I often suggest to people that have trouble getting lucid to try to forget about lucid dreams. This really backs up the science behind this suggestion. I never knew that Freud himself hinted towards this pattern in dreams before. Very good information, thanks.
Dream Addict-I’m not clear on what you are saying. Do you mean that we should ease off about Lucid dreaming? and if so, for how long? One night, two nights, etc, how long?
Agent, I’ve usually suggested to try to go 2 weeks of trying to forget about LDs. Don’t read any books, websites, or forums about LDs. Basically, just give up for a short time.
If I think a person is “trying to hard” I’ll usually suggest this. That is usually the only reason I suggest it, but after reading this article I’m starting to think otherwise!
As far as i understood it the best result we should get by thinking “No no no no more lucid dreams,i dont want any lucidity at all”.
Its about unwanted fixation.One needs to have a desire to have lucid dream but at the same time try to not to think about it.
I can relate to this…i often dream about being in Australia which really annoys me cuz i dont want to think about it and all my memories from there bring up the frustration i didnt manage to get my visa.You get the point.
A good friend of mine has had LDs every since he was a kid, he reckons about 1-3 a week without fail. Last Sunday I started talking about LD with him for the first time ever (i’m a newbie) and found out that he was a natural, and that he never realised it was unusual (lucky or what!).
Anyway, he has since become obsessed with LD and hasn’t had a LD since he discovered the ‘truth’ about LD. I also had my third LD after that day of LD talk, but I had not been practicing any techniques, since then I have been practicing non-stop and have had no further success.
So there’s a bit of anecdotal evidence towards the topic hypothesis. I hope I haven’t ruined his ability!
Freud would usually talk about supressed desires. You would live out in your dreams what you desired in real life but were forced to supress. On that logic, this forum is bad for lucid dreaming, because it gives you a place where lucid dreaming is not supressed. However you will still need to think about lucid dreaming for it to be a part of you. Never thinking about it makes no sense at all.
So based on this idea… think about lucid dreaming all the time. Fantisize about it, and just out right obsess over it, but never read the forums, and never talk to any one about it. Based on this stuff then lucid dreaming will start to surface in your dreams…
But then again, most of Frued ideas have been proven wrong… heh
He is still reecognized though for his ground work in studying how a persons mind really works.
Yea I would not consider this an all or nothing principle. So I would only use this as a kind of last ditch effort during a dry spell. I am someone who can take advantage of self hypnosis and mild so tuning all thoughts of lucidity out of my head might not make a difference over all. Only during dry spells would this seem viable, as I have gotten nearly all of my lifetimes lucid dreams while intensly thinking about them…
I’ve experienced that kind of thing before, where you have an idea during the day and you say “no that’s not a good idea” then it reappears in your dream and you have a dream about it.