MILD Suggestions

After reading LaBerge’s “Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming” I’ve transcribed the passages to practice the MILD Technique.

I do wake up naturally around 3 to 5 times per night (which is great).
I’ve tried the MILD last night and it brought me to increase a lot my dream recall.

I would like to know if there are some “tips&tricks” for doing it, especially regarding the intention setting. I understood that is very useful to tell yourself you “have to” realize you are dreaming, like you would tell yourself to buy milk next time you go out. Do you guys associate to the intention any emotion or image?

Also, any other kind of advice is appreciated!

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Jon, I would like to read answers to your question too. It seems that this forum is half dead :frowning:
I am not expert on MILD, so I cant answer.
I will try to post some questions I did here on Reddit. Nothing against the people here, when they answer they are nice and helpful, but it seems that the forum is somewhat dead. And that its natural, people come and go.

OT:
It is normal in forums to get a reply after some time :slight_smile:
Not all people connect often and maybe they are interested in other contents.
In my opinion, this community is very active for the topic!
Also, we are in 2021. Social Networks (like Reddit) are used more often.

Yes indeed, I agree. And I hope that no moderator, admnistration people etc get offended by what I say, its just a fact.

Maybe its like you said: since there are stuff like Reddit (and I dont like some things about Reddit mechanics), people use it more often and “normal” forums get less and less people. In the past, LD4All was much more active, thats the reason I said its halfdead, but maybe its not, maybe its what you said. Thanks for sharing that.

And sorry for the offtopic guys.

About MILD, lets wait for someone with experience. Meanwhile, maybe you can find other topics regarding MILD, with some answers.

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I am not an expert on MILD, but here is one piece of advice.

This will work well for some people, but not everyone. Another way to phrase it is that you “will have“ a lucid dream. So trying to focus more on expectation instead of intent works better, but it depends on the personality. That’s the notion that I remember.

I guess for optimists this approach could work better :lol:

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Thanks! Indeed “expecting” something to happen is more powerful than “hoping” that this will happen. “I hope to remember to buy cigarettes” is no way as good as “I will buy cigarettes”.
However, last night I took a “break” from the technique and well…
I had a lucid dream!
So, maybe sometimes it’s better just to take it easy and let things flow on their own :slight_smile:

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MILD is built around prospective memory. That is, remembering to do something in the future. When you set MILD intentions you’re not really setting the intention to realize you are dreaming, but to remember that you planned to realize you are dreaming, like as you say, telling yourself to remember to buy milk.

MILD mantras/inductions can be helpful to setting your intentions, and they work a whole lot better when you believe them and when you feel them. Just like you’re probably going to be more likely to remember milk if you have a recipe you really want to make that requires milk. You need to remember that milk to make cookies. You need to remember something that makes you realize you’re dreaming to fly. You really want to savor that warm gooey chocolate chip cookie, this recipe makes those really good cookies you had as a child. You want to fly because it will feel free, you want to be free.
Connecting a feeling makes it deeper, more important, and more rewarding to remember.

I feel like I’m always directing people to this thread and this post which I’ve found really helpful. It outlines the difference between implied and direct suggestions that may be helpful if you want to use MILD inductions.

I won’t spend a lot of time trying to summarize that thread since you can read it and it’ll do a better job that me, but depending on how your mind works and how you like to think, the “I will have a lucid dream tonight” can be undermined by the echo of doubt “but what if I don’t?” and then of course, the MILD is less likely to be successful because you don’t believe in it. If the direct suggestions do no work for you, you may have more success with implied suggestions ( such as “I love it when I have lucid dreams” or “I will write down my lucid dreams in the morning.” instead of “I have to have a lucid dream tonight”) because you might believe them more. Like connecting the importance of remembering to buy milk with your desire to bake cookies, I find it helpful to connect emotions or goals with remembering to realize I’m dreaming.

When I’m falling asleep I really like the mantra: “When I realize I am dreaming, I will X” Where I fill in my dream goal with X (like flying or whatever you want to do). To me this makes a great mantra because it not only helps prompt me to lucidity but it helps me remember and accomplish what I want to do. I also like to used “realize I am dreaming” over “lucid” because it says what “lucid” *means.*Connecting my goal to my emotions makes me feel more motivated to remember I’m dreaming, because I am more emotionally invested.

I consider myself a MILDer and one thing I find extremely helpful to connect my dream signs to (remember to) question reality. (As per MILD, I’m relying on my prospective memory: when I encounter a dream sign, I remember to question reality). Let’s ride the milk analogy a little further. I’m at the store shopping about to check out and I see a cute poster with a cow on it; it reminds me of the cow on the bottle of milk I like to buy! OH YEAH! I need to buy milk! How could I almost forget!? Good thing I saw something that helped me remember!

Just like that, it can be helpful to have a reminder in a dream that we wanted to realize we are dreaming (because we really wanted to fly and be free! or bake cookies!). Keep a dream journal and keep it well. Over time you can read through it and you may notice reoccurring themes or objects, these are dream signs. For me, I often encounter water in my dreams. Lucky for me water is pretty common in WL too, so when I see water, I (remember to) question my reality. A good reality check is one you remember to do, but a better one is one you’re triggered to do.

As usual, I unintentionally wrote a really long convoluted reply where I ramble, so, also as usual, I will apologize and remind you that I mostly speak to my experience and that your perspective and other’s perspective may differ. But I hope something I shared is helpful and gives you something to think about! :milk_glass: :cookie:

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Wow, thanks a lot!

You really put effort and I appreciate it very much.
I understand what you mean when you talk about suggestions. The implied one seems great, it is easier to connect an emotion to an intent that doesn’t really require for you to “perform” (at least in my case).

The dream incubation you do is also suggested by lots of others, I will try that, and yeah, words sometimes don’t really “describe” a concept so it is better to be clear to oneself, I undestand that.

For dreamsigns I do categorize them inside my diary and have noticed that most of the time there are people that I don’t meet in a while or can’t meet at the moment. So everytime I see someone familiar I question reality. Also, I keep a digital clock on the wrist and I’m trying to make it an habit to look at time there, maybe will trigger something in dreams.

You really want to savor that warm gooey chocolate chip cookie, this recipe makes those really good cookies you had as a child.

I’m gonna go take some sweets…

Thanks again!

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This is exactly the thread that I also had in mind! But I completely forgot what it was called. So awesome that you linked it.

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Thanks again @Splash

Last night I “used” the implied suggestion (I remembered how good it felt to become lucid)
and the dream incubation to perform a task (meet a person).

And, well…
had a lucid dream and remembered what I had to do! :slight_smile:

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I’m so glad to hear that it seems like the implied suggestions were helpful!

Last night I inadvertently manifested a dream based on this comment I made in this discussion :lol:
I was lucid, floating/flying high up in a beautiful sky, feeling free and weightless. The dream was very short, but pleasant.

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