Thread: A suggestion for a new way to remember pre-made plans, once lucid

Most of us have probably experienced a particular type of failure many times: forgetting to carry out, during a lucid dream, a plan that was made while awake.

An idea just occurred to me, of a way to remember the plan:

• First, before falling asleep at night, state out loud your plan. Make this statement clear - possibly using verbal "bullet points", or numbers.
• Second, once lucid, ask of the dream - clearly and loud - that your most recent plan be read emphatically back to you.

My hypothesis is that the plan will actually be sounding to you in the dream after that request, at which point you will then have been reminded of your plan, which should make it much easier to carry it out.

It is, however, at present an hypothesis, because I have not yet had a chance to even test it.

^^ I think the "stating out loud" bit above is worth repeating.

There's something special about vocalizing your intentions. So, even if it feels a little silly to rectite a synopsis of your lucid plan out loud, it might be worth the effort, and worth swallowing your pride and listening to yourself talk for a few seconds, to verbally present a few bullet points about your plans.

Though lucidly asking or demanding during the dream for a reminder of your goals seems a good idea, here it becomes problematic. Why? Because if you're not truly self-aware in the dream, then your request might morph into a non-lucid content engine that offers up just what you're looking for. So you run the risk f asking your unconscious mind for support, and then getting it -- in the form of a non-lucid dream that might even seem lucid at first glance.

Originally Posted by Sageous

... Because if you're not truly self-aware in the dream, then your request might morph into a non-lucid content engine that offers up just what you're looking for. So you run the risk f asking your unconscious mind for support, and then getting it -- in the form of a non-lucid dream that might even seem lucid at first glance.

I suppose that could happen, if the degree of lucidity is low at the asking of the question.

But - might that not be used to generate a pre-planned non-lucid dream? This could also be desirable. This would probably work best, if the plan doesn't involve a lot of thoughtful action on the part of the dreamer.

As a matter of fact, it seems to me (but I'm guessing here, since my experience is still rather limited), that a plan involving several distinct actions of thought, and choice, would be difficult to carry out non-lucidly, and therefore that this type of plan would promote lucidity, once it was "read back" to the dreamer.

Originally Posted by Voldmer

I suppose that could happen, if the degree of lucidity is low at the asking of the question.

Yes, I was assuming low-level lucidity. If your self-awareness is high, you likely would not need to do this exercise, because you will have the capacity on-hand to remember your plan.

But - might that not be used to generate a pre-planned non-lucid dream? This could also be desirable. This would probably work best, if the plan doesn't involve a lot of thoughtful action on the part of the dreamer.

Sure; that even sounds like an interesting thing to try!

As a matter of fact, it seems to me (but I'm guessing here, since my experience is still rather limited), that a plan involving several distinct actions of thought, and choice, would be difficult to carry out non-lucidly, and therefore that this type of plan would promote lucidity, once it was "read back" to the dreamer.

I think that if you lay the plan well, your unconscious could certainly supply several distinct actions of thought, and even supply the impression that you are making choices. Don't underestimate the power of your dreaming mind! Also, don't underestimate the power of your dreaming mind to prompt your DC "You" to believe that you're lucid after the read-back.

That said:

I do think that, if you've got some self-awareness and expectation with you in the dream, this exercise ought to work, not so much because it reminds you of your plan (which it would), but because that reminder will likely increase your lucidity, and as an added bonus the dream schema might tend to "line up" with that awareness and expectation, making your connection to the dream even stronger. Oh, and of course this exercise might serve to wake up that elusive third leg of lucidity, memory, so that makes it even more worthwhile.

So I guess it's a good idea, if you built up firm expectations of the plan and its being read back before sleep, and if you are definitely lucid when you ask the dream for the read back. Both these components seem to be included in your OP, so I guess you're already aware of these things, too.

I have one more odd suggestion, though: When you test this (and I think you should), be patient when you get your read back. I would bet that it won't be exactly what you expect to hear on the first go-around, though eventually the read back will match your instructions, and do its thing. So give your dreaming mind a couple of chances to get it right (that will only help your lucidity anyway).

This is a good idea, Voldmer; it's a little disappointing that you didn't get more reaction to it.

Originally Posted by Sageous

I have one more odd suggestion, though: When you test this (and I think you should), be patient when you get your read back. I would bet that it won't be exactly what you expect to hear on the first go-around, though eventually the read back will match your instructions, and do its thing. So give your dreaming mind a couple of chances to get it right (that will only help your lucidity anyway).

That seems very reasonable; Rome wasn't built in a day, and I would personally expect glitches to occur in the beginning. But, if it were possible to get to a level, where you simply take it for granted that your plan will be read back to you during the night - and it then (therefore) is ... Then this approach might be really useful.

Well, now for that next (elusive) lucid dream, so the beatiful theory may be tested ...