Caradon's WILD/Hypnagogia Journal

[Caradon]

I don't see why it couldn't work then too.  I know we're not supposed to have dreams then, but everybody does sometimes.

I seem to do everything in an unorthodox way. I think most of the time I get some little bit of dreaming before I fall completely to sleep.

Oh that's weird; my HI is all just random weird stuff, never people I know.  Maybe it's cuz you get further than I do.

Mines pretty random the majority of the time too.

Hmm, I never noticed anything.  It is supposed to suppress REM to allow deep sleep for a while, which then causes REM rebound to help dreams.

Well, it definitly seems to make me feel a little bit different.

Monday night I had a ton of vivid dreams right away. Then recall got lesser as the night went on. I could have possibly been still getting some rebound from the lack of sleep I had on the weekend too. But I thought I had slept enough Sunday night.

Hopefully the increased WILDing will automatically always help with DILD's.

I'm hoping that too.

Hey Caradon, this is a very interesting journal!

Thank you.

I've got to read in more detail later on, but do you generally try to WILD using SP?  Some of your descriptions sound very much like what works for me.

Actually I'm not really sure about the whole SP thing. Most of the time I just start seeing and hearing stuff, and entering dreams. Once in a while I get the numb sensation. Or spinning, or floating, or expanding. Other than that I don't really know. I've never felt paralyzed.

, not worrying about freaky WILD things.  I love that stuff when it happens.  I also often see people I know are dead in these dreams..

Lol, yeah. Some of us weird people love the scary stuff. And others go to doctors to try and get scary dreams to stop.
Actually, I think the people that are so afraid of their dreams that they have to see a doctor about it, are the weird ones.

Something weird..  I think WILDing using SP bears some similarities to what people report in near-death experiences--the floating up, tunnels, lights, dead people, even god-like beings..  Maybe it is a similar process in the brain (at least initially?)

you could be right. I've also seen the white light people describe during near death experiences a few times. It's been a while since that's happened though. Maybe if I think about wanting to see it, I'll see it again. It's an amazing thing.  

That eyeball was very cool.

That was pretty weird.

[Caradon]

Today's attempts
Tuesday/August/18/2009
 
As I lay there on my back, I start to think about picking up a bag of chips on my way home from work the upcoming day. Because I have a jar of salsa in the refrigerator that I should use up. This thought, leads to a weird chain of thoughts about other Mexican foods. And eventually leads me to a memory of when I was a kid and went on a trip to Mexico. On the real life trip, we went to some place that was making fresh tortillas. And I was remembering how good they were.
 
This thought becomes a dream, and I'm now back in Mexico. I'm at some outdoor food market with a fresh tortilla in my hand. There is a food line, like a buffet, with pans of different things that you can put onto your tortilla. I start to scoop something out of one of the pans with a ladle, when I remember that I'm dreaming. And wake up right away.
 
Now, I try to concentrate harder on not thinking anything. And I soon enter a scene Lucid, where I'm watching this guy walking alongside some crop field. I don't know what the crop is. Just a bunch of tall green plants. The man is walking along with a open book in his hand, and he is reading as he is walking. I watch him walking and reading until it fades away.

After that I decide to give it up, because I ended up staying up too late watching a movie, and I didn't have much time. I figured I would try more in my nap.
 
I came home from work and took some Melatonin, but then ended up having to stay awake much longer than I should have. Because tornado sirens started going off, and I turned on the TV to see what was going on. It turns out that a tornado had touched down a few miles south of my house, and the storm that produced it was heading towards my neighborhood. The TV says that everyone in my area should be taking shelter, because more tornadoes are possible. So I ended up staying up until the threat was over.
 
When I finally lay down for my nap, I didn't get any WILD stuff. I just fell asleep. But I did have some vivid dreams. Unfortunately no tornadoes in my dreams though.
 
 
 
 

[Sunshine]

(content removed by user request)

[Caradon]

That was a cool one.  That's always the point I wake up too--the instant I realize what's going on!

Yeah, it usually always happens to me too when I gain Lucidity after entering the scene. Just the sudden surprise, regardless of how slight, is enough to knock you out of it.
 

Wow.  Note to self: remember not to think anything!

Yeah, that's the difficult part. Trying to see how long you can do it during the day is good practice for when you lay down. Sometimes it helps make it a little easier.

Oh I thought you were going to have a tornado dream for sure.

Me too. Especially with the scary show I watched about tornadoes on Discovery Just a week ago. That show really freaked me out for some reason. Well, they were talking about finding peoples bodies shredded and torn to pieces. And something about the show really made it hit home to me, on how little protection a house really is. Makes me want to invest in having a storm shelter installed.

[Caradon]

Today's attempts
Wednesday/August/19/2009
 
I had some difficulty last night because I felt like I was wide awake when I went to go to sleep. So it took me a while.
 
I remember getting a weird image of viewing myself laying in a bed with some woman.

I actually turn over after a while and just try to get to sleep, but still trying to WILD on my side. Three times I briefly enter the same scene Lucid where I'm standing in my living room looking around for a moment before it fades.

Then I fall asleep, and the first dream that I remembered I got Lucid in.( Posted in my Lucid Dream journal.) While not a real exciting one to read, it was a good one for me being there . I woke up real excited about it, and wide awake. I was unsure if I would be able to fall asleep again. After about fifteen minutes of being up, I try to get back to sleep.
 
I lay down just repeating "this is a dream," over and over really fast. I was really just trying t make myself fall asleep. I feel this sudden expansion,a nd I find myself in a dream Lucid. I don't remember much about the scene. I was sitting down and looking at a water bottle I had in my hand. There was something weird about the spout that you drink out of. For a moment I Actually thought that I had this one. I thought I entered a full blown dream. But then I slide out of it.

I had stuff on my mind when I got home, and could not get anything in my nap. It took me a while just to fall asleep, even with how tired I was.
 
 
 

[Caradon]

Today's attempts
Thursday/August/20/2009
 
Not much to report today. I had a restless mind last night. It's a miracle I managed to relax enough to get anything at all.
 
I start to hear a voice, I can't remember exactly what was said. I try to talk to it. But every time I try to speak, the voice speaks, and interrupts me

Then I enter a work scene Lucid. I'm in the middle of some project, And it fades away momentarily.

Into my nap
 
I start to hear a song being sung. " It's the end of the world and I know it. I feel fine."

After that I just fell asleep laying on my back. I was really tired I guess.

[Sunshine]

(content removed by user request)

[Caradon]

More post-apocalyptic thoughts.  It must be near. 

Maybe.

I just wish I could know for sure, so that I could quit my job and enjoy life for a little while.
I'll be pissed if the end really does come in 2012, and I find out I've been wasting my time getting up and going to work every day, for nothing.

[Caradon]

Today's attempts
Friday/August/21/2009
 
Last night I lay there for quite a while with my thoughts completely clear. I wasn't getting much of anything for some reason. But actually, it felt so good to just lay there in the dark, with such a quite mind, that I was content to just have that moment of peace.
 
Eventually I do hear a voice in my head say, "The president of the United States."

Then I hear what sounds like the footsteps of somebody walking with sandals on.  That slapping against the bottom of the foot sound.

Then a work scene fades in, that's almost identical to the night before.

Into my nap
 
I wanted to try and get something more in my nap, but I just got this cool little non Lucid, pre sleep dream.
 
I'm driving a red race car on a track. I'm racing against I guy in a blue car. I push some kind of turbo button, and I go so fast that everything becomes a blur. I get an entire lap ahead of the blue guy. I did it so fast that he is not even aware that he had been lapped.
 
After that I fall asleep.

[Sunshine]

(content removed by user request)

[Caradon]

He was wearing flip-flops.

Yes, that's it.

You have the coolest little HI's.  

Thanks. I was glad that I remembered that one so well. A lot of times I come out of those early non Lucid ones with just a glimmer of what had happened. 

[Caradon]

Yesterday
Saturday/August/22/2009
 
Into my nap
 
I start out by entering a work scene with partial Lucidity. I'm just working on something for a little bit. Then I walk to another area. As I become more fully Lucid I slide out of it.
 
I fall asleep for about an hour, maybe less. Then get woken up. I'm up for a couple of minutes. I lay down on my side just trying to fall asleep, and get a good dream. I start repeating this is a dream.
 
I enter a work scene fully Lucid, still repeating this is a dream. There is much going on around me, lots of people. I don't remember what I was doing exactly. I was carrying something. And all the people were in my way. I just kind of go with the flow of it, repeating this is a dream. I try to simultaneously  ignore everything that's going on around me, while staying aware of everything as well. (Much like I do in real life.) I hear one person saying to another, that they should get out of my way. Yet I still kind of ignore them, focusing on one thought alone. This is a dream, this is a dream. While I try to work my way between the people. The way that I have my thoughts focused is working to hold me in the dream, I can actually begin to feel the dream becoming more solid around me. Then I start to get excited that it's working, and it startles me awake.
 
This is the third time that this certain type of staying aware of everything at once has helped to keep me in the dream. It's also what I had a DC tell me I should do. But I seem to have to enter the right type of scene in order to do it. A lot of times I can't help but just stare at a particular image, or scene that appears, until it fades away.

[Sunshine]

(content removed by user request)

[Caradon]

Oo, you got pretty far with that one!

 
Yeah, one of these days... Lol.

I try that a lot, repeating 'this is a dream" to myself.

Yeah, that can work sometimes.  I've been liking to do that when I'm having difficulty quieting my thoughts lately. Or after WBTB's.
I usually have trouble keeping my thoughts still after WBTB's. Plus, at that time, there is a greater chance of entering a full blown dream. And bringing that thought in with you could sure help.

[Caradon]

Todays attempts
Sunday/August/23/2009
 
well there was a lot of little stuff, can't remember everything.
 
There was one at the beginning of the night where it was like I was looking through someone else's eyes. The person was in a garden picking what looked like tomatoes off a green plant. I could see my arms reaching out and picking them, but I was not controlling the arms.
 
Early in the morning I remember twice finding myself Lucid in a hallway looking at a door that was partially open. The second time it happened, before the scene  fades, a man opens the door from the inside and steps out. I watch him walk away from me down the hall. As I watch him walking, I try to think of a way to hold myself in the scene. But it still fades.
 
There were a couple of other non Lucid dream entries. In one I noticed something weird and almost became Lucid in it.
 
Into my nap
 
I lay there not really caring if I fall asleep. I was just trying to see what I could get for WILDing.
 
This is weird to describe. I start to get that expanding kind of feeling a little bit. And the feeling of laying there creates this image of a kind of  dark square shape in my vision.
Around this square shape I am able to purposely create a silver ring. I make the silver ring spin, circling the black shape. It now feels as if I'm in the center of the black shape, and the ring is spinning around me. But it's just a feeling, because I can see it in front of me.  I stop focusing on the spinning, and  I start sliding out of it. so I make the ring spin again. I make it spin really fast, and I can feel myself getting pulled deeper into sleep. then I'm suddenly standing on a trail at the park preserve, and I'm seeing these wide tan spinning disks flying down the trail away from me.
 
After that I appear several more times at the park preserve. And each time some kid on a skate board just about runs right into me.