New to All of this...

Hey everyone,
new guy here. I'd never heard of lucid dreaming until a couple weeks ago. Funny thing is that i was watching American Dad (yes the cartoon) and one of the characters was having lucid dreams. i wondered if that was a real thing so i searched on the internet and sure enough it is!!! Ever since i've been kind of obsessed with it, been reading and researching for several hours every day, doing reality checks, writing a dream journal, etc etc. Before i started in lucid dreaming, i could never remember any of my dreams, maybe 1 every 6 months, but for the last week or so i can usually remember one every night, so i guess thats an improvement on its own. However i read that there is usually a common or re-occuring theme in peoples dreams. i've gone over and over my dream journal and i cant figure out what that could be. i have a pretty wild imagination. Cant wait to have my first LD!!!!

One dream per night coming from 0 is a great start :D As far as Dream Signs (DSs), a lot of people have them but not all. I can't seem to find anything other than often finding myself in wide-open spaces, but that's not easy to get myself trained to think about. Give yourself some time and keep looking back and you might be surprised what you find. If you want some help and you're posting your DJ (Dream Journal) here at DV, pop over to the Dream Signs and Recall forum and see if there's someone who might help you out. I'm not guaranteeing you'll have someone read through your entire journal all at once, but it can sometimes help getting someone else's point of view.

If you have more questions, feel free to browse around or if you don't find anything just post your questions and we'll try to help. If you get stuck on something, let any of us Dream Guides know and we'll try our best to point you in the right direction.

Well, I hope you enjoy the ride! Best of luck and I wish you sweet lucid dreams very soon :)
-Amé

Congrats on getting the dream recall up! I'm new here as well. I wouldn't worry about the dreamsigns too much though, you'll probably recognize at least one eventually as you're recording your dreams. I couldn't think of any dreamsigns at first for the longest time, but then, after a certain dream I remembered that I've had many dreams with underground parkades.. Remember you can think back to dreams that you've had before. I'm sure something will come.

And yes my biggest dream sign is a parking lot :cheeky:

Welcome to DreamViews :)

I too have had trouble finding my dream sign. I would go over my journal a couple of times, but found really nothing common other than the occasional metal gear solid dream or zombie nightmare. I just ended up making my dream sign some kind of mechanical failure (my truck not starting, etc) and just anything out of the ordinary. If you can't find a dream sign, then I'd recommend practicing looking out for things that don't seem normal since dreams usually have weird content.

The thing about dream signs? There are a lot of them; it's not just one overarching theme (usually). For example, one of my dream signs is being attacked by something, and fighting back and/or running away. Since I don't generally have people try to kill me IRL, I can recognize the situation as a dream and deal with it accordingly. Another dream sign is when people are really bad at driving. Instead freaking out because we're going to die, I can step back and assess the situation more calmly.

Dream signs are just repeated elements in dreams that you can keep track of and recognize when they happen. You're not going to get the same dream sign every night (probably).

Great job with improving your recall. I hope you stick around! :)

Thanks for the input everyone, unfortunetly its been a couple nights since i've remembered a dream. kinda frustrated by it. i have been reading this forum for at least an hour before i go to sleep hoping it will put me in "dream mode" it has been working great up till the last couple nights. i wonder why? once you begin on this lucid dream journey, is it common to go days or even weeks without remembering dreams??

Yeah, in fact this happened to me just a few days. ago. I started off really well, remembering lots of dreams. Than just like that nothing for a few days and then a day with a spotty (at best) fragment of a dream. Luckily I decided that it was probably just a dry spell (I've heard that these things happen) and kept going.. Then one night, actually on the morning of the 4th of July (not really relevant since I'm Canadian but whatever :lol:) I had two massive dreams and filled probably around 7-10 pages in my dream log. I've never had such long vivid dreams. Just keep going, I'm sure everyone has their dry spells.

I know that one of my dream signs is slow-mo running. Although I haven't had a lucid dream yet, I know from past dreams that when I'm being chased, I try to run. But I can't. It's like trying to move through Jello (yum).

Try not to get stressed out by the lack of recall. Just do what you can each night and morning and see what happens :) If you to to sleep stressed out, you're almost guaranteed to kill your recall, so just hope for the best and try your hardest to remember something in the morning.

Try laying still in bed right after waking up. Then try to recall anything at all: a color, a shape, a person, a place, something someone said, etc. You'll likely find that you'll recall more if you can remember one or two details. Be sure to write down what you recall, though!

I recalled one of my dreams in an unusual way (at least it's unusual for me). After waking up in the morning and recalling one short dream, I went back to sleep. During that 20-30 minutes, I think I had a big dream, but since it was only a third of a dream cycle, I believe that something triggered the memory while I was asleep. Therefore, when I woke up, I was like, "Wow! I remembered another dream!" :banana:

I made up for my few days of no dream recall last night. i had three dreams last night that i remembered quite well. thats a new record for me!! i wrote them down in my dream journal as soon as i woke up from the dream. in all my dreams last night, i seem to run into childhood friends. after i woke up from my second dream i kept repeating to myself, if i see a childhood friend do a reality check over and over again. I fell back asleep and sure enough, there was a childhood friend, however it didnt click, i didnt do a RC. So still no Lucid dream for me, but i think im getting closer.
i seem to wake up quite often throughout the night, i'd say as much as 10 times, i roll around for a bit then fall back asleep. does anyone else do that?

I wake up in the middle of the night sometimes, but never that often! Hmm... if you sleep within about ten feet of some constantly running electronic device (such as a digital clock), move it away. You may wake up less often. I heard a story about a woman who couldn't sleep at night. She was told by one business to stop sleeping in her regular room because it happened to be near the house's power box. The next night, she got about 9 hours of sleep! Try that, tell me if it helps.

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Originally Posted by Cguy

i seem to wake up quite often throughout the night, i'd say as much as 10 times, i roll around for a bit then fall back asleep. does anyone else do that?

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That often? No, but I do wake up naturally a few times during the night. Usually that's because we complete a full sleep cycle (nREM-REM) and often we "wake up" just a little, though in the early hours of sleep, we don't usually remember it or we just roll over without thinking about it. I go through nights on the rare occasion where I'll wake up every hour (I hate those nights), but that doesn't happen very often and usually if I've done something like drink far too much caffeine the night before or am really stressed or something.

But to answer your questions, it's pretty normal. Kind of strange to hear you wake up that many times, but still. :)

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Originally Posted by Amethyst Star

I go through nights on the rare occasion where I'll wake up every hour (I hate those nights)

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Oh my god I hate that so much. I think when it happens to me, it's probably from watching too much t.v. before bed.

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Originally Posted by TheOneirologist

I wake up in the middle of the night sometimes, but never that often! Hmm... if you sleep within about ten feet of some constantly running electronic device (such as a digital clock), move it away. You may wake up less often. I heard a story about a woman who couldn't sleep at night. She was told by one business to stop sleeping in her regular room because it happened to be near the house's power box. The next night, she got about 9 hours of sleep! Try that, tell me if it helps.

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Hmm i've never heard of that before. i do have 2 digital clocks in my room. i also always sleep with a fan on in the room to provide some "white noise" to drown out outdoor noises such as birds, cars, kids, etc etc... maybe i'll try unplugging everything and give it a shot. Did you hear how the electronic devices were keeping the woman awake, what was it about the electronics that kept her from sleeping??

As far as not sleeping through the night and waking up multiple times ive never really gave it much thought before, i just assumed it was normal and everyone was the same. I cant ever remember sleeping through an entire night and not waking up? The only reason it even crossed my mind was that i was curious how some people have had these really extended lucid dreams. I guess if i wake so often (at least once an hour) i wont be able to experience a long LD!!!!!!!

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Originally Posted by Cguy

I cant ever remember sleeping through an entire night and not waking up? The only reason it even crossed my mind was that i was curious how some people have had these really extended lucid dreams. I guess if i wake so often (at least once an hour) i wont be able to experience a long LD!!!!!!!

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That may be true, but always expect the best! Expect to have epic lucid dreams every night!

As for your question, I read the story in a success story book of some reaaally strange company. They're all about "energy flow" and stuff like that. I'm extremely skeptical, but they have a ton of letters written to them thanking them. I also had a woman come up to me and tell me firsthand that their treatments work. It's your choice whether or not to try it. And you don't have to unplug everything. Just keep the consistently running electronics (not like lights and things that are turned off when you sleep) ten or more feet away when you're sleeping. It doesn't matter when you're awake.

I usually keep a fan running during the night, mostly for the white noise (and to help drown out other noise in the house at times) and in the summer months to keep the room a bit cooler. I haven't had a problem with it and find that if I go without a fan after using one for some time, it can get difficult to sleep sometimes. It just depends. I don't know how I feel about all the claims of electricity affecting people, but I do believe that all of the energy used around us can influence our bodies to some extent. I don't know how much (probably not to a huge extent), but I wonder how my life would be different if I didn't live near power lines all the time.

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Originally Posted by Cguy

The only reason it even crossed my mind was that i was curious how some people have had these really extended lucid dreams. I guess if i wake so often (at least once an hour) i wont be able to experience a long LD!!!!!!!

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Not necessarily. Have you ever fallen asleep, had a good long dream, awoken, and then found that only a few minutes had passed? That's happened to me a number of times (usually when I sleep in in the morning) as well as to other people. Time doesn't match up 100% in dreams, so you could have a long dream even if you do wake up a number of times during the night.

If you want to try and alter your sleep schedule, you could try setting your alarm clock to wake you up perhaps only four or five times during the night. I'm assuming that if you get used to waking up at specific times, you train your body when to sleep and when to wake up, especially if you have a steady sleep schedule (sleeping and waking around the same times each night on a regular basis). If you want, you can try it, but only if you feel the need to change your sleep schedule.

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Originally Posted by Amethyst Star

I usually keep a fan running during the night, mostly for the white noise (and to help drown out other noise in the house at times) and in the summer months to keep the room a bit cooler. I haven't had a problem with it and find that if I go without a fan after using one for some time, it can get difficult to sleep sometimes. It just depends. I don't know how I feel about all the claims of electricity affecting people, but I do believe that all of the energy used around us can influence our bodies to some extent. I don't know how much (probably not to a huge extent), but I wonder how my life would be different if I didn't live near power lines all the time.

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Well I'm not sure how true it is, but I was watching it on the news the other day and this apparent sleep specialist said that being around things such as your computer, t.v., etc while it's turned on at night can affect you because of the light that comes from it. I guess that would make some sense because it can be difficult to get sleep when the sun is out and shining, but the sun and your computer are 2 different things. What type of light that keeps you up, I'm unsure.

I don't know, now I'm losing myself.

I also run a fan constantly when i sleep. i find if i'm visiting family, or staying in a hotel, if i dont have a fan in the room i cant sleep. Its too quite. The only light in my room at night would be the light coming from my digital clock, but it kinda sits on a shelf behind me, it doesnt effect me at all. As far as waking up on a "schedule" it doesnt happen for me. its all over the place. sometimes i'll wake up after 20min, then fall back asleep for an hour, then wake back up 35 min later then back to sleep for an 1h20m its really crazy....

Yeah, I cannot sleep without my fan on, period. It's too quiet where I'm at. Besides that, the only other things I keep on is my digital clock of course, and sometimes my fish-tank light. I honestly use it as kind of a night-light :lol: Sometimes, I'll also crack my blinds to let the moon shine in as a night-light.

Huh. I only need my fan to sleep when I feel really hot. When I'm hot, I tend to not stay in one position, and therefore not fall asleep.