What are your opinions of this experience?

First off, hello! I’m new here and decided to jump on this bandwagon. Lucid dreaming is quite literally the ultimate “me” time, so as a teen in the summer with nothing to do, why not learn it?

Anyway, going back to the thread, I say “experience” because this wasn’t a dream, as best as I can understand. I’ve been spending the last day or two eating up as much knowledge as a could. Last night was the first time I actually tried (that morning I got a false start due to pulling an all-nighter, ironically). This is my first real entry in my dream journal [annotated after writing the whole thing down]. My true first entry was just me writing down that I didn’t dream (I know that I technically did, you just remember absolutely zero of such dreams).

Thurs. 7/28/11 5:43 AM (Making Progress) [These are annotations outside the journal itself.]

Was it a dream? I may have come close to a WILD. My arms sort of slowly moved involuntarily. The rest of my body started shaking (sometimes with my influence, sometimes not). I could not focus on a single visualization for too long [my ADD, maybe?]. Started out well with the mantra but as I sort of went from a MILD to a WILD (it just happened), I kept forgetting to say the mantra near the end [this is what I attribute to my false start]. I came close, though; I got to the hallucinations. They (monsters of some kind [they kind of looked like they were from an old Disney movie, but I haven’t seen too many of those]) sort of instinctually drove me off, unfortunately. All this time I initially shot for a Tron dream (best as I could), but I ultimately just went with flying. I snuck in some reality checks [just the nose] and passed, though. Still, I’m surprised as how close I came [for my first time]. (The other day’s false start doesn’t count.) I don’t remember anything of the dream itself, though. I did notice an improved heart rate and some imagined feelings [I don’t remember what said feelings were anymore], but no increased breathing or sweating [and no imagined sounds]. Now going to try again. [Remember, I woke up at 5:43 and wrote this all down. It all took place over around 45 minutes after midnight.]

Thurs. 7/28/11 12:12 PM (Nada)
Nothing again. Damn it. [I just could not focus on the mantra or visualization after going to bed after writing the previous entry. This was an accidental shot at an ABTB; I do not plan on intentionally going for these. By the way, I took melatonin the night before.]

What do you think? Am I as close as I think I am? Is there a way you think I could best progress or try out? Etc, etc.

I’m a bit confused on the first dream… so you tried a reality check but it showed you were awake? If that was the case, I would work on your thought process while you RC. Ask yourself what you are doing, where you came from and if it all makes sense. If you can get your awareness down, it will make the RC much easier.

Other than that, keep it up. If you can focus during the day and try to stay aware, it really will pay off :content:

This was not a dream, this was in preparation for one, at least in theory.

Ohhhh I get it.

/me is slow on the uptake :razz:

Well, dealing with HH and HI takes some practice. It looks like you did get pretty far on that first attempt; however, from what you told me in irc it was done right as you went to bed. It’s not impossible to do a WILD then, but you’ll need to focus for a lot longer and deal with a lot more HI/HH.

As for your WBTB attempt, that will also take time and experimentation. Try to mess with the amount of time asleep first, or the amount of time you stay up. Good luck, and stay with it. You’ll be there soon enough :content:

I don’t want to have to get up early each time, I’d rather get it right the first time. So if I wind up getting up by accident somehow, great, I’ll shoot for a WBTB if I remember (as I did). If not, too bad.