Dreamsigns are basically themes that occur in your dreams. They are probably the easiest way for new dreamers to realize they are dreaming and become lucid.
Every dreamer should keep track of his or her dreamsigns and make sure they categorize their dreamsigns. Then every person should see which dreamsigns occur the most and make it a habit to constantly be checking to see if those dreamsigns are occuring, and performing a reality check whenever one of those dreamsigns occurs.
A dreamsign has been broken down into four sections by Stephen LaBerge, a leader in the field of lucid dreaming, and I have broken down each of my dreamsigns into two separate categories which makes it easier to use those dreamsigns. First I will explain Stephen LaBerge's categories and then mine.
Inner Awareness:
Inner Awareness is when something dealing with thought, emotion, perception, or sensation seems different from normal life. For example you may have a strange thought or be able to control things with your mind. You could have an overwhelming emotion. You're vision could be blurry. Or you could have a feeling of leaving your body. These would all be examples of Inner Awareness dreamsigns.
Action:
Action is when you or another dream character performs an action that is strange and could not be done unless in the dream world. This action, however, is an action that occurs in the dream environment, not a strange feeling which would be Inner Awareness. An example would be a malfunctioning object or flying.
Form:
Form is when you, a dream character, or a dream object is oddly shaped or transforms. Hair, clothing, and setting are included. Setting, however, is talking about how the setting is a normal place but looks different. Not a strange setting, which is context. Some examples may be a transforming dream character, your room is too big, or knowing you are a different person than you are.
Context:
Context is when the situation or the place in the dream is strange. For example you may be a talking to someone you haven't seen since 4th grade or you may be in the desert.
I have divided them into two categories.
Common:
Common dreamsigns are dreamsigns which occur in your everyday life. You may often see a close friend, and they show up in your dreams a lot. This makes it easier to put these to use because you can perform a reality check whenever you encounter one of these dreamsigns in your life.
Uncommon:
These are dreamsigns which do not often occur in your everyday life. These, unlike common dreamsigns, cannot be practiced as often but can be practiced through studying and intending to notice these dreamsigns.
Now after categorizing your dreamsigns see which dreamsigns occur most often. Also be aware of that category and every time something seems odd about that category in your life, perform a reality check.
Good luck and happy dreaming. :)
Monday, March 23, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Dream Journal - Beginner
A dream journal may be the most important part of lucid dreaming. Without a dream journal, you may have lucid dreams, but chances are you won't remember a thing.
A dream journal is simply a journal write down your dreams from the night before. This may seem like it might not be necessary, like you can remember your dreams without one, but it's extremely hard to remember your dreams without a journal. You're mind will react to the journal and remember your dreams naturally if you write them down, but it will forget them if you never open up a dream journal. So basically, make one. Here's what you have to do if you ever want to remember your dreams:
Preparation:
1. Either go buy a journal or use the online dream journal at lucidipedia.
2. Either put your dream journal and a pen next to your bed or a pad of paper and a pen.
3. Get some sort of light to use when writing down your dreams in the middle of the night. I like a small flashlight because I can see the paper without it waking me up as much as a regular light.
Usage:
1. Before going to bed repeat the following. "I will remember my dreams." Repeat it as much as you want and truly believe that you will remember your dreams. Don't just say it, believe it. I can't stress enough how important belief is in lucid dreaming. I'll have a whole post on belief sometime in the future.
2. Every time you wake up think, "what was I just dreaming?" Don't move, just keep your eyes closed and think. Try not to fall asleep while thinking. Some people find it helpful to jot down notes while they are thinking while others find it helpful to think out the whole dream and then write down notes to remember it in the morning. Try both and see which works best for you.
3. In the morning grab your dream journal and open it up to a fresh page.
4. Put down the date and the time, if you have the time when you fell asleep and woke up.
5. Give your dream a catchy title. Something so that you can look at it and go, "oh right that's what that dream is about."
6.Give your dream a genre. This can really help to differentiate between your dreams and can be a useful dreamsign.
7. Write down whether you were lucid or not. It might also be helpful to include how lucid you were since there are many different levels.
8. Write a detailed description of your dream. Everything you can remember from the dream should be in your description.
9. Highlight or underline anything that seemed out of the ordinary in your dreams. Anything that could have tipped you off that you were dreaming. These are your dreamsigns and noting what type of dreamsigns you are having will be the best way to become lucid. My next post will be on dreamsigns.
10. Make a list of dream characters. Sometimes a certain character will be in many of your dreams and this becomes a dreamsign.
Some people, I'm one of them, think that this takes much to long and they get tired of it. But there's hope for us lazy bastards out there. You don't need to keep an ultra super detailed dream journal forever. When starting out, write down every single detail. When you get good at recalling dreams and it comes naturally, you can start only putting down dreams that you especially liked, or leaving out some of the details in your dreams. Just make sure that you continue to recall your dreams with as much clarity and detail as you had before. If you can't remember dreams as well, go back to writing a detailed journal for a while.
A dream journal is simply a journal write down your dreams from the night before. This may seem like it might not be necessary, like you can remember your dreams without one, but it's extremely hard to remember your dreams without a journal. You're mind will react to the journal and remember your dreams naturally if you write them down, but it will forget them if you never open up a dream journal. So basically, make one. Here's what you have to do if you ever want to remember your dreams:
Preparation:
1. Either go buy a journal or use the online dream journal at lucidipedia.
2. Either put your dream journal and a pen next to your bed or a pad of paper and a pen.
3. Get some sort of light to use when writing down your dreams in the middle of the night. I like a small flashlight because I can see the paper without it waking me up as much as a regular light.
Usage:
1. Before going to bed repeat the following. "I will remember my dreams." Repeat it as much as you want and truly believe that you will remember your dreams. Don't just say it, believe it. I can't stress enough how important belief is in lucid dreaming. I'll have a whole post on belief sometime in the future.
2. Every time you wake up think, "what was I just dreaming?" Don't move, just keep your eyes closed and think. Try not to fall asleep while thinking. Some people find it helpful to jot down notes while they are thinking while others find it helpful to think out the whole dream and then write down notes to remember it in the morning. Try both and see which works best for you.
3. In the morning grab your dream journal and open it up to a fresh page.
4. Put down the date and the time, if you have the time when you fell asleep and woke up.
5. Give your dream a catchy title. Something so that you can look at it and go, "oh right that's what that dream is about."
6.Give your dream a genre. This can really help to differentiate between your dreams and can be a useful dreamsign.
7. Write down whether you were lucid or not. It might also be helpful to include how lucid you were since there are many different levels.
8. Write a detailed description of your dream. Everything you can remember from the dream should be in your description.
9. Highlight or underline anything that seemed out of the ordinary in your dreams. Anything that could have tipped you off that you were dreaming. These are your dreamsigns and noting what type of dreamsigns you are having will be the best way to become lucid. My next post will be on dreamsigns.
10. Make a list of dream characters. Sometimes a certain character will be in many of your dreams and this becomes a dreamsign.
Some people, I'm one of them, think that this takes much to long and they get tired of it. But there's hope for us lazy bastards out there. You don't need to keep an ultra super detailed dream journal forever. When starting out, write down every single detail. When you get good at recalling dreams and it comes naturally, you can start only putting down dreams that you especially liked, or leaving out some of the details in your dreams. Just make sure that you continue to recall your dreams with as much clarity and detail as you had before. If you can't remember dreams as well, go back to writing a detailed journal for a while.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
What Is Lucid Dreaming?
Lucid dreaming is being conscious in a dream.
There are different levels of lucidity however. An example of a low level of lucidity may be when you are aware you are dreaming, but you do not have complete control over your dream. You don't truly understand that everything around you is not real and is just the thoughts accumulated in your head. Some things that aren't true in the real world you may accept. A high level of lucidity would be truly understanding that everything around you is not real. Understanding that you have complete control over every aspect around you.
Some people don't understand how you can be lucid, but still not have control over your dreams. Well, once you experience it, you will completely understand. At low levels of lucidity you often do one of the following:
1. Wake up from the dream (if it's a nightmare).
2. Realize you are lucid but decide to just experience the dream.
3. Realize it is a dream but don't grasp the concept of what a dream is.
For example, I once had a dream where I was at a party. The party was taking place at a friend's house and I walked upstairs with one of my friends. When we walked upstairs it was my house and I realized, I must be dreaming. After talking to my friend we walked through my house and I found a CD player. I clicked play and it started displaying weird symbols. I thought to myself, "that's strange... that doesn't usually happen. Well it must just be because I'm dreaming." I was lucid. I understood that I was dreaming. But I did not have control because I did not realize that a dream means nothing is real.
So now you know what lucid dreaming is, and I bet you've got 100 more questions than the one we started with. Well luckily the how and why will be coming soon. And soon after you read those basics I'll start posting some advanced tools. So keep on watching my blog and hopefully you'll be lucid soon.
There are different levels of lucidity however. An example of a low level of lucidity may be when you are aware you are dreaming, but you do not have complete control over your dream. You don't truly understand that everything around you is not real and is just the thoughts accumulated in your head. Some things that aren't true in the real world you may accept. A high level of lucidity would be truly understanding that everything around you is not real. Understanding that you have complete control over every aspect around you.
Some people don't understand how you can be lucid, but still not have control over your dreams. Well, once you experience it, you will completely understand. At low levels of lucidity you often do one of the following:
1. Wake up from the dream (if it's a nightmare).
2. Realize you are lucid but decide to just experience the dream.
3. Realize it is a dream but don't grasp the concept of what a dream is.
For example, I once had a dream where I was at a party. The party was taking place at a friend's house and I walked upstairs with one of my friends. When we walked upstairs it was my house and I realized, I must be dreaming. After talking to my friend we walked through my house and I found a CD player. I clicked play and it started displaying weird symbols. I thought to myself, "that's strange... that doesn't usually happen. Well it must just be because I'm dreaming." I was lucid. I understood that I was dreaming. But I did not have control because I did not realize that a dream means nothing is real.
So now you know what lucid dreaming is, and I bet you've got 100 more questions than the one we started with. Well luckily the how and why will be coming soon. And soon after you read those basics I'll start posting some advanced tools. So keep on watching my blog and hopefully you'll be lucid soon.
What Is This?
This is a blog where I will keep anyone interested updated on my current status, what I plan to be doing soon, and plenty of information on subjects such as lucid dreaming, the astral plane, and metaphysics. I also hope to gain enough readers to be able to conduct some sociological and anthropological experiments.
If this blog gets some interested people, I'd like to use some different mediums for my teachings and my thoughts, such as youtube.
I'm also putting labels on every post to make it easier to differentiate between the topics you want to view. You can always contact me by either posting a comment here or e-mailing me at ragethecorp@hotmail.com. Any comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated. I hope someone finds this blog useful. :)
If this blog gets some interested people, I'd like to use some different mediums for my teachings and my thoughts, such as youtube.
I'm also putting labels on every post to make it easier to differentiate between the topics you want to view. You can always contact me by either posting a comment here or e-mailing me at ragethecorp@hotmail.com. Any comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated. I hope someone finds this blog useful. :)
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