Thread: Auto Suggestion Anyone?

Well, if you use the same phrase over and over for a long time, it loses its meaning.

Try just re-phrasing the one you were using before, and really focus on it.

i simply use "i (will) remember my dreams" for dream recalls. works pretty good, i can remember up to 4 dreams every night.
and i think auto suggestion works for everybody, but some are simply better suggestible than others. while some get results pretty fast with suggestions, others need much longer and have to be patient.. although there are ways to increase your level of suggestibility (binaural beats, brainwaves, ...)

"I will wake up after every dream period and remember my dreams."

It's not as much the recall I care about than waking up around a REM cycle. I'll wake up about 3 times during the night, and use that to WILD.

It works great for me.

I tell myself, "I will wake up after every dream, and write it down in my journal." Then I picture myself rolling over and picking up my journal. I sometimes even open my journal as if I was going to write in it while I tell myself this, flipping through old dreams.

Later in the night, after a WBTB, I tell myself, "The next thing I see will be a dream. The next thing I do will be a dream. The next thing I hear will be a dream..."

Alright guys thanks for all the tips. Its worked well for me in the past but i've recently had a lot of stress and whatnot so that probably doesn't help I'll see how tonight goes

If you believe it will work without it, the effect will be the same. Like a lot of things, it's just trying to find a tangible means of utilising the placebo effect. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

It never worked for me until i concentrated on the feeling that went with it. Until then, its just talking to yourself.

Originally Posted by paragon

Like a lot of things, it's just trying to find a tangible means of utilising the placebo effect. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

I would agree with that on some level, but it is not the full reason autosuggestion works. It is not just convincing yourself it is possible. It is also using your prospective memory. Your ability to remember to remember to do something.

Similar to how you tell yourself you will buy milk next time you're at the store. You picture yourself buying the milk, tell yourself over and over, and remember it for later. Tell yourself you will become lucid next time you are dreaming, picture yourself doing it, and keep it in your future memory.

Best method for using auto suggestions from the point of view of NLP is using questions, they dont loose their meaning, and your mind is made so that it is challanged by every question, so better say, for example, "When will be the next time when i will have a lucid dream?", "How will i notice that i am dreaming?", "When will i understand that noticing that i am dreaming is easy as hell?" etc.

Ya last night i was really focused on it and i ended up having a short lucid (few and far between) and remembered 4 full dreams this morning

Robot Butler, that was a wonderful explanation to auto suggestion. I've been looking for a clear, simple, and understandable explanation for it haha

And the question idea is also very smart. I've never thought of that before, but i will surely be trying that. So basically asking myself "when will i have a lucid dream, when will i notice im dreaming?" can work exceedingly well? What kind of question would you apply for dream recall in general, "Will i remember all of my dreams tonight?" like that?

I am with the OP. I used autosuggestion for 3 days straight and it worked fine. I stopped for a couple of days and tried again and I haven't gotten it to work since. Its pretty annoying as well, even if I imagine the words as I use the method, it still doesn't seem to work at all. I think part of it is that it feels like the mantra I use lacks meaning even though I was able to fix that in my latest attempt, but, I think most importantly, is the fact that sometimes I stop the mantra and then just fall asleep, so, it doesn't continue till I sleep. To OP, make sure to put some meaning into it, instead of just repeating it over and over. Also, make sure that you keep doing this and fall asleep as you do it, otherwise, it'll likely not work

On the nights I use it I have ~50% success rate in getting what I'm talking about. I try to keep my phrases simple, and repeat them until I fall asleep. I have not had any success in telling myself I'll go lucid, however.

i think just play around with different words. You might just need to find the perfect custom phrase for yourself.
Currently trying this for myself.

Autosuggestion has never failed me but there is an exception to this being - my mind has to actually grasp the concept, i.e. if I say " I will have a lucid dream tonight" the lucid dream concept is too vague for it to work. However if a more graspable concept is used such as "I remember my dreams every night" or " I will remember ALL of my dreams tonight" then it works fine. However I have to note that talking to myself as if I can already do something then the autosuggestion works a whole lot better. If you look at the first example "I remember my dreams every night" I am speaking as though I already know how to do it and know it will happen, in contrast if I use the second example "I will remember all of my dreams tonight" then it is more or less a 50-50 chance of it working and if it does I usually remember vaguely. Furthermore as I use autosuggestion, on a consistent basis, the better it will work. It is almost a progressive action working more and more as I use it. Whenever using autosuggestion I always suggest using present tense to describe to yourself what you want to happen, using future tense is something not as solid to your mind.
Using emotion with autosuggestion helps strengthen it also. If you just try repeating it to yourself a bazillion times it would not work as effectively as saying it a few times with emotion and imagery attached to it. For example if I say "I remember my dreams every night" with confidence and remember back to every time I have remembered my dreams vividly then the autosuggestion will almost always work.

Originally Posted by 1r1sh

Using emotion with autosuggestion helps strengthen it also. If you just try repeating it to yourself a bazillion times it would not work as effectively as saying it a few times with emotion and imagery attached to it. For example if I say "I remember my dreams every night" with confidence and remember back to every time I have remembered my dreams vividly then the autosuggestion will almost always work.

This is very true. When I use auto-suggestion in the form of a repetitive mantra, such as one I say to myself before sleep, my success rate is much lower than if I speak the phrase, once or twice, with genuine confidence.

Overall though, auto-suggestion works incredibly well, both positively and negatively. For instance, I have a roommate who likes to stay up until 3:00 AM playing FFXI. He also snores. I've inadvertently convinced myself that I will never be able to LD when he's in the room. Sure enough, whenever I remind myself of that, I don't have an LD. Conversely, whenever he's not there, even if he's just left for his morning class, I can tell myself that I will have an LD. Ninety percent of the time, I do.

So, yeah. I think whatever you truly believe is what will happen as far as auto-suggestion is concerned.

Autosuggestion works very well for me. Most of my LDs have been a result of autosuggestion. For me it works better then MILD, I did MILD for a week without any success, then simply decided to LD and got one a night for a few days.

What are some successful autosuggetions for directly LDing?

ie. I lucid dream every night.

The autosuggestion I used last night that caused my lucid dream was "I'm going to have a dream and I will realize I'm dreaming." Only said it once but it was my final thought as I went to sleep and a wounderful lucid occured that night. You can easily make your own autosuggestion as I do all the time. Just ensure you use concrete things not abstract concepts to tell yourself what to do.

I'm never able to finish my thoughts with auto suggestion.. as in you know think 'im gona realize im dreaming and remember my dreams' then bang sleep. I just say it a few times.. then day(night)dream untill I just sleep. It doesnt seem to be working for me

Say it over and over until you are unconscious.

Try not to daydream.

Laberge states that a key part of the MILD technique is visualising yourself becoming lucid as well as saying the words.

I think the visualisations make autosuggestion much more powerful.

Originally Posted by moonshine

Laberge states that a key part of the MILD technique is visualising yourself becoming lucid as well as saying the words.

I think the visualisations make autosuggestion much more powerful.

I do too, i find that visualizing myself remembering my dreams and whatnot and simply reading through my journal before bed greatly increases my dream recall. I have to have an LD off auto suggestion though. I assume more practice would come with that

Originally Posted by Chewnie91

I do too, i find that visualizing myself remembering my dreams and whatnot and simply reading through my journal before bed greatly increases my dream recall. I have to have an LD off auto suggestion though. I assume more practice would come with that

The trick is making sure it genuinely the last conscious thought you have.
When it works for me its because I've worked hard at it.

On the occasions where it fails, I know its because I've been lazy.

Originally Posted by mmyou

Best method for using auto suggestions from the point of view of NLP is using questions, they dont loose their meaning, and your mind is made so that it is challanged by every question, so better say, for example, "When will be the next time when i will have a lucid dream?", "How will i notice that i am dreaming?", "When will i understand that noticing that i am dreaming is easy as hell?" etc.

Never tried that. Interesting, I'll see what results I get