It’s very frustrating to me that I just do not have the time to be trying to lucid dream and everything. I work a full time job, am trying to get myself healthy and in shape (taking a lot of energy out of me between work and health), and because of that, I am just not having the time to even look up the meanings to my dreams! Added to that, my dream recall is beginning to dwindle! I went from remembering around 13 pages of dreams a night, remembering from the time I fell asleep til the time I woke up, to barely being able to remember a part of a dream!
It’s very irritating!! Anyone live a busy life and still find time for all the lucidity stuff and everything? If so any advice you may have would be greatly appreciated!
I don’t really think you have to devote a great deal of time to lucid dreaming. Sure, it will probably benefit you if you have that possibility, but I don’t think it’s necessery. When I started I wrote down all my dreams in the morning, but now I don’t write them down at all. Neither am I doing WBTB (don’t have the dicipline) or MILD. I know I should be doing all of this, and I know it would benefit me. However, since I am working, in some periods up to 13,5 hours a day (luckily not too often, but more often then I like), I don’t find the time or energy to keep a dream journal or to do WBTB. I just focus on the dreams I have had the moment I wake up, and go through them in my mind. Sometimes I remember alot, sometimes nothing at all.
Still, I am making great progress in lucid dreaming. I simply just do the RC where I look at my hand and count my fingers alot. Espessialy if something unusual or strange is happening. This is a great method, because you can do it everywhere, it is fast, you can do it in public without anyone noticing (so nobody will think you are crazy), and it always works! (for me it does at least. I can’t use the RC where you read text, look away and then read again. For some reason it never change. I have yet to try with clocks).
I started just 3 weeks ago, and I have had 4 LD so far (the las one lasting for 20 - 30 min). I always get lucid by using the RC where I count fingers. So, if you just get used to doing RCs, you will hopefully get it into your habit and do them when you are dreaming too. And even if this doesn’t work as well alone as it could do combined with other methods, it still should work. At least it works for me.
you don’t have to look up meanings of your dreams. The only NECESSARY time you need to devote is 5-10 minutes in the morning, and unless you are working in your sleep, or when you should be asleep, then you should be able to anyway.
well the dream definition thing is just something I prefer to do. I am of the belief that your dreams tell you a lot, and I just feel better when I look up meanings for some reason, I realize they have nothing to do with lucid dreaming itself
Do you axtually need to look up someone elses idea of what your dreams mean? Would it be better to keep a note of recurring themes and think about what they may personally mean to you? You can think about it while exercising etc. therefore saving time.
BiShY…dreams are a very personal communication between your unconscious mind and your waking mind. There is no dream dictionary in the world capable of knowing what the dreams mean to you, the only person wise enough to be able to find the meanings behind the symbols and events in a dream is YOU!
If you can spend a few minutes every morning devoting time to writing in your journal, then continue to think about them during the day as you go about your waking life, you will probably gather more meaning from them than a quick look up in some dream dictionary (which, usually contradict each other depending on who wrote it). Reality checks throughout the day, do some…do many…you will have more chance of becoming aware in your dreams if you have a trigger.
Bishy, just to make you more comfortable i can tell you that you are not alone. Im right now doing my civil duty in army and my dream recall has gone down with it. Not enough time to sleep when every morning at 6am comes the dreadful wake up shout. But it seems that at weekends when im free i get payed back for all those missing dreams, long vivid ones and sweet lucidity as well. But still i crave for that connection to my subconsciousness through contemplating on my previous night’s dreams. One night full of dreams per week just isnt enough.
But what doesn’t kill makes me stronger, 109 service days left…
And about those dream dictionaries, i wouldn’t trust them any more than i trust my daily horoscope in some tabloid newspaper.
One thing to keep in mind if you are experiencing a lack of energy is that you may be overtraining. Sometimes the ming/body interaction gets overlooked when doing mental exercises. I know that when I croos a certain threshold in my training I get fatigued not only that day but for the next several days. This is not only a physical fatigue, it can often manifest itself as a mental ‘fogginess’ or even a mild depression.
I only go with definitions that feel right to me, but I’ve looked up my dreams for so long that when I have recurring themes I don’t need to look things up. But when things come up and I don’t know what they mean, I like to look them up.
I guess I’ll jump on the bandwagon and say that I don’t think it takes a lot of time… What I usually do is RCs throughout the day… usually looking at your hands isn’t successful for me, and mechanical devices always work…amd clocks and text are consistent… so pinching my nose and trying to breathe is the one that’s worked best for me… I’ve had 2 lds thanks to that method in the last week or so(one was very low level and I woke up really soon)… anyway… then I intermittently keep a dream journal… doesn’t take up more than about 15 min/week… I don’t have a great LD rate… maybe one every 2 weeks… but it doesn’t take much time. I’m looking into trying WILD, WBTB doesn’t work well for me.
I’ll agree that trying to LD takes time, but surely you can set your alarm after 5 hours of sleep, then stay up for just two minutes to go to the bathroom and do visualization-WILD? It has good results for some people and won’t take a chunk of time. Two minutes to spare? RCs don’t take much time either, nor does short but determined 2 min MILD before bed. Don’t give up completely, just strip it down to the bare if you have to. The longer versions of these things do increase your chances, but aren’t necessary; the more time you spend on it the less efficiently the time will be spent. In short, those minimalist methods may work only half as well as the real thing, but take only 1/8 of the time. Or something like that. Does anyone have a different experience, since that’s the only thing I’ve got backing me and it’s not much?
What I usually do is RCs throughout the day… usually looking at your hands isn’t successful for me, and mechanical devices always work…amd clocks and text are consistent… so pinching my nose and trying to breathe is the one that’s worked best for me… I’ve had 2 lds thanks to that method in the last week or so(one was very low level and I woke up really soon)… anyway… then I intermittently keep a dream journal… doesn’t take up more than about 15 min/week… I don’t have a great LD rate… maybe one every 2 weeks… but it doesn’t take much time. I’m looking into trying WILD, WBTB doesn’t work well for me.