Kaolc
Lucid Dreamer

Alarm after: 4:45
Brief description: Took a while to fall asleep, probably 30 minutes, so I know for a fact that the time wasn't ideal. Woke up when my alarm rang, did a very short WBTB, and managed to stay focused, in part because I had laid out the exact steps to follow in bed the night before.. So I grabbed my milk cap, laid down comfortably and focused on the feeling of it in my hand. I think I hit a decent balance between zero focus and too much focus, and eventually I fell asleep while focusing on the cap-feeling. From then on I remember nothing, but then I woke up again lying still, the cap in my hand, so I repeated the same thing again and fell asleep with the cap-feeling again for the second time. I'm not sure what this means... Did I fall asleep the first time, but stayed mentally awake, and so when there was no dream to enter (alarm timing wrong, I guess?) I woke up again to repeat the scenario? Or maybe I fell completely asleep and woke up naturally after a longer time, but remembered to try WILDing again? Who knows. I should have looked at my clock the second time. Another thing I noticed is that I forgot completely about lying still. I didn't fight the urge to move at all, so that's definitely something to fix tomorrow. 4:45 made it easy for me to focus, and also easy to fall asleep, so that's a time I will continue using for as long as I'm well rested. When I lack sleep, 6:15 will probably be optimal. One more thing I really noticed is the fact that I don't keep a real dream journal. Maybe I've been having successful WILDs and simply forgot about them, who knows? I will start keeping one on the morrow.

To sum up:

• Need to fight the urge to move more
• Physical anchors seem to work well
• I need to keep a real DJ for better recall
• Alarm at 4:45 works fine when I'm well-rested

Alarm after: 6:10
Brief description: Tried my physical anchor, the milk bottle cap, in lack of a better item. Held it in my hand and focused on the feeling of it. It felt like it worked out alright, I could focus on the feeling and still imagine things at the same time, so it should be possible to fall asleep with it. However, I didn't fall asleep in about 10 minutes of focusing on the feeling, and I ended up focusing less and just fell asleep normally.
Why it failed/succeeded: I really need to find that balance between full focus and no focus on my anchor. I think that's the next hurdle I need to overcome to make real progress.

Maybe I should try another time. I know for a fact that I hit REM with 6:15 because I wake up directly from a dream with that alarm. However, it seems like I'm not really tired enough to just fall back asleep with focus on my anchor. Maybe 4:30 would work out better for me, since I am getting so much sleep these days due to it being holiday. I'm trying the hold-stuff-in-my-hand anchor for another two days at least, since it seems to have potential. I think I'll try 4:45ish tonight.

Alarm after: 6:15
Brief description: Third and final try with mantra. Couldn't fall asleep properly with it, as usual. Ended up giving up, I think? And fell back asleep.
Why it failed/succeeded: Mantra as anchor isn't working well for me.

I'm going to try three more nights with a new anchor. This time I'm going to do something physical instead of a mental one. A cap from my milk bottle, in lack of better item as I'm in my summer house.

Alarm after: ??

Brief description: Woke up after two hours for some odd reason. That usually never happens. Went to the bathroom and got water, and then I did my mantra and managed to fall asleep with it. But I guess I must have lost focus too much because it was so early, and so I just fell to sleep normally. Then I woke after 4:30 and repeated my bathroom routine, drank water, but then I wasn't thinking clearly and just fell asleep. Alarm rang after 6:10 when I did exactly the same, but felt really tired and fell asleep without trying once again. So all in all, lots of opportunities this night, but I didn't really use them..
Why it failed/succeeded: WBTBs were too short, couldn't think clearly and just fell asleep several times. The whole night was just messed up compared to normal...

Alarm after: 6:15

Brief description: Woke up, did a 4 minute WBTB. Counted down from 100 to 0 to clear out my mind a bit. Tried my mantra, "full control," as anchor. I just repeated it and tried to make it an auxiliary process. I managed to not drift off with it, which was great. After a while I had managed to make it a secondary process that ran every 5-10 seconds, saying "full control" to myself while I was still able to daydream and such to fall asleep. Unfortunately, I never fell asleep. My second alarm rang as I was still awake, after 40 minutes of me lying there trying to fall asleep. Mantra seems to work out great so far.

Why it failed/succeeded: I could use more practice at using mantras. Maybe 6:15 was too long, so I wasn't tired enough. Maybe 4 minutes WBTB was too long (I stayed up for a few minutes after my bathroom+water, just to get back to thinking logically). Maybe counting down from 100 wasn't a good idea as it made me too awake(?).

Even if I had no success, at least it's something new. And it felt like progress. With my number counting, I couldn't even manage to daydream while doing it as it took up all my concentration. No way I was falling asleep with that. Tonight I'm trying the same thing, though my WBTB won't be as long, and I won't count down from 100.