My road to lucidity

[Digitaluniverse]

Again WBTB last night.
Remembered some vague things. While awake tried some meditation and after about 10-15 minutes went back to sleep again.

Not really any vivid recall again. But I trust this will improve again in the near future.
The things that I do remember aren't really worth mentioning (did write them down in my real DJ).

[Digitaluniverse]

This morning I woke up remembering a lot more than the days before!

I dreamt about my ex-girlfriend. We were at my parents' place and she seemed comfortable seeing me. I told her about a book I had read from a famous Dutch writer. She asked me how I liked it and I said that I loved it.
I told her that she really had to visit the Documenta in Kassel (Germany). It stays there for 100 days, so she should have plenty of time to have a look there.
Some time later she was lying in my brother's bed, I was lying next to the bed on another mattress. I was reading a dictionary. A really good one that also contained an introduction and several columns. One was about Windows and how foobar2000 is much better than Winamp. My brother was reading a Japanese dictionary, but he was away for a few minutes to answer a phone call.
She was wearing a red shirt and was lying with her back towards me. I wanted to hug but knew that I couldn't do that. I also wanted to ask her how she is and how school is going.
Then I woke up.

Soon after I remembered some other dream in which I was building some kind of 3D world for a game. It consisted mainly of tall purple pillars with the tops of them being the 'arena'.

[Digitaluniverse]

This morning quite a minimal recall.
I can recall two fragments, but I don't think I can even write more than 2 lines about it.

Hopefully tomorrow it'll be better again!

[Digitaluniverse]

This morning as well as yesterday quite a bad recall again.
Only some fragments.

One about a gallery, another one about 3 sticks with a different height.
This sucks and it demotivates me. Maybe I should just lower the focus on getting an LD for some time...
The only vivid dream I had was on the 5th, but I suspect the cigarette that I smoked that same night being the cause of that.
Because of that I'm not going to take anything for some time that might influence my recall.

[WritersCube]

Have you had any experience with coffee or tea before bed? Calming teas may help with focus while a little bit of caffeine can help with vividness ^_^ this may also help overall recall ability as well.

[Digitaluniverse]

Hm, I don't like coffee, but I drink tea occasionally. Not before bed, though, always in the morning. It's worth a try though, thanks!

This morning it was much better already!
I dreamt that I was selling some kind of goodies, one customer was complaining and later there were too many customers to properly give them the change back of the money they bought things for.
Also there was something with school, but right now I don't have time to type it all out.

[Rainbow]

Congratulations for the nose pinch test on July 2nd!    The first big milestone in your lucid journey has now been reached. Some people wait months for that to happen.

As you're probably aware it's very common to wake up immediately after realising you are dreaming for the first time. So now what I would advise is three things...

1) Change the message on your phone to say "do a reality check" because to be honest the message you have there "I am aware that I am dreaming" is one which you are likely to ignore even when you are dreaming. You must actively do a reality check when you see it. Generally speaking for beginners, reality checks are the most reliable way to establish when you are dreaming.

2) Every time you do a reality check think to yourself 'if I discover I am dreaming I will stay very calm and just look around' and then practise doing so even when the test shows you to be awake.

3) Prepare yourself ONE simple goal that you would like to do in a dream and remind yourself of that goal every time you have done a reality check and calmness reminder.

Keep up the great work!

PS: grab yourself a copy of Stephen's book "Exploring the world of lucid dreaming" on ebay and read it.

[Digitaluniverse]

Wow, thanks a lot Rainbow! Think I needed that!

Good idea about the message on my phone, I will change it. And when I'll do an RC I'll stay calm like you said! Good ideas!

[Digitaluniverse]

This morning I remember a dream about a chinese woman. She was small and had quite long hair. She was wearing a red robe.
She seemed quite troubles by something. Unfortunately that's all I can remember, but soon as I woke up I could recall more.

[Digitaluniverse]

11th of July:

I remember me and a friend cycling over some sort of dike. There were some classmates of him with us. We were talking about acoustic guitars.

Another fragment I remember is something about small wooden rooms.

[Digitaluniverse]

Yay, nice dream!

12th of July:

I dreamt about I was making some kind of painting with plaster castings of (fossils of) sea creatures, making it look like some kind of relief with many very interesting structures.
There were some people from another class that were ridiculing and drawing lines on it, this annoyed me very much. I got angry and shouted, making them go away.
A little girl, maybe about 10 to 12 year or something, helped me. Some people were shouting back to me why the girl was with me, accusing me of maybe having a relationship with her of some sort.
I didn't really like the accusation and said that even if she was 12 or 2, it didn't matter, she was just a good friend.
She suggested me to use some kind of black thick paint that would become transparent when dried up, to repair some of the damage on my work.
I liked her suggestion very much, I thought it was very cool. I gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

Another dream was more vague. My brother and some friends of his were in my bedroom at my parents' place. All of a sudden they somehow got in some closed space behind a wall.
They weren't even panicked or something, they were casually looking for an exit. After a few moments they got out through a wall in my brothers' bedroom.

[Digitaluniverse]

13 of July:

I woke up around 4.30 remembering some vague things from a series I've been watching in combination with some things happening yesterday. Strange how the mind can connect these different things into something coherent.

Then, I woke up at 8, and first I couldn't remember a single thing. Was a little bit upset about it and kept trying hard to remember something.
After some time I looked at some game-boxes and I remembered:
I was with some old friends at a party, it was a very strange party. There were some things that were planned, girls forming couples with guys. But everyone was quite young. I can't really recall the really strange parts about it, though.
I remember some friends having bought World of Warcraft and wanting to play it. I wanted to know on what server they were playing, so I could join them using a 10 free days-pass.
At the end we were going to catch a train at the train station, we ran across railways and climbed platforms as some kind of shortcut. I remember being a bit frightened, because it is forbidden to do that.
But we managed to get in the train (to Rotterdam), only for me to find out that I had forgotten a plastic bag with some stuff in it.

Also, I remember some scenery that I can't really connect with any kind of narrative. In some it was snowing at night. Overall, the view of them keeps intriguing me.

[Rainbow]

Then, I woke up at 8, and first I couldn't remember a single thing. Was a little bit upset about it and kept trying hard to remember something.

OK, I'm going to give you pearls here...

When you awaken remain still with your eyes shut and in fact even put a hand over your eyes to block out all light then just relax and think about what emotion you just felt. Also, reflect back on whether you did a reality check recently. You may be surprised to find that this prompts you into remembering that you indeed did one at some stage during your dreaming.

If you're really serious you'll invest in a sleep mask which will stop any light getting into your eyes at all upon awakening. I never sleep without mine on. This is hands down the best sleep mask I've come across (I've tried numerous expensive ones and ended up throwing them in the trash). You wanna get lucid? Buy one.

http://www.dreamessentials.com/product-66/escape-luxury-travel-sleep-mask-with-carry-pouch-and-earplugs

[Digitaluniverse]

Hmm. Thanks for the suggestion. I've never tried a sleeping mask.
I'll think about it. In the mean time, I'll try to keep my eyes shut while trying to remember my dream and do what you also said.

Also, maybe I'm struggling a bit too much here? I don't know whether this really improves my recall in the long run. I can also just relax a bit more and leave it at that when I don't seem to remember something from my dreams... Maybe I'm just forcing it too much.

[Digitaluniverse]

First dream was about a girl visiting my parents' house, I know her for some years already.
She handed out umbrellas to everyone. I was really critical about the size and the color, it seemed really important to me. Once I had the one I wanted I couldn't get it open to the right size.
She also seemed interested in some type of film or animation that had a strange name, consisting of three words. It looked quite sci-fi.

Second dream:
My cousin let me listen to an old song of music that we both liked a long time ago. He wanted me to guess the song. I guessed two times but it wasn't the right answer. Coincidentally, after he tried to pronounce the name and completed it for him, it turned out that my first two guesses were actually pseudonyms for the same artist.