Hello from Psychosanity

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to introduce myself. I am just starting the process of learning to lucid dream, and am glad I found this site. It seems like a great, comprehensive site from which to learn to do this. Thanks, Rebecca!

I have had a few lucid dreams when I was younger, but never intentionally. Usually they were very short, as I'd get so excited to realize I was dreaming that I would wake up pretty quick. Once, and only once, I stayed lucid long enough to attempt to exert some control (I think I tried to manifest some objects) but without success, and waking shortly afterwards. Again, this was long ago, and I had only a cursory knowledge of lucid dreaming then...

I have now committed myself to becoming good at this, so here we go...

Since starting (only a few days ago), I was not even remembering any dreams (A little disappointing). Last nite, I finally remembered one or two! (Not sure if it was one dream that changed midway, or two separate ones...) I jumped up and wrote down everything I could remember. Very strange, it was...but aren't they all?

Unfortunately, strange as it was...I never realized I was dreaming. I have only been doing my waking reality checks for a day or two, and not very regularly, I must admit. I still need to make that a stronger habit.

Anyway, that's my story so far. I am excited about the next few days and weeks, and can't wait to have my first one. I'm reasonably sure that I will get excited about it and wake up, but it will be a start. Thanks for having me!

@Rebecca: I'm sure you're tired of hearing this, but I can't help myself: I looked at your "About the Author" page, and...WOW you're beautiful!!!! Thanks for the great site!

Got some advice. If your having a hard time remembering to do reality checks, write a R or a C or something on the back of your hands, and every time you see it, do a reality check. This will help make it become habit.

Well, last night was disappointing. Don't remember any dreams (again). This is going to be my biggest hurdle, I think, just remembering any dreams at all. Woke up frustrated and annoyed because there was nothing.

@Bleekman: Thx for the advice. I do a dozen or so reality checks a day, no problem remembering this. I am very focused on this, and since I'm unemployed right now, I am able to think about this and lucid dreaming in general pretty much all day long. This should help. It's on my mind continuously.

Anyone here overcome a strong tendency to not remember any dreams at all? How did you do it?

For the last 10 years or so (before dedicating myself to this a few days ago), I'd say I was lucky if I remembered 1 dream a month. Very lucky.

Keeping the frustration about it at bay will probably be my second biggest problem. :roll:

Hello! Welcome! (so I'm not the only one who thinks Rebecca is kinda hot....) :oops: :lol:

Psychosanity wrote: (Not sure if it was one dream that changed midway, or two separate ones...)

It's good you notice that. Sometimes in my dream journal I have several dreams that are back to back, but I am not sure how one ended and the other began and conclude that it must have became the next dream and make note of that.

A good way to remember your dreams is to stay perfectly still in bed after you wake up. In fact, don't even open your eyes or if you did, close them and go back to the same position you were. Try not to remember the whole night of dreams right away, just try to remember what you were doing or where you were just a moment ago. If you can, then think, how did I get there? Try to put all the pieces together working backward. It usually comes flooding back and of course it is something that should be practiced regularly. It may take a little while to start remembering your dreams again. Only after you have consciously remembered it can you now write it down in note form on a piece of paper and then if you wish in full paragraphs on a computer.

That's my technique, but even I don't remember all dreams or sometimes in only vague detail.

Plan to stay in bed for a while after waking up. Some people wake up and get up right away and I think that is the main culprit for not remembering dreams for most people in this fast paced world.

Took a nap today, and Bingo! Finally remembered some dream. Besides writing it down in my journal, is there anything else I can do to kinda positively reinforce this recall? Reward my subconscious in some way for remembering, so it will be more prone to do it more often? Sounds odd, I know...I'm still half asleep. :P

Psychosanity wrote: is there anything else I can do to kinda positively reinforce this recall? Reward my subconscious in some way for remembering

Sounds like you already have by congratulating yourself and feeling good about it.

My efforts to improve my dream recall are really paying off! Last night I remembered not one, not two, but THREE dreams. This is unprecedented!

So...in approximately 1 week, I have gone from remembering maybe 1 dream a year (at best) to having remembered about 5 this week. I was confident I would improve, but never would I have thought it would be this quick and drastic!

None of these were lucid, mind you. I just never seem to realize I'm dreaming, no matter how crazy the dream. It never occurs to me to do a reality check while in the dream, but I know eventually I will. I keep doing them all day long.

Thanks all for your advice, it's really working out great! I think I'll be lucid dreaming in no time.

I'd say you will probably have your first lucid dream within a month. Just remember not to get discouraged when you don't remember to do a RC in a dream. It's not you forgetting to, its just that its a new habit that you have to ingrain into your subconscious and, you will find this out once you have a lucid dream or two, your subconscious can sometimes be a stubborn asshole. :)

Bleekman117 wrote: your subconscious can sometimes be a stubborn asshole. :)

HAHA! Tell me about it! I guess it's a lot like my waking conscious in that regard. :lol: Thanks for the encouraging thoughts.

I'm going to keep using this thread for comments/questions about my own dream recall learning experience...

So, last three nights have been a bit of a setback. Still doing my routine, except I must admit that my reality checks are getting kinda sporadic. I go for many hours with out thinking of doing one. I have to work on that...

For the last three nights, I have only remembered very tiny snatches of dream. Still shots, maybe a setting or a thought, a general idea of a theme...

While I do roll these images around in my head for awhile, and solidify them as much as I can in my mind before I get my head all full of daily junk, I have NOT been writing anything down for these. Seems pointless to write anything for these tiny bits of dream. Laziness for the most part, I guess...

Should I make sure to write down even these 1 or 2 sentences?

Also, any advice on remembering that first-thing-upon-waking reality check? I rarely seem to remember that one either...even though I am laying there trying to remember my dreams, and thinking, "Aw, no lucidity" or something (Its on my mind), the reality check never seems to come to mind!! That is a little baffling. I don't seem to remember the concept of reality checking until I am more awake.

Psychosanity wrote: Should I make sure to write down even these 1 or 2 sentences?

Nevermind, my subconscious answered this for me without me even having to be asleep. ;)

Written! (damn, I'm lazy)

Some of my short dreams aren't worth reporting. And I use to have a dream journal but am too lazy now. It would take 2 hours sometimes to write down all my dreams.

And sometimes I don't remember a dream, but can remember the FEEL of it or the TONE and that's about it. I think I said this before, but I think that dreams are a lot more about feelings than about visuals or sounds. Only the last dreams we have in the sleep cycle tend to be more vivid and, for me, those are the lucid ones whenever it happens.

Well, it seems like my dream recall is deteriorating again. Would you guys say this is typical? To take a few steps back from time to time on my journey forward?

Yes, you should write down anything you can remember from your dreams. Some nights I will only remember one thing from a dream. It may not even be a full sentence, but you should strive to write something down every night. It doesn't matter how much it is, as long as it is something. Since you should be trying to write down something in your dream journal every morning, I would suggest putting something on the cover of it that reminds you to do a reality check when you go to write in it. And yes, almost everyone experiences some lapses in dream recall sometimes. Don't get discouraged if you have a few days where to don't make any progress. Keep in mind that there can be factors causing you to not remember. You MUST get at least 8 hours of sleep to have the best chances of attaining a lucid dream. Also, alcohol can have a very big negative impact on your dream recall, even if its not much in amount, it can still kill your dream recall. I had one beer last night and this morning I only remembered a fraction of one dream(which is unusual for me).

Progress!

I think being so bad at meditating, but frustrating myself by trying it anyway every day, was actually hindering me. (Don't let that stop you, though, unless you get highly upset about it like I did.)

Anyway, today I didn't attempt to do any meditating. But I did take a nice, pleasant nap...and had a dream (first one i really remembered in over a week). I even almost got lucid...sort of. The way that happened is a little odd so I'll share:

Toward the end of the dream, Me and a high-school friend are walking through a room, me following him. I have been dreaming probably 30 mins at this point, with no awareness of dreaming at all. Now, following Mike, I think to myself "Hmm, I should probably tell Mike we're dreaming." Strange, because I didn't know myself until I got to the end of that thought! Because of the thought, the realization came, but I think I was already waking up, because now everything is black and I'm screaming (in my head) "Clarity Now! Clarity Now!"

I think at this point though, I had already woken up, and was just mentally screaming at the back of my eyelids.

It's something though!! Still a little exciting.

That's awesome! That is some good progress! That means that your subconscious has started to take in the idea of LDing. Keep at it! It's all about those baby steps until one day, BOOM. Your first LD :)

OH. MY. GOD.

Bleekman117 wrote: one day, BOOM. Your first LD :)

Today was the day. Well, last nite. I have a page full of notes, but right now I am shaking a little and just freaked out (In a good way!).

Will post the experience a little later, when I calm down a bit, in another thread.

wow!

P.S. WOW!

Ok, first LD posted. I went ahead and put it in the "Share your 1st LD here" thread...beware it's a VERY long post. :oops:

http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2131&p=11521#p11521

I have a ton of questions about many aspects of this experience, and will be asking them throughout the day!!

Thanks everyone for all your help!!

Congrats! Was it everything you expected? I know my first LD blew my mind by how real everything was. I was honestly afraid to do things because of how real it was, even though I know it wouldn't hurt me.

Bleekman117 wrote: Was it everything you expected?

No, but it was some things I expected, and some I didn't, and that was good enough for now!

My lucidity was fleeting, and and I couldn't think straight. But it was still amazing, and it started the ball rolling...so I'm very excited about it. A couple times I was pretty clear-headed, but unfortunately I was too awe-struck, and the lucidity to brief, to properly perceive much. My next lucid mission is to stay calm, and simply ground myself wherever lucidity hits me, and increase my awareness as much as possible.

Sounds like a good plan. Its just like any other skill you learn. You must always start with the basics!