Hey you! So I know, I havenāt written my personal blog in a whileā¦
And at first I felt a tad ābadā about it. But not anymore.
Why havenāt I blogged? I could reel off a list likeāāāāIāve had no ideasā, which is a lie, Iāve had tons⦠āI havenāt had the timeā, another lie, I always make time for myself and wake up early⦠āIām being too self-criticalā, that ones got some truth to it, but itās something I work on everydayā¦
The real reason is this – Iāve been dreaming⦠(the kind you do in your sleep).
Iāve always been excited to fall asleep at night just so I can watch whatever movie my mind plays out to me. But lately Iāve grown an even bigger obsession with dreaming.
In particular, lucid dreamingāāāthe art of becoming conscious within your dreams.
Youāll know youāre having a lucid dream when you realise āIām dreaming!ā while youāre asleep. And one of the coolest things about it is that once you become conscious in your dream, you can be the director of it all, and have access to one of the most powerful virtual reality generatorsāāāthe mind.
You can be invisible like Harry Potter, be superhuman, decide which path to take, choose who you want to see, say what you want to say⦠Itās basically Inception (thatās a movie btw incase you havenāt seen it you crazy human š).
But thereās sooo much more to it than just being in an Inception-style pleasure garden dreamscape, lucid dreaming has real-world benefits and I want to embrace them.
Other curious dreamers have spoken about how itās helped them to heal physically and emotionally. How itās been used to 0ver-come addictions. How itās been proven to help athletes improve their ability.
And thatās what fascinates me mostā¦
A few weeks back my Coach nudged me to study this more. As a girl who is massively into self-developmentāāācould there be a more fun way to grow?ā¦
After 100 days of practicing the art of lucid dreaming you can catch me back here writing up on what Iāve learnt so far. And even though I know at times I lucid dream alreadyā¦
ā¦Hereās my game-plan and how Iām going to doĀ it:
1. DREAM JOURNALĀ šš
If youāre like me and youāre aware that you dream each nightāāāthis one wonāt be too tough.
But if you donāt think you dream, youāre going to have to be a bit more aware when you wake.
This is the first step to digging into your mind.
This involves two things: making a dream plan and starting a dream journal (any notepad will do!).
The Dream Plan: Iāve never had to really think about a ādream planā as I know each night I experience my dreams. But if you donāt, when youāre laying in bed before you drift off repeat a short sentence to yourself likeāāāāI will remember my dreams tonightā, over and over and over again.
This helps to subconsciously prepare your mind for dreaming. Just like you automatically tell yourself you need to wake up at 6 a.m. on weekdays to catch your train to work, dream prepping is exactly the same.
The Dream Journal: Hereās the important part, as soon as you wake, write your dream down in your journal, that you keep beside your bed.
If you wake in the nightāāādo the same, grab it and write it down, then when you go back to sleep again repeat it in your mind with the intention of falling back into the dream you were having.
Then again when you wake up for the dayāāārepeat.
This step might take some discipline at first, as lets face it, most of us hate mornings unless youāre a āfreakā like me š, but itāll soon become a habit.
2. WAKE UP, BACK TO SLEEPĀ šš“
After a few nights of solely dream journaling, itās time to step it up a notch.
A lucid dream scientist, Morely, calls this the āWake, Back to Bedā step.
Hereās how Iām going to do it:
Iāll set my alarm 2 hours earlier than I usually get up (5 a.m.)āāāREM sleep territory! (THE best time for dreaming)ā¦
Why? Because if you interrupt this time in your sleep, thereās a good chance youāll begin to dream again as soon as you drift back, and REM time is where vivid dreams happen.
Here Iāll see if I can tell myself Iām dreamingāāāin my dream, and re-call it to see if I was successful.
3. CREATE A TRIGGERĀ āļø
A trigger is something in your dream that makes you aware that youāre dreaming.
It can be anything out of the ordinaryāāāgoing on a date with a celebrity you admire, watching a purple giraffe eat dinner in a fancy restaurant with the Queen, having a superpower. Things you know you wouldnāt be doing, seeing, or dealing with when youāre awake.
When I dream it always sounds like Iām on some crazy drugs when I re-call them, and something mad always happensāāāso Iāve got clear signs Iām dreaming.
But your trigger only reveals you may be dreaming. To confirm itās a dream you need a tell. Something you can check to see if it acts and looks as it does in the real world. Itās the tell that will transition you from a pre-lucid state to a full-on lucid dream.
In the pre-lucid state the mind often has no problems inventing big thingsāāāpeople, streets, planetsāāābut is has problems with the little details.Ā
Morley says that if you recognize a trigger, confirm youāre dreaming by looking at the front of your hand and then the back (while dreaming!)
In a pre-lucid dream youāll often see your hand do something unusual like grow extra fingers or change shape.
Or you could try to read text which will often change in your dream while youāre reading it. If can do this, this is a clear sign youāre having a dream and this awareness will often snap you into a lucid dream stateāāāohhh yeah!
Lucid-dreaming sounds pretty rad now, huh?
Well thatās the step-by-step for how Iām going to embark on this journey for my next level of self-growth.
Be sure to check back here in 100 days when Iāll be writing up on this experience and everything Iāve learnt so farāāā (thatās Mon 6th Mar 2017)
And maybe Iāll even share some of the crazy dreams I had!
Until then, have fun and sweet dreams š“
Are you a lucid dreamer, or do you want to practice the art of having adventures you control in your dreams? Leave me a comment on this post, I would LOVE to read what youāve discovered and the crazy dreams youāve hadāāāthanks for staying with me on this post, Iām grateful for you allĀ ā¤

My āJamā At The Moment: DrakeāāāWith You
Snapchat: atitch
Blog on Medium: www.amytitch.wordpress.com
Reblogged this on Lost Dudeist Astrology.
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That’s pretty cool! I sometimes have lucid dreams but for some reason I cannot sustain it for longer and fall back into unconsciousness pretty quick..
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It’s fun! Have you dream journaled?
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Yes! I’ve been doing it for a few years now! I also see a jungian therapist and we do dream analysis which is quite interesting also..
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Hey Amy,
A bit of sleep-science to add content to your post: “I will remember my dreams” works on your subconscious ONLY to a point. Folks with sleep *timing* disorders will almost always be frustrated with this advice (trust me!) – and the relatively glib manner in which it is usually promoted as “the” way to do it is one reason why the idea of lucid dreaming is pooh-poohed by more than a few of the more linear thinkers.
Sleep is a *process* of moving through stages. Dreaming does not seem to occur in all of them (EEG reading confirmation, btw). To recall dreams, the sleeper has to be awakened during REM phases (or slow-wave sleep [SWS] – formerly sleep stages NREM-3 & 4).
Science knows that if you jar someone awake during *other* phases they will have no recollection of dreaming at all – no matter how much they want to or how many times they use lucid dreaming “programming” advice.
Some folks sleep so deeply we don’t even awaken to sound during most of the phases – so even some of the aps available that supposedly help people awaken at the end of a complete run of “phase-cycling” don’t help US much. We’d need a waker.
Use the search box at the top of ADDandSoMuchMore.com for “This is your Brain on Sleep ā Stages of Sleep” for a more fleshed out version of the above.
Good luck with your experiment. Be sure to track how it is affecting your *waking* hours too – paying attention to what you usually expected yourself to be able to do before you began this 100 day test. I’d be fascinated to read about the functional implications.
xx,
mgh
(Madelyn Griffith-Haynie – ADDandSoMuchMore dot com)
– ADD Coach Training Field founder; ADD Coaching co-founder –
“It takes a village to educate a world!”
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Thank you Madelyn! Appreciate your comment š I want to learn so much more about the science behind it, and sleep disorders.
I’ll be back here with a post after the experiment and I’ll continue it. So far, I’ve noticed one pattern that happens each night.
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Actually, there’s NOT a great deal of science behind lucid dreaming, unfortunately – just as sleep itself is a “relatively” neglected topic, given how much of the human life it represents.
What’s written is fascinating – to me, at least – but most “doctors down the street” don’t seem to think so, based on how little they know about sleep and understand about sleep disorders.
Am I, as they say in the coaching field, “making them wrong?” YOU BETCHA’ š
I’m hoping that maybe taking them to task “in print” might embarrass a few into reading up on it enough to at least recognize sleep-related health challenges in their patients – and know at least enough to know they need to refer out to get them help!!!!
Failing that, maybe a few sufferers will understand that their doctor doesn’t and go elsewhere. Money talks, right?
Looking forward to your eventual retrospective.
xx,
mgh
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Hey, Amy!
I’m a natural lucid dreamer, I’m not sure if anyone else out there has always automatically known they’re dreaming without even trying. That’s what I’ve decided to call it anyway! I’ve just started a dream journal I call The Dark Hours, so if you’re ever interested in reading some wacky dream stories I’ll be building up a collection. š
I think it’s really awesome that you’re trying to use lucid dreaming to improve yourself as an athlete, among other things. What a crazy unique yet super smart idea!
I’m really excited to hear about how this whole experience affected you. Just one more month to go!
Your fellow dreamer,
Kirsten
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Hey! Thank you for taking the time to read my post, honestly means the world you took the time.
I’m DEFINITELY going to read your blog! What a brave idea, to actually spill your subconscious mind out into the internet world.
I can’t wait to write up on it, learnt some solid truths already about myself.
Looking forward to reading yours Kirsten š
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Awww, thank you so much! I hope you enjoy it. āŗļø
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I’ve always thought lucid dreams are so cool. I was very lucid when I was younger but I think my sleep must’ve lost it’s quality as I’ve gotten older and therefor it’s harder for me to recall my dreams or even get into deep sleep. I wish I could be lucid more often, and I actually hadn’t heard some of your ideas before, so thanks! You might be interested in the movie “Waking Life” (it’s on Netflix, i believe). It’s about lucid dreaming but also a handful of other philosophies, honestly it’s super fascinating and unique.
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