Lessons Learned From 15 Days of the Lucid Dreaming trial
So what’s happened half-way through my 30 days lucid dreaming trial?
Have I managed to lucid dream? Not yet, but I very nearly managed to twice. The first time I was dreaming, then consciously remembered I needed to wake up for work and then woke up.
The second time I dreamed someone was holding a baby crocodile close to my friend’s face (I know, it doesn’t make sense but hey, that’s dreaming for you), I was so agitated I started willing myself to push his hand away. I could feel the will and emotion to move welling up stronger and stronger – which caused me to wake up.
Seems like it’s true, any excited emotions will cause the dreamer to break out of the dreaming state into wakefulness.
For the record, I’ve managed to record 8 out of 15 nights’ worth of dreaming. Some mornings I couldn’t remember my dreams upon waking, some mornings I had to rush to get out of bed, and I confess, some mornings I was too lazy to write them down.
Here are some interesting observations I’ve made so far.
1) Dreams are easier to remember when you wake up naturally. The sudden jolt of being woken up by an alarm clock tends to drive the dream memories away.
2) Dreams repeat. Looking back at what I wrote, it’s interesting to see people and themes repeating themselves. I have no idea what this means.
3) Some dreams feel like a defragging process. They seem to be reflections on what’s happened during the day or in the recent past, as if the brain processes waking experiences during dream-time…I’m not sure what this means either.
4) I’ve started to wake up after dreaming. I’m not sure if it’s because of my intention to write down my dreams after waking, but I’ve woken up in the middle of the night immediately after finishing a dream. If I go back to sleep, I’ll dream another. It’s interesting, even though it’s breaking my sleep, because I sometimes have the feeling I’m only remembering the tail-end of my dreams closest to waking time.
5) Never trust that you can remember your dreams. I remember waking up remembering most bits of it perfectly, and telling myself I can write about it later…only to forget.
6) Never press the snooze button. I can remember my dreams best if I wake up and write them down immediately. If I hit the snooze button they tend to be lost within those few minutes of drifting in and out of sleep.
7) My handwriting sucks. Already so in normal life, even worse when I just wake up, and extremely bad in the dark. Luckily it’s still halfway-readable.
8) You remember your dreams better when you sleep better. When I don’t get enough sleep I can hardly remember anything.
9) And most encouraging of all, it’s possible. A friend of mine read my first post about lucid dreaming…and managed to lucid dream a few nights later. Rock on!
Hmm, a new breakthrough for you I suppose. Seen much going on in the forum on lucid dreaming, but didn’t really have this urge to test it out.
Well now let’s see what we can hear from you ha! Can’t wait. Have fun Alvin
Would like to share this with you:
http://cre.ations.net/creation/face-mounted-lucid-dreaming-mask
Update us if you decide to get the mask!
I’m saving up for it =)
Alvin,
Lucid Dreams have been a powerful tool for my own growth. I play with them each time they happen for me.
One thing that most people,however, misunderstand is that lucid dreams imply a sense of control. Not all lucid dreams are able to be controlled. Lucidity merely implies consciousness during the dream.
As far as flying goes, I like to see how fast I can really go. OF course, it’s all subjective. My fastest (subjectively) was so painful from wind in my face that I had to close my eyes, and the skin felt as if it were being ripped off.
It was great!
Bill
Hi Bill,
Thanks for the pointer! I’m still pretty much a newbie when it comes to lucid dreaming. Flying sounds like fun, it’ll definitely be first on my list of things to do
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