Finally had my1st LD but,unsure and generally worried

Quest for Lucidity General Lucidness
1

Hi.
I’ve been trying and really wanting to LD for a good few months now. Today I finally managed it but not with a positive method.
I woke up and felt that I was close to being aware in what I just woke from, so I decided to try get back to sleep…but it seemed the only way to do it for me was to allow myself to go into sleep paralysis.
After ending up in the dream, it felt extremely ‘fuzzy’ and shakey where detail was vague.
I decided to see if there was anything I could do to verify I was in a dream. For some reason I was holding something and decided to try and ‘‘bend it with my mind’’…which I did…Then I tried to jump from a height and land on the floor below face first…which I think woke me up.

The problem is is that I have a history of seriously fearful experiences with sleep paralysis and do not wish to use this method, as it usually entails negative hallucinations and extreme electrical sensations and sounds in my body and head.

LD’ing is something I’ve wanted to do more than anything for so long now and I’m feeling frustrated. I’ve learnt from logging my dreams that all my dream signs are extremely fearful, such as: Being attacked…usually by a dog…or a life-long recurring situation in which I don’t have much control over my movements or I’m stuck to the floor.
I personally think if my dream signs are negative and full of fear, it will be hard if not impossible to overcome the fear to realize ‘‘this is a dream’’.

I’m not sure if anything I have said here can get or warrants a reply but, if anyone has anything at all to say I’d be very greatful.

Thanks,

Sirius1571

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The important thing to note about SP is that it doesn’t have to be necessarily a fearful experience. Personally, I find it a very interesting topic, that is not to say however, that my experiences with it are entirely different from yours. The small cases I’ve experienced SP normally follow the usual body paralysis along with a strong vibrational feeling or numbness, without any hallucinations.

But, if you don’t feel comfortable using this method, then by any means don’t use it. There are a myriad of ways out there that can lead you to the same goal, and that’s the beauty of lucid dreaming. In your case, you say your dream signs are also fearful experiences. While one way you could approach this is by facing these fearful dream signs and recognizing them as opportunities for attaining lucidity, that’s obviously something easier said than done.

Luckily, there are many other tools you could include in your lucid dreaming arsenal:

Have you read upon dream incubation by any chance? You could work on incubating a desired pleasant experience you would want to dream about, thus making your chances of becoming lucid more favorable. The idea behind it is to consciously plan out a desired dream or specific event to happen in your next dream, and continuously keep that thought in mind. Remember that most of the plot that happens in our dreams is a by product of the thoughts and experiences we mostly have when we’re awake, and how important that idea is to our minds. The more attractive or important the experience is, the more the mind retains it and seeks it further.

Based on this idea, you could try and associate the intended dream experience with a set of pleasant images, sounds, feelings, etc. By visualizing the experience as vividly as possible, you can increase your chances of it happening once dreaming. Then, when you proceed to got to sleep, constantly think about and visualize that outcome, have it be the last thought in your mind before you fall asleep. If you succeed, you could completely change the characteristics of your dreams to ones you are perfectly comfortable with. You could make it funnier, adventurous, exciting, whatever works for you.

You could also try intending or using autosuggestion to change the dream’s plot, though I prefer the visualization technique more. Last but not least, there’s also WILD, where you can by pass all dream signs and immediately enter a dream fully conscious. Remember also that SP is not necessary to induce an effective WILD, you could go about and do the technique without even being aware about SP.

All in all, I’m sure there are many other practices you could chose from that can help you on your quest. These are just a few I can think of. Hope this helps.

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Thanks ever so much for the reply and information. I will do as you suggest; and the idea of attempting to confront the things that make me feel scared seems amazing.

I’m going to continue as I have been, now with more info.

Thanks again :smile: