This method’s definitely got potential - I had another LD last night. It was weird - I suddenly had a weird thought that someone is trying to tell me that I might be dreaming. I did the nose pinch reality check - but it didn’t work as expected, so I did another RC (the hand one) and it turned out I had 6 fingers. I became lucid, and then tried to summon one of my characters. One character appeared, but my character was very blurry, and then I had a False Awakening shortly after. It was a very vivid FA as well - just imagine how cool that would have been if I became lucid
I didn’t think of continuing the Utopia dream at the time. It’s strange how you don’t think of stuff at the time in a dream.
Well, I’m new to this as well, but from what I’ve learned so far the next major step is to get to know your characters. What’s their personality, their likes, their dislikes, etc. If you already know them pretty well, and they know you too, try asking them about LD’s. See if they’d be willing/able to get you into one. If you do have an LD, try to find them.
Of course, you’ll still want to read the earlier parts of this topic (Parts 1 & 2 especially), and I’m sure Wolvendeer or Talon will be on soon to answer your questions as well . I will say, it must be nice to have a natural ability to create indepenedent character naturally. Good luck!
Teraflare8866: Great job ^^ I’m glad to hear you’re getting good results-- I don’t really know what else to say! You’re really doing well and you know what you’re doing. C: Keep up the great work.
sentis: Hey, C: Rhewin is completely right, knowing your character and discussing lucidity is the next step for you. You make want to have the character help you will Autosuggestion by discussing attaining lucidity before sleeping, or having the character assist with another induction technique of interest, for example I am interested in WILD:
In WILD you can have your character try and keep you aware through the transition from waking to dreams. You can do this by having your characters give you reminders to stay aware, have them stop your mind from straying, or imagining doing an activity with them that engages tactile, audio, and visual senses throughout the process.
Other techniques that can work well is VILD, as described above, where you can incubate a dream that includes your character who could then remind you. Also, if you have trouble remembering to do reality checks, you could have your characters remind you to do so, as well as engage you in a ‘If I were lucid what would I do’ activity and so on.
I hope that helps, and I apologize for the lengthy response.
If you have any other questions I’d be happy to help C:
Rhewin: Good response with sentis above. C: You seem as though you’re really engaged in CALD, and I respect the speed and clarity with which you’ve absorbed the threads and their information. Thanks for making sure that sentis didn’t go without a reply-- it’s because of this positive attitude I see in members like you that I have infinite respect for this forum. C:
How have things been going for you?
~
Thanks!
CALD has become my nightly routine now because I daydream a lot about my characters (maybe twice a day). When I CALD I tend to ask my characters to make me lucid quickly, because I find if it is done quickly it is more likely to be subconsciously ‘worked out’ by my characters. I spent 10 seconds talking to my characters about making me lucid, and it turns out that works better for me if I spent short amounts of time than spending ages (not sure if it does for anyone else).
Before I go to bed, I’m going to find a few pictures of stereotypical futuristic cities so I know what to visualise when I have my next LD.
Teraflare8866: That’s great C: . It makes sense that a short bit of time may get the intention set faster-- it’s direct and doesn’t get sidetracked by chit-chat. Good luck in your furturistic dreams C:
sentis: Okidokie. I assume you have read Pedro’s VILD technique post, right? [VILD Technique] That’s just incase you haven’t C: To answer your question-- yes, you just incubate a dream including your character.
What that means is you imagine your dream with your character in it, and set your intention to enter that dream once you fall asleep. Done correctly, hopefully you will enter your dream and your character will make you lucid.
Best of luck on your CALD-VILD attempts!
Thanks again. I’ve been anticipating a futuristic dream for ages.
Sentis, I’m also trying the CALD-VILD hybrid. I haven’t got VILD to work for me yet because I keep falling asleep too soon, but I have got CALD to work for me. From what I heard, VILD works better in the morning because that’s when your REM Cycles are. I also notice that it’s easier to go back into a dream in the morning. When you first go to sleep at night, it takes a few hours before you start dreaming. In the morning, you can literally close your eyes for a minute (you must be pretty tired else you won’t fall asleep) and you’ll be in a dream. This is how DEILD and WBTB works if I recall.
CALD would be interesting to try in a WBTB. I have no school, so I have the chance to try it. I might try it, but it would be hard to wake up at around 5:00am in the morning without waking everyone up first.
One thing I have to say about VILD though - I swear I got really close. I started daydreaming myself walking around my house touching objects (I read this elsewhere) and it got pretty vivid, but I snapped out of it and ‘woke up.’
Good luck Sentis, and let’s hope we both get CALDs tonight!
Yeah I’m really into this topic, and whenever I’m interested something I devote a lot of time and energy to it. The big thing I’ve realized so far is that it is all simpler than we beginners think that it is. If I try too hard to make The Doctor independent, then it’s just me daydreaming a conversation. However, when I just go with whatever things my [insert word I’m looking for here. Mind? Imagination?] comes up with for him, he begins to take on a personality of his own and I start. All in all, it’s a matter of simply letting go.
I have had a bit more progress with The Doctor. The other night in my pre-sleep phase I was having a conversation with him. I wasn’t really picturing anything, but after a while I could very vaguely see his face like it was coming through a deep fog. The best thing that could describe it would be HI, but it wasn’t anywhere near that intense or clear. Hopefully that’s a good sign.
Anywho, thank you for your kind words. I’m looking forward to seeing this thread develop even further. By the way, do we have a sticky that’s just the basic tutorial/FAQ on how CALD works? That would be really helpful for a lot of newcomers as this discussion is growing so fast.
Teraflare: Looking forward to your results. Good luck with your CALD-VILD!
Rhewin: We’re very alike in that when we like something we dedicate lots of energy-- I do that often with new things and research the crap out of it! Haha C: I like your description of your interactions with The Doctor. Your approach is very similar to how we approach LDing in general-- Just sort of a ‘go with the flow’ sort of thing, not too much pushing it.
His growth certainly is very interesting, and seems much more exciting than my own character’s growth! Haha Lucky.
While there is a tutorial on CALD (See my sig below my post) there is no FAQ, however, seeing as there have been a flood of new posts, I’m starting to see what really needs to be answered C:. Rhewin, I like you a lot. We seem to click well, could you help me in composing some questions? I will be answering them, and compiling an FAQ to hopefully append to the CALD Tutorial. Here are some questions I know need to be included in the FAQ:
How do I get the characters out of my dreams?
How do I start making my character?
Do character have to come from dreams?
(The last three seem repetitive but have different answers)
Now I have my character, what do I do?
How do I use my character to get Lucid?
( This is a long answer )
My character isn’t appearing/interacting with me, what do I do?
How do I get my character to appear to me in dreams?
If you try in the morning, then you must try immediately after the second you wake up. Don’t move too much, because you will be too awake. If I move around a bit first and then try, I have no success - meaning I think it could work the instant you wake up.
As for nightime, I try CALD on its own. I didn’t have any success last night because I was stupid for not becoming lucid in certain areas of my dream. There’s always tonight to try again
Ok, so I’ve received questions from Rhewin and I’ll be compiling a FAQ to put up for review soon (hopefully within the next few days as school’s picking up).
Wolvendeer: Great C: FAQ-ness is a go, then.
sentis: Good luck! If you want to post your experience up here, we’re available to try and give suggestions for future attempts, but good luck! C:
Teraflare8866: You’re becoming quite proficient with this! C: You certainly have the most info and experience on a VILD-CALD combination, so I will be using your insights for the FAQ. Is that Ok?
Yeah I’ve been having a difficult time with it (the LD part) as well. For whatever reason I can’t get VILD (or any other tech where you have to “set an intention”) to work. Tell me, where is it you think you’re getting stuck?
Yeah that’s where I get stuck on it too. Whenever I try to picture something as I’m falling asleep, I almost always lose it. The same thing happens whenever I try WILD. We simply may not be the type who can easily do such a thing :. Then again that may just be me and you only need more practice . Try it for a bit longer, sticking with the VILD formula. If nothing comes from it, try something else.
All I know is that I’m not gonna lose any sleep over it. Personally, I’m going to stick with CALD. Hopefully The Doctor will be able to get through to me in my dreams even if I can’t. He says that he’s up to it (does that sound crazy?), but neither of us is quite sure how strong he really is on his own yet.
sentis: Is it that you have difficulty visualizing everything, or continuing to visualize the dream before sleep? I think for VILD it is sufficient to imagine your dream beforehand in as much detail as possible, and then intend on entering that dream while falling asleep C:
Rhewin: It’s good you’re helping sentis out C: It’s always nice to see that. If you’re unsure about his ability to induce dream for you, just keep trying. There is no harm done in doing so.
Are you trying other techniques in combination with CALD, or just focussing on CALD itself? Either is perfectly valid (many of my early LDs came from character assistance alone), but CALD becomes quickly routine and other techs can be fun to try in conjunction with it .
Yeah I’ve tried WILD in the morning a couple of times but I’m still workin on that. I’ve also used MILD, and that did help make The Doctor appear in a dream. Unfortunately it was the wrong Doctor (Third instead of Second). I really shouldn’t have chosen a character with 11 different faces =P .
Well that’s cool C: I’m sure that the different aspects of him make him more interesting, anyways. I really should try MILD, I often try to WILD but fail . The opportunities to try out such a cool technique (WILD) cannot be passed up! I’d even like to try while sleeping on the school bus, one of these days
. I will say, it must be nice to have a natural ability to create indepenedent character naturally. Good luck!
Lucky.
.
. The opportunities to try out such a cool technique (WILD) cannot be passed up! I’d even like to try while sleeping on the school bus, one of these days