- In bed – 9.33pm
- Lights off – 12.27am
- Woke up – 7.31am
Today was spent doing bits around town, my awareness was ok. I did in day med using binaural beats and pink noise, for half an hour or so. In bed had ok mantra, but as usual of late I fell asleep quite quickly.
Dreams
5.36am – A hunting tournament that was being fixed. The prey was some not-quite dinosaur creatures. It was won by a group of soldiers, but seemingly guilt ridden, no less than 3 of their number shot themselves through their open mouths.
7.27am – I had decided to use my pink noise/binaural beats app again to try and induce a lucid dream. I listened for maybe a hour, before getting uncomfortable. I had to take off my headphones (not earphones…) and roll over. I was so awake by this time I contemplated getting up for the day at about 6.30am. I fell asleep and found myself in a vague remembered dream in a shopping centre. I saw my friend and asked him about his operation (he had just been through one in real life, and I had no idea it was going on), he was fine. I almost fell into some water feature, luckily just getting my pocket wet, but unluckily it was the pocket that I carried my brand new phone in. Heading to a bar, I had four or five drinks of water, (a sure dreamsign, my unquenchable thirst). I saw someone that looked the spitting image, though younger and smaller, or Dawson from ‘Dawson’s Creek’, he then brought out his newest staff member, saying I would love this if I though he was fun. It was Joshua Jackson, or Pacey from ‘Dawson’s Creek’. We apparently were immediately best friends and he stormed off after people made jokes about him being in the series or something, (this was a very strange and distantly remembered cameo, thanks, Brain). He told me he was going back to L.A. I then saw my mother drunk, and looking about 30 years younger than she is, and waved it away, turning around to go back to the bar. I reflected on just how bizarre the whole thing that just happened was, so I checked reality thanks to my dream training. My hand hadn’t touched my nose yet and I knew, it just clicked. A dream. I was walking past the various dream characters, still breathing through my plugged nose, I stayed perfectly calm and reached the end of a building. Very regularly (almost constantly) breathing through my plugged nose, so I didn’t lose lucidity. It’s a very surreal experience, breathing when you shouldn’t be able to breathe. The sound of my breathing becomes the only thing I can hear, drowning out any background noise in within the dream. I decided what I was going to do and jumped from a wall by the building and felt myself fall to the ground, only it took about ten seconds longer than it should have. This was my first, unaided flight. Happy face. I jumped from the ground this time, reaching up to the first floor window of the building next to me. I fell back down. I jumped higher, reaching the guttering on the roof. Ok, so first flight is a bit of an exaggeration, but it definitely is, forgive the pun, a giant leap towards mastery. I walked back to an old, large Victorian building and headed inside. I began to recall what I had planned to do the next time I became lucid. So I found a brochure on a table, and looked the cover. It was a dark cave, looking out of the entrance to a bright white light. I knew what it, the fantasy world of a novel that I am working on. I somehow transitioned through and found myself on the beach. Ok it wasn’t quite the white sand beach and lush South Pacific island that I was hoping for, but it was a beach, so give me a break. The water was warm, if clouded and muddy coloured. The sand was dark and clay-like, but I was happy with it. I walked along some rocky outcropping until the waves got too powerful and so I climbed up onto the rocks. They were more like huge salt crystal formations, with clear water flowing down from somewhere into the sea. I could feel the warmth of that water, and the crystals crushing beneath my bare feet. I then heard my uncle form somewhere saying that this place was called the ‘Heat of Laughter’. Walking through the under tunnel where his voice had come from, I found a cupboard door in the side of one of the load bearing pillars. I opened and closed the door, then woke up.
This was a lucid dream beyond any I’ve had before, it felt like at least 20-30 minutes of actual controlled lucidity, with my thoughts and ideas mapping themselves onto my unconscious dreamscape. I attribute it wholly to my first real WBTB attempt, I almost woke up for the day, so I was ready and thinking well enough. The binaural beats could only have helped I think. This dream had the dream signs, such as the water drinking as well as other things I should have used to notice. But I noticed in the end. I don’t know if there are many levels of lucid experience, but there was no rush of excitement or emotion when it finally clicked, as there has been in other ones. There was no snap into focus or clarity or surreal aspects to the colours or characters. I went from entirely certain that I was awake, to lifting my hand to RC and being lucid, but It felt exactly the same as any other normal dream, right down to the fact that I genuinely struggled to recall it when I first awoke (which is something I thought very difficult, or impossible to do with a lucid dream, but I guess not). The only difference being that I was in control and my thoughts had an immediate impact. I’ve read that people struggle to transition form scene to scene or conjure items from thin air, but I didn’t even think about it being difficult, it just happened when I wanted it to. That’s the key I think, confidence. I wasn’t in complete control however, the dreamscape and my actions were more steered and altered, rather than created by my thoughts. The characters still had their own personalities and thoughts/protestations at my actions etc, and the scene or even dream narrative was beyond my control. There were random nudists walking past, there were characters that just stared at me as though I didn’t belong there (that was quite creepy actually). I also had no inclination to go to the Victorian building, it just appeared, as I was waking back form my flying, so I suddenly found myself teleported inside and ready to search for the brochure. I just went along with the narrative. And with the beach, I didn’t focus on the white sands from my book, I just thought I’ll go to the beach, so my brain mapped out a very alien looking beach for me to visit, but it was a beach. So there are still different aspects of lucidity which I need to achieve or experience I think, but… fantastic. And to think I nearly woke up and had breakfast! WBTB every chance I get please. Happy Face.