PIECING THE PUZZLE
Until I reached the age of eighteen-ish, my success with consciously-induced traveling was sporadic. I was averaging about one I-meant-to-do-that travel to three oops-I'm-out-again travels. It was years of what the heck, it worked before, mind-wrenching frustration. For although the unintended travels were welcome, my goal was control.
I began to figure it out around 1978. Previously to that time, I'd been thinking of a controlled travel as a puzzle with one solution. My puzzle was comprised of puzzle-pieces (methods and ideas that had worked in the past), that I thought I could use all the time, in exactly the same way, to bring on my travel. This turned out not to be true.
"Hmm", I reckoned (after knocking my head against this wall for so many years), there must be an element to the equation that I'm missing. And there was. The puzzle was constantly changing. There were variables that I had overlooked that changed from day to day.
A variable may be anything that throws a wrench in the works of your traveling intent. It may be a distracting noise (quiet it or buy some ear plugs), or you're too cold (put on some pajamas or crank up the heat), or the dog is sleeping on your head (buy him his own bed or bribe him with kibble). A puzzle-piece on the other paw, is a method, thought, concept, comfort-factor, or anything...that corrects the variable(s) you are experiencing.
You need to choose the pieces that overcome the variables. This allows you to complete the traveling puzzle you are working with in that particular instance.
For example:
I'm really jumpy. That's a variable in this
puzzle at this particular time. I get into bed anyway and take a
shot at traveling. I try and try, but I can't relax. I force
myself to lie there. An hour passes. Nothing. No relaxation and,
of course, no traveling. While waiting for my physical to relax,
my brain just conks out and I fall asleep. ZZZZZzzzz.
Here, I failed to complete the puzzle because I left out the piece that tuckers out the good ol' physical before I attempted to travel. If I'd applied the piece that counteracts the variable of a jumpy me, I would have increased my chances for a successful travel. The puzzle-piece in this instance, that corrects this variable (as it applies to me), should have been some running-in-place or jumping-jacks or air-guitaring or anything-that-moves-me-around-to-calm-me-down.
It may help with your travels to make a list of variables as you encounter them. You may then apply the proper pieces the next time around and increase your chances at success.
The following entry is not Pulitzer by any stretch of imagination, but it illustrates the concept of the changing puzzle. In this entry, the variable was just a lousy bed, and the puzzle-piece was a comfortable change of position.
November 9, 1980
After waking at about 8:30am, I tried to
stay relaxed and focus on traveling. While on my back, I felt
myself to be slightly lifted from the bed. I realized that I was
close to getting out. I thought about vibration, and it was just
starting when I felt some lower back pain, and the vibe faded. So
next, I tried my right side which eased my discomfort. After
about fifteen minutes, I began to feel somewhat disoriented. I
opened my eyes and discovered that I was over the side of the bed
looking at the floor. Thinking nothing of this, I tried to sit up
and back onto the bed. I then felt vibration and realized I was
out of sync. It was my nonphysical that was sitting up and away
from my physical. I looked me over and saw both my bodies quite
clearly. I was feeling strong but irregular vibe, probably since
the event was close to ending. I was soon back in my physical on
my right side. -end entry-