Well I first got into lucid dreaming a few years ago and had a few lucids but ‘life’ got in the way and I stopped trying. My last LD was about 4 years ago. But back in July I got another boost for LDing and decided to try again, especially since i have a bit more time on my hands atm…
But I haven’t had one lucid dream, not even close… and I’m starting to wonder if I’ll ever have one again. Its getting so frustrating.
I do WBTB every night, sometimes twice. I usually recall 3-4 good length dreams every night. I write in my DJ religiously and I have tried so many different techniques.
At the minute I’m focusing on MILD and have been doing it every single night for two weeks. I have also done WILD, DEILD, FILD, C-WILD… I also do multiple RCs during the day, every time I see a dream sign, something strange or the colour red-on a good day I think I do 100s.
So what am I doing wrong??? When I first attempted lucid dreaming it only took me about 6 weeks to get a lucid dream. I’ve been trying now for 7 months and I’ve been trying really hard, but I’m getting nowhere.
I’ve tried taking a break from Lucid Dreaming-except my dream recall (if I don’t write in my DJ my recall almost disappears) but that didn’t work either.
Has anyone else taken this long before they had a lucid dream? Is there hope for me?? Does anyone know how to break this epic dry spell???
I think you’re trying too much and furstrated about that a lot.
You need to release the stress and the bad feeling that you feel when you don’t succeed.
I have definitely had dry spells that long, and it’s always only a matter of time before you get your next LD, so don’t worry about that.
That being said, I know that it is extremely annoying and frustrating not having LDs for so long while trying so hard. The first thing is idanl09’s suggestion, which is probably a big part of it. The second part is the WBTB. While it is arguably the most effective LD technique to break a dry spell, doing it every single night can’t be good for your sleep patterns or your health. The first thing I would suggest doing is stopping the WBTB for a couple of days, just to see how you feel. When you are tired for any reason (which I can only assume you are if you are waking up one or two times a night) it is much, much harder to lucid dream, because all your mind wants to do is rest.
The third and most important thing I would recommend: Afternoon naps. Not only are they the key to happiness, as I have recently discovered, the wakefulness of your mind caused by your circadian rhythm (well, relative wakefulness) makes lucid dreaming, and especially WILDing, much easier. Just the day before yesterday, I had my best WILD yet with full disembodiment and hallucinations. (Side note: One thing a lot of people don’t realize is that the goal of WILD is to completely forget your body exists, not to make it perfectly still, paralyzed, or numb.)
Don’t worry, I’m sure you will have a lucid dream in no time.
Some people have taken a lot longer to get their first lucid dream, unfortunately.
I believe one of the most important parts of learning lucid dreaming (which is also the part that gets the least attention, usually) is the state of mind.As idanl09 and Graech have said, being annoyed and frustrated about not getting LD’s can do terrible things I know it can be really hard to not get frustrated, specially after 7 months!
A few things that I have tried to help with this:
meditation
focusing on your ND’s and trying to enjoy them more. ND’s can be really really fun too if you give them a chance. Try to expect fun dreams and get excited to write them down the next morning.
whenever you use any auto-suggestions, you can try adding things like "no pressure though " to your SC, or whatever. I’ve done this a few times, it seems to help
before bed try to remind yourself (and truely feel it) that you won’t get frustrated if you don’t get a LD. your lucid dreams will come in time.
try to focus on the positive things, not the negative things. Ignore the fact that you didn’t get lucid last night, and feel good about the little things. if you got SP or HI or even only got close to that, or if you had a particularly vivid ND, or a FLD, etc.
and don’t worry, you had LD’s already! you can do it again
Well… you must be the most unlucky lucid dream I’ve ever heard of
I believe there is some kind of mental block. How to get rid of it, I don’t know. But once it is done i believe lucid dreaming will be easy for you.
I had an OBE 17 months ago. Since then not much have happened (except lots of LD’s). I’m not even close to trying as much as you have but i believe i may have some kind of mental block for OBE’s. Either that or getting OBE’s simply require lot’s and lot’s of training.
It took about a month for me to get my first LD 2 years ago. But since then I’ve been having them frequently. My best is 4 in one week i think. And my longest time without an LD is perhaps 3 weeks.
Thanks everyone for your replies. I wasn’t expecting so many!
I will definitely try everything suggested here, There are such a lot of ideas but I’ll work through them all eventually! I have been trying so hard that it feels unfair that I’ve had no progress and its making lucid dreaming more of a negative thing.
Mattias, I agree that focussing on my NDs and the positive progress i made could really help. My NDs are what kept me focussed and motivated and if it wasn’t for them I’d probably have put in a lot less effort or even given up by now! I find them so fascinating. I also have a journal that I record my progress in so if I only write down the things i do well or I improve on, it might get rid of this block…
I’m sure I read something about acting like you are really good at lucid dreaming in order to induce one so i might try that too.
I must admit that not doing WBTB last night felt strange! I didn’t even write my dreams down which felt so strange but I figure I need to take a bit of a step back if I want to get past this block.
BeRightBack, thanks for the link. It looks really interesting but I’ll only be able to try it every now and again because I live with my other half and having a timer constantly going off might not be appreciated
Anyway to start off my new positive outlook… I’m really hoping that in not too long I’ll be posting about finally breaking my dry spell and be enjoying my lucid dreams
People who have had a few LDs will go online and assure everyone that they’ll start to have gradually more LDs, and that their LDs will become longer and longer. This isn’t true though. They say it because they don’t know any better.
I’ve said here before that lucid dreaming doesn’t follow an upward-sloping curve, but instead follows a path like a wave function, with peaks and valleys. You’ll have them during the peaks, but not during the valleys.
What exactly do you write about in your Dream Journal?
Writing a Dream Journal is a lot like exercising your muscles - you need to try and do some extra effort everytime you write.
When you work out you need to choose weights that are just barely manageable after a few lifts, and that will slowly make your muscles ache more and more - it’s the same with Dream Journals.
Always try to add some extra details and just barely a little more than you think you are able to remember.
Write about absolutely anything you can remember; the more you write, the better.
Yeah, this is kinda what I was talking about. When people try too hard this tends to happen. Of course, it makes perfect sense to feel like this, but it may send the wrong message to the SC. The SC works a lot with emotions so if you bind this negative feeling to the idea of lucid dreaming, well, the SC might think you don’t really want to LD (which is terribly ironic) or something liek that…
arne saknussemm, The reason I want to have lucid dreams is for the adventure, excitement and control, to learn something about myself, to explore my own mind… all the usual reasons. I love that feeling when you RC and can breath through your nose and the rush it gives you…
I know that through my LDing career I will have many fluctuations I just havent had a lucid dream in so long so I can’t wait to get through this ‘valley’ and back to having lucids again
Laurelindo, I must admit when I first started my Dream Journal I just wrote the basic plot but for the past few months i write everything I can remember and then re-read it and add anything I might have forgotten. I write my feelings and anything that feels hazy and that I can’t quite remember and I love doing little doodles of dreamscapes and strange dream objects. The result form this was amazing because I now remember so much detail and clarity and have pages and pages of dreams to write down every morning
Mattias, I have now been focussing less on lucid dreaming and more on ‘feeling good about lucid dreaming’. I’ve looked back at how easily it came to me a few years ago and tell myself ‘Lucid Dreaming is Easy’ and telling myself that its fun and it doesn’t matter how long it takes but I know I’ll eventually have another. I’ve even been adding the ‘no pressure’ bit on the end like you suggested
I even saw a slight result… Last night I had a FA and could see this weird thing that looked abit like a giant black plastic waffle flying above the bed- wiggling like a waffle shaped sea slug, strange I sat up watching it and turned the light on and it dissapeared. I thought “cool that must have been HI… I wish I hadn’t moved and i could have lucid dreamed”
Thats the first time in 7 months that my dream has even mentioned LDs and the FA flet so real that I could have been in my own bedroom. maybe it’s working!
You could try stimulating the “happy and confused, but aware” high you get in the morning when you wake up from a LD before going to sleep. That helped me to get a few lucids (sadly, it doesn’t work every time).
I know it can be really hard to not get frustrated, specially after 7 months!
" to your SC, or whatever. I’ve done this a few times, it seems to help 
I sat up watching it and turned the light on and it dissapeared. I thought “cool that must have been HI… I wish I hadn’t moved and i could have lucid dreamed”
maybe it’s working!