Day 1 Ten Steps to Lucid Dreams
The most important thing you must do is keep a dream journal.
This simple practice helps you in several ways:
● It lays down a long term memory of your dreams as soon as you awaken.
● It encourages the mental habit to automatically remember your dreams.
● It highlights repeating themes - and dream signs that can trigger lucidity.
● It entrains the mindset that your dreams are important to you.
● It helps improve your self-awareness in future dreams.
All of these directly develop your ability to lucid dream.
So, make it a habit to write down your dreams as soon as you wake up. Here's how:
First, grab yourself a dream journal.
This can be any old notebook you have hanging around. Or, if you really can't find anything, you can buy nice custom ones quite cheaply on Amazon.
But you can achieve the same effect with a simple pen and paper (without denting your wallet).
Lucid dreaming doesn't need to be expensive. :-)
Don't worry if you couldn't find anything and had to order a pad in. Just grab a wad of paper from somewhere – to keep you going for the next few days. We need to get this program moving!
Remember – I'm all about results guys.
Grab your journal and write down these tips in your own words – in the front cover of your dream journal - right now!
Dream Recall Tips
Firstly, make a promise to give yourself 5-10 minutes silent peace each morning when you wake up – to focus your attention on your dreams. During this time you are barred from looking at your mobile phone!
Your mind will do what you train it to do. If you always jump out of bed and straight onto Facebook, it's no wonder you don’t remember your dreams!
Waking is a special time of day.
Give yourself a chance to slowly transition from the dream world to the waking world – and remember the dreams you have just experienced.
Secondly, you must set intent each night. For the next ten days, every night before you go to bed, I want you to look at your pillow and say three times out loud: "I will remember my dreams". Say it with intent, like you mean it!
Using this technique you are subconsciously programing yourself! It works, you'll see.
Lastly, when writing in your dream journal, use these general practices:
● Record a title and date of your dream to help you identify it later. Write a capital "L" for lucid in a circle if you became lucid at any point.
● Record your most vivid dreams in as much detail as you can. Include emotions you felt. Once a dream is cemented in reality, you have a more permanent memory (like a real event).
● Write in the present tense (e.g., "I am flying high when the sky opens up and transports me to another dimension") as this will help put you back in the moment.
● Underline dream signs. These are any impossible details of the dream, which might have helped you become lucid (e.g., "I ran head first into oncoming traffic").
● Sketch the most important scene from your dream. You don't have to be an artist - these images just help underpin your visual recall.
Summary
Today's lesson was pretty simple:
● Start writing down your dreams!
● Set intention before you go to bed ("I will remember my dreams")
● Give yourself 5 minutes peace to reflect when you first wake up, before using your phone.
Don't worry if you don't see results the very first day. Keep it up!
Chris Hammond
Chief Lucidity Officer - World of Lucid Dreaming
