LukeSid

3.20 AM
A really difficult dream to put on paper because dreams seem so logical when they're being dreamed...which may be great for physicists because things that defy logic are their bread and butter! Apparently a third person dream about a doctor who had some sort of illness and he sold some sort of chemicals given off as side-effects of his illness, but donated others because the illness was self-caused for some reason by association with a woman???????

No obvious DS's...no discernible reason why I should have dreamt it. Did a quick WBTB and tried an SSILD. I never notice any benefit other than it seems to relax me quickly. Usually I get halfway through the cycles and start to lose focus but this time I went from sleepy to stone-cold wideawake! Hmmm. I suspect that it also sometimes results in missed dreams...maybe I sleep deeper?

5.45 AM
I'm driving a 1930's motor coach (or charabanc as they were called) around a hilly, winding (northern?) town trying to find somewhere to park it. It's a very cramped town but I eventually find somewhere (halfway across someone's drive) and go home t'wife and remark to her that "I hope it's going t' be OK"

No real DS's (unless I count looking for a parking place as "looking for something lost" or "myself lost somewhere" The dreams seem so short and I think I'm missing great chunks of the beginning.

I got up for an 1¼ hours then WBTB at 07.00 AM and tried to WILD (I spent the time I was up reading the tutorials) I fell asleep early on in the process but no matter...I'll just persevere...I'll get there in the end.

9.20 AM
I'm working in a club (DS) and the proprietor is apparently a likeable bespectacled guy who wears a green barbour coat (a friend from years ago wore one of those so perhaps it's in Ed's memory banks) and this guy lived and died at his club. I assume I worked there (DS)...what as I don't know and I heard someone say "Here he comes" and I looked out a window. (You know that's the first time I ever recall looking out of a window) He was coming across his lawn pushing a wheelbarrow and a little girl was with him.

Conclusion- Sparse on DS's last night. I really don't think SSILD is for me at the moment but I'm determined to master WILD. Most of my dreams could be called short (or only partly-recalled) and pretty domestic. When I get up to lucid fourth gear I aim to pep them up somewhat, but cut down on the violence..at the moment I probably come across as a bit of a homebody who'll kill you if provoked...

Everything looked good for last night. A good three hours communing with nature and myself in wonderfully-stark and beautifully-open scenery. Muttering “I see everything” in that environment sounds a lot more powerful than when uttered in my small bedroom. Plus plenty of “This is a dream.” moments…lots of “what was I doing 15 minutes ago?” Seriously-heavy dream preparation…so what went wrong?

I awoke at 3.45 AM wheezing and nasally-congested. My window was shut, the glass streaming with moisture, the humidity was way up. I could feel a dream, still shimmering, right above me...just waiting to be grabbed and I felt like shit. Gone …and it went steadily downhill from there. I switched on my dehumidifier (with positive ions) and went back to sleep...and woke feeling positively ironed.

Not all bad news. I got two dreams…both involving me arguing. Why? I went to bed feeling very positive (without the ions) Is Ed telling me something about myself? I got up and did a WBTB after 1¼ hours @ 5.00 AM (I even forget to put down the dream wake-up times.)

Dream#1
A classic “something lost” dream (I consider this the most powerful DS. Twice before it’s brought lucidity) I’m with a “friend” and one of his friends and I’ve apparently gone to his friends drawer to borrow something. Somewhere along the way, I seem to have mislaid it and I constantly unpack and repack his drawer, trying to find it. His friend says nothing but clearly becomes increasingly incredulous that I’ve lost it.

So it was basically DS –DS –DS-DS-DS as I pack and unpack this drawer (and not a hint of “This is a dream!” comes from my mind or lips) I’m getting very embarrassed and irritated (DS)with myself and this seems to culminate in a tiff with my friend and I hit him. (DS = violence)

More words follow from this and that seems to be the end of a wonderful friendship

Conclusion:
It differed from last nights successful awareness in one important respect. I was embarrassed and irritated…and I think that obscured what might have inevitably followed had I recognised the DS. I have created emotions as a general DS but “embarrassment” has never been considered…until now. It’s now a major DS along with anger and irritation (both with oneself and at others) The theory now is that any emotion trying to cloud the issue is itself a DS and recognised as such. No more smoke screens hopefully...

Dream#2
A short, hazy dream. Another argument…between me and my “mother” (DS) Sylvester Stallone looks more like mother than this DC. Have you met my mother Ed?

Conclusion:
Why do I get arguments and violence…usually by me? Am I inherently violent? (I need to lay on a couch when I do this self analysis) Is there some internal conflict? The wife and I have words now and then (as do most couples) But I don’t get her in a headlock and she doesn’t stab me with a kitchen knife…and I don’t belay passing strangers. Ed…you have the wrong idea about me I think. Or is it you Ed? Have I got an SC who needs to go on an anger-management course (don't shake your...my head Ed...are you lying to me?)

A fairly sparse night, but I'm not complaining because it produced LD#4 (albeit a very short dream)

Woke 4.40 AM. (no earlier dreams) Had a coffee, did some work on my DJ and various other things then did WBTB at 5.55 AM. I woke up some time later feeling ill. As I've said before there isn't any dizzyness, nausea, temperature, pounding heartbeat or anything Like that...I just feel "ill" and it soon goes away. But it stops me from trying to remember the dream that I've presumably woken from. I went back to sleep.

7.20 AM
I don't remember much of the dream...only the latter half where I was apparently walking home from work (DS) through a very rubble-strewn tunnel and I was carrying a briefcase. What I apparently took to be a "technician" (DS) made some derogatory comments to me (about my age I think)

I responded angrily (DS) then went to carry on walking but I couldn't find my briefcase. (DS - lost items is a very strong DS for me...that's what triggered DS#1) I remember making the connection "Lost? That's a dream sign"...and, for the first time, I actually did a Reality Check and pinched my nose. I did it several times. At first I wasn't sure then it became obvious. I decided to then try the thumb through the palm RC (I've been waiting to do that) but as I started to....I woke up

I tried to DIELD but nothing happened and it felt like I'd run out of REM (I can sense when REM cycles are upon me) I tried to go back to sleep but now I'm analysing the dream and trying to remember more so I got up and made another coffee and did a short WBTB. Although coffee doesn't seem to hinder me (and may even enhance my dreams) I'd had a large coffee and I was a bit wired. But I eventually went back to sleep.

8.20 In a (lift?) in a workplace (DS) with some work colleagues (DS) This (lift) was the size of a warehouse and a large tractor unit drove through the (ridiculously-small for a truck that size) door (DS=bizarre) he had to make several adjustments before he finally got the vehicle completely inside

Conclusions. I definitely need more work on dream recall because I seem to miss too many "front" parts of dreams I've stopped taking beetroot extract tablets so I hope that I don't get diminishing recall or I'll have to buy some more. We'll see. Re the "illness" and my apparent sensitivity to the onset or end of REM...I'm going to ask questions on the main forum...and definitely think hard about DEILD

I take heart from the fact that my 4 LD's have all been within the last 39 days...even at that rate that's about 36 Ld's a year...and it's gonna get a whole lot better!"

Virtually no conditioning yesterday so I'm surprised I got as much as I did

4.15 AM WBTB after 5.30

7.40 AM
With 2 "workmates" (DS) We try to take a short-cut back to work through a derelict building (weird = DS)
I go first and drop at least one floor onto some bushes. The others clearly decide not to risk it and I spend some time searching around (DS) for them

Aprox 8.30 AM
I'm standing in the doorway of what was (apparently) a well-respected food establishment (looked like an ordinary house to me) I see a "well known" restauranter at the top of some stairs and she sees me and calls out my name (she looked vaguely like an East Enders character to me) I puff up with pride at being recognised (vanity, thy name is LukeSid...I might make that a dreamsign)

09.35 AM
"We" are in a property with another family and I apparently consider them a threat and I'm planning to kill them...including, presumably, the young children. (violence=DS) I suspect that one young boy has an inkling about my intentions and he gives me a strange look. I think I'll plead "not guilty" because I was asleep at the time and I had no control over what my subconscious was doing (which is a sore point anyway) I presume that's " by virtue of diminished responsibility"

FRIDAY 11/10/13
01.50 AM
Yep...scorpions. Well one anyway...the other, which my unconscious assured me was a scorpion looked like a small dead rolled-up slug. The "real scorpion" was translucent and scuttled along with four protruding arms with busy little fingers (they looked vaguely like a team of four horses pulling it along) (weird=DS) I viewed it from a position of safety, as it scuttled along an asphalt path?????????

I missed a dream by falling asleep while trying to recall it. I nearly missed the next one as well...only the fact that I gave an involuntary short snore jerked me awake again and I immediately wrote it down. I need something that I can blindly press (without having to set) and it will sound after about three or four minutes as a wake-up call.

WBTB at 5.30 after 1¼ hours

07.10 AM
Me using a piece of board as a means of transport (a bit like McFly in "Back to the Future" Part 2) But this had no visible means of propulsion it was just a board. I was very adept though, weaving my way expertly through the streets...and an old lady looked really impressed. The streets looked familiar (DS)

Then there was increasing amounts of debris cluttering up the pavement/road...rubbish, broken toys, bits of trees and I remembering thinking "typical neighbourhood"????

08.00 AM
A most pleasant and detailed town (I would have loved to have LD'd in that one) It looked faintly Gemanic/Austrian and people were bustling around. My impression was that I was some sort of terrorist/resistance and I was looking for a patrolling robot (searching= DS) There was a uniformed (DS) robotic-looking official who I saw from time to time but he didn't look threatening or suspicious of me. At one stage I think there was an explosion.

Saturday 12/10/15

I woke early in the night feeling ill (fortunately that doesn't happen often. It's a mystery...is it linked to how quickly I wake after a dream? When I'm like that I don't even look at the clock...I just lay still and wait for it to pass

I saw my dead Mum again (major DS) I think we had an argument.(DS=emotions) We didn't argue...I don't remember why we did this time (I wish I did...it might have been important) I heard myself say "Get her out of here!"??? Then I only saw my sister. She apparently had enormous (though shapely) legs (DS=Weird) I said "I thought Mum was here" and my wife said "She is." I looked and saw her on the couch in semi-darkness.

Conclusions: Nothing earth-shaking... No LD's It occurs to me that my LD's so far have been involuntary "it's a dream" utterings (perhaps that's how most wake-ups go...at least for me) I'll continue the trade-off between being alert and taking longer to get back to sleep. When the financial conditions are right I'll get a de-luxe king-size bed and memory foam pillows so there are no comfort impediments and I'm continuing my bracing walks, communing with nature.

To infinity...and the next blackberry bush...but only after I've had a good like round

One of those sparse nights...a night of leg pain, after-effects of a flu vaccination and the most tickles and itches I've ever known in one night??? Ed typically responded to my set-alarm by not waking me in the hours prior to it going off. I've cancelled the alarm and gone back to relying on natural wake-ups. One dream lost and one dream captured.

Women...middle-aged women everywhere nice, friendly, wanting to cuddle me as if they knew me and hadn't seen me for a while... that's good Ed...a nice gesture...but so distracting...I want awareness and it takes the edge off things. As I said, I want flying, exploring and a raft of LD's...Ed...thanks but no thanks at the moment OK?

Originally Posted by NyxCC

I've got an idea you may want to incorporate in your scientific approach. To play with a different wbtb duration (and maybe timing) and see how that goes. For example, week 1 wbtb duration 10 mins, results: more/less awareness in dreams, more/less dreams, etc. week 2, wbtb duration 15 min, results. Obviously, you can structure this as you like.

WBTB really works like a charm. For good or bad, when I get too awake and have trouble falling asleep, I get a very high chance of ld. If you could make the wbtb at 4-6 o'clock it may not be too loud outside yet.

That sentence was the key. I thought about it…I’m not usually able to go quickly to sleep (particularly if I have something on my mind) So I welcomed going back to bed feeling still even slightly tired. What if I did trade off having to take longer to get to sleep against going to sleep with more awareness?

I set the alarm for 4.15 AM and refrained from “pantomiming” (i.e. falling asleep then dreaming, then waking up immediately after a dream ended.) Sure enough Ed took it as a hint not to disturb me before the alarm.

I stayed up for 1¼ hours and felt wide-awake when I went back to bed. Fortunately, I had nothing to brood about or plan but I still lay there for what seemed quite a while but, eventually I hit paydirt. My wakeup time from the LD was 7.10 AM and I don’t recall any other dream. I don’t even clearly recall the beginning of the LD...only the sudden triumphant realisation “this is a dream!”

There’s no mistaking the difference in awareness…I just knew. You switch from observing/reacting to thinking/planning. I think this was at a lower level of lucidity than the other two Ld’s…it remained cluttered and pretty “muddy” throughout and I still sometimes seemed to “jump” to another scene.

I blame myself. I suffer from what I call “blackberry bush syndrome” I always have. Whenever the family went gathering wild blackberries I was always charging off ahead…over the hills and far away…looking for the ultimate blackberry bush with loads of massive unpicked blackberries…and I’m like that in LD’s

I must RC for God’s sake!...for 2 reasons. To dispel that 0.01% of doubt that an insecure person like me carries, that I’m actually lucid at my age!...and just for the novelty of seeing my thumb go through the palm of my hand. Also I must pause, look slowly around and take in everything around me...maybe that will "up" the lucidity as well. The dream started to fall apart and I immediately began to spin…but I realised I wasn't doing it as well as before…”spin like a ballet dancer with outstretched arms” I instructed myself and I did (for longer this time) and the dream stabilised

I sensed that I was maybe in urban USA perhaps (but decidedly Bronx rather than Manhattan) I was swimming around in some kind of communal pool (very muddy water though) Then I saw a row of women and I thought “God! I hope my dreams aren’t full of women like the two in that other dream.”

Sure enough these all had very ugly features…their noses were terribly disfigured and I thought “No! This isn’t right!”…and the disfigurements disappeared as if by magic...was that my very first dream-control? I do hope I don’t become women-fixated. I’m a man and, even at my age, I like pretty women…but I’m not a predator and I’d much sooner by flying around the moon than indulging in sexual fantasies

The dream seemed to cut to me walking down a very cluttered and dreamlike corridor and suddenly I just woke up…no breaking-up of the dream…I just seemed to walk out of it. I immediately tried to get back in but, with no success...is it my inability to visualise? I felt trembly but this was more a Wow! Yes! trembly feeling rather than the after-effects of SP (maybe REM had simply ended) Of course, I tried to get back to sleep again but in vain…I was too excited and constantly drifted back to thinking about the LD and trying to analyse it.

I'm deliberately refraining from adding these dreams to my LD count...as a punishment to myself for not RC'ing and looking around more.

Conclusions – I’ve pulled the LD’s back by 2 hours…definitely trade-off sleepiness against awareness…probably try for 1½ hours WBTB next time…to see if that increases the lucidity…MUST REALITY CHECK AND LOOK CAREFULLY AROUND…work on ideas to help fall asleep easier (maybe a lobotomy)...Read-up on DEILD....I think I may be OK with dream control within the dream…and try and stay off thinking about women…mind on higher things please (I can’t absolutely promise though)…and LD#4 where art thou?...

Oh…and NyxCC?...Thank you…

A fairly disappointing night but I had three hours good "walkabout" yesterday so I know that makes me sleep deeper at the moment.

3.05 AM
An obscure kind of "thinking" dream where I seemed to be composing phrases (all of which are gone) Only the words "turbine hall" remain.

5.20 AM
At the house of someone who was vaguely "family" (DS) (like dreams often seem to make them) I wonder if that's a sign of my lack of visualisation. (Ed doesn't have clear pictures of my relatives on his mantel-shelf) This family had no tools and I was trying to do a job on top of a very high lorry (apparently only using very weedy tools like little multi-headed screwdrivers)

A large vehicle approached alongside, then recklessly reversed, endangering one of "our young children"??? I flew into a rage (DS - emotion) and I harangued the driver. He seemed very sheepish and I heard him say that this finished his day off nicely (he didn't think)

80.00 AM
Investigating the murder(DS=violence) of a woman in a caravan (except I sensed she wasn't dead...just sleeping (DS)) A DC (a kind of "Carry On" female (DS) detective) warned about possible bad smells and advised that I put a handkerchief to my nose and mouth.

Much more like a dream sequence were the two guys I met on the banks of the Thames yesterday. I was searching for pottery shards etc (the lower reaches of the Thames were London's waste-dumping grounds for many decades) These guys were actively looking for certain valuable pieces One waffled on a bit (like DCs do) and he must have heard me remark to the other other guy that I was trying to "up" my awareness and I mentioned dreams (I sometimes put out feelers, to see if people know about lucidity)

The other guy laughed and said that his "waffling" comrade wouldn't want to know about this because they had both recently had troublesome dreams. The "waffler" hung back and I talked to the interesting guy as we trawled the beach. He'd apparently been spontaneously lucid (although he didn't seem to know anything about LD) He reckoned that his family interpreted his dreams about an old women as the ghost of someone who had died in their house.

Lucky bastard. There am I, trying for fitness and awareness and he's LDing with one hand tied behind his back. I looked back along the deserted beach, towards the lone figure way in the distance and there definitely seemed something dreamlike about the whole thing. I didn't RC ( my aching legs and back told me that this was reality)

Well, at least I'm getting fitter...one out of two isn't that bad.

45 dreams recorded...loads missed, dropped, snuck away unnoticed or time not recorded. The SST of midnight must include a +- of half an hour (mainly caused by the first two months...I can now generally drop-off between 11.35 to just past midnight.) So, I have sub-divided the night into 9 x one hour segments.

TIME IN HOUR SEGMENTS	AMOUNT	PERCENT
1.00 - 1.55	5	11.1
2.20 - 2.45	3	6.7
3.20 - 3.40	5	11.1
4.15 - 4.55	3	6.7
5.00 - 5.45	6	13.3
6.00 - 6.45	5	11.1
7.00 - 7.50	7	15.5
8.00 - 8.40	9	20.0
9.00 - 9.20	2 (lucid)	4.4

Obviously 9.00-9.20 is the golden time...but a pain in the arse (old people don't like 8+ hours of sleep) also, with such a narrow window, anything that can go wrong does go wrong...which is why I'm trying for awareness, to bring lucidity into the earlier zones. It's interesting that (as scientifically predicted) old people's REM periods are much more spread-out. Also the first dream period is currently matching the 6.00 AM period. Of course, margins of error will diminish the more data I collect

I had a good two hour walk on an amazingly clear and beautiful day. I stood on a high point and "communed" with nature and told myself that my brain is me so I am the dreamer and the dreamee. I therefore expect to control my own dreams. I'm not sure Ed was really listening but I won't go away till he does.

Only two late dreams last night but I expected that my walkout would tire me some.

6.30 AM
Found some dropped items on the floor around an escalator (finding things = DS) Someone losing things = DS) I somehow deduced that a woman with a baby had dropped them and I ascended the escalator with them. I somehow managed to get pissy with two guys who were trying to push through (emotion -anger =DS) Got to the woman and then couldn't find most of the things I had collected up (me losing things = DS)

Then the scene apparently changed to me standing on the roof of a house. I was close to falling off and the roof was treacherously wet and slippery and I felt anxious (emotion = DS) for my family?????

8.00 AM
I unfortunately turned over as soon as I awoke and I think I lost the front of this dream. I was on a train and I think I had to collect some clues as we travelled through the countryside.(looking for things = DS) I think I'd done the journey once, then repeated the journey...only. this time, the train apparently went beyond it's previous turning point and continued into countryside that was uniformly dark-brown and uninteresting

Ed clearly wasn't impressed by my "Head to Ed" so no breakthrough last night but I ain't giving up Ed I'll eventually be so aware that I'll be flying around without dreams so stick that in your Cerebellum and smoke it

The signs looked good last night Two days off a completely new moon…I had another “awareness” walk…not as long this time and I felt ready last night. I had a one hour building-up…not too intense. I took no pills, no bells, no whistles…just me and the night Did I manage an LD?...not quite. How close? Hard to tell…2microns? 2 miles? 2AU?

12.30 AM False awakening?
Woke up and I remember laying there recalling a dream and I felt I worked it out really well. I sat up to write it in the journal and it faded away (not snap! like some dreams have occasionally done…it just melted down into a couple of words, then was gone)

I’d done the cycles of SSILD because I find that often helps me sleep. I can be into the “long” cycles and everything goes a bit “vague” and I know I’m ready. But it’s also known for false awakenings and I committed the cardinal error…not RC’ing first

2.20 AM
Working with a potentially violent (DS) young male (criminal?) Trying to win his trust and it’s not easy because he’s volatile but I’m coping. Then he seems to become more agitated and I play “alphadog” and bite his chin (DS) (I’m sure I’ve had a similar dream before…is Ed starting to repeat himself?) It calms him somewhat and he seems happier


5.15 AM A weird dream (DS) – then aren’t most? Walking around with a woman (DS) and I’m above her (not on stilts though…I seem to be operating her feet by stamping down on them with mine) This sometimes caused her to stamp on other people who were laying down (DS) or on platters of food???? And (understandably) this technique seemed to hurt her sometimes. (I have size 13 feet)

7.00 AM
Suggestion that there were “sensitive” documents (DS) in cardboard trays on the steps of a (football stadium??) …although they looked like mainly newspaper cuttings to me. Some men (suggestion that they were “Persian”) were searching around for them (DS) and I removed them and hid them (DS) in an area just outside the stadium as they continued to search. One very important “Persian” I recognised but he’s definitely shuffled off this mortal coil a long time ago. Another totally weird dream (DS)

I felt I was close to the “dream exit” and I tried to DEILD but it faded away.

8.30 AM
IMO a really weird dream (worth 2xDS’s ?) A goldfish bowl? “We” must have had this fish (looked like a small trout to me) and I marvelled as I watched it flop into the bowl (from where?) and the suggestion was it was “looking for something” I called the wife’s (DS) attention to it and again marvelled (note…not questioned) as all the fish in the bowl were now little humans and I was intrigued (note…not unbelieving) as they laughed and joked together. I tried to understand how one was actually smoking a cigarette (note…I apparently didn’t achieve this “awareness” before I woke up.)

So…I’ve clearly reached the terminus on dream signs…the bus stops here and this is as far as we go sir. Stay on the bus and we’ll go around and be back here tomorrow. What this all highlights is what we are constantly told on Dream Views. Do the DJ, the mantras, the DS’s, the RC’s the other techniques. But most of us aren’t going anywhere until we achieve the core requirement in this little adventure of ours

Zilch on the dream front at the moment...but it's not surprising. I've been for three x four hour walks in the country during the last week...from being indoors most of the time to twelve hours solid walking in the country and by the sea. I don't ache (surprisingly) but I'm sleeping like a top at the moment...all that fresh air and exercise.

I find walking like that so conducive to awareness...I notice everything,, feel the breeze etc (semi-gale yesterday) and I know that this can only help towards good results in the future

I've decided to stick with my current SST regime a while longer...in the hope that awareness will obviate the need to stay in bed half the day to achieve LD's. there's definitely no shortage of DS...even from the beginning of the night.

1.30 AM
A dark dream. In some tunnels and feeling scared. (DS) A violent-looking and vaguely troll-like character(DS) emerges from one of the tunnels and passes by the mouth of my tunnel a few times. It was one of those film-like scenarios where a character passes by another person who (so they're both in shot) is obviously in the 1st character's line-of-vision but he doesn't notice (you've all seen them)

I'm hiding (DS) but not very well. He's blathering sinister DC-speak about wanting "to welcome me" (Oh yeah?) I eventually retreat far down the tunnel and I can see him in the distance but he doesn't follow. With the right dose of awareness ("could I have 2 kgs of awareness please... oh, and those nice peaches over there.") I'd have been lucid one hour into the night..

5.35 AM
On board one of several *weird (DS) boats that looked like long thin flat-tops but were somehow filled with female passengers(DS) I'm sorting out where to sit and I'm advised to sit at the rear (there's some sort of drop-down section) because "It's a more stable platform." For what? Am I being launched somewhere?

7.30 AM
Working (DS) in a shipping line office. Some guy is blathering away on the phone to me and I can't understand a blind word he's saying (that's not a dream sign because I'm fairly deaf)

8.30 AM
In an office/factory?? (DS) The workers (DS)...all women as far as I can see (DS) are getting ready to go over and shower/get changed to go home Eventually, (apart from an unlikeable manager, (DS) there's only me and a woman who I apparently didn't get on very well with

There's been a few...I've worked in offices chock-full of middle-aged women (feminine mafias) and I'm now only too aware how women must have felt down, through the ages, working and living in male-dominated societies...but why me Lord...why me?

We were peering up inside some control panel at (TV's??) Weird scenario (DS) and the manager seemed to be suspicious of what we were doing. I think the control panels were Ed's really bad attempts at PC's. It either shows how little info the unconscious has or how bold are their artistic brush-strokes when creating a dream. What are you using to apply the paint Ed...a potato?

Awareness, awareness, awareness, awareness (write it out 10,000 times before home-time Mr Sid)

I spent virtually the whole of yesterday on an awareness kick. I walked for nearly four hours in Essex marsh environments, communing with it's bleak natural beauty, at one with the sea-grass, the mud-flats shimmering in the Winter sun, stumps of long-demolished piers and jetties jutting like rows of rotten, broken teeth that had Pip running from the convict in Great Expectations..and did this cornucopia of nature at its rawest reflect in my dreams? Judge for yourself.

2.45 AM
Part of a rock band. We were sitting around in a rehearsal room and I had played a track that I thought was good music. They listened politely for a short while, then diplomatically moved on (I heard the word "jazz" mentioned) Someone said we needed some sort of presentation tape. ("Everyone does it") Cut to an inset of effects pedals???? The discussion continued till I woke with a slight touch of heartburn.

Rock Gods...although, in my experience, usually a gathering of egos...hey that's not a bad name for a band..."A Gathering of Egos" (although "A Slight Touch of Heartburn"' also has a good ring to it)

4.35 AM
In some sort of primary school/creche??? Sitting on the floor with the wife and another (Chinese) woman (no chairs?) discussing a kid behind us. He apparently had an bad attitude problem with managers??? (good training for later son) I looked back at him then rose to leave this (enclosed) area and remarked to a guy stood nearby that "I had to get back to work." (DS) He blathered something in DC-speak

6.30 AM
Eating seafood from the back of a large truck! Can't remember what I ate first and that’s probably a blessing (not a great lover of seafood) Then I ate some crab …rather I ate what was looked like a comedy crab my mother might have knitted when she was in her knitted cuddly-toys period. (while under the influence of some barbiturate) It had long thin brown woolly legs…one of which I broke off and presumably I was about to eat but woke up instead…surprisingly without another touch of heartburn.

8.30 AM
A (joke???) about me eating someone else’s sweets…

Right…that’s it. I can occasionally remember getting some better dreams before I started dream attempts. I’m changing things. I’m going back to my old sleep pattern 2.00 Am (ish) to 08.30 Am (ish). I’ll continue “awareness” & “going out and about” and I’ll “wake-up after every dream” The beetroot tablets are “out”…I must have eaten the equivalent of a small beetroot farm by now.

But if the dream I recall isn’t worth the candle then I’m turning over and going back to sleep. I have a reasonably large DS collection and I’ll only add to it if there’s another definite pattern. To be honest, if I was consistently aware enough, then there are 3 major dream signs that pop up virtually every night now.

It’s odd. A couple of years ago I hit a short patch of what I now realise was potential lucidity and I cannot fathom out what was the cause … although it definitely happened when I was consistently retiring after 1.30 AM and sleeping no more than 7 hours. (currently I’m touching 9½ hours) I’m not sure that Ed can cope with it…I think my two lucid events may have been a bit flukish and future ones may be rare under my current regime. But one thing’s for sure…

Ever onwards!

I've been ragged the last couple of days, so I had time out. Of course, I'm conditioned to wake up during the night but I just laid there and let the dreams disappear under the bridge, like virtual poohsticks. I'm back now and starting to gather speed again.

I've created an Excel sheets based on bluremi 's blog http://www.dreamviews.com/dream-sign...tifically.html I already knew about the most prolific signs but it's nice to get a count. I note, with interest that there was one count of violence against me and five counts of violence by me.

I'm basically peaceable but I've had a few confrontations where guys have been lulled by my demeanor and glasses and not realised how solid I am. But I've only killed in a dream...and I wasn't lucid so that surely doesn't count. I've expanded the number of dream signs and I don't think there's a dream now that doesn't contain at least one. Of course, without awareness, they're so much candy floss but I'm working on it.

My new refined mantra is "Wake up in the dream Wake up after the dream Remember the dream" and I'm putting it to good use. Personally, I wonder if my complete lack of visualisation hinders me and I'm starting small by trying to visualise a small red two dimensional square. I got some movement when I was in a dreamlike state so I now need to visualise it in a non-dreamlike state.

Two small dreams last night + one that got away (Twang! oh I've sat up too soon!)

4.40 AM Two news pundits (DS) were doing a photo-shoot in my house and I was blathering on about not being impressed by them (forthright manner = DS) They were using a weird-looking camera that was being wound along the floor (strange equipment =DS)

07.50 In a workplace (DS) exchanging cuddly-type fraternal greetings with a workmate (DS) that I knew (except, when I woke I realised that, to the best of my knowledge, I've never seen this guy before.)

Everything's chock-full of dream signs now. The fact that I had lucidity only after a full nights accumulated "dream juice" shows there's still work to be done but, if a monkey can type Hamlet eventually then surely LD #3 has to arrive...if not in this lifetime then maybe in another in a galaxy far far away (if you get my drift)