Newsletter #69, 2011 July 18

[pj]

The Erratic Oneironaut - Issue #69
July 18, 2009

It All Starts With Recall

According to the University of California Santa Cruz Dream Research Department, most people over the age of ten have 4 to 6 dreams per night during REM.  We know from our collective experience here that we also dream during NREM sleep, so the number of dreams most of us have nightly is probably in the neighborhood of ten or more.  The university reports that 95-99% of our dreams are forgotten.

Interest in dreams and motivation are the most important factors for those with better recall.  "For some reason, these people have decided that their dreams are worth remembering. (. . . ) The main reason we know 'interest' and 'motivation' are important is the high recallers say on surveys that they think dreams are important.  But we also know it because some low recallers are stimulated to recall when they read about dreams or take a class on them."  (http://psych.uscsc.edu/dreams/FAQ/index.html)  Personality factors show surprisingly little correlation with dream recall, though chemical imbalances and other physiological factors can have profound influences on the ability to recall or even dream at all.

Our advice to simply start paying attention is the foundation of getting started in lucid dreaming.  You have to be interested and desirous.  Without both, the combined odds of becoming aware in a dream and then recalling it are incredibly small.  Without both, we are among the majority of humans who are not lucid dreamers.


July Lucid Challenges:

Basic - Challenge a DC to solve a math or logic problem.
Intermediate - Create a black hole.
Advanced - Enter a black hole and report back on its contents.

July Monthly Meeting Place - The Hotel California
Please record all of your visits to The Hotel California Here:

Making it to The Hotel California while lucid and talking to another person there will earn a Gold Award. Making it to The Hotel California while lucid but not talking to another person there will earn a Silver Award. Making it to The Hotel California in a non-lucid dream will earn a bronze award. (Just be sure to remember to use your lucid abilities to get out of there because as the song says you can check out anytime you want, but you can never leave. )


Closing Thought

Becoming a lucid dreamer starts with recall, and recall starts with interest.  If you are struggling, don't let your interest wane!  Dive in deeper and more fervently.  Read the dreams of others and comment on them.  Join discussions and immerse yourself in dream-related activities and awareness.  Anything you do that keeps you thinking about dreams is likely to help.  Providing fodder for maintaining interest and awareness is one of the prime purposes of the Mortal Mist community.

You have to want it, and you have to act on that desire.  That's really the bottom line.

Until next time,

pj. . .

CARPE NOCTEM