Thread: ashraen's journal

I would like to join the course. I can see that you have already gone thru several classes, and more or less stopped them because of lack of response. However, I still want to work though the curriculum and do the homework, so I figured I might as well make a journal and post it. If no one reads or responds to my journal, it's no biggie. I'll still work thru the material as best I can.

A little background: I am an experienced lucid dreamer (for 13-15 years now), but my excitement and interest in it has waxed and waned over the years. It has been a few years since I dreamlogged regularly and made dream goals, but recently I have been inspired to be proactive with my LDing again. After joining this site last thursday, I have already had 5 LDs, including one where I sought the Dream World Academy.

My point is, I have good experience and decent frequency, and going through this class should only increase both.

Strengths:
Flying (have always been a good flier in LDs)
Awareness
Morphing objects

Weaknesses:
Summoning
Teleporting (never done it, tried a few times)
Don't have alot of experience with heavy DC interaction. I've interacted with them, but not to the level I have been reading about on this site, so I consider this a weakness.

I am currently on the quest to find the Dream World Academy, so that is my main LD goal, but I plan on practicing my weak areas as I continue my quest. I have lots of ideas (I've already read thru KY's Dream Control Course), and I'm sure I'll find more as I read the course threads you have posted here. Hopefully I can start tonite.

Lucidmax, I'm not sure if you still monitor this forum, but regardless, I'd like to thank you for putting in the effort for this course. Hopefully participation will pick up.. figure I might as well do my part to help make that happen!

ok, finally had an LD after starting my journal. good thing too, because i was really getting frustrated with my slump. i kept having dreams with such obvious and plentiful dream signs, but not becoming lucid. a few of the nights were after some wine drinking, so i think that was part of the problem. too much alcohol makes my dreams weird and often vivid, but it seems harder to become lucid.

class topics: after reading Lesson 2 of this course, i wanted to work on the following:
fighting
running superfast
special abilities like walking on water.

i had some success with the fighting, but failed miserably at the other 2. i wasn't very lucid after my initial realization though, and i didn't do enough periodic RCs to maintain my lucidity, so i think these are the main reasons that i had only mediocre success with my goals. next time i will make a more concerted effort to remind myself that i am in a dream world and also focus on my goals without being sucked into the dream.

Here is the Dream Journal of my Slumpbuster LD

Ok, 3 new DJ entries, total of 5 LDs in them. Worked on a few things with varying degrees of success. I have linked each of the 3 entries below with a brief description of my dream control progress in each. They are in chronological order with the oldest entry first.

8.2.11 - Maiden Flight.. on the Wings of a Zebra! - Summoned a flying mount for the first time, and then spent most of my time just testing it out

8.4.11 - First multi-LD night (3) and finally found the Dream World Academy! - didn't accomplish much in regards to control- though I did try a 5 somersault dive- but was able to use the earlier LD to become lucid in the later ones. Maybe a DEILD, maybe not, but still was a new experience for me. Also did some tests with DC interaction.

8.5.11 (afternoon nap) - Failing at Portals, meeting the Enigmatic Aloysius - Tried to make a portal, tried more walking on water. pretty much failed, but had some interesting results nonetheless

Thanks for taking the time and effort to try out this class.

I read your journals, they seem interesting.

You need to stabilize before rushing into things. xD And not just at the beginning, every time you're about to do something big, like summon something, make sure you are fully rooted into the dream.

thanks for the reply lucidmax! and i will make stabilization my #1 priority

i play golf, and every golfer has a 'pre-shot routine' that serves to get him in the right frame of mind before every shot. i will work toward a similar routine for stabilization that i use before attempting things in my dreams

Had my first WILD and 2 more LDs after subsequent FAs this morning (after replying to your post above). The DJ entry doesn't mention every time I stopped to stabilize, but I did it often, especially in the first dream. I had moments in the other 2 where I *should* have stabilized and didn't, but I definitely made more of an effort and it was noticeably in the overall clarity of the dreams. I also started paying more attention to the environment as a part of my focus on dream mapping. Other than that, not much to report.

Here is the Entry anyway

I've only read up through lesson 2 so far. I'll try to get into lesson 3 before tonite, and hopefully be able to incorporate it into my adventures I will continue to put stabilization as #1 priority.

Had a couple of LDs the other night and got in some good work. I definitely spent more time stabilizing (even if I only mentioned it a couple of times in the log), and I worked on superspeed (had a breakthrough), changes in scale (made myself and another DC a giant), threw fireballs from my hands (didn't actually plan to work on this, just happened and I ran with it), and made some progress with shapeshifting. It was a very productive night.

Here is the journal entry: Working on my Superpowers and Finding the Forest of Denn (2.5 LDs)

I haven't been posting my DJ entries here, but I have had some lucids since my last post in which I made serious progress on my dream control and l33t skillz.

To wit:

Entry 1) Advanced TOTM (elemental control) Destroyed! - This one was really fun. I took control of the elements, creating a cyclone that I was able to ride up and down (and around), threw more fireballs and was able to control the fires they started, took control of the earth- opening and closing chasms in the ground, and manipulated water.

Entry 2) Successful Portal + Failed Waterwalking + Weirdness in the Market of Denn - I made a working portal that even took me to the place I wanted it to! Also got some really good shapeshifting/summoning practice.

Entry 3) Successful Waterwalking (FINALLY!) - So happy that I slew the waterwalking demon that was haunting me the last couple of months. Since I'm good at flying/floating, I decided to translate that into walking on the water.. and it worked