Learning The Process Of Lucid Dreaming

Lucid Dreaming is a practice of entering the dream state while maintaining conscious awareness. The practice of lucid dreaming have been used by many great people throughout history, from great poets and artists, to inventors and mathematicians. There are people who claim that it can open your mind to greater possibility, creativity, and powerful thought, and people who even claim that the entire collective consciousness of the universe can be found inside our dreams (I definitely believe the first, more definite claim that it can induce powerful thought processes and creativity, and it would be very cool if the second claim were true and that you can find supernatural awareness within it! ) . :)

I will be undertaking my own self-training to learn how to lucidly dream again. I've always wanted to become effective at this and capable to bring them about every night since I was a young kid. I've found myself in situations where I have been lucid in my dreams, but they tend not to be brought on through my will, but rather, randomly where I become amused by the fact that I'm controlling my dream and sort of in 'half control' (where I feel like I'm in control but I'm not quite, really). I have especially had experiences where I had sleep paralysis and a dark figure appeared before me; in these cases, over time, since they were FREQUENT, I learned how to become aware and then sort of rose out of my dream and scream and swing/attack at the dark figure until I wake up. This is a very small use of lucidity, but an example of where I've found it helpful to get out of a nightmare. I will be using the following techniques:

1. A Dream Journal - I'm starting to log my dreams tonight and will update you all on my progress weekly (I don't want to bombard you daily with my musings, although I'll make exceptions if there is an especially hilarious, wonderful, or powerful dream, as I'd love to share anything cool with you!). Logging dreams can make you become better at remembering/noticing your dreaming state, which can lead to your conscious awareness in dreams.
2. Reality Checking - I will be making habits to pinch myself occasionally, check clocks, etc. , as these things can act unnaturally in dreams. Clocks may have messed up faces; your hands may have more than or less than the correct amount of fingers.
3. MILD Technique (Mnemonic Induced Lucid Dreaming) - I will be thinking the mantra 'I will have a lucid dream tonight' while I go to bed until I believe it. I will focus on ignoring bodily sensation and focusing on the process of falling asleep and dreaming lucidly, while utilizing visualization, as a practice to lead me to my lucidity.