Being the first message I'll name a couple ideas I had some ideas of what to be/do while LDing.

Try being a LoonyToon character being in a Loony world like in Who Framed Rodger Rabit. You'll find like I did that it's addicting to be a loony toon character cause it's like experiencing like a little kid again.

Try being a baby, so you can actually enjoy being taken care of by people and be old enough to remember it.

Play in a Proffessional sports game so you can be in front of all the people.

Be the King of the World.

Moving back to your childhood neighborhood and seeing and being with all your friends/being in an old classroom with all your old schoolmates.

You may think to yourself about how you will not be able to remember those people, but trust me you will, your brain is much more powerful than you think and all Lucid Dreamers know this when testing the limits of a mind's subconcious memory.

Please post more to this message board I feel it's a good topic and one that many people would be intersested in hearing about it and I'm sure if I have a lot of topics that surely most of you out there do! -John

One thing that I've thought I'd like to do but not done yet is to go into a thunderstorm, into the actual clouds where the energy is. Something I practice frequently is "summoning". I call someone that I want to be a dream character as if I fully expect that they'd be part of the dream's reality. It usually works if the discrepancy between person and setting isn't too bad, but sometimes the results aren't what I expect: once I "summoned" a favorite character and he appeared with no head. Whoops. Like those old star trek transporter problems... I don't think of this by any means as summoning a real person or spirit, just as choosing who I want to play with in my dream.

Hi, Katie

Your post reminds me of a passage from Ann Faraday's Dream Power, which I will now quote at length. This is from her chapter "The 'High' Dream"

Quote:

Several years ago while still a student, I had a dream quite different from any experience I have ever had before either asleep or awake. In it, I was standing on the veranda of my parents' house looking out at the garden, which was in full bloom. Suddenly, the whole garden became filled with a quite new kind of life. The flowers and trees literally pulsated with energy and radiated exotic color, and my own body seemed to join in the dance of nature. The experience seemed to last only a minute or two, and then the garden reverted to its normal very beautiful state, and I woke up. This remained a unique and extraordinary experience for me until much later when I took part in some experimental research on the psychedelic drugs, and realized that in some strange way, for a few moments, my brain must have gotten itself into a condition similar to that produced by LSD and mescaline, and to a lesser extent by cannabis.

One of the most remarkable effects of these drugs is to make scenes come alive with vibrant intensity which makes even the most beautiful landscape seem lifeless in comparison, and to give the observer a feeling of ecstatic participation in a vibrant life-dance. I had had what Professor Charles Tart in his book Altered States of Consciousness (which was not even published then) calls a "high" dream - but whereas he finds that they are usually reported only by people who have experience of the psychedelic drugs in waking life, mine came before I had taken any. This opens up the fascinating possibility of training the mind to achieve this extraordinary ecstatic state without the use of drugs at all.

I had several high dreams during and after the period of my drug research, and the one I remember most vividly still remains somewhat of a mystery to me. In this dream, I found myself on a desert island with some friends when a storm blew up. As we stood and watched the lightning flash across the sky and the waves beating against the rocks, I thought "I wish I had some acid now." My wish immediately became reality, and I reached a "high" in the dream. For a timeless moment, I danced, flashed, and roared with the storm and seemed to merge with the "being" at the center of it. On regaining normal consciousness in the dream, I turned to my friends and said, "You need acid to see the devil in the storm," and they nodded their comprehension. I woke up feeling exhilarated and joyful beyond belief, a feeling which remained with me for several days. Here again is evidence that the "high" state can be produced without drugs - in this case it was a mental image of LSD which succeeded in bringing about the ecstatic dream experience.

It seems probable that one of the easiest ways to produce a specific type of altered state would be to deliberately ingest a "dream drug" in a lucid dream that would produce that state in people who ingested it while awake. It should not be necessary to have experience of the drug while physically awake; having read a description of the drug's common effects should suffice. Another possibility would be to conjure up and ingest an imaginary drug designed to produce a certain effect.

If anyone is interested in exploring this idea further, it is discussed in a fascinating article by A.S. Kay in the December, 1987 issue of Psychedelic Monographs & Essays, pp. 39-51. The easiest way to obtain the article would be to go to your local library and ask them to do an Inter-Library Loan to have a photocopy of it sent for you (assuming that your local library doesn't have Psychedelic Monographs & Essays, which is probably a safe assumption).

I have had a few ideas of what to do while lucid.

One of them was to imagine you have a hand held phone and their is a button on the phone which calls a random number, anywhere in the world....

Imagine who you could end up talking too! :P

Also another interesting thing to do, although I am very new to this hidden realm of reality is meet someone who you know in waking life, and ask them to think of a fruit. Tell them that the next day you see them you will have the answer. That night, lucid dream and meet that person and ask them the question. The next day when you see them, write down on a peice of paper the answer that you recieved in the lucid dream and then hand them the peice of paper, but folded up. Now let that person tell you what type of fruit it was, and then let them unfold the paper.

If you get the right answer, wow, legendary I must say.

hehe of course to perform this, you must be a good lucid dreamer eh ;) And of course the question can change to anything you want it to be.

Hell, imagine asking this person to think of a question, but to not tell you the question!

hehe, of course these are just ideas ;)

Excellent ideas, Mathew. The thing about lucid dreaming is that nobody knows what the limits are, because it is, actually , unexplored territory - -at least on a scientific basis.

So I look forward to your reports (so long as they're delivered with scientific rigour, of course) :-)

Alan T.

hey, Alan..

what is it that you would like to explore?...photographic recall, healing powers, or transgression? joe

Tell me about yourr FMRI reseaarcch.....

Joe,

Since telling my friends of my interest in LD, several have reported seeing it mentioned in various journals - which has given them the impression of LD as attracting increasing media attention. I don't know if this is an example of people only noticing things when they have a connection to them (something like Stephen's interaction of schema perhaps?) , but if they are right that LD is developing into a fashionable pursuit, it may mean there will be more chance of fulfilling a personal dream of mine - which is to do an fMRI study of the lucid dreaming brain.

I'm involved in schizophrenia research, so I think such a study may provide some useful information on how the brain can encompass an awareness (an 'I') while also projecting a full-scale environment for the awareness to observe and interract with. This seems to involve the same brain areas which produce the disembodied voices and hallucinations of schizophrenia. If we could identify these areas we may be able to link them with earlier research, and what we already know of the cognitive role of their neural networks, to gain some new insight.

Cheers

Dial Nutbanger

Joe,

I usually don't post here, but your mention of fMRI caught my eye. I'm a senior at Stanford majoring in Neuropsychology and I work with Dr. LaBerge in the Psychophysiology lab.

My current project (which is also my honors thesis) is using 32-electrode EEG to discover the neural patterns of lucidity. To date, we've collected over fifty lucid dreams from ten subjects and are now analyzing the results. Earlier findings in a pilot study by Brylowski found 40 Hz neural activation in the pre-frontal cortex, which has been linked to planning voluntary action.

It's been exciting to conduct research on this since it could have such a huge impact, and seemingly because no one else is doing it. Yet, fMRI has much better spatial resolution (<1mm) than EEG (1cm). More importantly, since fMRI can detect activity within the brain (hippocampus, amygdala, sub-cortices), while EEG can only detect activity on the surface, fMRI can tell us a lot more. (EEG has better time resolution (<1ms) than fMRI (1s), but that's less relevant.)

Originally two years ago, I wanted to use simultaneous EEG/fMRI for this project; EEG to detect sleep stages and lucidity signals, fMRI to detect neural activation. The problem is Stanford didn't have the equipment (and as you know, using the fMRI is pricy - ~$400/hr). I believe they do now, so once this EEG study concludes, I hope to look into using fMRI to extend the results.

If you're interested in this, drop me a line and we can share ideas.

Dream on,

-Mark

you da man....

Yes, Alan..there seems to be a overall growing "awareness" amoung social circles I find myself in...Suddenly makes ld induction devices sound like quite a lucrative investment ;~}(...supposed to be a wink, how does keelin do that?)

So the brain scientists are catching up with you, that's great! What, If you care to disclose them, are the main potential outcomes should they pinpoint brain location?

e'oj

Matt:

I really liked you fruit question experiment....

A tangile test of interconnectedness...wow!!!!

But how much of your dream supposition is caused by the sense (aura) of that person? I suggest using a mineral class, instead of plant or animal.

Joe

"Vegtables are sensual, people are sensuous" Marilyn Wormer, still enjoying her visit to the Mediteranian

Mark,

Glad to hear someone is getting closer to doing the fMRI LD study. Take a look at www.nisad.org.au to see what my institute is doing.

Joe,

Outcome? Well, who knows? Schizophrenia research over the last decade has built itself a mountain of study papers - each proposing a wild variety of causes from fish-oil deprivation to living with cats. Maybe one more on top will topple the whole heap over, and two or three may fall out which might relate together into a way to prevent this illness.

Cheers

It really scares me to see that this section isn't growing :/ I mean, the reason I started to have lucid dreams was to have fun...come on ppl lets get the fun ideas flowing in! :D

Hi, Mathew

No need to be frightened! :p However, your suggestion to add more to this thread is a good one.

One idea I've thought about lately is that in a dream it would be a lot of fun to shrink myself down to the size of an insect or even smaller and see what the world would look like on that level. A while ago (in Consensus Reality) I was watching life in a tide pool and thought it would be a lot of fun to shrink myself down and go into the pool and swim around with the animals and plants there. An ant hill would probably be really interesting as well, and there are lots of other possibilities along these lines. Perhaps I could make myself really big and juggle planets or drink the milky way.

At this time I don't think my control of the dream environment is good enough to do something like that, so I consider it more of a long term goal.

Here's one that scares me ........

I am terrified of the ocean and tsunamis so I've always wanted to dream of me body surfing a wave the size of the one from the movie : DEEP IMPACT. Could be fun .........

Also, Adastra mentioned being small - well, imagine taking a trip through the CPU of a new Pentium 4 processor. Well, it doesn't have to be a P4, even an old XT will do. Imagine travelling through the buses at so many Megs a second ....... Weeeee Heeeee ---->

I have SOOO many ideas, I will create a posting with them all soon. It's a pity I cannot live them all out. It seems my Lucid Dreaming days are over. I haven't been able to have one for a while now ...... really trying too :-(

"Sometimes, you have to stop being the bird, and become the statue" Daniel ;-)

Brillant ideas people! hehe man, that would be cool, going through the cpu ;) Hell, why not surf our own brain :D hehe, I am really into motor racing, and I thought that it would be fun, to jump into my CRX SiR (waking car) and race around one of the race tracks that the F1 drivers do....even race with them! Hehehe or how about when you go flying, why not go flying with the best. Get some F-15C Eagles or maybe even some older tastes of the P51D Mustangs, imagine hearing those engines humming at full song and your right next to them! :D

Arrr, I am such a novice at the moment ;) I can barely get a lucid dream coming on...nearly did last night though. Was looking for a watch to do a reality test, I looked at the watch, which displayed a 95 where the 3 o'clock postion is and a 96 where the 4 o'clock postion is. I looked once, looked away then looked back to see nothing had changed, looked away again then looked back and nothing had changed and believed I was in waking life. Funny thing is that I never clicked that a clock would never display a 95 or 96 digit! LOL! :P

Hehehe that just goes to show, that when you look at the time, make sure that the time actually fits into the reality your in. E.g. 1 o'clock, is it dark outside? yeah, make sure the numbers on the clock represent reality (not like me hehe).

Novus Ordo Seclorum - Oderint dum Metuant .... All you need do is look at how far we've come

A friend of mine said a lucid dream activity he used to love was to drive a car so fast that everything became streaks of light. I tried to do that in a dream, but did not get to that point - however I did go extremely fast, and it felt exhilirating. In other lucid dreams I've run really fast - much faster than possible in my physical body - and that felt wonderful.

Incidentally, this friend of mine is somebody who is very skilled in lucid dreaming, but usually doesn't bother exercising that skill. "Been there, done that" seems to be his attitude. Occasionally I can get him interested in a particular lucid dream activity and he'll induce a lucid and try it. It used to bug me that he could lucid dream so easily but didn't use that ability, whereas my lucids are few and far between. grrrr...oh well...

Another cool idea would be to say some keywords like a good one could be "FREEZE TIME!". Then you could go for a walk in a world which is totally still and free from movement. WOW, this would be great fun if someone is chasing you, or you are falling etc.

O well, just ideas ;)

Very interesting dream I had, Was driving along one of the outback roads here in New Zealand and a police car past by heading the other way. I look back to see the car turn around and come after me. This police car comes right up behind me while driving, like the front of his car is really close to touching the back of my car. I very soon expect to hear sirens and flashing lights wanting me to pull over. Next thing I know the car over takes me and it turns out to be a family station wagon towing a trailer! I'm like phew But never become lucid.

The next day I am heading home from my mates and went passed a speed camera speeding, funnily enough, I never saw the camera flash, although it should have. So could this dream have been possibly a warning as to watch out or what? Over here in NZ it takes roughly 2 weeks before the fine comes in the mail, so I am very curious if I get it or not. If I don't get a fine, then the dream I had the night before the incident makes sense in maybe I am getting a second chance or something?? Hmmm who knows

Hi all! My name is Barbara and I am new here. Been reading some posts and I have an idea for something fun to do in a Lucid Dream. At least I find it fun when I remember to do it, and that is to play a really cool guitar solo! I am trying to learn to play the electric guitar and I find that when I dream about playing the guitar, my practice that day is profoundly improved. LD might be a great way to enhance learning...I even find myself speaking Spanish in dreams, another subject I am learning. Though I am not sure if what I, or the other characters say, makes any sense :-) Barbara :-))

A warm and lucid welcome to the Forum!

I very like to play guitar and sing. And two of my longest LD have had the subject music. Listening to music or playing or singing in LD is a wonderful experience. And it may improve your abilities in waking life. Certainly it is a wonderful motivation to be able to experience music in such an extraordinary way, as we can in (lucid) dreams. I have sometimes had similar high feelings while making music in waking time. The thing with language in LD is strange. I had the experience, that LD (and ND) characters are not that fluent speakers, just as my dream ego.

Ralf

Hi, I am new in this forum and I found some nice experience I had in my last LD. I was in Paris in the beginning of last century. A lot of people were walking on the street, it was crowded. It was a Fashion? Street and I was paying very much attention on the dresses the women were using. If I was a fashion designer it will be a great material to make a collection. That was a nice experience of traveling space and time. Then I felt hungry so I made appear a hot dog and then mustard. As a vegetarian I find a way to satisfy my food desire with no calories and meat.

Ralf I had heard some music in my LD too and it is amazing not only how beautiful the melodies are but how words match a melody I had never heard.

Beatrice

Yeah, this LD - music (just like real life music) can be overwhelming.

Hey! In the last two LD's I've had I've just been bouncing and flying around. Even at the same place in both dreams. Changing the scenery I don't want to try again. It's too hard and just make you wake up. I asked if anyone had a technique or tip or something which could make it easier, but I got no answers. And ripping your heart out seems to be a rather hard task too. So I wonder if anyone have any tips of what I can try to do in my LD's. I mean sure, it's extremely fun just bouncing around but I believe it's easier to stay lucid if you have a special task to perform. Otherwise you might forget it's a dream. Like a LD I had a couple of days ago. Suddenly I just took control of my actions and that way became aware of that it was a dream. I turned around and headed back to the people I had just left. When I reached them I had forgot it was a dream and then I kept on dreaming non lucid. A nine second LD. Sure, rather a short LD then none, nevertheless I prefer longer. So, does anyone maybe have a suggestion on a fun task to carry out in the dream world? If so, please tell me'

If you enjoy flying, why not work on increasing your flight capabilities? Here are some ideas:

Obstacles: Dodge them like a slalom course, find a place without them, make them disappear or recognize that they have no substance and fly right through them.

Indoor flight: offers lots of interesting obstacles, plus the challenge of getting out: find an open door or window; find a closed one and open it; shrink and pass through a tiny opening; or pass through "solid" walls and ceilings.

Passengers and cargo: It's interesting to see what your personal dream physics will allow, and try to change it. Currently, for me, it's easy to give rides to small children; average-sized adults are awkward but not impossible to bring along; I can fly my mother on a descending trajectory for a couple kilometers before we hit the ground; and a half-ton Ford pickup truck has an even poorer glide ratio, but it's always fun to try.

Transforming: Think of all the other things that fly, besides dreaming humans.... Countless possibilities!

Hmmm... yes.

Transforming? That's something I've never tried. Sounds fun. I wonder how it's beeing a otter, or a walrus maybe.

Have you transformed into other things, animals and stuff, many times? Do you got some kind of tip maybe?

Hi, everyone. I'm a newcomer to the forum. I got some great ideas from reading all this, particularly Barbara's suggestion about dreaming about playing music and then having this improve your waking-life music playing. If I can manage that, I'd like to do it with painting. I also like Aldara's idea about creating the mental state created by drugs without the drugs. Things I read on the miscellaneous site helped the very next morning when I was lucky enough to have an ld. So this forum is working out great for me. Kate

Greeting, Kate and welcome...

zzzzZZZ(There IS a growing level of awareness!) z z Joe

Hey Kate! You gave me an idea. If I'm in a dream and want to get to another place, maybe I could paint the place I want to go to on a wall or something. Then just walk through it using it as a portal to the other place. That would be great. I must test it"

By the way, now I know what I will do next time I have a LD taking place near my house. Then I'll go check if I'm lying in my bed'

Hi, Kate

I'm glad you liked my "dream drug" idea - please let me know how it works for you if you try it, either in a forum post or you can email me privately if you wish (xtrope@direct.ca). One minor note, my name is actually "adastra" - although I really like the sound of "Aldara"; perhaps I will use that as a psuedo for my feminine alter-ego... :p

Linus - I'm glad to hear my mentioning Barbara's idea helped give you such a promising idea. It's great the way we can "piggyback" from mind to mind and concept to concept. To Adastra - I'm sorry I got your name wrong. I'd love the chance to try out the drugstate idea, but I haven't had an ld since Saturday. Last night I tried my novadreamer for the first time but it didn't work out too well. First, I couldn't even get to sleep, and that hard part with the electronics that goes over the nose didn't help. Then the lights flashed every time I started to nod off, and woke me up. Obviously I have to make some adjustments. Haven't had time to read the book or hear the tape. Does anyone else see some humor in the novadreamer phamplet's description of a deep sleeper as someone who can "sleep anywhere with anything?" For me it conjures up some interesting pictures. Have amazing dreams, Kate

Hi, Linus -

Sorry for the delay in responding to your question about transforming. I don't have any tips - transforming is my newest challenge to myself; I only started trying it a couple weeks ago. I suppose if I were to put some time into it I'd do it like "method" acting: study my subject in advance and go about feeling that I've become it....

I suspect that cultivating one's awareness of being essentially the same stuff as all other forms of matter/energy is conducive to transforming in dreams, and vice versa. So far, for me it seems easiest to become an animal with motility, bilateral symmetry, analogous body parts, etc. Spreading your wings is not so different from spreading your hands. Being an autumn leaf was fun but I still felt basically human, even while dangling upside-down from a stem and especially when I fell - ouch!

I didn't plan to be a leaf - I just remembered my plan to practice transforming and impulsively flew up into a tree. So far half the fun is seeing what ideas pop into my dreaming mind. Night before last I was halfway into being a raven when I got the thought, "That's too easy. How about an oyster?" I almost woke myself up laughing. Now where did that come from? Probably the same place as the dream in which a friend lampooned some "New Age" music by making up the mock-earnest lyrics, "To try to conform to the order of things / And get eaten by tiny oysters...." I guess I'll know I've really made some progress when I become as one with the oysters.

Joy

particularly Barbara's suggestion about dreaming >about playing music and then having this improve >your waking-life music playing. If I can manage >that, I'd like to do it with painting.

Hi! I paint too in real life and have had non lucid dreams before of painting and looking at paintings. I hadn't thought about trying to test if it improved your actual ability though...Good idea! Here is a fun idea: Why not dream about meeting your favorite painter and pretend he or she is giving a class. Might be interesting! And try to recreate whatever you were painting in the dream on a real canvas. What kind of art do you like? I've gotten into the Romanticism period. By the way, this is Barbara Holmes who posted the guitar playing idea. I lost my password and had to reapply to the forum. :-))

"Why not dream about meeting your favorite painter and pretend he or she is giving a class."

Hmmm... I wonder if Leonardo Da Vinci maybe want to teach me something. Not necessarily paiting. Well, I think I go visit him in my next LD. Anyone know where he live?

Just behind the time mountains :-)

Hi, Barbara Another imaginative idea, about dreaming your favorite artist is teaching you. Maybe I could dream that several of them are teaching me, and see what it does for my creativity. Thanks! I like to paint landscapes right now. My style is almost stylisitc - that style like in the Asian paintings where the waves and other natural features are like caricatures of the real thing? I used to think that was a shortcoming and have no confidence in myself as an artist, but now I think it's just the way I see things. I notice patterns. And that's okay. I havn't managed a ld for 2 weeks. After I had 2, one a week after the other, I thought I could get them a lot, but not so. I've been practicing asking myself if I could be dreaming during the day and really wondering - having the mindset. I keep taking second looks at text, too. I hope this helps. And I've been just really aware of my surroundings, as SLB suggests in the tape. I was using the novadreamer for a few nights but it messed up my sleep and didn't help with ld's. But tonight's Friday so I'm going to try it again. Will adjust the settings too. Maybe see you behind the time mountains, Kate

Hi Kate. I like that kind of art too, like the old 'tapestries' or whateveryoucallthem in Japan. I used to be snobby about art too. Once I had a course in it I realized there was a lot of cool stuff out there in all sorts of styles. Actually, since you do notice patterns in stuff you might really like rug hooking. I'm hoping to take a class in it in November. You'd be amazed at what you can do with rugs! Check out the gallery at www.rughookingonline.com. I'd suggest using the Nova Dreamer as much as possible. I just had another lucid dream this morning. I still think I need a stronger setting because there are times when the ND says it has given me cues and I don't remember ever actually noticing them. Later in the night is best because you are more rested. What I want now is more control. The dreams are bland. Will have to practice imagining more. Happy lights! Barbara :-))

Hi, Barbara! Are you saying you definitely noticed the novadreamer helping you by continually using it? Because if so I guess I'll keep trying. It's just that I don't sleep as well, apparently, because I look like a hag in the morning. Do you think visual people are more vain? Anyway, maybe I could get used to it, or something. Last night nothing happened. And the only dream I recall any of was a bit creepy - something about dead bodies. Yuck. Although, I recently had some non-lucids involving death that I felt were symbolic of the death of old ways that don't work, and a rebirth of new, better ones. Maybe what you could try in order to inspire more vivid dreams is to get relaxed in bed and look at vivid artwork or photos, or even something cinematic, like Fantasia, for example, before going to sleep. I envy you your lucid dram this morning! I'm glad for you. Did you post it somewhere? By the way, I particularly like Chagal, not only because of the constant theme of dreaming, but because of his child-like aspects and primary colors. He's the one I'd like to meet and learn from in a dream. Wishing you continued luck with ld's, Kate

Barbara - Also, thanks for the tip re rug-hooking. I used to embroider because I loved the colors of the floss, but I find needlework more confinfing compared to painting. My grandmother and aunt used to hook rugs and made very beautiful ones. The whole history of women turning domestic chores into an outlet for creativity is so interesting. I'll check out the website. Patchwork quilts can be amazing, too. Kate

Hi Kate, Yes, please do check out the rughooking page if nothing else to wonder at the artistic creations there. These are very advanced people who can shade scenery as if they were using a brush! I found a store nearby that sells rughooking kits and when I priced them I was disappointed. It is an expensive hobby. I love quilts too. They can be amazing! I still got the rug my mother hooked for me while she was pregnant with me, that is what got me into the idea of trying one. Yes, I did mean that using th ND regularly helped, though last night I was not lucid though I did have a goofy dream that had a mask or a thing like it...I am not good on recall the past few days. In fact since I wrote I have not had an LD. That is possibly because I am too tired and trying too hard. Though, yes yes YES do use the ND. You'll get used to it. I do not think I can be lucid without it. I am the type of person who is...I dunno very 'harried' or whatever and I need reminders. The cue from the Nova Dreamer is very important. I'll post a few LDs that I had with the mask later. Getting up and writing down a dream and being awake for a few minutes in the night helps me to better recall dreams and have more interesting ones as well as become lucid too. Try that when you use your ND. Be wary though, I often get cues when I wake from a dream. This might be me anticipating the cue and waking up to make sure I don't miss it :-) I'll check out Chagal too. Always interested in new art! Got any pictures of your works? Lucid Light! Barbara :-))

Hi, Barbara. How often do you ld? It sounds like often. I'd love that. I really thought I was cooking when I had one a week after another. I keep reading more of the book, and I'm going to use the practices more and more. I put myself in the mindset that I'm in a dream a lot, I seem to do that pretty easily, and I try to transform things. I like a lot of the mental preparations he advises in the book, and they're easy to do. I have not been trying this long at all, so I shouldn't get discouraged. Your point about trying too hard is a good one. I think I probably am, and in a way that causes anxiety rather than just continued "intent". I tried to plan an ld by thinking about a couple of things one of the forum members dreamed that really intrigued me: a cat on his hind legs saying "normally" and a hunting dog speaking German. I imagined flying through an old house exploring all these fascinating rooms accompanied by the dog mumbling incomprehensible German and cat repeating "normally." All that happened is I had a nonlucid dream about my neighbor and her cat Louie looking for her other cat, Louie's sister. What a boring mind I must have! But I'll keep at it. The artist's name is Marc Chagall - I spelled it wrong. I checked out the rug site and particularly liked the many-colored sheep and the flying hare. But I think the bamboo rug illustrates what you mean about the shading with textiles. And it's beautiful. It would be nice to exchange pics of our work - I'll have to take some and then let you know. Looking forward to reading your ld's, bland or not. Wishing you lots of lucidity, Kate

To anyone who might have a moment to respond: Is it a good idea to practice trying transform things while awake and imaginging yourself to be in a dream? Thanks, Kate

Oh yes ! First RC method I've tried in my life was creation of green jello cube. You have simply imagine that green jello cube is exist somewhere, for example on a right front car seat. You turn your head and boom ! The green jello cube is there You are dreaming. If you practicing this troughout the day, you may sometime encounter it in your dreams.

Another RC method I'm trying to use now -- looking at my digital watches. They HAVE to show 88:88 If it's true -- you are dreaming.

Reality checks for me always include the writing one mentioned by LaBerge in his books. I find a piece of writing look at it, and then if it changes I know I am dreaming because writing on paper or magazines or whatever solid object cannot change. Don't try this with a computer screen though or you might convince yourself that your computer is just changing the letters and you are awake :-) If I can't find any writing then I will jump into the air and this usually works right away. Within two jumps I am floating! In one of my lucid dreams recently I was seeing the cue of red lights from the ND, the next thing I recall is being in the hallway in my pajamas with the mask on. I was in the dream body this time and couldn't tell where I was going unless I looked from under the mask. Mom was in the kitchen and was giggling at me as I tried the hopping into the air reality check. I tried to ignore her and not be too embarassed. Then when I started to hover above the floor, I knew for sure I was dreaming and wasn't embarrassed. I told her to be quiet because I was having a lucid dream. Then I just floated there unsure of what to do next. I went outside and explored the yard, feeling some light green leafed plants that were suddenly in my garden. They looked and felt very real. Then the next thing I recall is sitting on the porch and making a guitar appear. The one that appeared was short and stubby but I tried playing it anyway and all I got was very bad sounding chords. That is all I recall.

For the past week, I guess it has been that long, I haven't been lucid and the past 3 or 4? nights I have had bad recall. I guess I just needed to rest and get sleep and not worry too much about always thinking and consentrating.

I have found that if you want to transform stuff in dreams you have to be calm, think about what you want and not get overly excited and upset if it doesn't happen right away. I don't always do this however since patients has not ever been one of my virtues :-)

More light Barbara :-))

Hi Kate, yeah, I don't have much luck with planning dreams either. I mean, there are times when for whatever reason I can have a character or two in my dreams, though these dreams are a level below lucidity and out of context. Like the characters will be in a place they do not frequent, like Sherlock Holmes in modern times instead of 1890's London. I guess I don't really know HOW to go about 'incubating' a dream I want to have. It should be simple enough right? I mean, if I can think of it in reality why not in sleep?? It is all in my one head right? It might help if I understood what was going on when the characters do appear. How do I do that? I have no doubt I have the ability to create complex scenes and such because I do it all the time in daydreams in reality, not as much when as I was a child though :-)I guess as you age creativity takes a nosedive because you are worried over paying bills and not having others around you think you are too strange :-)) LaBerge's book doesn't say much about controlling or setting up a dream. Neither does other books I have read. I guess no one has really thought much on making such techniques because either they don't want to or they can do it easily and think others can too. I've got pictures of sketches I did on my computer. I'll load them up to the web and then tell you where you can go and look at them. You can get lucid. You have been, just keep working at it and try to stay relaxed about it all. I get too crazy and want stuff to happen too fast. More lucidity in waking and dream life to all! Barbara :-)) Happy Halloween!

Anyone have hollucinations after they awake from dreams? I've been having them ever since I was very young. Makes me laugh at all these alien stories and such. I've noticed on two occassions that while getting the cue while awake, after opening my eyes and knowing I was awake, the cue was a pattern of little red stars. They all streamed out of the center of a circle and blinked with the cue.

Once I noticed that the stars on my computer screensaver were white birds. They flew in the same pattern as the stars. It faded after I blinked a few times.

I've also had other more dramatic hallucinations. Anyone else wake up and see the things in their posters or artwork on the walls moving around?

I used one such event to get into a dream where I was controlling and manipulating stuff, though I never said "I am dreaming." Therefore I dunno if that qualifies as an LD or WILD.

Well, that is all I can think of to post. Until later! Barbara :-))

Hi, Barbara! I've never had hallucinations, but you might have guessed that. The only personal experience that I can connect with that is the images that appear during that hypnogogic period, which are always intriguing because they seem not to come from my own mind at all. Usually they're faces. And if I do have another ld, I won't check for hallucinations at first, because I'll want to lie still and memorize the dream before the images can shatter. But maybe someday soon...

"I guess as you age creativity takes a nosedive because you are worried over paying bills and not having others around you think you are too strange :-))" Well put. I can particularly identify with the part about others thinking we're strange. Trying to survive among others with some kind of ego intact can really strangle creativity. Still, you must have a very creative mind if you have those visual experiences you described. I think all these things I do to foster lucidity will help me unleash my imagination, so it's all to the good no matter what happens. I am using that talking cat as a dreamsign/mascot now, imagining him in the car with me, or walking along the tops of buildings, along the golf-course outside my office, peering at me over the tops of things, where-ever. I may paint him soon. Certainly looking forward to seeing your work. All I can do is take photos and have my friend scan them. What do you suppose the new plants in your garden symbolized in your dream? It sounds pretty positive. To lucidity and beyond, Kate

To anybody - Whenever I fall asleep during the day, I seem to go into a dream right away. Is this normal? It seems really promising in terms of WILDs. They may be my best hope. Thanks, Kate

Hi Kate, I dunno what those green plants meant. I don't really think they meant anything :-) a few days ago I was out spraying the flowers and checking the undersides of leaves for pests. The underside was lighter green than the other.

I often notice that what I experience when awake kind've gets into the dream.

Hope your cat cue works :-) I haven't really tried anything like that. I wasn't lucid again today, though the ND did wake me up twice. I also forgot to write dreams down.

Well. That is all for now. Got a headache :-)

Cheers :-))

Kate "Is it a good idea to practice trying transform things while awake and imagining yourself to be in a dream?" Yes, I think so. This works for reality - tests with writing, too.

Dmitri Your watch - morphing is a good idea, too.

Barbara The subject of reality testing and social consequences seems important to me. I sometimes hesitate in waking life to perform my test, especially when strange or surprising movements are included or I have to interrupt conversation or some important task. This (emotional/ social) habit carries over into dreams: In my last LD I have been rather lucid, but still feared the social consequences of failing to prove it is a dream. But once I had done it, my lucidity and my freedom of choice increased. That seemed to be the case in your LD, too.

Ralf