Last year around this time I started getting into the whole Lucid Dreaming thing for the first time. I started recording all my dreams and in September and October of 2007 I wrote down a few dozen dreams (up to four or five in one night). My dream recall was pretty good after the first week.
I even had my first full LD in November. Just a non-intentional DILD, though. But it was something. I also tried to WILD and twice managed to almost enter a dream (but was too eager and hadn’t transitioned far enough, but I got past the whole SP phase).
Then I just stopped. University and other interests interfered. Now I want to start again. This is day 3, effectively. I’ve started recording dreams again, but what I want to know is: can I still use the dreams I had over a year ago (most of which I still remember pretty clearly because of my journal and good dream recall) in order to make up a good list of dream signs?
I think what inhibited my success was my lack of perseverance when it came to MILD. This time, I really want to learn to do reality checks whenever I encounter anything that remotely resembles a dream sign. Should I wait for a few weeks until I have a library of recent dreams to work with, or can I also use the dreams from a year ago? I still have them all and when I read what I’ve written the memories come back to me.
I really want to start working on it now, but if it’s better to first re-train my dream recall and get some “recent material”, I’ll do that first. Although for the past three days (ever since I “intended” it), I’ve remembered at least 1 dream per night (4 on the second). Thanks for your input!
It shouldn’t be any problems using older dreams to collect dream signs, a typical dream sign would appear frequently in dreams you had and will have.
If you read your dream journal i’m sure you’ll pick up a thing or two to start whit, could be a location/theme or person/object.
And since you have a good recall you could easily record and recognize new signs to look for.
So start out whit what you might have now and add new things as you progress.
I would take this further; if you really want to reach the point where reality checks carry over consistently into your dreams you need to do them so frequently they become habit. This will be successful because we exhibit our WL habits in dreams. If you make it a point many (50+?) times a day to do reality checks and question whether or not you’re dreaming it will eventually carry over into your dreams. As a result, because you have been steadfast and serious in constantly asking if you’re dreaming, you will really question the reality in your dream and not just do a half-arse RC.
I can definitely work up a few dream signs from my older dreams. And I seem to remember at least one per night even after only four days now, so I’ll have plenty of material to work with in a while. One major dream sign is that in more than half (!!) my dreams (that I remember anyway) I have the ability to fly, so that’s a good place to start.
I’ll just have to figure out good occasions. Whenever I think of flying or see a plane is one place to start. Whenever I find myself daydreaming is another (I daydream all the time). Whenever I enter/exit a building is another really good one (because often in my dreams that’s when the scenery changes completely). I guess I can also throw in some hourly RCs too if I’m to reach 50+ a day. As long as I stay focused I don’t think I’ll forget doing RCs (my life isn’t very stressful).
I always use two RCs back to back (nose RC and finger through hand). Especially the nose RC has helped me get lucid a few times before, so I know that one works for me. It’s even helped me see through an FA before.