Final Week

This is it, the final post. I'm taking this time to look back on the year, on how this project has changed me. Even though there's no visible difference, I feel like a radically different person. Being able to record your subconscious and even to control it is a wonderful ability. I feel like this will become very useful in the future and this is definitely something  that I will continue to practice. Good bye.

week 13

I lucid dreamt through the absolutely craziest dream last week. I remember hardcore panicking over an impending lab report due. I was struggling to remember the topic of the report when something clicked in my head: I am not, have not, nor plan to take AP Biology. The realization made me realize I was dreaming, and, of course, woke me up what seems like instantly. On the other hand, I once again achieved lucidity this week. Amazingly I was able to hold this dream for a decent amount of time and I learned a valuable lesson. I learned that I am very, very bad at flying.

week 12

I tried a different approach this week: pain. Instead of doing normal sleep checks every hour, I have been digging my nails into my palms. I attempted this approach because it seems like a more definite action. Pain, at least physical, does not exist in dreams, and the sharp, biting sensation is a nice reminder that I'm currently not asleep.
Every once in a few weeks, become aware that I'm dreaming. Unfortunately, I feel like that I have hyped it up so much and anticipate is so much that I can's actually do anything with the knowledge that I'm dreaming. I get jolted awake what seems like merely seconds later. This is really annoying me as it prevents me from truly experiencing and benefiting from lucid dreaming. The meditation exercises I have been unsuccessfully trying to lengthen should help calm me down in this regard. Wish me luck.

week 11

I have noticed an interesting pattern in the dreams I can remember the most vividly. Besides occurring only on weekends, they almost never seem to be about the real world. My most vivid dreams never seem to be about the material world. In fact, they all seem to be set in post apocalyptic waste lands. Sometimes they're engulfed by massive storms and sometimes zombies have taken over the world. The dream I had yesterday is another example. I have forgotten most of the details, but I can remember it being a medieval setting with many kingdoms and corrupt kings and queens.

Hopefully, I can get more sleep next week, now that the impending doom of a research paper isn't looming over me.

week 10- Halloween

I was not able to make much progress this week. With a sore throat coupled with a research paper, I was not able to get much sleep. in fact, I don't think I got a single night of sleep over four hours. I remembered a few of my dreams, but they're more like screenshots i remembered than actual dreams. On the other hand, my week 9 goal was fairly easy to achieve. I was able to completely visualize a location, usually either an open field or a cozy room. Unfortunately, even if I did dream about what I attempted to visualize, I can not remember what I dreamed about. I have also been keeping up my exercises from weeks 7 and 8. Trying to remember everything I have to do has become a real chore. For this week, I don't have any real,  measurable goals besides sleep more and keep trying.

week 9

Last week's goal was fairly easy to achieve. Every night, before I went to sleep, I would clear my mind and focus on leveling my breathing for a few minutes. It may be just a placebo effect but I do seem to have more vivid dreams. Next week, I will try to visualize a location after meditation, and try to enter that place after falling asleep

week 8

trying to achieve the goal I set last week has had mixed results. Generally, i can easily keep up my schedule at school, with each class being roughly an hour long. But, the moment I get home, I completely forget. Time just seems to fly past in my house. Before I know it it's midnight and I still have an essay to write. I've been doing some interesting research about a specific kind of brain waves: gamma waves. Not to be confused with the destructive gamma rays that originate from nuclear weapons and lightning, gamma waves happen at around 40 Hz in the human brain. Humans naturally create gamma waves, but some have more than others. Gamma waves have been linked to stress, intelligence, memory, and REM sleep, the aspect I am most interested in. The most common way to increase Gamma production is meditation. Therefore, my goal for next week is to meditate every day for 5- 30 minutes along with continuing last week's goal.

week 7

Whenever I think I'm lucid dreaming, I always seem to wake up a split second later. I don't know if I am really lucid dreaming or its just a trick of my mind waking up. With the addition I may or may not have previously thrown out, I have decided to set a clear goal for each remaining week of the semester. For the next week, I will try and check whether or not I am awake once every hour.

week 6

It has been an interesting week. Earlier in the week, I had an extremely interesting dream. Set in an Victorian era, my family and I were a noble house. All were going absolutely fine when a zombie apocalypse started. A virus spread that removed pain and worry but made them extremely violent towards non- infected members. My mom became one of the infected and I was faced with a difficult choice: embrace the virus or remain my true self. I woke up before my decision but it makes me wonder about the choice I would make. Would I go for an easy life without pain or would I prefer my true self. Dreams can be incredibly thought provoking and gives a person a deeper thought into their subconscious. Unfortunately, the zombie apocalypse was not enough to make me realize that I was actually dreaming. I will try again next week.

week 5

I think I may have lucid dreamed for the first time this week. On Wednesday, right before I woke up, I remember looking at a clock. Something about the clock, probably inconsistency about the time, caused my mind to tick and realize that I was dreaming. After I realized I was dreaming, I was able to try flying and it felt absolutely amazing. Unfortunately, I was unable to enjoy it for very long as it seemed like I was only lucid dreaming for a few seconds before I woke up. I can't wait to see what develops next week.

Fun fact of the week: dreams and conscious are caused by gamma electricity in the brain. Therefore, it is possible to artificially induce lucid dreaming by applying jolts of gamma electricity.

Week 4

It was a very interesting week. This week was the project pitch. For my 20% time, I decided to make a prezi to display the basic elements of my project. It details out my reasons and a basic overview of my 20% time. I have noticed a pattern in my dream journal. I can dream about whatever I was thinking about before sleep.

 The Prezi can be accessed here.

Fun fact of the week: People who practice a skill in a lucid dream have reported increase in skill when they woke up.

Week 3

While someone's asleep, dreams occur in the REM (Random Eye Movement) part of the sleep cycle. REM sleep. REM sleep occurs during the later part of sleep, hence why dreams tend to be interrupted by awakening. Unfortunately, this means that dreams do not come often when my alarm clocks goes off at half past five. The interesting thing is, I seem to get more dreams when I fall asleep in 1st period (an online class that I normally do at home), than when sleeping in my bed. Perhaps I simply can not remember anything when an alarm clocks jolts me awake. Last (Friday) night, I remembered the first dream I know for sure I had this week at home. The details are mostly a blur, but I remember adventure and league of legends, a video game.

Next week, hopefully I can dream more by sleeping earlier.

week 2

Week 2 was somewhat uneventful. With the early school bells, it's hard to get enough sleep to trigger REM sleep and enter dream state. However, because I have been keeping a dream journal, I can recount some of my more vivid dreams. They include breaking into a government facility and playing a real life video game in a haunted clown mansion. Even if I manage to achieve nothing else this year, starting to keep a dream journal is an awesome change and remembering my dreams gives the start of every day a pleasant jolt.
Next week, I'm going to try out some other techniques I read about online. Wish me luck.

week 1 (reuploaded because school)

My 20% time will be a project to attempt lucid dreaming, the ability to be aware of, and to control your dreams. I'm doing this project because research shows that it can help boost problem solving skills and information processing skills. The first step to being able to control one's dreams is to become aware of the dream. For the first week, I have been trying to accomplish this by using 2 methods. First, I have been keeping a journal where I try and write down everything i remember from the night before. I have also been trying to give myself "tests" throughout the day: pinching myself or trying to walk through walls.
Next week, I'm going to move on to stage two, and try to think about what to dream, at least to control the general settings of my dream,