My name is Matt and I am from the Midwest United States. From time to time (maybe a couple times a year) I've had dreams where I spontaneously realized it was a dream, but much to my disappointment, woke up almost instantly as a result, mainly from excitement. It didn't bother me, I figured it just was not possible to be in a dream and know it was a dream for any length of time. Then, after another of such dreams, I did more reading about lucid dreaming online, and decided to give it all a try. So I started regular reality checks and dream journaling, and got my 1st lucid dream a couple of weeks later.

I pursue this hobby because I think it is a great way to make use of time (sleeping) that otherwise would go to waste, unconscious. But mainly, it just is amazing to explore and manipulate a world that is entirely the simulation of the mind. There is nothing like it.

I have had 16 lucid dreams so far. The first 3 I got with experimenting with MILD when getting myself woken up by alarm, and the 13 since then have all been DILDs from doing SSILD cycles (and, often, a MILD mantra) when woken up by alarm during the night. I have lately been experimenting with DEILD and/or a quick WILD when very sleepy during the night, I just started this so no success, yet.

What I struggle with and have tried to fix:
-Length: I have not had any lucid dreams longer than 5 minutes; most are a lot shorter. I rub my hands together intermittently when I remember, but this doesn't always work. I have thought of continuously feeling the dream environment nonstop, but have not tested this yet.
-Impulsiveness/failure to remember goals: Often when I get lucid, I get distracted by the scenery or dream characters and fail to even do basic stabilizing. I end up running around and forgetting most of my goals, which typically results in a very short dream. Even if I do stabilize, I often forget my goals.
-Noticing details/recall: Not really a big deal, but all of my lucid dreams seem very immersive and real, but when I wake up, I find I cannot remember a lot of the details unless I specifically noted in my mind what I saw. My idea to fix this was to go slowly and mentally take note of more things in each place, but I often am too impulsive and forget to do this.
-Control: I really haven't tried much in the way of dream control, so I don't know how it goes for me. Generally my approach has been to examine and interact with what is already there, or to explore around. I did successfully summon my cellphone once however (by looking around where it would be in real life). I would like to get better at dream control however.

I believe that is everything I was supposed to put in the intro to my workbook. If you have any questions feel free to ask! I look forward to the class.