so i had a few lucid dreams now and so far i’ve been able to “gain” many of the tipical dream abilities. when i had my first lucid dreams i was able to move thing with my mind and summon things and characters easily but i couldn’t fly. and at some point i managed to do that too. but there was one thing that i couldn’t do in any of my dream, that is playing with fire. in just about any dream that i had that was lucid i tried to do something with fire but always failed. i had a lucid dream today (well sort of semi lucid but i could preform dream actions and mainly choose not to in order to see where the dream will lead me) and at one point i wanted to summon fire. so i focused really hard and i even said aloud “fire! fire!” and it just didn’t appear. do you have certain elements in the dream world that never respond to you? how can i overcome this? thanks.
I don’t have very specific advice. Trying to do things in your dreams is all about our belief that we can do them, which sounds simple, but is quite hard to use practically in your dreams. Common ways people have dealt with issues like these is to find some way to trick their mind, such as taking a pill to make them control fire or asking a DC to give them an ability. Don’t underestimate asking a DC for something; in my dreams, it is quite a potent way of getting what I want.
From my experience in the LD community, it seems like everyone has certain things that they are good at right away, and others that they struggle with in LDs. Of course, there are outliers, some who can’t do anything easily and some who can do whatever they want. My suggestion is to constantly practice. I’ve had many LDs myself, and still struggle with many aspects of controlling the dream. The more you practice the skill, the better you will get, and this increased confidence leads to your belief in yourself, which also helps you to be able to control the dream better. Every time you become lucid, try to control fire, and if you aren’t getting very far with it, then go ahead and do something else. When you get lucid next time, do the same, until you eventually are able to control the fire. It may take a very long time, but at some point you should gain the ability to do it.
For actually trying to summon the fire, it might be a good idea to have something help you, for example, holding your hands out and shooting the fire out of your hands. It’s just a bit easier than trying to focus on fire appearing out of no where. Another thing that always works for me is walking through any wall I see, and know that when I get out I’ll be wherever I wanted to be and have whatever happen. So you could also try walking through a wall and getting out on the “other side” to see a place on fire.
Have you tried doing it in a way that would work in real life? Start of by lighting a match then manipulating the flame.