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^^ The more little wakings you notice, the more you can recall! Congrats on finding a personal "sweet spot"! The more you continue, the more accurately you'll be able to judge your prime dreaming time and use this for estimating WBTB, alarm-DEILD approaches, etc. Keep it up and soon you'll be recalling 5 dreams *per waking*, woohoo!
Just a tip, unless your to-bed time is really rigorously regular, it may be better to note times in "hours since bedtime" since that generally has more meaning than absolute times.
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Ever since I was very young I've had a very hard time getting to sleep and I was just wondering how you would set an alarm to wake up when it could take anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours to fall asleep? Apart from buying some sort technology which maps sleep schedules and wakes you up near a REM cycle.
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Well the idea is that after about 5 hours of sleep, you're never too far away from your next REM. So an auto-snooze alarm (smartphone app perhaps) could be set for 90 minutes to go off for a few seconds every few minutes. Certainly, struggling with back-to-sleep is an issue for some, me included, when I have an active mind. I have been able to make great progress vs. insomnia though over the last year and a half: focusing on the total relaxation of mind/body. Daytime meditation can help, to learn to recognize when your mind has gone off of your desired focus (e.g., the breath).
In lucid dreaming the ability to return to sleep relatively quickly is definitely a plus -- even if you feel like you've tried everything, you may want to look into it again. Falling asleep can be hard word (paradoxically): I find I must maintain a mindset of continually "letting go," of not "trying to sleep," and continually release physical tension which always has a way of creeping back in. I believe with determination and practice that anyone can learn to do the same.
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After a lucid dream hiatus I am back at it again! A few days ago I was browsing a used bookstore when something caught my eye: Stephen LaBerge's Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming. Now the book provides some light bedtime reading and an assortment of exercises to try out.
Last night I actually might have become lucid but I barely remembered it. (All I remember is looking at my hand as it is shape shifted and thinking "that's weird, could this be a dream?) So, now I really need to work at improving my recall. I always kinda thought it would be impossible to forget when I get lucid, but now I see that when everybody says recall is very important for lucid dreams, they aren't joking.
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Welcome back! Reading ETWOLD at bedtime is an excellent way to bring thoughts of dreaming into your dreams!
Recall is very important. Not simply for remembering (which of course is critical, otherwise what's the point!), but also for building a closer connection to and awareness of your dreams. This results in more vivid dreams, and more lucid ones IMO.
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Welcome back. :) I would like to point you to the beginning of the following post for my pep talk aimed towards our younger, future lucid dreaming masters: http://www.dreamviews.com/dild/16071...ml#post2193612
