss of concious control to fall into the dream.
As I went deeper into meditation last night I saw some very real 3D scenes forming and could almost feel some of the objects I was seeing in front of me. I't about the closest I have come to be conciously aware of a dream, although I still felt myself being drawn back to reality as the scene became more realistic, and so each dip in lasted only a few seconds.

I also had a short WILD yesterday morning and woke immediately with the strongest tingling and vibrating sensation I have ever felt. I tried to put myself into a dream but couldn't bring on any images very quickly so tried to will myself out of body. Nothing worked and I sort of then woke up fully.

Small steps.

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## NyxCC

> I'm now treating my meditations as a WILD session with the intention of astrally projecting as a bonus.



That's a great approach. There is definitely an overlap between meditation and wilding. I think as you progress in your meditation practices, your ability to wild will improve too. And if you are in a comfortable position and the timing is right, you can certainly have a meditation session leading to an ld or astral projection.  :smiley:

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## Smudgefish

Can't really remember any dreams this morning!! But something odd happened.

I set my totem sound (Android App), which I am using as a reality check reminder hourly, to go off 3 times between 4am and 6am. I remember it going off 4 times and I ended up switching it off at 4.45am, so I obviouisly imagined several of them. Once I woke up to the sound I thought I was dreaming about an evil presence in the room and I couldn't move or shout. I think I was probably having false awakenings and had a sleep paralysis but didn't realise at the time I just wanted to wake, get back to normal and get back to sleep (I had a late night and was tired) - damn I could have used it to astral project if I had clicked what was going on!

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## Smudgefish

I tried the totem sound again last night, but it just woke me 3 times. No more false awakenings or sleep paralysis.

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## MeohMyoh

I always write in the dark when needed...you'll soon enough get the hang of it, as long as you can reach for your trusty jotter without falling out of bed.

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## NyxCC

The totem sound is a great idea, Smudgefish! How often do you use it during the day? I think it may take a while for the association to get transferred to your dreams, but it certainly will at some point, so don't give up.  ::goodjob2::

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## Smudgefish

Continuing with the totem sound, although not at night a the moment, hourly during the day. Regularly watching utube videos. I am trying *amygdala clicking* as it is supposed to help with lucid dreaming. No more lucid dreams yet though.

I think I need more sleep. When I wake any time from 5am onwards I tend to get up as I have too much to do and want to get on. This morning (Sunday) I decided to lie in, not easy, but eventually I got back to sleep after repeating a mantra to myself. No lucids but numerous dream fragments.

I'm spending hours every day thinking about lucid dreaming, reading about it, watching videos, doing reality checks, doing a WILD almost every day, setting intentions during meditation, keeping a dream diary. The lack of any progress is getting frustrating and it's been a few months now  :Bang head:

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## NyxCC

I did a quick read on amygdala clicking and it makes sense that increased use of the frontal lobes can be beneficial for lucid dreaming. However, I'm still not quite sure how you perform these clicks? 

I think you are making progress, it just takes a bit for these practices to become incorporated in dreams. In addition, you are certainly improving in all these areas you are doing the practices. Last but not least you are inspiring others around you.  :smiley:

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## Smudgefish

NyxCC - Amygdala clicking apparently doesn't usually cause a 'click' as such. I have known about it for ages but only just bought one of Neil Slade's books on it (can't put a link on here!) and in it he says that once he clicked forward he started to spontaneously lucid dream and OBE. You 'tickle' your amydala with an imaginary feather.

And WHAT JUST HAPPENED THERE!?! I had a Sunday afternoon sleep, again lots of concentration on mantra, attempt at a WILD, woke several times into a dream like state. Then I woke with the feeling that someone was pulling my right sock hard trying to get the sock off and my leg was lifting up and I though what on earth is one of my children or wife playing at. Looked down and saw no-one was there and thought yes!! I'm going to OBE this time (not sure if I really opened my eyes I was probably in a false awakening), closed my eyes again to concentrate and felt all sorts of weird and very intense sensations including LOTS of rushing noises, it went on for ages several minutes definitely and I felt some movement of sliding out of my body but it was SO slow and intense, and thought 'I'm just going to let this happen don't mess it up again' and concentrated mostly on staying calm, then I started to feel sick and not well and pulled out and woke up.
I also remember hearing music playing next to the bed (it was quiet in the house) and had the feeling of someone being close and wanting to do something to me, I ignored both of those as I knew that people get all sorts of strange things happening at separation. It was certainly a very real and odd experience, *and I want to do it again!*
Basically I have just messed up totally haven't I? It's been so long since I have read about OBEs I totally forgot to actually DO anything and try to move or separate, it was so intense it caught me totally by surprise, and I concentrated on totally the wrong thing. Damn, I'm so annoyed now, I was so close AGAIN  :mwahaha: 

Is the nausea normal?

Edit: Oh well, it was a learning experience. Next time: try to move my body up or down, try to move limbs and separate, ask for help from a spirit guide if I feel stuck, lastly just try to imagine being somewhere else, and RELAX I think I actually got quite tense (hence the nausea??), it is a scary intense experience, and in trying to relax I began to be aware of my breathing and eventually had to pull out for several reasons. Or even just open my eyes I would have probably been in a lucid dream at that point.

Another edit: I dreamt about my grandmother last night for the first time I can remember, she was talking about chewing gum but carrying marshmallows (she used to own a sweet shop) maybe that was a clue to try to help me become lucid. She is certainly one of my spirit guides and clairvoyants often see her with me. I think it was a sign that I am nearly ready to OBE or lucid dream. Maybe she was trying to help pull me out? Just maybe. It's a nice thought anyway.

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## MeohMyoh

Smudge, sounds like hypnogogic state thingy everyone says about...also sounds like a success that you managed to just "observe" for so long.
Well done.

btw Re previous post about observing 3D imagery, exactly same always happens to me...1st part that is...feel loss of control...pull out...but it happens so quickly like a knee jerk reaction. I will try and be patient and follow in your footsteps.

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## NyxCC

About the amygdala - so you basically visualize tickling with a feather? How interesting, I actually had a dream about a feather appearing in the sky on the day you posted this.  ::shock:: 

Sounds like you had a close wild/obe encounter. I think with a little more patience and perhaps trying to move your dream body, you would have made it.  :smiley: 

The nausea - it's not the norm to have it but it's possible to feel it if there are excessive dream body movements or just with any movement. In my case, I have experienced it while spinning uncontrollably a few times. Luckily, this doesn't happen too often.

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## Smudgefish

Changed from using WILD to SSILD. Day 4. On second day had a semi-lucid experience during the SSILD in the afternoon. Continuing to meditate and imagine myself becoming lucid in a dream during the meditation so setting a strong intention. I think perhaps meditating straight before sleep might help further.

I always get dreamlets during SSILD so it's working like a WILD, and often fall asleep properly before hitting 4 cycles, perhaps a bit more concentration might help but I'm not sure if that's what you are supposed to do or not. No proper lucids yet but it's working better for me than WILD so far.

I'm flagging on reality checks, had several days without doing any so really must get back to that.

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## NyxCC

It's quite possible to have a wild with the SSILD technique or get some FAs that can be turned into lds. If you would like an extra boost of awareness, try extending your wake time just before you do the SSILD.

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## Smudgefish

Due to a sickness bug in the house I haven't had much sleep, although everyone is slowly getting better.

I read an interesting post in the dream diaries section about setting intention to dream about something. Last night I set my intention to dream about being naked in public (don't ask me why!) and I had a dream about finding myself in a situation where everyone else was naked, then I got undressed, so my intention setting actually worked! I felt comfortably warm during this, I noticed it in particular because I was expecting to feel cold as I got undressed, and I'm sure it was the feeling of warmth in my bed so there was some other level of awareness going on.

I'm going to try this again and make being naked in public a dream sign. Hopefully it's one that should be quite effective, although not one I can practice in real life of course!

Reading other people's success stories on here, and there have been several recently, is a real boost to my determinationto get a lucid dream.

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## NyxCC

Haha, Smudgefish, I like this intention setting experiment. Yes, you can definitely use this as a dream sign. I think some people try to incubate lds using a similar technique - visualize or intend to dream of something specific and then become lucid upon experiencing it.  :smiley:

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## Smudgefish

I'M BACK!! I've been meaning to return to my attempts to lucid dream for a few months now but never really got around to it. For the last week I have started a dream diary again. Also I have been thinking about why it didn't work before and seeing what I can learn from that.

I managed to recall 5 dreams last night so the recall is starting to get better. Also I had a lucidish moment when I realised that the dream was becoming a nightmare, told myself that there was nothing to be frightened of, and managed to ignore an un-dead being behind me, except that I simply woke at that point, but it was some level of awareness and that's a start.

*What I think I got wrong before:*

1) Reality checking didn't work for me. It was too much of a chore and I wasn't really into it and therefore it never found it's way into my dreams. 

2) I was trying all sorts of techniques but just kept on with them when they didn't work, usually doing all of them at once. I was also trying to astrally project so it was just too much.

3) I was just too excited about the whole thing and expected quick results. For me it's probably gong to take a long time so I need to be more patient and commited.

*Plans for getting it right this time:*

1) Concentrate on trying to cultivate some awareness in my dreams, reality checking is sort of secondary to this because I have to be at least able to question reality in a dream first before I can ever hope to do a reality check. I think that if I ever even get to the point of questionning reality I will know that I am dreaming and the next step would actually be to stabilise the dream. I will know if this is correct if I ever get to that point.

2) Be more persistent. I'm going to keep at the basics more consistently: particularly the dream diary, and trying to improve my awareness.

3) Keep reading about lucid dreaming. This definitely triggers me to think about dreaming whilst I am dreaming. Also reading my dream diary regularly and trying to think more carefully about my dream signs.

*So....* another list. My plans are as follows:

1) Developing a lucid mindset - questioning reality as often as I can. I'm starting with the question 'What was I doing before this?' and asking myself that question at least every hour. If this doesn't work I will try a different question every few weeks until something works. I'm also just making myself aware of my surroundings and seeing if anything seems different or unusual wherever I am.

2) Using the Castaneda method of looking at hands regularly and particularly before sleep. I like the idea of this: it's simple and likely to work, and I want to keep it simple at the moment.

3) Being much more aware of my dream signs - these are without a doubt anything medical- particularly consulting with patients and surgical procedures, and driving a car. So from now on I'm going to concentrate on increasing my awareness during these situations in real life so that it might spill over into my dreams.

That's it for now. Thought I would write it all down as it helps keep my thoughts in order and make me more focused. Hopefully I will be reporting a lucid dream soon.

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## Smudgefish

Trying to spend an hour or so playing Second Life every day when I get time. Had a few lucid moments after playing a similar game last year so maybe this will help.

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## NyxCC

Welcome back Smudgefish!  :smiley:

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## Smudgefish

Over the last few nights I have had two nightmares.

In the first I told myself that it was a nightmare and there was nothing to be frightened of but immediately then found myself awake.

Last night I can't remember anything about the dream or what I was frightened of but again I remember waking and thinking 'that was fun' almost like being on a rollercoaster and I went straight back to sleep wanting to go back to the dream, which I did, then thought actually maybe it could be real and woke up properly. Bit of lucidity but the dream was in control not me.

I'm going to keep thinking through these as they are very close to having been lucid, next time if I can remember to do it I could turn a nightmare into a real lucid dream. Third time lucky?!

Also in all of my dreams now I can remember some very fine detail about what I saw. For instance I was looking up at a mountain and I remember seeing fine detail of the edges of the mountains, individual rocks, and patterns in the snow. I presume this is becasue I am trying to journal my dreams in detail and paying them a lot of notice, and also trying to have alucid mindset during the day of noticing as much as I can about my surroundings.

I keep trying to look at my hands during the day but have yet to remember to notice them in my dreams.

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## NyxCC

The first one was actually a lucid! It doesn't matter if you woke up after that - you knew you were dreaming. Recall that there can be different levels of lucidity. Sometimes I can be so overwhelmed with the emotional response following a nightmare that my first reaction is to exit the dream. It takes practice to learn to slow down and realize that nothing is actually after you.  :smiley:

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## Smudgefish

Thanks NyxCC.

It's good to get some encouragement. Due to very poor dream recall yesterday (and today!) I was flagging a bit feeling that I was getting nowhere again. I need to keep my enthusiasm going. It's only been a few weeks of really putting much effort into this again so it's not going too badly I suppose.

Just an observation - I have had experience of one lucid dream as a teenager and I was 'fully' lucid then in that I felt fully concious of who I was and that I had control over what I was doing. I'm using this as a benchmark, once I hit that level of lucidity I will feel that I am truly lucid. It's encouraging that you say I was lucid and I have watched several youtube videos describing levels of lucidity but I won't really feel that I have acheived lucidity until I have something approaching what I had as a teenager.

I'm going to try the Laberge prospective memory exercises in addition to what I'm doing otherwise. Week off work next week so a chance to catch up on sleep and do plenty of reading.

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## Hirondelle

Hi there,

I did the prospective memory exercise, started a thread in the Attaining Lucidity Forum. I made a pdf-form to keep track which I added to the first post. Maybe you'd like to use it? (thread: Remembering to do something (prospective memory))

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## Smudgefish

Thanks Hirondelle! I will take a look and might use that.

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## Smudgefish

I'm settling on doing the Castaneda method as a reality check, as well as thinking about what I have been doing in the last hour as often as I possibly can, and practicing a lucid mindset. Also now using an app to track my prospective memory tasks and using these as a trigger to look at my hands.
My dream recall is quite good now and it takes me quite some time every morning to write it all down!

I am seeing my dream signs at least every other night (driving and medical situations) often more than once but have yet to have this trigger me to look at my hands or think that I might be dreaming. *Do you have any pointers as to how I could improve this??*

Of note I think that one of the main reasons I failed at this before was because I became a bit disappointed after using about 1 week of any technique and sort of just lost interest and only half-heartedly continued with it. On this occasion I am trying to push through that barrier and keeping up with the practice. I don't really expect any results for at least a few weeks of using my current practice, and even then I know it could take longer, possibly months.

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## Smudgefish

I'm hitting the disappointed stage again! Reading some success stories on here is difficult, and the posts of people who LD regularly. I have been trying so hard, for months overall and nothing really to write home about has happened yet.

I'm wondering whether a day or two off every now and then, without journalling or reality checking, might be a good idea. Thinking about trying that tomorrow as I'm at work. Maybe I will come back to it the next day feeling slightly more positive. Overall I'm determined to do this one day, but I'm frightened of becoming completely disillusioned again.

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## Hirondelle

> I'm hitting the disappointed stage again! ....... I'm frightened of becoming completely disillusioned again.



Just have to react to this..... already thought about doing that when reading your former message. I didn't because I don't have that much experience and don't want to sound like a know-it-all.

So now I'll write what I thought when I read about your RC's and dream signs: So your dream signs are "driving and medical situations", but you're using "random" prospective memory tasks to do your RC's. Shouldn't you be doing your RC's when you are driving and "in medical situations" in waking life? 
Like (when driving): ok, I'm behind the wheel, could this be a dream? I know that I'm driving from A to B. In A, before leaving, I was (what were you doing?)......, when I get to B I will (what are you going to do).... and then pinch your nose and breathe, look at your hands, try to read something, try to levitate.....
Ofcourse I don't know what "in a medical situation" means, but maybe you could do the same thing there.

I know my own dreamsigns but I never encounter them in waking life so I can't do this.....

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## Smudgefish

:Bliss: I'M SO HAPPY!! I QUESTIONNED REALITY IN A DREAM LAST NIGHT, FAILED A RC, BUT AT LAST SOMETHING IS WORKING... I cried when I woke up I was so happy, and I was so excited I couldn't get back to sleep.

I was having a very vivid dream. I came to a door in a strange room and found it was locked, then thought to myself 'this is just what would happen in a dream', thought no I'm not dreaming but I will just look at my hands anyway - I had 2 thumbs, so I thought it can't be! Looked back again and had 2 of all my fingers, then I tried to remember what I had been doing in the last few minutes and remembered I had been in a pub (so failed a memory test), and thought how tired I was so I was obviously seeing double. I looked at my other hand and there was 2 of everything there as well, so I thought I really am tired, and just carried on with my dream.

I was obsessively reality checking yesterday, doing prospective memory exercises, reading these forums a lot, and did MILD as I fell asleep ('The next thing I see will be a dream, and I will remember to look at my hands')

I can't believe that after 6 months something has finally happened and I REALLY thought I might be dreaming, and questionned it properly. I'm not in the slightest bit disappointed I didn't get lucid, it's a major step forward anyway. My hard work has paid off at last, and I feel like I'm in the club now. This has made me even more determined to keep going!! It's reality checking all day long for me now.

Thanks Hirondelle for your comments. I am reality checking every time I'm driving, and I'm a doctor so I'm in 'medical situations' all the time! I think the prospective memory exercises are working by the way, and maybe it's given me the breakthrough so I am forever in your debt - thanks for that pointer.

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## Hirondelle

The happiness bursting out of your post even makes me happy  :smiley: 

CONGRATULATIONS!

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## Smudgefish

Got to write my plans for learning from last nights failed reality check (I can't stop thinking about it):

My bright idea that I would 'just know' if I was dreaming and not need a reality check is obviously incorrect so I need to work on my reality checking.

The memory check didn't work. It's too vague and easy to fail. I will keep it in mind and probably use it if I'm not sure, but I'm going to plan to use more physical and immediately obvious checks instead. *I was wondering if trying to change something in the dream would be a more impressive check?* For instance trying to change the colour of the sky, or a door or wall, and if it worked there wouldn't be much doubt I was dreaming (although having said that even seeing 6 fingers on one hand failed, and it has failed once in the past as well although then I wasn't really doing a reality check I just noticed I had only 3 fingers in passing). Any advice appreciated.

I'm really positive now that things are working and penetrating into my dreams and trying to keep that positivity going.

This is exciting!!  :Party:

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## Smudgefish

For 2 nights now had very poor dream recall. Maybe it's a rebound from making some progress the other night. Bit disappointing as I thought I had cracked it and would start questionning reality in dreams more regularly now.

Never mind, I'm RCing like mad now and I know what it feels like to do it for real in a dream, and I'm more aware that I could _really_ be dreaming even if it feels completely like waking life, so I just keep going and trying not to lose the momentum. I know it's going to take a lot of hard work yet.

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## Smudgefish

I did an experiment last night. I can bring on HI very easily. When I went to bed I started to bring on the imagery and watched it - it was incredibly detailed, I hovered over a pond and saw all the detail of the lillies, and the ripples on the water and the plant life below. I moved around a garden seeing the detail on the surface of stones and pathing. I found that if I looked to the side of the imagery I could see everything there and it sort of filled itself in. Then I saw sheets of sparkling vivid colours which turned into a tunnel and I flew along it watching formations move at speed past me, all in amazng detail, and I could feel the momentum and speed. I wondered if I could make it form into a dream but remained very concious of my real body and breathing all the time, so couldn't make it become anything else, and it remained just like watching a film.
I will keep eperimenting with this as it's probably a way to get into a WILD if I can just allow myself to fall asleep whilst doing it.

My dream recall remains very poor and I am only remembering dream fragments.

I had an interesting dream last night. It was all about flying and having superpowers and I could do all the things that the characters in the film 'Chronicle' could do. I moved a car by willpower, picked someone up by willpower and threw him around a bit, and could fly. I had been thinking about what I wanted to do when I become lucid yesterday so this was obviously a direct result of this.

Again I could have easily become lucid during that dream but never thought to question reality despite many oppportunities. I'm doing very regular checks of reality in real life. Again I have to stay focused, keep up the practice, and it will happen.

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## Hirondelle

> I did an experiment last night. I can bring on HI very easily. When I went to bed I started to bring on the imagery and watched it - it was incredibly detailed, I hovered over a pond and saw all the detail of the lillies, and the ripples on the water and the plant life below. I moved around a garden seeing the detail on the surface of stones and pathing. I found that if I looked to the side of the imagery I could see everything there and it sort of filled itself in. Then I saw sheets of sparkling vivid colours which turned into a tunnel and I flew along it watching formations move at speed past me, all in amazng detail, and I could feel the momentum and speed.



Wow, HI you say? It's like a dream.........  My guess is that you should try this to have a WILD after an awakening at 4, 5 or 6 o'clock (or later when you can sleep in)

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## Smudgefish

OK subconscious, it's war!!!  ::sniper:: 

6 months I've been at this and you have done everything in your power to stop me having a lucid dream. So I'm laying it on the line now you start to behave or it's going to get nasty. I will get what I want or die trying. I have had enough  :Pissed: 

EVERY time something ridiculous happens in a dream do you let me notice it?? NO! I just carry on as if it's totally reasonable. Flying cats? Fridges falling from the sky? Oh yes very reasonable, couldn't possibly be dreaming could I? Well I've dedicated myself to this absolutely I reality check every 5 minutes, MILD before bed, WBTB, spent hours trying to WILD with no results, prospective memory training like mad, and you have given me absolutely NOTHING in return. SO.... it's war, sorry about that but it's the only way.


Battle tactics:

1) Eating a banana before bed, and eating more lentils: I'm going to win!  :Boxing:  ....yes, hear that?? just give in now. In fact I might actually get some melatonin!!

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## Smudgefish

For 2 nights I tried CAN-WILD. I think it made me have a false awakening but otherwise no luck. It's actually left me feeling very tired now as I was woken numerous times overnight and it also woke my wife up so she wasn't happy and I'm going to have to give up on it.

I tried setting the alarm to just flash last night (so it didn't wake my wife). That woke me once but for some reason got stuck and didn't stop and I had to roll over and turn it off, so again not really very effective.

I'm losing enthusiasm now. It's over 3 weeks of trying hard and nothing really to show for it again. I have a very full work rota for the next month so it's going to be difficult to keep the momentum going, and home life is also suddenly very stressful, so I'm not sure I can keep this up.

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## NyxCC

Noooo! I so much loved your post # 56!

Don't give up on lds! There's always time and place to practice even if you are super busy - there's the way to/back from work where you can RC and be mindful and even coffee and toilet breaks! :tropicalboxer:

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## Smudgefish

Thanks NyxCC.

I wish I got breaks at work! Going to try to keep up the lucid mindset, journalling and MILD. See what happens. Back to it properly once I get the next few weeks over with.

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## Smudgefish

I'm still trying! Nothing much yet but I'm keeping expectations low so as not to get disappointed.

A dream last night: I was in a canteen sitting at a table. I decided to try to WILD so closed my eyes but it was too noisy I decided it wasn't going to work. I looked at the wall and realised it was a poster about lucid dreaming. The character on the poster was moving like a film of a lucid dream and I thought 'No! That's not how you lucid dream, he's got it all wrong'. I didn't question whether I was dreaming.

Dreaming about lucid dreaming is supposed to be a good sign I think.

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## NyxCC

Absolutely! You've got lucid dreaming on your mind, that's great. Make it a habit to RC everytime you think about lucid dreaming. Even when you are reading this now - how can you be sure you're not dreaming?  :smiley:

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## Smudgefish

Trying to WILD using the LDOC technique. I like this a lot and am making some very significant progress.

One thing I have now realised is that I am actually trying to fall asleep more than I am trying to stay conscious, hence why my WILDs always fail. I know that it is important to fall asleep but it is equally as important to stay conscious, so I'm swinging the balance a bit the other way. I have been very close to sleep in a deep trance state several times with twitching and some rushing noises, and a lot of sinking and rotating sensations, but not quite transitionned into sleep or OBE yet. I am also reducing my expectations and just allowing things to happen naturally and not trying to push it like I used to.

I feel that with just a bit more practice I will manage it soon.

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## BadAssLongCoat

> Trying to WILD using the LDOC technique. I like this a lot and am making some very significant progress.
> 
> One thing I have now realised is that I am actually trying to fall asleep more than I am trying to stay conscious, hence why my WILDs always fail. I know that it is important to fall asleep but it is equally as important to stay conscious, so I'm swinging the balance a bit the other way. I have been very close to sleep in a deep trance state several times with twitching and some rushing noises, and a lot of sinking and rotating sensations, but not quite transitionned into sleep or OBE yet. I am also reducing my expectations and just allowing things to happen naturally and not trying to push it like I used to.
> 
> I feel that with just a bit more practice I will manage it soon.



I have found so far that after spells of trying too hard, where I either kill a whole night of sleep with a catastrophic WILD attempt or where I start to have dreams where I feel like I am watching myself and I am this spectre my dream-self can't see and I'm screaming 'Your dreaming! RC FOOL!'. I take a break after these and focus more on lucid dreaming as I prepare for bed, the only real day work I have been doing lately is RCs when ever I remember to, which isn't that often and self-awareness throughout the day, which I try and do anyway because it makes me better at being a human in general.

I 'feel' closer to LDing more often now because my mindset has gone from 'trying' to 'expecting' it to just happen when it will. Also each time I have one I naturally expect it to happen more frequently. I am 100% confident I will become lucid again tonight, all day I have been planning on who I want to see and what I need to talk to them about, so it will happen.

Expect it to happen and it will, but just thinking you expect something and actually expecting something are two different things, you can't have a trace of doubt  :smiley:

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## Smudgefish

Thanks BadAssLongCoat,

I went through a phase of trying to 'expect an LD', one night I really, really tried to make myself expect to be lucid: it didn't work. I now think that there is some sort of middle ground where you have a sort of positivity but a detachment so as not to generate disappointment, I haven't quite found the right spot yet though. The one time I actually did a RC in a dream - I think I expected it to happen again, but it never did, so I got really disappointed and felt like giving up.

Sounds like you are doing great, keep it up! and good luck for tonight, I wish I had your confidence.

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## BadAssLongCoat

Didn't happen for me after all last night but I didn't really sleep well full stop, but I know it will happen soon. I am focussing on the un finished business I have with Laila (Girl In The Red Dress, remembered her name during a 3 hour spell of meditation during a sleepless period last night.) 
I guess all I can suggest is something I have seen posted frequently and is working for me. It also seems to be working for you.
Try and focus on being more aware while you are asleep. It's harder than it sounds and it sounds pretty hard, but one day you kind of just put your foot in it and once you 'get it', you will remember it. Don't give up and stay positive  :smiley:

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## Smudgefish

Thanks again for the support! and hope it happens soon for you.

Looking for some advice (and thinking through it for my own benefit):

From my dream journal last night




> I was WILDing (in the dream) and it was working I heard really loud noises, quite deafening, and I felt myself vibrating all over. I thought at last! it's working, it's frightnening but it's working, I remembered everything I have been told and tried to think of a dream scene, that didn't work. I went with it for a while and tried to move my dream body to get an OBE, but that didn't work. Then I tried force my eyes open remembering that I should enter a dream that way. I couldn't so I started to panic. I tried to move but realised I was paralysed and the noises and vibrations were getting more intense. I could sense my wife next to me and I could here her talking, and someone else talking the other side of me, I thought my wife must be dreaming as well. Then I force my eyes open and I could see my wife but I still couldn't move and I still had really loud noises happening and I thought this isn't right I'm stuck in some sort of weird state and might never get out of it - it was either a nightmare false awakening or a sleep paralysis that seemed to go on forever. Then I think I woke up properly, it was midnight, and was able to move, it all went silent at last.



This was early in the night only an hour after I went to sleep after trying to WILD. I don't remember trying to WILD in the dream, although there was a dream scene before it started, so I was in REM, I was more or less straight into the noises (they were loud!!) and vibration in my sleep, and I knew what was happening and tried to control it and therefore strictly it was a lucid dream if it was a dream. At the time I was in a black void, no images.
At some point it turned into a sleep paralysis, or was it a nightmare false awakening?? It definitely reminded me of sleep paralysis I have had before I started trying to lucid dream.

I think I didn't succeed in turning it inot a dream or getting out of body because it really caught me off my guard, then I panicked because nothing I tried worked.

Any interpretation of what happend would be appreciated.

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## BadAssLongCoat

not too long ago I was having these 'void dreams' myself. I would get to a place where I couldn't seem to wake up, though I couldn't feel anything. It was almost like I was an entity without a body, capable of no more than thought in a world full of nothing.

I felt the vibrations and heard things but they passed before I got to this point. I would rarely if at all see HI and the moment I noticed it or tried to focus on it they would vanish. I also noticed that I couldn't make myself realize anything. I tried to visualize objects or scenery or even my own hands so I could RC but none of it worked.

I still think that maybe I was fully aware during an NREM period. had I not forced myself awake (Which left me mentally exhausted) and just relaxed further I could likely have found myself within a dream. Or not, I won't know until I try WILD again I guess. However I did try and WILD that night the old-fashioned way- from first wakefulness (before bed, not WBTB) so my chances of seeing NREM would have been higher...

I'll stop here, if any of this hits a note with how you have been seeing things maybe it can be of help? All I know is I stopped for a while after this because of the lack of sleep it caused and I needed to catch up, within a week I managed DILD from FA.

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## Habba

> For 2 nights now had very poor dream recall. Maybe it's a rebound from making some progress the other night. Bit disappointing as I thought I had cracked it and would start questionning reality in dreams more regularly now.
> 
> Never mind, I'm RCing like mad now and I know what it feels like to do it for real in a dream, and I'm more aware that I could _really_ be dreaming even if it feels completely like waking life, so I just keep going and trying not to lose the momentum. I know it's going to take a lot of hard work yet.



You have a lot of motivation smudgefish, 6 months can feel like I really long time. I've learned that there is no rush, take your time. Don't get discouraged if you dont have a lucid dream! Being able to recall your dreams in detail is progress!

Keep up the good work  :smiley:

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## Smudgefish

Well, that was interesting!!

Last night I dreamt that I was talking to a patient about lucid dreaming, and kicked myself when I woke up that I hadn't got lucid.

Today in surgery I was talking to a patient about lucid dreaming!! I never thought to do a reality check at the time. No wonder I didn't do it in the dream!

I have just slapped my own wrist.

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## Habba

> Well, that was interesting!!
> 
> Last night I dreamt that I was talking to a patient about lucid dreaming, and kicked myself when I woke up that I hadn't got lucid.
> 
> Today in surgery I was talking to a patient about lucid dreaming!! I never thought to do a reality check at the time. No wonder I didn't do it in the dream!
> 
> I have just slapped my own wrist.



Keep up the good work!

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## Smudgefish

I had a lucid dream last night. It lasted all of a few seconds, and to be honest it wasn't very impressive.

From my DJ




> I was in a class and was asked to read. I looked at the page and couldn't understand the writing, looked back and it had changed. I knew immediately that I was dreaming, but looked at a hand to check and it looked very odd. For some reason I remember then thinking "I'm dreaming" but it shouldn't be like this, and lost lucidity immediately. I was then in a playground and I can't remember anything else from that dream.



I think I completely forgot to do any stabilisation. It was about as low level lucid as it's possible to get. I didn't register even the vaguest excitement at realising that I was dreaming, which is very odd since I have been waiting for that moment for over 6 months, and sort of thought 'oh well' and carried on with a normal dream.

 ::sunflower::  One thing that I have noticed is that if I WILD before sleep then I am much more likely to remember my dreams and to have a more 'lucid' experience during the night - I have had a sleep paralysis, seen numerous referrences to lucid dreaming in the dream, and my first lucid after this. I don't expect to have an LD from WILDing at this time but there is a chance that I could OBE. I'm useless at WILDing at any other time.

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## DannyCool

Man that is so cool. You are aware in your dreams. What is OBE?

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## Habba

> Man that is so cool. You are aware in your dreams. What is OBE?



It stands for out of body experince, or astral projection as some call it. 

Smudge, you had a Lucid and that's all that matters! So you can do it.  :smiley:

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## BadAssLongCoat

Congrats! If you were lucid enough to check your hand you did well. If you picture that moment and imagine you reacting differently then perhaps it will work in a more stable manner next time? I know that I always feel like I need to keep some form of excitement or urgency up in my dreams to keep me focussed and the dream world stable at the moment, I guess you'll find what works for you, it's all trial and error and process of elimination for things that do and don't help you along.  :smiley:

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## Smudgefish

From my DJ:




> I woke in my bed and saw the guitar standing by the wall in my bedroom, I knew immediately that I was still dreaming. I wanted to look at my hand to check that but couldn't move, although I just caught sight of my hand and it wasn't right. I thought that if I couldn't move I would try to OBE so concentrated on trying to move upwards, that didn't work. I tried to sit up - that was hard work! but I managed it, then I tried to move my legs, that was really difficult, I moved them and swung around, my body felt very difficult to control and feather light. My legs sort of floated down on top of my wife and I was worried I might wake her up. I was stuck by my pelvis, so I sort of flopped my legs and head down over the side of the bed thinking that I might just drop down onto the floor. I could see the carpet. Nothing happened I was still stuck by my pelvis. At this point it was such hard work and I was feeling very strange so I returned properly to my body and woke myself up.



Had another good WILD session before sleep last night. It seems to be getting me some results later in the night.

I'm getting closer and closer!

Had a FA at 2am. Not sure why I couldn't move when I realised I was having a FA. It's what happened to me last time. On this occasion it was definitely a FA rather than a sleep paralysis as the room looked slightly different. I'm not sure if I then had a true OBE or it was just a dream of getting out of body (does it make any difference?) - either way I got stuck and didn't get too far. I forgot the trick of reaching upwards and pulling yourself out I wish I had thought of that at the time because it was REALLY frustrating getting stuck like that. I wonder if I now have an expection of not being able to move or getting stuck?

The other thing I noticed is that I was quite 'fogged' during this FA and didn't think clearly. It's certainly not like a waking conciousness. If it happens again I need to try increasing my conciousness - perhaps saying 'more lucidity' might help??

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## DannyCool

Yes! Yes! Yes! Let's get going at it. I'm having so much fun doing this. It is adding a lot of meaning to my life. Let's do this.

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## DannyCool

I was actually reading in my dreams last night. The concentration it took made me quite aware and I knew I was dreaming. It happen twice. I couldn't see any other dream landscape but the words were clearly there and I was reading them. There were a lot of words. One was on a big notice a full page and the other was a smaller note. This is all hard to explain but what I do know is that each night brings a different experience that you cannot predict.  :smiley:

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## Smudgefish

> I was actually reading in my dreams last night. The concentration it took made me quite aware and I knew I was dreaming.



That has happened to me as well. Strange how reading is so good at triggering lucidity.

I was thinking more about how I could increase my lucidity if I wake with a further FA, particularly if I decide that I'm going to be paralysed again! Maybe I can try to change something around me - paint the walls pink or make something move, or turn it into daytime. Maybe if I imagine a cold breeze or snow falling that would give me some sensory input and draw me further into the dream and make me forget my real body (I presume I'm sensing my real body in SP therefore not being able to move).

Any other ideas would be welcome.

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## DannyCool

I don't know man generally when I have sp I just relax come back into my body and wake up. I think OBE has to happen naturally not to force it like Dolphin said focus on the dreaming not the dream.

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## Smudgefish

From my dream journal:




> Then I walked backwards I think I felt like I was flying so I immediately thought that I must be dreaming. I looked at my hands but they looked normal, I checked again, still normal, I thought what the hell I know I'm dreaming!! I flew into an open room and pushed a window open to go outside then thought why didn't I just fly through it? I was slightly worried remembering that sometimes people can't fly when they first get lucid and wondered if I might fall to the ground but felt confident. I felt like I was flying in a vertical position so went horizontal. I flew out of the window and out into a dark night. I could hear an old friend calling me in some woodland a way off so flew that way. I could feel cold air blowing past my face it was so realistic! I started to wonder how long it would last for and could feel myself breathign so I rubbed my hands together, then tried to spin. It was working but by now I was thinking that I was bound to wake up. I spun around again then I was stood by a BBQ in a garden. The lucidity was very poor and I knew I was starting to wake up and gave into it, in fact I was so amazed by this point that I wanted to wake up to write about it.



Well, I had what I would call my first REAL lucid, in that I actually did something in the dream. Definitely related to a good WILD before I went to sleep where I experienced some good floating and moving sensations.
Not very high lucidity, I don't remember seeing much in any detail, and I forgot all about what I wanted to do once I got lucid and sort of did flying as a default activity. Also I sort of got a bit confused: I did some stabilisation but was really expecting to wake up so was concentrating more on the grounding that actually what was happening to me, and thinking about waking up, so I did. Having said that it was *AWESOME* and I want to do it again.
I think that I might have been able to continue in the lucid if I had tried hard enough, but I had sort of decided it was weird enough that it was time to wake up and not push it - it was actually quite a battle to wake up, I was defintely in SP and felt myself coming out VERY slowly - I'm sort of getting used to that now.

Next time I will remember to: touch things, try to change something in the environment, and shout 'more lucidity'!!

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## NyxCC

Way to go Smudge! Congrats!  ::goodjob::

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## Smudgefish

My personal life has taken a turn for the worse in the last few days - straight after my first ever decent lucid dream and just in time for the Competition so I'm not earning many points for my team.
Sleep is very poor, my recall had dropped dramatically. I can't concentrate on trying to WILD (too many things going on in my head), and I'm completely forgetting to reality check.

Damn. And it was going so well.

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## NyxCC

Sorry to hear this. Did things improve? One of the lucid living practices I do is to always try to find relaxation in the smallest items and details - you can find these anytime and anywhere. It works really well - I encourage you to look for and find those details in the world that you really like. Once you do - they will be there to help you out.

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## Smudgefish

Thanks NyxCC - things are better at the moment. That's life.

Thanks for the advice. Life IS great, it's easy to forget that sometimes, and there is a lot of beauty in the world, and fantastic people out there. At times we have to go inside ourselves to really understand life and I was in that place last week. I appreciate all of life, even the lows - they teach us so much, and make the highs even better.

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## DannyCool

I'm sticking around every day for a couple of months until i get the hang of it. Let's keep at this. It is not just about becoming lucid but getting lots of other skills as a by product like patience. I am going to get into using emotions as reality checks. See what Gab has to say about this in reponse to Habba or Josh McNaught http://www.dreamviews.com/induction-...ml#post2192443 . It is great to work with you on this. I know that this is really valuable for us.

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## Smudgefish

I have had about 6 weeks off trying to lucid dream.

I have had 2 lucid experiences in the last few days so maybe it's a hint that I should start trying again!

1) Afternoon sleep. A sort of false awakening. I was half woken by my daughter and fell straight back into sleep, I thought I was half asleep and tried moving my arm around but was convinced I was moving my real arm because I could feel myself touch my face. I could hear a voice issuing instructions following a fire at the local hospital and was listening to see what it would say next. I started spinning and thought this is good for maintaining lucidity but it was too much and woke me up.

2) Last night I was dreaming that I was lying on a bed but lucid and tried to move my arms and legs around. I felt a tremendous buzzing and was vibrating all over - it was quite frightening really, and I thought good I'm going to go lucid any minute or OBE. I tried to sit up but couldn't. I tried touching my hands together to see what it felt like, they were numb to start with but then some sensations started and it felt like normal rubbing hands together. I though that I needed to open my eyes and couldn't, then I tried imagining myself sitting on the roof, which didn't really work either. Then I woke up.

2 questions:

1) How do I open my eyes when I'm lucid like that?
2) How can I imagine a dream better so that I can move into it?

Thanks.

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## BadAssLongCoat

I'm in the same boat, work has been keeping me pinned for time to even get a healthy amount of sleep let alone record dreams and spend time meditating. Looking forward to getting back into it again! I wish I could answer your questions, I'm sure if you post them in the forums you will find the answers though.

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## NyxCC

Hey Smudge, congrats on the lds! 

To answer your questions - you usually don't need to open your eyes during a lucid dream, technically you don't have any eyes so just try to see through your eyelids and recognize what's around you. 

Regarding the second question and perhaps also relating to your second experience - maybe it was just a matter of the dream forming more fully, rather than an actual vision problem. So, if this is the case, I would suggest to just wait out for the picture to fully form and in the meantime try to focus on anything you see - any lines and curves that you see and how they form objects. The more you keep your focus on these, the more the rest of the picture should show up.

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## dreamingaze

I love your determination and spirit!!   ::yddd::

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## Smudgefish

*After a long break I'm back!!*  ::lol:: 

Four days of journalling and RCing and last night I almost got lucid!

Recall getting good again. Last night I had a very vivid dream about flying. I was thinking about what I could feel and how realistic it was, and the detail I could see in the countryside I was flying over was stunning! I was disappointed that I couldn't fly faster. Basically I was just a tiny step away from lucidity, it just didn't quite click that I was actually dreaming although I had an awareness that it wasn't reality.

Having difficulty remembering to RC, particularly when I'm at work, so setting an hourly reminder using an app on my phone.

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## DannyCool

> *After a long break I'm back!!* 
> 
> Four days of journalling and RCing and last night I almost got lucid!
> 
> Recall getting good again. Last night I had a very vivid dream about flying. I was thinking about what I could feel and how realistic it was, and the detail I could see in the countryside I was flying over was stunning! I was disappointed that I couldn't fly faster. Basically I was just a tiny step away from lucidity, it just didn't quite click that I was actually dreaming although I had an awareness that it wasn't reality.
> 
> Having difficulty remembering to RC, particularly when I'm at work, so setting an hourly reminder using an app on my phone.



Great that you are doing so many RCs keep them up. I am getting vivid dreams too. Dreamviews is great. That flying dream sounds amazing. Keep journaling. Super. Danny.

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## DannyCool

Your name was on a letter in my dream last night. That was a dream sign if anything was.  :smiley:

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## Smudgefish

> Your name was on a letter in my dream last night. That was a dream sign if anything was.



Did I help you get lucid?  ::rolllaugh:: 

Is it just me or does this happen to anyone else?? - every time I get anywhere near lucidity my dream recall suddenly falls to nothing. It's like two steps forward, one step back.

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## NyxCC

Welcome back Smudge! Always happy to see you!  :smiley:

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## Smudgefish

Updated my introduction.

Trying to use the concepts of *impermanence* and *non-attachment* to cultivate an awareness of the dream like nature of reality.

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## Smudgefish

Remembering a lot of dreams.

Reading and watching a lot of youtube videos about lucid dreaming.

I had another very low lucidity lucid last night. I was flying and realised I was dreaming but the level of lucidity was very low indeed. My first thought was to fly somewhere but that was about it. I didn't know where I wanted to fly to and I made no effort to stabilise or increase lucidity. I had no real awareness of who I was, just a vague awareness of the fact I was dreaming and that I should do 'something'. There was no excitement and no real recall of any plans. It was about as low level as I could possible get, but better than nothing. I almost immediately fell out of that dream and inot another.

I have noticed that my most vibrant dreams have a lot of detail. I become very aware of fine detail in my surroundings and almost become lucid as a result, I find it interesting to look at the detail within the dream. I am using this now in waking life and making it part of reality checking such that I an noticing all the detail in my surroundings and becoming very 'mindful' and expansive in my thinking as often as I possibly can. this is part of my impermanence and non-attachment practice.

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## DannyCool

> Remembering a lot of dreams.
> 
> Reading and watching a lot of youtube videos about lucid dreaming.
> 
> I had another very low lucidity lucid last night. I was flying and realised I was dreaming but the level of lucidity was very low indeed. My first thought was to fly somewhere but that was about it. I didn't know where I wanted to fly to and I made no effort to stabilise or increase lucidity. I had no real awareness of who I was, just a vague awareness of the fact I was dreaming and that I should do 'something'. There was no excitement and no real recall of any plans. It was about as low level as I could possible get, but better than nothing. I almost immediately fell out of that dream and inot another.
> 
> I have noticed that my most vibrant dreams have a lot of detail. I become very aware of fine detail in my surroundings and almost become lucid as a result, I find it interesting to look at the detail within the dream. I am using this now in waking life and making it part of reality checking such that I an noticing all the detail in my surroundings and becoming very 'mindful' and expansive in my thinking as often as I possibly can. this is part of my impermanence and non-attachment practice.



This is the knowledge that we are free. Totally free. Gravity helps me see in detail too.

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## Smudgefish

Doing lots of day work. Good dream recall and regular journaling.

Still no definite lucid. _Non-attachement_ - I'm staying positive and not expecting anything.

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## Smudgefish

Still doing the day work as much as I can.

No more success since my first almost lucid within a couple of days of starting. At this point I think I have given up a few times in the past, disappointed from lack of progress after a good start. This time I'm pushing through and know that it could take months.

Bought a few books on lucid dreaming.

I need to do more night work. I usually wake at least once around 4am. This morning I was determined to do have a WBTB and do MILD. I did a short WBTB then intended to MILD but fell asleep the moment I got into bed so that didn't work! I need to try concentrate a bit harder!!

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## NyxCC

Which books did you buy?

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## Smudgefish

Books:
1) Dreams of Awakening by Charlie Morley (I like his spiritual approach to practice)
2) Toltec Secret by Sergio Magana for a totally different apporach via Mexican spiritual methods.

And.... *Lucid Dream last night!!*  ::rolllaugh::   My first proper LD since starting practicing again. Lasted much longer than my previous LD as I remained very calm and not concerned about waking myself.
 - reasonably good control
 - did what I had planned to do to some extent
 - forgot to try to stabilise and increase lucidity so environment remained quite 'low definition' and dream like
 - I got caught up in what I was doing and lost concentration and focus and it reverted to a normal dream eventually and I lost lucidity

Plan for next time: I really must try to increase lucidity, look around the environment, shout 'increase lucidity' and use tactile sense.

very happy though that I have had a proper LD again at last so I will continue the day work remaining mindful and aware, and reality checking as often as possible.

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## Nebulus

Congrats on your LD and your persistence which is paying off  :smiley:

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## NyxCC

Books sound interesting. Do share if you come across something worth trying out. 

Congrats on the ld!  ::goodjob::

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## Smudgefish

Last night I wanted to try Jeff777's free falling WILD technique. My wife started snoring just as I got to some random thoughts, then my daughter had a nightmare, so no luck there! I woke at 4am but couldn't get comfortable and failed totally again.

I had a nap this afternoon and tried again. I noticed one random thought but I fell asleep immediately after without getting any control. I then woke several times and was in a very deeply relaxed state (not FA, I failed an RC) and drifted off again several times like this, and drifted in and out of a few dreams. It was a good experience as I was floating between sleep and wake, never staying lucid within a dream, but each dream made me realise I needed to get control and I woke immediately each time I realised I was dreaming - so some progress!

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## Smudgefish

Back to work full time now. 14 hour days so always exhausted.
Some interesting dreams. No luck with any more lucids abut an interesting hypnopompic state that I totally failed to turn into anything meaningful.

Having difficulty doing reality checks at work I'm just so busy!

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## NyxCC

Noo! Is it 14 every day or do you have days off or with less working hours.

For RCing, there's always the toilet  :wink2:  and upon entering rooms?

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## Smudgefish

It's not that bad, I enjoy work and my patients! Day off on Wednesday, weekends work about 1 in 4.

Several more hynopompic states but I'm not quite realising it at the time. Need to work on gaining some concious control of them.

This really is a long term project!

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