About time; Swords!

Holy crap; it's been a long time! I was beginning to dread the impending journal entry marking one whole year without a lucid dream... Finally, another moment of lucidity has graced my slumber!

So as far as I can remember, I was a character in one of those anxiety dreams, centered around being chased relentlessly. I was not alone. There was a man running with me, and I felt somewhat safe with him near. If i can remember correctly, he was dressed in loose fitting, dark red, ninja style clothing. His face was uncovered, and shone with a stony confidence. His eyes focused on the way before us as we ran. His gate was reminiscent of the old NES game Ninja Gaiden, as his opposite hand rested on the pommel of his sword.

Eventually we came to a wall inside of what appeared to be some sort of storage room. I am reminded of the room in which Sebastian holed himself up in The Never Ending Story movie adaptation. Three walls were cinder block, and the fourth was chain link. It was the only way out, and our pursuers were closing in.

I was nervous, but I had faith in my companion to see us through the onslaught. He stood silently beside me with his long sword drawn and raised. I shifted my focus to the doorway for a moment, and then looked back at the man. His sword was gone! "Now what? Where did his sword go?!", I thought. I looked around the room frantically. I was confused by what had just happened.

For an instant I though "This is just the type of thing that would happen in a dream..." In hindsight it is agonizing to remember that moment, as I teetered between just letting it fly and the catharsis. I was able to break the fog this time.

"It is a dream!" I thought, as I was flooded with joy and relief. I took a moment to remind myself that there was no longer any need to be afraid. I decided that we still needed a sword before we left the room. I willed that a sword be underneath a large birdcage type object just in front of us.

Walking to the cage, I looked down to see a cutlass of sorts. It looked to be of bronze, and was quite plain. No good, I though; not enough fun. I looked away, and imagined more of a claymore style blade. When I looked back the distinctively shaped hilt of a claymore poked out from beneath the cage. It was gold, and had an intricately worked design scrawling the entire mass. Simply gorgeous. I drew it out. It was heavy. I willed the sword to be light, and immediately I was able to heft the giant blade with just one hand.

I decided to leave the room, and my companion calmly followed me out. We were immediately rushed by two creatures that resembled the humanoid/spider/zombie critters from Final Fantasy Crisis Core (which I played to great extents a while back). Cutting through them was effortless, with the featherweight weapon in my grasp. Their bodies slid in half as was common with the Odin summon in most FF games. I couldn't help but smile in satisfaction. With the creatures dispatched I took a few moments to test the weapon against other objects of wood and metal. It had the same effect; sliding straight through with no effort at all. Simply because I intended it so.

After I had had my fun, I looked around the environment. My friend was still there, and we were standing in a warehouse with caged storage rooms like the one we had just left lining both sides. The hall we were in was littered with barrels and other miscellaneous items.

I made an effort to remember any goals I had set for my next LD, and it came to me immediately. I was planning to meet my spirit guide.

This is where I messed up. Instead of knowing that my spirit guide would appear, I began thinking "I wish I could meet my spirit guide... I wish I could meet my spirit guide...". I scanned the room expectantly as I repeated the thought. Nothing was happening.

The world began to become unstable. "No! Not yet!" I thought; but it was no use. I buckled down and concentrated on riding the wave into consciousness, holding onto my memories.

I awoke in my bed, failed in my goal, but refreshed from my return to the dream world.

Lets hope I can visit again soon this time...

Good News - - Not For Me Though...

Well, I am still in an extremely dry spot on the lucid dreaming front; however, I have more incentive now to give it thought throughout the day.

Just yesterday I had a short discussion on LDing with a couple of friends at work. Wouldn't you know it, that night they both had their first lucid experiences.

Jimmy told me about his experience with the WBTB/WILD technique and a dream filled with cartoon foxes and a strange cartoon man. He also reported a false awakening shortly after.

Tom told me of a brief WBTB induced OBE in which he was able to lift his arms out of his body before he was awoken by barking dogs.

Needless to say, I think they are now both in the grip of LD fever...

Congrats guys!

Seeing With My Eyes Closed

Just a small happening worth mentioning:

Shortly after falling unconscious recently, I came to be aware that i was looking at my room. The interesting part; my eyes were closed...

Upon realizing this, I became too excited and the vision faded out. My body then woke up.

Is this related to OBEs, or was it just extremely vivid HH?

Premonitions

The most interesting thing just happened to me.

I had come home from work, and I was very tired; so I decided to stretch out on the couch and take a short nap.

I had a brief dream just before being awakened. It was actually more like a false awakening. I thought I had been awoken by my wife. She was standing in the entry to the living room holding a sheet of paper. She excitedly told me that our house had won second place in the neighborhood holiday decorating contest. She was surprised because the decorations were not very elaborate at all. I congratulated her, and pondered the moment.

Then I woke up for real. I find my wife standing in the the entryway holding a white sheet of paper. She tells me that our house had won second place in the neighborhood holiday decorating contest. I congratulate her, although I am puzzled... I ask "Didn't you tell me that once already?" She tells me no, they had just left the front door, and I had been asleep the whole time.

Being an individual who tends to stand on logic, I immediately begin to form explanations. The only one that holds water is deja vu. But it was not deja vu in the classic sense of "Hey, didn't this happen before..." or "wasn't I here some time before?" without any real memory of the exact event or time frame. This was a very vivid recollection of just moments before. I true memory, and I was clearly aware of the dream having just happened. It undoubtedly stood far apart from deja vu.

I then thought, well maybe I heard my wife talking to the people at the door in my sleep, and translated it into a dream. I realized though, that the dream mirrored reality exactly. Every detail of the dream was exactly as it happened, and appeared, only minutes later. Not to mention, I cant hear that part of the house from where I was laying.

Anyhow, I don't really know what to make of it, but I am positive it happened as I described. I think I would much rather have lucid dreams than premonitions... On a side note, I have constantly been glancing at the paper my wife was holding to ensure I didn't make the whole thing up. Heh.

Lucid Block...

Well, I figured I had better post the traditional "I'm not dead after all" entry, as it has been about two months since an update.

I have had decent dream recall over the past month or so, with dreams including scrambling up completely vertical, sodden, vine draped pathways while singing loudly, and another involving a new job as a bio-environmental engineer taking soil samples near a helicopter crash site... My ability to lucid dream, however, has been in recluse. It is beginning to stress me out.

I am the type of person who needs to have mastery over something before I can move on, or go more in depth. Lucid dreaming is a strange beast. It is nearly impossible for some people to tame. Regardless of how much effort you put into incubating your dreams, you are still left with almost pure chance to work with...

I assume that if I could master the WILD technique, then I would not have to deal with chance at all; but I have given serious time and effort to the method for an entire year now, and aside from my very first night, I have had no success with it at all. I cannot keep my mind from wandering to save my life. I pride myself on self discipline and self control, but this eludes me to no end. How frustrating.

Anyhow, wish me luck in the near future... I think December 26th is my one year anniversary of discovering LDs. That small step has opened my eyes to a myriad of other schools of thought. Thank you lucid dreaming; and thanks to the guy who was brave enough to publicly mention the term within earshot, effectively opening up new paths in my life.

Happy holidays.

Unlit Stairwell

I find myself at the entrance to an apartment style stairwell. As I step inside I notice a woman and her two children approaching the door as well. I hold the door for them. The stairwell is dark so I turn on the light switch. It doesn't work. There is another switch next to it so I flip it as well. A sputtering incandescent light strobes the stairwell and the woman walks up.

A feeling of oddity comes over me. I realize that I might be in a dream and consider running right off of the stairwell landing and flying. Exercising better judgment, I decide that I had better try an RC first, to be sure. Sometimes I just count my fingers while my arms are at my side by touching finger tips to thumb instead of raising them to look (in public for instance). As I do this, I imagine that if I am dreaming there is a goods chance I will find a fifth or sixth finger. As I pass my fourth finger and anticipate another I feel resistance.

I realize that I am wearing gloves, so I try to take it off quickly to verify what I felt. The glove is on so tight it is like trying to pull off wet rubber gloves without rolling them down. Once the glove is off, I don't even bother looking. I know that I am dreaming.

I step outside and try to remember my latest objectives. I remember that this moon's LD4all quest is to make/hear music/singing in your dreams and to try and remember it upon waking. I begin to anticipate hearing music from the sky above me.

I begin to feel my real body as I concentrate.

AWAKENING


Well, I failed at the quest for this moon, but what is interesting is that this is the first time that I have dealt with the classic broken light switch scenario in an LD. Perhaps next time, I will realize right away what is going on.

First Chaining

For the first time, I was able to induce around 3 chained LDs near morning. They were mainly very low lucidity and therefore had become very explicit. I won't post the details here.

The most interesting aspect (and I think this may have been due to the half asleep/half awake state I was in) was that I didn't have to reality check at all. I just knew that I had transitioned into a dream. For those of you who are unfamiliar with chaining, it is a process involving laying motionless as soon as you awaken and visualizing the setting you just awoke from. If you can do it properly, you will fall right back to sleep and induce the same dream environment.

Unfortunately, each time I would fall back into the shallow sleep, I would be awoken by noises outside my bedroom.

Prior to the chaining, I recall a weird ND related to riding a hoveround around my old high school, and having people call me out for smoking. I would try my best to deny it, but somehow the fact that I was on a hoveround was proof enough (as if they went hand in hand or something). The part that sucked was that I remember knowing that in all reality I had NOT been smoking, but I could not convince anyone of this.

I also remember a dream of climbing down a tree in my parents front yard. I see my wife at bottom. The branches seem very far apart (more so than they ever were in real life).

Once I am on the ground I think to make a very determined effort to jump into the air and fly. I actually get a little air time. I think "Wow! Intention manifestation is no joke after all, and reality really is subjective..." then decide that is rediculous and look at my hands. My fingers change lengths as I turn them over. I begin to tell my wife that this is a dream, and a noise wakes me up.

All in all, I was very perceptive in my dreams this night. I don't think I have ever had as many LDs in a single night as I did last night. It's too bad they were not a bit more productive.