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

## TheLandSquid

Hello friends,

I've been writing down my dreams (although on and off) for about a year now with some practice of lucid dreaming. I have never been able to fully commit to doing this. But, with the time that I have left this summer, I've wanted to make up a more productive lifestyle with more productive habits. So I have started my biggest attempt on lucid dreaming yet. Statistics say that using a calendar to mark off every day you do something makes it easier to continue doing, so I've started doing that and also this workbook to keep myself accountable with this process.

I have no idea if any of that made any sense but here we go... xD

Reality Checks:
- Push finger through palm
- Evaluate my ring (I have a ring that I bought about a week ago mainly for lucid dreaming)
- After another check, asking out loud, "Am I dreaming?"

Dream Signs:
- Acting energetic (I'm usually very relaxed, but in my dreams I do whatever crazy stuff I want)
- School (Although I haven't had many dreams at school, because of summer and all.
- Being with friends (I know this is vague, but I have only had a few dreams where I am alone)

Short-Term Goals:
- Frequent LDs (2-4 a week)
- Have my first WILD

Long-Term Goals:
- Master WILD
- Lucid dream whenever I want
- Use lucid dreams to become better at ping pong (lol gotta keep it interesting)

Current Technique:
- DILD supplemented with MILD

----------


## TheLandSquid

I went to bed a little earlier last night to catch up on some much needed deep sleep. Hopefully I will now have more vivid and lucid dreams.

----------


## TheLandSquid

I have a question for anyone who has become good at lucid dreaming. Do you practice for a while then BOOM a light goes off, your brain jumps on board, and lucid dreaming becomes a habit and then becomes easier? I've just been doing awareness practice, meditation, and WBTB with MILD for 6 days now and no luck. This is with already having a few lucid dreams in the past year. Should I continue this routine until it becomes stuck in my brain? Or change it up because it isn't working now? It's pretty interesting to do and I'm not really stressed about it. Just wondering. Thx.

----------


## NyxCC

Welcome to Intro Class, TheLandsquid! 






> I have a question for anyone who has become good at lucid dreaming. Do you practice for a while then BOOM a light goes off, your brain jumps on board, and lucid dreaming becomes a habit and then becomes easier? I've just been doing awareness practice, meditation, and WBTB with MILD for 6 days now and no luck. This is with already having a few lucid dreams in the past year. Should I continue this routine until it becomes stuck in my brain? Or change it up because it isn't working now? It's pretty interesting to do and I'm not really stressed about it. Just wondering. Thx.



Yes, at this point you should stick to your current practices. Any practice sould optimally include a choice of day work plus a choice of techs for night work. I can see that you are already doing that, so keep it up. Indeed, it takes time for the practices to sink in and of course once we learn how to ld we need to maintain them to a certain degree. At any rate, it always helps to be excited about your next lucid dream and expect that you will have one soon.  :smiley:

----------


## TheLandSquid

I just wrote this but accidentally deleted it so... yeah. Yesterday I tried to WILD in the afternoon but I lost focus at some point. Last night, I did a WBTB with WILD and lost focus there too. I ended up having 4 dreams I remember from last night. They all have my dream signs in them which is frustrating because I'm looking hard for them during the day. BTW, I chose to do WILD because I have accidentally done it before. I noticed the sensation of falling asleep and then boom I was put in a dream. That was my last lucid dream which was about a month ago.

----------


## TheLandSquid

My dream signs showed up again. My dreams are also getting slightly more vivid, but no lucidity. It sucks because when I lay on my side I can't focus at all on a mantra, but when I lay on my back I won't fall asleep at all. I've tried to lay on my back to relax and then turn onto my side to fall asleep but it all seems to reset. I just can't focus long enough to do MILD and WILD... yet... Hopefully my meditation practice will help with this. Any thoughts?

----------


## NyxCC

Maybe repeat the mantra while on your back and then after you think there have been enough repetitions, turn to the side ready to fall asleep. You can do this with mild as well. For wild, you need to be more alert so perhaps try it while lying on yout back.

----------


## TheLandSquid

Ok thank you NyxCC

----------


## TheLandSquid

I think I may have had a lucid dream last night but it's kind of confusing. I was a the door steps of a house that I knew had "evil" in it. I wasn't afraid and just walked in and observed the area. At that point, I remember thinking up my surroundings (Ex. red leather couch --- then it would appear) but at the same time I'm not sure if I knew it was a dream. In the dream, I notice this and then continue through the house. Whatever it was, I'm counting it as a success, because it was extremely vivid and I was calm even in the face of scary situations. I've just read The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep and have been using what I've learned in there to supplement what I've learned here. It is a lot more effort but also a little more interesting to me because of it's symbolic nature.

----------


## CanisLucidus

> I think I may have had a lucid dream last night but it's kind of confusing. I was a the door steps of a house that I knew had "evil" in it. I wasn't afraid and just walked in and observed the area. At that point, I remember thinking up my surroundings (Ex. red leather couch --- then it would appear) but at the same time I'm not sure if I knew it was a dream. In the dream, I notice this and then continue through the house. Whatever it was, I'm counting it as a success, because it was extremely vivid and I was calm even in the face of scary situations. I've just read The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep and have been using what I've learned in there to supplement what I've learned here. It is a lot more effort but also a little more interesting to me because of it's symbolic nature.



Congratulations on the dream experience, LandSquid!  Whether or not you were fully lucid, that sounds like a really cool dream with some very impressive dream control.  If you weren't lucid, you were definitely heading in the right direction.

The Tibetan Yogas of Dream and Sleep is a great book!  I'm glad that it's helping you.  If you're still keeping up with your WBTB (which is, as always, a _huge_ help with inducing LDs), then you might enjoy reading some excerpts from that book while you're up.

I'm sure you'll be doing more summoning soon!  Keep it up!   ::goodjob2::

----------


## TheLandSquid

Two nights ago, I stayed over at a friend's house and had a lucid dream. I woke up and quickly began to type it into my phone to then write down in my journal. It was as if the dream was happening and I was also thinking on the side of it, like watching a movie while daydreaming. Then once my thoughts relaxed, I quickly noticed the dream state and became lucid. I said "I am dreaming." out loud to try and consolidate my lucid position but I did lose it pretty quickly. I tried to have a dream that I had incubated about a week ago. I don't know why I thought about that at that moment, but it seemed like a cool idea. So I walked up to a random person and asked them to lead me to that dream. He said he already knows where I want to go and then pointed to a portal across the room. Somewhere in our conversation I lose my lucidity and instead have a dream about playing an arcade game.

It seems that I need to just relax a bit. The night that I just have fun and don't (try to) focus on it turns out to be when I become lucid  :smiley: .

----------


## NyxCC

Nice! Congrats on the ld, Thelandsquid!  :smiley:

----------


## TheLandSquid

It's midnight here and I'm about to go to sleep. I'll update this post tomorrow with my good news of another lucid dream.  :smiley:

----------


## TheLandSquid

I was a few days off with that last statement.... xD
I've had 2 more pretty good lucids, and I also understand now the power of WBTB. I don't think I've had a lucid without a WBTB, whether intentional or unintentional.

----------


## NyxCC

Not bad! Congrats! I agree about wbtb, it is one of the best lucidity boosters!  ::D:

----------


## TheLandSquid

I'm finally trying to get back into LDing practice. I don't really know if I should be posting here lol but I'm gonna try to post here everyday from now on.

I have a problem with staying consistent more so than most. I just get into a rhythm and don't break it even if for the better. For the past year and a half I've been doing just that, riding the wave.

Now that I am a year wiser, I've realized that my main focus in my LDing practice should be on staying consistent and self-accountable and not on the techniques and awareness. I became skilled enough with the techniques and awareness during my last attempt, but I didn't have the perseverance to continue the practice.

Any tips on consistency? I thought about maybe creating a system where I grade my efforts from the day before and then either reward or penalize myself for them. I hope that doesn't sound crazy lol but I'm just to the point where I know my willpower isn't enough to keep me on track.

----------


## TheLandSquid

Daily Grades
Meditation [X]
Reality Checks/Attempted Awareness During Day [X]
WBTB [X]
Write in DJ [X]

I'm proud that I actually was able to complete all of my goals yesterday. I have always had really awful insomnia and it was especially bad last night. I actually had a dream where I came very close to becoming lucid. I was riding on a yacht on the road in the middle of a neighborhood. I simple thought arose in my mind: "could I be dreaming right now?" I wasn't aware enough to remember to do a reality check so I simply looked around and thought: "well it must be real, it looks pretty real."

Lol progress is being made I guess

----------


## NyxCC

Good to hear from you,  TheLandSquid!  :smiley: 

I think the grading system is a really cool idea to help with consistency. If you want, you can add points for finding weird items/DS during the day. 

Your avatar reminded me I was dreaming of petting a huge flying turtle and wondering about it. We need to be more alert from now on!  ::D:

----------


## TheLandSquid

> Good to hear from you,  TheLandSquid! 
> 
> I think the grading system is a really cool idea to help with consistency. If you want, you can add points for finding weird items/DS during the day. 
> 
> Your avatar reminded me I was dreaming of petting a huge flying turtle and wondering about it. We need to be more alert from now on!



That's a cool idea! It could definitely keep me more aware throughout the day, so I think I'll give it a shot.

Daily Grades
Meditation [X]
RC/ADA [X]
WBTB [X]
Write in DJ [X]
RC'd when I played soccer yesterday with friends (completely out of the ordinary) [X]

One thing I don't think I mentioned, maybe I mentioned it before, is that I never get very good sleep. Last night was especially bad, I'm not exactly sure whether I actually fell asleep before my WBTB alarm went off. Nevertheless, I completed all the tasks that I wanted to and almost got lucid at one point from a FA.

In my dream I woke up in my bed from a nightmare. I noticed that I was extremely hot and wanted to turn on the light and get up for a bit. When I tried to turn on the light, it didn't work at all. This caused me to believe I must be in a nightmare and I turned on my phone flashlight to check my surroundings. I don't know whether I decided it might not be a dream when I didn't see anything out of the ordinary or if I just lost awareness, but I didn't remember anything after that and woke up.

This is actually very similar to how I got interested in lucid dreaming. I had my first lucid dream as a result of the way that light switches trigger nightmares within my dreams. As a kid, I would always have the same recurring dreams that would start with me not being able to turn on a light. Eventually, I became habitually used to associating lights not working with having a nightmare. Power outages can be kinda scary lol.

I need to make sure that every time I wake up I do a thoughtful reality check to prevent these stupid false awakenings.

----------


## TheLandSquid

Daily Grades
Meditation [ ]
RC/ADA [X]
WBTB [X]
Write in DJ [X]
RC during movie [ ]

Not as successful a day as I would have hoped. I need to make sure to focus early in the day and get things done. It was 2 AM before I even thought about meditating last night, and that was just too late to even focus a little. Also, I don't really do all that much so I should do an RC when I'm going to do something like see a movie, watch a play, or go to a sporting event. These also occur very often in my dreams. I went to a movie yesterday and forgot to RC which is a shame because I also dreamed about seeing a  movie lol. At least the dreams are increasing in clarity.

----------


## TheLandSquid

Daily Grades
Meditation [ ]
RC/ADA [X]
WBTB [ ]

I need to go to sleep earlier, like I said last time. I'm getting too tired and worn down to be able to meditate. Also, a WBTB only really works if I wake up while the sun isn't up lol, that makes it very hard to fall back asleep. I didn't even remember one dream last night but I'm gonna do better today.

----------


## TheLandSquid

Daily Grades
Meditation [X]
RC/ADA [X]
WBTB [ ]
Write in DJ [ ]

I'm at my dad's house currently and I'm finding it harder to have the initiative to get up during my WBTB. I did have a 20 minute meditation session during the day though, so I was successful there.

----------


## TheLandSquid

Got a lucid dream last night, very short and sweet but not complaining

----------


## NyxCC

Awesome! Congrats!  :smiley:

----------

