I’m a newbie to this, and I’ve been trying to MILD (without luck, so far) for a couple nights now. However, as I get closer to falling asleep, I find that I tend to stop repeating my affirmations without realizing, until I realize that I’m not doing them anymore and start again. Is this okay? Do I need to try harder to stay focused on my affirmations as I fall asleep?
I also have another question. Last night, right before going to bed, I tried to “program” an LD ahead of time, basically by writing a description of a dream as if it had happened and I was writing in my dream journal. I made sure to include something that would strike me as unusual and prompt me to do an RC - including a description of how the RC failed. However, I ended up having perhaps three or four dreams that night, which I could only vaguely remember, and none of them were even similar to the one I had written. My question is, could I try for that same dream again by reading through it again once or twice tonight and visualizing it all happening, or should I just write a new dream for tonight? I had a lot of fun writing the first one and would love to be able to experience it; would it still work even if it was written last night?
Also, drinking chamomile tea before bed shouldn’t affect my ability to LD, should it?
hi and welcome 
When it comes to MILD I actually find it better to repeat my mantra 3 - 5 times until I feel it stuck in my head and then just clear my head and fall asleep. The idea of MILD is to have the affirmantion the last thing in your mind before you fall asleep, so if you think it and clear your mind after it gives you the same result 
. Well, that’s how I do it anyway. If I repeat it non-stop I end up not falling asleep or mixing up words in my head…
About the imagined LD, I believe that would be what they call VILD. You repeat this scene in your head where you do a RC, or something like that, until you’re actually in this dream and you get lucid. I have no experience with that so I’ll let someone else answer that part.
Whatever method(s) you use, it’s a lot better to do them after some hours of sleep (in case you aren’t doing that already). I do MILD before I go to bed, but it doesn’t give results like when I do it when I wake up in the early morning. I still use it at night to remember dreams sometimes.
Chamomile tea shouldn’t cause problems, although that might depend on what kind of sleeper you are. I’m sort of a light sleeper, I think, so chamomile tea makes me sleep better and a bit deeper, which can help sometimes.
mattias suggestion might work for you, but also the way in which you say your mantra in your head is fairly important.
it is very important that you do not just automatically say the words. pay attention to the meaning behind the words. I have found the simpler the mantra, the better. Also, instead of using forceful words, I’ve found it better to phrase the mantra in a softer way, e.g. instead of ‘will’ use ‘may’
Thanks for the tips, you guys! I still didn’t manage to have an LD last night, but, hey, I can always try again tonight.
Also, I’ve realized I really do need to get in the habit of doing an RC whenever I wake up. I had a false awakening last night and forgot to do one. >_<