GoldenLight

Whenever I forse myself to do something and set expectations, I'm disappointed. Perhaps the same is happening to you, GoldenLight. You may stop with those affirmations and see what would happen with your recall. The subconscious likes freedom and fun.

I completely agree with you there. Most of my dream recall has been on its own and during a time period when I meditated heavily. I did do affirmations but I am not sure, at the time, whether 'they' were the reason for my recall.

There was something I wanted to ask you, GoldenLight. I think I read somewhere you've had OBEs. How do they feel? Just... Something absolutely crazy and unfamiliar happened to me last night and I don't know what was it, in fact.

I believe it was an OOBE but nothing is certain in our dream state. When I was Golden, my astral form, I guess, I felt completely at peace, unconditionally loved, problem-free, light, and accepting of myself. In real life, I have a family, two children, and one of my children has a learning disability, which is very stressful for her as well as for my husband and me. Anyways, my point, is that while in the astral, I had no memory of my family, my problems - anything! The warmth and love that wrapped itself around me was tangible. I felt it. I had no inner censor - no inner critic. I loved myself. I felt loved. The tell-tale sign for me that something extraordinary had happened was when I woke up. I was incredibly sad. I did not want to be back in my body. I did not want to be on Earth. I immediately felt swamped by all of my problems, the gravity of Earth, my inner critic that blathers away at the most inopportune times. And so I tried very hard to fall back to sleep and return to my Golden form.

Since then, I have gone into my Golden form, but that was not the same as being in the place where I was. I 'think' I was in a very high level. Because the feelings I have when seeing myself Golden now are not the same as they were then. Although I do have a much better feeling about myself when Golden - and I am much more positive. Does that help? I read your experience. What are you trying to discern?

* Additionally: To help myself understand the depth of what happened to me, I tried one day during meditation to 'feel' problem free and unconditionally loved. I dare anyone to attempt that. It is NOT something one can will themselves to feel. It was then that I felt and believed that something extraordinary had happened to me. I've never been 'consciously' back since.

I'm trying to figure if it was a lucid or something else.
I had my full awareness, but the dream "cought" me. I couldn't even think to control anything, yet I felt safe the entire time I was there.

I can't tell you. That's probably something you'll have to work out for yourself. I know when others have gone astral they are in a mist like form and can travel to astral planes by thinking it. In the astral, not sure, I believe things are pretty linear. In other words, they won't skip around like in a dream. They may seem surreal, but they have a sense of point A to point B. Of course, some folks have just gone about their house - is that just lucid or is that OOB? It's very hard to say. Mine had more to do with the "where" than anything else. But each time I am Golden, I do not have a solid form. I have never had a solid form if I go astral or I prefer to say, Golden. I look more like a sparkly, golden, scarf or dense smoke. I have a human form - mine - but it's see-through. I'll re-read your dream.

How did you feel while in the dream? When you say it 'caught' you, what do you mean? How did things around you appear - your vision, hearing, senses in general? How did you travel? Did you walk, fly, think travel? These things will help you decipher whether it was just a lucid dream or something more. I'm sorry I'm not much help. If you have more questions to help you try to clarify your experience, I'd be happy to try to help.

The recall takes a while. I'm guilty of getting way too excited about the whole prospect of lucid dreaming and remembering dreams, then having zero luck. In my case it's usually because I get myself really excited, can't sleep, when I do I sleep too hard because I've gotten myself worn out with all the excitement, and then sleep too hard and don't remember much at all. And usually, the things that help your recall take time and it gets hard to wait! I think telling yourself to just stop trying so much is a great idea. Keep writing down your dreams and key words when you can remember it, but instead of putting forth a bunch of emotional investment and getting disappointed (because disappointment can cause your efforts to fail as well) just treat it like a habit or an after though. The best thing I can think of, is treat note taking and dream journaling like eating. You do it because you feel like it, you don't think to yourself when you eat "I have to eat or I'm going to die!" so don't look at your dream journaling and note taking as, "I have to write down my dreams and take notes or I'll never remember them!" I'm sorry if that doesn't make any sense, lol. What I'm trying to say is, don't stop, but don't bank on it anymore either.

Aww. Don't give up Goldenlight, you can do it! I know you can. With plenty of persistence and focus, you can do it.

I believe it was an OOBE but nothing is certain in our dream state. When I was Golden, my astral form, I guess, I felt completely at peace, unconditionally loved, problem-free, light, and accepting of myself. Anyways, my point, is that while in the astral, I had no memory of my family, my problems - anything! The warmth and love that wrapped itself around me was tangible. I felt it. I had no inner censor - no inner critic. I loved myself. I felt loved.

This is the feeling I want to experience someday! Ugh, I remember having 2-3 OBEs, and they felt great, it's like my memory was blank! Sorry to hear that it was cut short for you

This is the feeling I want to experience someday! Ugh, I remember having 2-3 OBEs, and they felt great, it's like my memory was blank! Sorry to hear that it was cut short for you

Yea. I been on a bit of a dry spell myself when it comes to the OBEs. But alot of my older OBEs, i am gonna share my experiences. Hmm. You know, I just may type it up later as a matter of fact.

I'm sorry if that doesn't make any sense, lol. What I'm trying to say is, don't stop, but don't bank on it anymore either.

Mydera,

Oh that made sense and I got cha. I'm not frustrated. I've only just began. I'm really just relaying what is going on. I know from doing it before that it took a while to actually begin recall. But I am EXHAUSTED these days and so I don't wake AT ALL - not to go to the bathroom - nothing. I sleep straight through the night. My days are pretty tiring. I'll keep at it. Thank you, Mydera.

This is the feeling I want to experience someday! Ugh, I remember having 2-3 OBEs, and they felt great, it's like my memory was blank! Sorry to hear that it was cut short for you

I would want everyone to have this experience. It was priceless and I feel honored to have had one. I've known others who go astral but they don't feel 'this' way. I think, I was in a special place. It was simply amazing and if that is what it feels like to die - we're all gonna be just fine.

[QUOTEYea. I been on a bit of a dry spell myself when it comes to the OBEs. But alot of my older OBEs, i am gonna share my experiences. Hmm. You know, I just may type it up later as a matter of fact. ][/QUOTE]

That would be wonderful, Dreamprofesser. Love to read them.

I find that no matter what I do, my dreams ALWAYS come up random. As for OBE's, never really tried to do it on purpose. Maybe I'll give it a shot.