LDing and Me (Two musings from a newbie)

Quest for Lucidity
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Very happy to find this forum, as I have been intrigued by LDing for quite some time. Two problems I face:

(1)I have no problem recognizing that I’m dreaming – this actually happens all the time. But it almost never leads to lucidity. For instance, there are times when a situation is uncomfortable, or I need to move quickly from where I am, and I’ll think, “oh, that’s right – I’m dreaming, so I can fly away!” And I will proceed to fly. Or something will be very surreal, confusing, or even frightening, but I’ll think reassuringly, “oh, yeah, that’s right – this is a dream – no biggie, it’s cool.” But then the dream goes on as usual – it’s like the recognition of the dream state is almost incidental, taken for granted, and I remain a passive observer. Even reality checks do little to help – if I’m trying to do something that is normally difficult in a dream – a good example is reading text – I do recognize that I’m in a dream and that that’s why I’m having problems. But I don’t break into lucidity as a result – I merely focus harder on what I’m trying to do, sometimes even cursing under my breath that the dream state makes it so hard to do.

(2)I have only had a LD perhaps 4 times, and every time was extremely brief and occurred right before waking. In each case, I achieved lucidity through focusing on and physically handling some object with great concentration. In the most recent example, I was in an old-style upright payphone booth by the side of a road and focused on one of the rivets holding the metal frame together – staring at it, feeling and manipulating it with my hand, etc. This produced lucidity, which I normally recognize by the scene suddenly becoming much brighter, more colorful, and more detailed. (Not as much so as “real life,” but perhaps 75% as much.) Given my previous failures at maintaining lucidity, I was very assertive, even saying out loud things like “I’m dreaming, this is a dream, I will maintain lucidity, I am in control,” etc. I exited the booth to find a yellow convertible parked outside, which I decided to get into and drive. Just as I was getting set to start the car, I felt the dream quickly slipping away, could not maintain it despite my assertiveness, and awoke. The entire lucid sequence had a subjectively perceived duration of perhaps 20-30 seconds – about the same as my 3 previous LDs that all ended with awakening.

Any comments, suggestions or similar experiences appreciated.

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Hi, and welcome to ld4all! :happy:

Well, as soon as you realize that you’re in a dream, you are lucid. If when you say something like “I’m dreaming” it feels “mechanical”, like you’re just saying it without actually thinking or understanding what it means, it might be a FLD. I’ve had those a few times… I was dreaming that I was having a lucid dream :rofl: Not sure if that’s your case, though… anyway, I think peoplesay FLDs are almost LDs :tongue: so you are very close…

I also have this problem, waking up very quickly. There are a few things (lots, maybe) that you can do, such as rubbing your hands and paying attention to the feeling, or holding on to something in the dream world. The best technique though is spinning around your axis. The sense of movement helps you stay in the dream… Although this doesn’t always work that great for me… My problem is, I think, I have trouble staying calm. Excitement will wake you up very easilly…

Hope that helped. :smile:

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No, when I realize I’m in a dream, I understand what it means – it’s just that once the realization is made, I tend to just shrug it off matter-of-factly. I’ve had these moments of recognition in dreams constantly throughout my life – to me, it doesn’t really establish any meaningful “lucidity” unless I use that knowledge to actually take control and begin to affect things that happens in the dream. And, for whatever reason, I rarely do that.

Hmmm…in the “real world,” I would become dizzy and nauseous doing that. Maybe my first act upon achieving lucidity should be to conjure up a bottle of Dramamine? :content: Seriously, though, it just seems like there’s something about those brief moments before waking that seems to enhance the dream – I’m not sure anything would help extend the dream if my body is well on the way to waking anyway. (And my body seems to always wake at the same time every morning even without an alarm – it’s a curse when I want to sleep in.)

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:welcome:

I some what have a similar problem. I would always do a reality check, then i’d have six fingers, or could breath when i hold my nose, then i would say “cool it worked” but i still wouldn’t get the memo that i was dreaming! :meh:
:dingding:

Maybe the same for you, we prolly aren’t doing enough reality checks during the day, or our brains still don’t fully understand what we’re trying to do…thats prolly why we just shrug it off like its no big deal. I had a few FLDs, so that means im close to having a real LD, hopefully same for you. :mrgreen:

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as mattiasdavis said, as soon as you realize you are in a dream you are technically lucid dreaming. Your problem appears to be not having enough dream control. Basically you become lucid, but are powerless to change the dream’s course/lack the will to do so. I would probably suggest getting yourself really hyped up about doing stuff in your dreams; so that the idea of controlling your dreams gets into your subconscious. You could also try a kind of modified version of mild. Instead of repeating to yourself that you will have a lucid dream/realize you are dreaming; say that you will take total control of your dreams/ do a specific thing you want to do in your dreams.

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Oh, ok. I understand. Try doing something like what rarebreed suggested. I agree that it sounds more like a control problem than a lucidity problem… Anyway, I’m sure practice will help a lot. :happy:

Yeah, me too! But the first time I did this in a dream it was very pleasent, not sure why. The only way I could find to describe what I felt was being “the opposite of getting dizzy”. :rofl:
just give it a try :smile: