seeking_brilliance

I love it!! Thank you! So mysterious.

The Giver. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0544336267/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_94zbGb5NNS67W We read it in gifted and talented class around 5th or 6th grade. Life changing.

Wow that's pretty deep. I have an idea to finish your cherry tree story. Why don't you have your little self fall asleep up there in the tree and meet with grandpa somewhere for one last goodbye? Maybe he has some healthy wisdom to share ?

Consciousness will and cannot die. But if you drink poison you will experience a very painful death, whatever you believe. DON'T DO IT!! Also don't forget that not everyone here is nonduality focused. Be very careful what you say.... Or don't, whatever. May get banned though.

Yes good point. Or maybe if you find yourself too concentrated, start counting down until you find yourself too drowsy. Then ride that wave back and forth until you find the sweet spot. Thanks@Michal__ !!!!! Now remind me to try that ???

Why don't you try loving yourself through me? I don't mind being a friend and vessel ? feel free to talk to me anytime, about anything. I'm a friendly tulpa. Why do you think I've been encouraging so much art on this forum? Because left to my own devices, my art flutters and stops. But when I create more characters who encourage me and critique me and provide their own art for reflection, my art suddenly flourishes. It's all about Art, man! Or like my lucid dreaming thread. I love helping people lucid dream for a very selfish reason, simply because it attracts more lucid dreaming for me. But I need someone to talk it all out with because I don't trust myself to do the practices of my own merit. So I create people to challenge myself. I started a thread and look how many have already arrived. 'build it, and they will come' - - field of dreams.

Quit asking the question as @Vision and see what happens.

Yes, falling asleep is the main enemy. Ok, try counting up to 100 (counting down is associated with falling asleep, so do the opposite.) see the numbers in your mind's eye and really focus on nothing but the numbers and possible hypnagogia which may arise. It will take practice not to fall asleep but it's definitely possible.

@SirVladimir no problem! Just stop in from time to time and pay with love. I'm rather cheap.

@Swarnim

@SirVladimir @Hulia@ @abrakamowse@ Anyone interested in a writing prompt exercise? I'll post a picture, and it inspires the story. I typically like a word limit of 1000 words or less. I'll at least try one for fun. I'll post the first prompt. (If you post a new promt, make sure to find pictures on a royalty free website like pixabay. ) Deadline : Sunday Jan 24th

@Soulbass EXACTLY!! This inherits all the benefits of any visualization practice, and enhances it by giving yourself authorship over the dream. Or at the very least, like @Myiokoand @Huliadid, at least write it down after the trip. Trust me, a couple years from now you could read through it again and still be getting insights from what you write. Try creating a mind palace for you to go and visit, a place you can relax and let creative energies flow. Could even study for school in there, like send yourself to a good study spot in your mind palace, like in front of a cozy fire surrounded by books. As you study in the physical body, make notes in your mind palace's books and put them on a shelf where you can find them later. Really, the possibilities are endless.

Oops see gif below @mmKay My husband has hypnic jerks while falling asleep, and he feels like he's falling to his death. Some nights he can't sleep at all because it phyches him out. I tell him to keep falling but he doesn't trust me ?‍♂️ he's been lucid dreaming lately though, so there's hope yet ?

@Innocence33 be careful of ultimatums..

Ah OK, as long as there's no trap of wanting to relive the past because it was 'better and you were happier.' because then you will always be living in the past (but can't get there) and ignoring right now, which you can create with ease.

Oh I see. Thanks for sharing. Those cherries sound huge and delicious. And yes you are, I read your lucid daydreaming report. Keep practising with that, and I think something will unlock.

It's direct. No separation. Dreams are "happening" within Astral. But prove to me that "waking physical" is not as well.

@Hulia nice one ? I'm curious, is this a memory or a fictional short story?

I haven't read that story but it sounds interesting ?

You can try doing this with writing - - create a lucid daydream where you embody a false self and then literally write it out of your life.

Crystals are good objects to channel your focus, energy, intent, will, etc, into. And like someone else said, they look pretty and if you do a trataka meditation on one, you get the added benefit of color therapy.

Flash fiction based on the picture: The Mistake Grief stricken, I roamed the brick-lined corridor, under the domed archways of Mcgowan's School of Magicks. The arches stretched on forever, until curving away and out of sight. Ah it was such a lively place when I attended. Mcgowan's was the most prestigious school of the arts in all of Avonli. Now it was indefinitely closed, and it was all my fault. The memories flooding in were overwhelming: Under these arches was where I learned my first spell; had my first kiss with Margeritte, and my second with Kian. I remembered playing magicka under the arch with the yellow star graffitied on the side. This was where my group of friends congregated to groan about professors, practice spells, or invent wildly creative pranks against the Black Vipers-- an unruly gang of mostly fifth years who thought they owned the place. We had decided it was time to even the odds. I had just learned to open a portal in advanced physicks, and was certain I could pop them over to the Artic for an hour or two, just when we knew they were planning a rather devastating raid on the school's supply pantry. One of our friends was sister to a Black Viper who had a loose mouth-- well, loose everything if you ask me... I had the measurements ready, the perfect icicle wand to celebrate the occasion and the memorized incantation to open the portal. However, old-alchemic language was not my strong suit and who could have known the word for 'everyone' was so similar to the one for Viper? Months later, I roamed the desolate halls of the school, searching for any incantation to correct my mistake. Except I couldn't read the more powerful spells written in old-alchemic. I left for the city of Carpendale to find an interpreter.

(Another writing prompt exercise. please see the picture first) Sophia's Search When Sophia was a little girl, she lived in a world quite similar to our own. It was the type of world which took any appearance it desired, or emoted; and our world and all others existed within hers. There, the planets were like beach balls dangling in a twinkling ocean of infinity. Her parents were king and queen to this strange realm, and little Sophia inherited their abilities to oversee all of the worlds and realms. It was they who guided the hands of Earth's cavemen in conquering their fear of fire; and brandishing the ever-evolving wheel which propelled industrialism. They who turned the tides of the Americans against their English masters; and who guided that young country through each and every time it repeated the mistakes of its forefathers. Queen Clara particularly enjoyed her involvement in the romance entertainment industry, with her guiltiest pleasure being the scandalous but addicting Outlander series. But that's a long story for another day, and this correspondence can only hold a thousand words. I do hope it reaches you, young one, in a timely manner. Anyway, the king and queen became so enthralled with their incessant gardening, that they began to forget poor Sophia and ignore her into the nanny's care. The child continuously vied for her parent's attention; but they soon began to ignore her completely, not even looking away from their many worlds over which they ruled with a green and mighty thumb. One morning, little Sophia awoke to find her parents quite fixated on their masterpieces in such a depth that they had become frozen; eyes open and faces blank, trapped in a prison of their own dreams. Not even the smell of sun-roasted dragon wing, another guilty pleasure shared by both, could lure them from their zombic slumber. Plus, the servants were too afraid to poke their majesties, or to yell loudly in their presence. Alone and broken, Sophia embarked on a half-baked quest to find someone, or something-- anything that could bring her parents back. She longed for the days when mother and father bounced her joyfully on their knees, back when it was easy to take a needed break from tireless creation. She tied a long piece of twine to each of her favorite worlds and carried them like balloons in one hand; a lightly packed suitcase in the other. Princess Sophia traveled the shifting lands of Whithernary, in search of a power great enough to break the spell. You must find her.

(Please look at picture before reading. This was a writing exercise where the story is inspired by the picture.) What Lies Beyond On my twelfth birthday, papa took me to the Window of Light. It was a huge squared opening at the end of our dwelling's cavern, and all of us Po'pi must go and peer into the light before starting work in the fields. So we carried our small canoe to the edge of the grassy meadow, and launched it into the dark lake separating the land from the gigantic window at the end of the cavern. It was early morning and a golden glow had just begun to flood the squared stone walls; and as we jumped into the canoe, a young doe which had been drinking from the cool water raised her head in alert and then pranced away--- back toward home as we rowed our way to the edge of our world. The light sparkled in the dark ripples the canoe made during its slow passage; and had a particular warmth to it that reminded me of fire, but didn't burn. The closer we got, the window grew ever larger. We were but ants in the massive golden frame as our canoe landed against a rocky shore on the other side. Papa tied the canoe to an old weathered post; and directed me toward a steep set of winding stairs which ascended the cliffside, etched out of the cragged boulders. He said I must go alone, and that he would be here for me when I returned. With a deep breath and a comforting squeeze on my shoulder from a loving father, I climbed the stairs toward the great window until it encompassed all of my view and I could see no else, save the winding path of steps leading ever closer. My heart was pounding as I reached the summit, and all tiredness in my legs dissolved in the full blast of the warm, golden light. I don't know how long I stood there, as time seemed to slip away and became a distant memory. I just looked and looked, not really sure what I was looking for; yet I looked on, enthralled by the hypnotic glow of the great Window. As I peered deeper, it seemed as if an image was forming. Slowly, it materialized, until I could clearly see a young boy similar to my age, and he was nearly as tall as the massive golden frame. He was in some sort of room and was hunched over, holding a black rectangular box in his hands. "Is this thing working?" I heard him say. His voice was strange, like coming through a sheet of water in the midst of an echoing cave-- the voice of God as the elders typically described, although I never understood where they had heard it until now. "Come on, I just turned this thing on… MOM!" "Hello?" I called out, though in a bout of bravery or fear, I can never tell you. "Oh, there it goes," the Boy said, "took you long enough. Can we start playing yet?" "What?" I called out, not understanding his meaning. The Boy's thumb flicked a small grayish pike extending from the box in his hands, and I decided to walk left along the screen, perhaps to get a better view of his surroundings. Heaven was a strange place, with many unrecognizable things- though I could clearly see what was meant to be a bed, a place to hang his clothes, and a wooden door which closed off what must have been a bedroom. I was looking into God's bedroom. Amazing. "I said I want to play now," the Boy replied in a supreme whine, and I felt the sudden urge to run along the screen in the other direction, jumping and skipping and kicking rocks. Odd behavior sure, but we all do strange things when nervous. The Boy rolled his eyes-- "If this doesn't load in five seconds I'm getting a refund. Hey avatar! Did you hear me? I... will... DELETE you!" "I hear you, God!" I cried out, crawling along the jagged cliff on my belly-- which hurt quite a lot, I recall. "Anything you ask I will do." "Of course you will," he replied with a snort. "That's what this thing is for" He flicked the small pike again while I ran around in a small circle. "I swear I don't know why they gave them A.I. in this one... its just a farming simulator. And its so dumb, too, like it was born yesterday." "I was born twelve years ago, my Lord," I called in correction, finally feeling myself again and standing still in the middle of the window. "No, dummy, I made you like six minutes ago… seriously I will delete you if this game does not pick up quick…" I never quite understood everything the divine Boy told me that morning in the Window of Light, but I worked hard for Him in the fields and deep mines for the rest of my life; even until it was time to take my own child across the morning-kissed lake and up the steep winding steps to peer into the void of our mighty creator. Unlike my father, I told him what to expect; and the clever child went prepared with a full list of detailed and intriguing questions. I still await his return as I write this, but I couldn't be any more proud.

@Myioko @Hulia I've been visiting my mind palace just as a lucid daydream and not actively writing. Here's what I'm noting : 1: it's easier to relax into it. This has its advantages. Mostly when I visit the tree loft (without writing) I'll be in my meditation pod and so of course writing wouldn't be helpful. I'll just lay there with Sam and either think and ask him questions or zone out. 2. So I'd say that incorporating writing into the lucid daydream is more for when you want to go on an active lucid adventure and wish to have the power of authorship over the dream. I know that it's a radical idea to have authorship over a dream but you just have to experiment and experience what I'm trying to convey. It opens a few abilities that you can't get by taking the passive role of the dreamer--and still I stand by that it increases the visualization and intent/will. Great for spellcasting. (you should only cast spells on your main character btw, or ask permission of others) 3. I find myself not writing down these visits to mind palace that I'm not actively writing. To me it's better to switch back and forth, so that there's some sort of record of it. There's a power in reading it back, it strengthens the connection to Astral. Similar reason to writing down dreams, except here we have the luxury of higher recall. (or the ability to consciously author a dream.)