A nightmare dream wake-up

One way I'd successfully tried seeking lucid dreaming ages back, was MILD (mnemonic-induced LD). This is when you first try to open the waking mind to the possibility of dreaming lucid, by active suggestion during the day... then build on that to full, true lucidity.

For example, you write on a small piece of paper or carstock 'I will lucid dream tonight', and place in wallet or something you'll refer to often. Every time you open wallet, you'll see, focus on and read the mantra to yourself once, then forget and go on with your day. The 'forget and move on' part, is crucial.

If you want the subconscious mind involved (and you do), focus the waking mind on a task / subject for a moment ('setting intention'), then disconnect from it completely, moving to the next thing. Waking mind functions best when paying 100% attention to the present moment; the subconscious needs the high overhead of waking mind to move out the way, so can do its thing. So if waking mind's constantly trying to replay moments in itself on loop without returning to the here and now, the way into your dreams in a sense gets choked out.

I once held my arms and hands in the classic military 'attention' posture, of turning palms inward toward my legs, as if to grasp the hem of the dress greens trouser, just as trained. When taking up bodywork, learned this resting arm posture weakens the shoulder joint due to not seating all the muscle attachments to the upper arm correctly -- your natural resting arm posture, should be thumbs towards the body, palms back, elbows directly facing outward.

When trying to un-learn the habit from my nervous system... had to do a wordless version of the mnemonic trick: whenever I'd noticed my hands and arms unconsciously assuming the military posture, made the change to correct posture, then forgot it and moved on. Every time that happened, repeateed the deed (committed to doing it as long as it took) -- and after ~ 2 - 3 wks, were noticing it wasn't as necessary... and 3 mos later arm posture were unconsciously enforcing the new order 100%.

Give that a try on dreaming, and update us on what happens

 

Had physician visit yesterday. The doc takes wifey and I at the same time. Doc suggested wife and I take a magnesium glycinate supplement as poor magnesium levels are common in older people, especially women

Went to Costco and they had a bottle of the pills for 20 percent off. O.K.

Took two at bedtime. I had dreams; lots of dreams. My fitness watch said I had an amazing amount of REM sleep. Maybe the glycinate helped. I also remembered much of them.

Wife did not notice any difference. Doc did say it can take up to two weeks to notice anything and may notice nothing, but that does not mean it is not doing some good.

Of course, no proof of anything, and it all could be placebo on my side.

 

Oddly I also take a dose of Mg glycinate before bed -- no fitness watch, but I doze off sooner, and wake up refreshed rather than still tired.

Mg deficiency is a sort of loaded topic, as you can be deficient in Mg in a certain way in the body, and be taking wrong type for your issue.

Mg citrate's good for things like muscle metabolism & nerve function, as Mg's used in just about every metabolic process in cells. Glycinate's really good for brain-related issues, like cognition and sleep. You can be deficient in more than one way, so need to space out what you're taking, so doesn't collectively cause the runs -- really the only downside to moderate use of Mg, are the trots if I take slightly too much for what I've absorbed from diet.

BTW... lots of things deplete or block absorption of Mg in the small intestine -- sugary foods, highly-processed grains, too much salt, too much coffee... so need to consider that before supplementing Mg...

 

When I was a teen, I got a job in the dishroom for a local steakhouse. They moved me over to the kitchen to be a potwasher for a night. Basically, you had to scramble to get all the dishes done from the prep that they did during the day. A good potwasher could do that and take it easy for most of the night. It was my first time, so it took me most of the night to catch up. Then they tore apart the kitchen, and I got to wash just about everything. It was the 70s, so the soap was harsh and I was bare handed. My hands got pretty raw and scraped up.

I woke up in a cold sweat that night, dreaming I was washing a pan with mashed potatoes in it. I tried and tried, but I couldn't get the potatoes to wash out. I woke up in a cold sweat, trying to get the mashed potatoes out of my pillow.