I wasn’t sure where I should put this, but it is driving me absolutely crazy. Basically I’ve figured out that regardless of what method you choose to induce lucid dreams everyone requires concentration. If you can’t concentrate 100% until you fall asleep you’re screwed. For some people this is easier because they actually fall asleep when they lie in bed, whereas I have to wait AT LEAST two hours before I fall asleep, is there really anyone here who can focus on any of their techniques for 2 hours straight? Do I have ADD or something, because when I try to concentrate for even 15 minutes I can’t because my mind is all over the place, and by the time I fall asleep I’m thinking about what I had for breakfast that morning, or what the meaning of life is, and not lucid dreaming!!!, so I can’t become lucid, and sometimes I don’t even get dream recall because I can’t bloody concentrate on anything, and the very, very few times i have lucid dreamed in the last few years they only last like two minutes, and then I wake up trying to do something fun with it! Does anyone have any sollutions for these very frustrating problems??
Just try going to sleep later. I’m a very heavy sleeper and usualy it takes me ages to get to sleep, so I just go to sleep quite late, tell myself i’m going to remember my dream, and I fall to sleep.
I also have trouble going to sleep. It can take me one to two hours to fall asleep, unless I am very tired. If I am very tired, then I don’t rember my dreams, but that dosn’t have to be a problem. I had my first LD by doing a bit of MILD, then just going to sleep as usual. It took a long time to fall asleep, but the LD was early in the morning anyway. It is not important that you concentrate directly befor falling asleep, unless you are doing WILD, just that you concentrate to get your wish into your SC strong enough that it works.
Keep trying and you will have a great LD someday. 
RC’s definitely don’t require 100% concentration. They just require repetition and/or recognition of DS’s throughout the day.
Autosuggestion also doesn’t require 100% concentration. That would contradict the meaning of autosuggestion.
I’ve tried reality checks, but there are so many distractions during the day I always forget to do them, but I guess I could try a little…and you are right about autosuggestion, I’ve come pretty close using that technique, thanks I might try those (hopefully successfully)
Yeah, just lie in bed and tell your mind the autosuggestion formula (check Ben’s thread, it’s perfect) until you really feel sure about it. Then you can relax and think about breakfast.
There’s nothing wrong with you if you can’t concentrate 100% all of the time. In fact, being able to concentrate on something for 15 minutes requires a lot of work, mostly dealing with meditation techniques. Everyone’s mind goes all over the place, so you’re in good company.
Now, what you’re describing to us sounds like you’re trying to have a WILD, am I correct? If it takes you very long to sleep, (as it does for me) WILD is generally not the method for you. Autosuggestion works just fine, and you may need to work on having dream induced lucid dreams. Thanks to how long it takes me to fall asleep, I don’t tend to rely on WILD at all. 
For a while I had this same problem. But I realized I wasn’t staying awake for two hours. My body was laying down and falling asleep very easily but I mistaked falling asleep for being uncomfortable. So I would continuously move and kee my mind awake. If you learn some good deep relaxation techniques, or if you already know them, then just put them into use. Thats just my humble opinion. 
meditate.
concentration is a lot easier to imrpove in the waking state.
yes, you can do a technique for 2 hours. it’s a bit of a challenge. i’m not sure if i have but i’ve easily done one for 1 hour if i’m just lying in bed. it’s easier also if you are shifting consciousness rather than being wide awake.
but do you have ADD? Well, you have low confidence in your brain’s abilities!
Meditation will quickly improve a lot of this.
wildmind.org/meditation/post … slegs.html
this seems to be a good place to see how to sit.
sit down however is comfortable but with proper alignment. now just take a few super deep breaths, then breathe normal. once you start breathing normal all you have to do is count while you exhale.
it is super simple. this method does not matter if you think 50000000 thoughts in 15 minutes, or 0 thoughts. you don’t care. you can let yourself think all you want, if you count every single time you exhale, and KNOW that you are counting, and KNOW that you are breathing!
so when you count. you just count to either 5, 7, or 10. and you do it pretty slow. it’s better to count real slow to 5 then fast to 10. if you happen to notice your heartbeat, you can time the counting to match it and that is good.
either set a timer and do this for 30 minutes. or sit until you absolutely feel that you have to get up, and see how long you sat. then take a break and do it again.
i would say, 15 minutes a day is okay. it is enough to help you. but 30 minutes is ideal. as long as you can is even best if you have a day off, or a weekday, to spend an hour or so doing it (you can take little breaks too to stretch and everything) after you get up in the morning.
i wouldn’t do it before bed.
there’s no religion involved with it either, i just happened to find that sight when i looked up postures for you.
In fact, I found that site months ago, and it is by far my favorite meditation website. It has some very in depth readings, and I can’t even begin to explain just how much WildMind has helped me out. 
As for inproving your concentration, one of the best methods is Mindfulness Meditation. With the right approach, it will also calm you and make you feel less frustrated with yourself. Now, I can’t promise that you will, but if you ever become serious about meditation, you may find that it can actually help you increase the amount of lucid dreams that you have. The same has happened to me, and that is why I’ve stopped with WILD in the first place. I’ve had enough DILDs as it was already. 
Thank you all for your help people, you are awesome, I didn’t quite have a full lucid dream but I came much closer last night, where I did become lucid a couple times but i kept waking up instantly…you can see this in my dream journal. Anyways it’s nice to have a place I can come to to get help from people who’ve been there done that, or are at least doing that like I am…sort of…lol.
Anyways holy reality, that looks like a cool site and I will check it out. But are you saying basically all I’m doing is sitting still and counting my breaths? I’ve done one or two meditation techniques, but this one definately looks different, I’ll have to try it…
Hey! You said this wasn’t associated with any religion, but it says on the website specifically, Buddhist meditation not that I care, it’s still cool…
I take a while to fall asleep too. I usually go to sleep at 11:30 or 12:00 (only during the summer, of course) and I remember seeing my radio alarm at 2:00. So I can take around 2 hours to fall asleep sometimes also. I tried sleeping on a couch recently, since it was very firm and comfortable, and although I did not have my alarm to check the time, I believe I fell asleep within 15 minutes. I remember waking up slightly, but I don’t know if it was 5 minutes from when I initially fell asleep, or 5 in the morning. Either way, I fell asleep much easier becasue I so so comfortable.
Also, my room is a little too bright for me, even with the blinds, because of a street light outside my window. This could be another thing that keeps me awake at night.
heh! Never thought about sleeping on a couch before, sounds it could be uncomfortable, then again maybe not, who knows I might try it one day.
Ignore that part 