Thread: oneiroer's workbook

I'm proud to announce that I have an actual dream written in my dream journal. I think I did a wake back to bed because I got up really early this morning stayed up for a while and went back to sleep. Then I woke up from a pretty cool dream. In it I seemed to be watching a fantasy movie kinda like a cartoon... In the movie something was going wrong and then all of a sudden a lady with long hair was putting on a lot of make up (she looked like she was cartoon) then I was all of a sudden in a movie theater and my girlfriend was next to me and I kissed my girlfriend. I'm pretty happy I finally had a dream. It's been a while since I've had one. I woke up after the kiss.

Very nice, oneiroer! As a bonus, it sounds like a rather nice dream, too. Sitting with your girlfriend and watching an animated movie created entirely by your dreaming mind -- sounds like a great way to spend a morning of dreaming.

Pat yourself on the back and keep building on this success! You are having dreams like this every single night and morning (mostly morning!) Now it's just a matter of practicing your skill at recalling them and bringing them back to you. Just keep up your practices, keep up your journaling, and keep working hard, and you will improve even more. I was a zero recaller once, so I know how much improvement is possible!

Congratulations!

Remembered another dream this morning. I imagine with a lot of practice, I could probably remember a lot of dreams and LDs!...

Edit: Thanks CanisLucidus!

Edit again...: I'm not liking being woken up sometimes when I'm trying to remember a dream. I get kinda mad at the people who wake me up who are near me wherever.

Originally Posted by oneiroer

Remembered another dream this morning. I imagine with a lot of practice, I could probably remember a lot of dreams and LDs!...

Yes, you definitely can! It's just like any other skill -- you learn best by doing and performing focused, diligent practice. Nice work!

Originally Posted by oneiroer

Edit again...: I'm not liking being woken up sometimes when I'm trying to remember a dream. I get kinda mad at the people who wake me up who are near me wherever.

Oh no!! What's your living situation like that you wind up getting awoken prematurely? Is there anything practical you can do to avoid these interruptions?

I sympathize. When I wake up to one of the kids crying in the middle of the night or one of the dogs going nuts, I usually lose some dreams unless they were very vivid and firmly in hand.

Until you can change the situation in some way, just do your best not to get frustrated. The additional frustration will distract you even more from recall, so just do the best you can there. I offer this advice even though I get super annoyed if the dogs start going nuts in the middle of the night for no reason. But I know how I should be trying to handle it, I guess, heh heh...

Originally Posted by CanisLucidus

Yes, you definitely can! It's just like any other skill -- you learn best by doing and performing focused, diligent practice. Nice work!



Oh no!! What's your living situation like that you wind up getting awoken prematurely? Is there anything practical you can do to avoid these interruptions?

I sympathize. When I wake up to one of the kids crying in the middle of the night or one of the dogs going nuts, I usually lose some dreams unless they were very vivid and firmly in hand.

Until you can change the situation in some way, just do your best not to get frustrated. The additional frustration will distract you even more from recall, so just do the best you can there. I offer this advice even though I get super annoyed if the dogs start going nuts in the middle of the night for no reason. But I know how I should be trying to handle it, I guess, heh heh...

Cool! Thanks!
I live in an apartment but sometimes my girlfriend stays the night and I got distracted. She wanted attention but I was waking up from a dream I think I guess I shouldn't get mad at her and shouldn't try to remember dreams when she is over unless the dream memory is strong. I also stay the night at a friend's and my friends woke me up in the middle of the night. Usually I don't get woken up at friend's places but it happened recently.
Thanks for the advice!

I just got up from a nap and had an exciting lucid dream to me at least. In the dream I was on the freeway laying down in a car but kinda like I was driving it. Then I looked out the window at the sky and saw large city buildings in the sky, like the top of the buildings were facing me. Then I decided to try taking off like the car was an airplane. But then I woke up. I was amazed at the sight. I wonder how long I can lucid dream when I do it. Probably an hour at most I think I've read? I'm going to post this dream in my dream journal here. I think it was stormy weather too in the dream.

Originally Posted by oneiroer

Cool! Thanks!
I live in an apartment but sometimes my girlfriend stays the night and I got distracted. She wanted attention but I was waking up from a dream I think I guess I shouldn't get mad at her and shouldn't try to remember dreams when she is over unless the dream memory is strong. I also stay the night at a friend's and my friends woke me up in the middle of the night. Usually I don't get woken up at friend's places but it happened recently.
Thanks for the advice!

Ahh! Well, if the waking is in the middle of the night, try to think of it as an opportunity for a "Wake Back to Bed" (WBTB). Just wake up for a bit, try to stay relaxed, enjoy the company of your friends or girlfriend, and think about lucid dreaming as much as you can. I get my best recall after a WBTB and by far my best chances for lucidity after one. So just make the most that you can out of the situation dream-wise!

Originally Posted by oneiroer

I just got up from a nap and had an exciting lucid dream to me at least. In the dream I was on the freeway laying down in a car but kinda like I was driving it. Then I looked out the window at the sky and saw large city buildings in the sky, like the top of the buildings were facing me. Then I decided to try taking off like the car was an airplane. But then I woke up. I was amazed at the sight. I wonder how long I can lucid dream when I do it. Probably an hour at most I think I've read? I'm going to post this dream in my dream journal here. I think it was stormy weather too in the dream.

Awesome!! Congratulations on the LD! Sounds like a great one. I will be sure to check it out in your DJ.

As for how long a lucid dream can last, what probably matters most is how long they can seem to last. I don't have a great answer for you on the upper limit, but in my highest level LD ever, I had a moment toward the end of the dream where I tried to assess how long I had been dreaming. At the time, my best guess was that the experience felt like it had lasted about 90 minutes at that point. Others have reported experiences that feel much, much longer.

The best way to find your personal limits is to have lots and lots of LDs. Looks like you're on your way!

I seem to dream about zombies quite a bit. I recently dreamed about zombies and this was the second time since joining I dreamed about them. Should this be a reality check, like every time I mention zombies or someone else mentions them should I say 'am I dreaming?' to myself?

I just got up from a lucid dream. I went to bed early tonight so I'm hoping for more tonight. In the dream I was in a house and was trying to escape. I think my mom might have been there and I think she called my grandma... Kinda weird lucid but I'm glad I had another one during the night. What I did differently tonight was listened to Erick Brown's Instant Relaxation Hypnosis ocean track. It got me tired. This is the second time using a hypnosis track that got me lucid (edit: or at least helped). I'm gonna try a WBTB next.

Hell yeah! Keep the LD's rolling!

As far as the Zombie Reality check goes...Its kinda tough. An ideal reality check is something prominent in both dreaming AND waking life. Zombies aren't something you regularly encounter out and about in the world.

However, if you watch a lot of zombie movies, or its also brought up in conversations, then definitely use it as a dream sign. Practice by watching some zombie movies every now and then, and trying to be aware of it, do a few RCs throughout the movie.

Thanks a lot Alucinor XIII!
I'll try what you said about watching some zombie movies and doing a few RCs.

I'm starting to read Stephan LaBerge's Exploring the world of lucid dreaming again. I'm trying his method of going to bed at midnight, getting up at 4am then going back to sleep at 6am until 8am. I'm at the waken up stage at 4am waiting to go back to bed. That's a WBTB right? Anyway, I remembered a dream when I woke up. It took a little while for me to remember a scene though. I'm happy I'm remembering dreams more now.

I've updated and switched around my goals.

Cool. LaBerge's book is still one of the very best.

And yes! What you're describing is indeed a WBTB. It's actually a very long one. Paigeyemps and OpheliaBlue have great success with this style of very long WBTB. If my schedule allowed for it, I would certainly give this approach a try as well.

How have you liked it so far? Has it been a pretty easy pattern to settle into? And when you return to sleep at the end of your WBTB, are you employing an induction technique like MILD?

Originally Posted by CanisLucidus

How have you liked it so far? Has it been a pretty easy pattern to settle into? And when you return to sleep at the end of your WBTB, are you employing an induction technique like MILD?

I don't like the staying up for 2 hours very much but I guess I'm going to have to if I want to WILD someday huh.

Originally Posted by oneiroer

I don't like the staying up for 2 hours very much but I guess I'm going to have to if I want to WILD someday huh.

You never know! Some people have success with a very short WBTB of only a few minutes. I find that about 30 minutes is perfect for me. And although I primarily MILD, I perform WILDs with the same 30-minute or so WBTB.

The moral of the story, I think, is that you'll want to experiment with as many lengths as you're comfortable trying. My main recommendation is to keep good records of your attempts! That'll really help you judge what the right interval is for you. IMO Nothing beats good record-keeping when it comes to making this decision!

Ok thank you CanisLucidus!

I've been remembering dreams more and more but they have been pretty boring lately. I think I'm going to start telling myself to remember or have interesting dreams like it suggests to do in exploring the world of lucid dreaming...Like the most recent dream I had this morning I think I was in high school again and I was sitting at a table outside and a friend of mine gave another friend of mine some pizza... ok...

Yeah, telling yourself what you want to dream can have a really profound effect. I've been annoyed lately that I hadn't tried another TOTM since 2 weeks ago or so. So last night as I was going to sleep, I made myself imagine the basic task ii (asking a DC if they want 1 wish granted) and it worked. I think I also told myself after my first alarm as well. So that's another time you could tell yourself to have more interesting dreams, during your WBTB if you do them. My guess is that your brain is more susceptible to ideas in those in-between stages.

Cool! Thanks very much OpheliaBlue!
Edit: I'll try that tonight in my WBTB attempt. I don't do them too often as I don't like the staying up part but I'll give it a shot.

Originally Posted by oneiroer

Cool! Thanks very much OpheliaBlue!
Edit: I'll try that tonight in my WBTB attempt. I don't do them too often as I don't like the staying up part but I'll give it a shot.

I'll be honest with you, I don't always stay up that much when I WBTB. Because all I want is my pillow. I find though that my lucid successes more than double if I AT LEAST wake up, go to the bathroom, get a quick drink of water, go back to bed, and quickly run through my goals. So good luck, I hope this helps!

That sounds like a good idea. Thanks again!

Can dream memories be real memories? I had a conversation with my mom about a dream I had where my grandma was mad at me and she was really mad at me in the past.

Edit: I guess I was dreaming about when my grandma was mad at me. But her anger seemed intensified.

Originally Posted by oneiroer

Can dream memories be real memories? I had a conversation with my mom about a dream I had where my grandma was mad at me and she was really mad at me in the past.

Edit: I guess I was dreaming about when my grandma was mad at me. But her anger seemed intensified.

Yeah, I think that dreams borrow from anything that we experience in waking life from any period of time. These things are often changed, remixed, intensified, toned down, or otherwise modified, but sometimes memories come out relatively unchanged.

Having said that, some dreams feel like very real versions of past events, but often are not. Several months ago, I had a dream of my grandfather that was very much like how he would have acted and included an idealized version of an experience I wish I'd have had before he passed away, but none of it had actually happened.