As regular readers of my Blog will know, I enjoy conducting casual dream experiments and then recording my progress in a honest and thorough way so that my fellow oneironauts can monitor my methodology, successes and failures. My most recent experiment was a Dream Incubation Experiment - Serial Killer Dream, but despite a few instances where the theme emerged in my dreams, I have not had much luck in incubating the desired dream.
Therefore, although I intend to return to this dream incubation experiment, I decided to try something new in order to practice my skills of influencing the content of my dreams. I thought an inventive way of doing this, would be to use day residue - the events of our waking day (the day(s) prior to the dream) which appear in, or influence, our dreams. This is because, through analysis of each of my recorded dreams, I constantly notice the significance of day residue and how it affects the narrative content, themes and symbolism of my dreams. Hopefully, this experiment will also lead to me being able to identify day residue within the dream in order to hopefully use it as a 'dreamsign' (and trigger a reality check) which could help induce lucidity.
Methodology
- In addition to analysing the day residue which surfaces in my dreams by chance, I am going to try and 'foreshadow' or influence my dreams by identifying 5 key events/experiences which happen during my waking hours (I don't always sleep at night). I will refer to these key events/experiences as 'Key Triggers' (my own term) before I go to sleep.
- I will record the 5 Key Triggers in detail, so it is clear how I experienced them and in what context.
- I am not going to use any particular cognitive technique with regard to the Key Triggers during my waking hours prior to the dream - I am relying on the fact that I am consciously selecting them in advance and recording them. I am not trying to incubate a particular dream - I am simply experimenting with 'predicting' day residue or analysing whether identifying potential sources of day residue in advance can affect the dreams I spontaneously have the following night. This experiment is not about control, simply influence.
- I will hopefully recognise any of the Key Triggers which appear in my dream whilst I am dreaming. I hope that this might work as a dreamsign, leading to a reality check and a lucid dream by way of a DILD (Dream-Initiated Lucid Dream).
- I will then record the dream as usual and then analyse my results.
KEY TRIGGERS
My Key Triggers for Monday 2 May 2016:
(1) Ladybird/Ladybug
There was a ladybird on the wall directly outside my house all day. In Norfolk, we have a colloquial term for a ladybird, which is a 'Bishy Barnabee'. The image below was sourced from the internet for illustrative purposes.
(2) Arson
I had been teaching my Principles of Criminal Law class about arson (the act of criminal damage or endangering life by causing an unlawful fire). The image below was sourced from the internet for illustrative purposes.
(3) Daffodils
There are many daffodils growing on the grassy areas around my house - and my housemate picked some and put them in empty bottles in our lounge. The image below was sourced from the internet for illustrative purposes.
(4) Uranus & Neptune
When I was on Facebook, I noticed that I liked pages dedicated specifically to the planets Uranus and Neptune. Both Uranus and Neptune have fascinating colours. I then decided to watch a documentary about the outer planets (the 'ice giants') in our solar system. The image below was sourced from the internet for illustrative purposes.
(5) Potatoes
Today, I forgot (or could not be bothered, to be more exact) to go food shopping and the only food I had available was potatoes. I ate roast potatoes, which were delicious, but a little boring. The image below was sourced from the internet for illustrative purposes.
No comments:
Post a Comment