Hi guys, I got into LD back in 2006, I kept a dream journal, I remembered my dreams, and I’d gotten 3-4 really good lucid dreams.
Then I got a busy job, and my life became hectic, and I just didn’t have time anymore. I’ve been meaning to relaunch the project, but it’s quite hard. I find it hard to remember my dreams (again!) I used to practice the direct wake-to-dream where you stay conscious all the way from being awake to being asleep and I’d almost gotten it a couple times, but now whenever I try that I fall asleep within a minute.
Well, start up your dream journal again for sure. That’ll help with your dream recall and vividness. I would also say to get back into the habit of doing reality checks as well.
One thing that really helped me get back to lucid dreaming a few months ago was to get involved with the community here. It’s really helped me to understand more and to think about lucid dreaming more, thus increasing my chances of having an LD.
In any case, welcome back, Controller, and good luck.
It worked for me to just see this site again once after a long time Hopefully autosuggestion works for you too.
Falling asleep fast during a WILD sounds to me like a good thing! My failed WILD’s gave me insomnia. You’re closer to getting back into the groove than I am.
If you’ve watched the movie Inception, they have little reality check items. It might set a trend. Even though periodic RC’s aren’t the first technique that comes to mind when I hear a dreamer has a hectic life, it’s just a few seconds, and with the right item could seem totally innocuous.
I started a new dream journal. The first night, all I could remember was one single thing about what I dreamed. (Ironically enough, it was a dream about writing in my dream journal!)
The second night I filled half a page, so it seems to be working!
Soon I’ll be filling pages and pages again… By the way, have any of you guys ever been deterred by the sheer volume of stuff you have to write? I remember sometimes after writing a few pages I almost felt like I didn’t want to remember more because I’d have to keep writing.
I know exactly what you mean, Controller, and I actually didn’t write this morning just because one of my dreams was so complicated. I find that taking a day off really helps though. Just pick a day of the week and don’t worry about dream-related things at all. I feel that it gives your mind a break and then you can get a fresh start the next day.
this is where typing comes in handy.
i find if you can type normally or faster then others, it makes the process a lot quicker then simply writing, although i do still write only because people say i write like a doctor, so i need to get better at it. (just try and read the clipboard next time you go in for a check-up, you’ll see what i mean.)
i’ve actually had a few dreams that lasted so long and had such details i simply cut it short instead of writing the whole thing, the only instance that i can remember of me writing an extremely long entry on paper was 6 pages long, took me over 20-30 minutes to write the whole thing while trying to remember every detail.
I type at 80+ words per minute, but I still prefer to write by hand rather than type. The problem with typing is that it’s somewhat artificial, and therefore not linked to memory very much. I could type something today, but then it would be forgotten by tomorrow, but if I write it by hand I will remember it better, even if I don’t ever read it again.
And if I DO read a handwritten note again, sometimes I can remember the exact thing that was going through my mind when I wrote that, because the individual letter strokes are linked to those thoughts.
Besides, getting to your computer, possibly waiting for it to boot, and typing is less accessible than just picking up a notebook.
Diligence and effort. I’m kinda like you, only I quit lucid dreaming in 2005. I thought I lost the touch, but after three months, I’ve started to have lucid dreams all over again. Never give up.
Hopefully autosuggestion works for you too.