Long time lucid dreamer, but I never knew what they were!

Hey all just wanted to introduce myself after stumbling on this glorious site.

I’ve had lucid dreams naturally on and off since childhood and never really understood what they were or researched about them until this year, and since then I’m having mixed success and failures with certain things, some of it due to trying too hard I think (after reading all the info here), but it’s still fun as ever nonetheless.

My lucid dreams can only happen under specific conditions, though, and it’s a tad annoying. Basically WBTB is the only way for me, but it’s almost always 100% of the time, whether it’s a 4 second failure of a lucid dream or a prolonged one, I usually go straight from wakeness directly into lucidity. My new work schedule is great for this too, as I don’t have to be at work until 2pm, so I can WBTB every day if I want to, which is partly why I’ve gotten back into this and registered here.

Like I said I’ve been having them since I was little, but they have been sparse and there are many quirks I have to work on, and I’m still a novice to all these terms and techniques floating around here.

My biggest problem I really, really need to work on so far, is not throwing myself out of lucidity with excitement. Initiating the dreams are no problem, but maybe half the time I’ll toss myself out in under ten seconds because I’m so excited. A big, annoying problem. I’ve tried spinning and looking at my hands, but my mind just gets a bit overworked and obsessed with hanging onto it, and so I lose it.

Anyways that’s basically me, and I would EVENTUALLY like to have nocturnal lucid dreams and work on that, as I’ve never had one before.

Pleased to meet yah.

Excitement is something that pactience and practice will help overcome.

Just try and stay calm and have fun.

:welcome: AfterHours! I’m also an on-and-off natural LDer. Many people, including me, have your problem with over-excitement. Your best bet is to make a list of all the stuff you want to do in LDs, with the stuff you want to do most on top. As you LD, work your way down the list, knowing exactly what you want to do when each dream comes. Eventually, you’ll reach a point where you’ll automatically be calm when your dream starts, and then you can feel free to do whatever you want without a plan.

Also, rather than spinning or looking at your hands, try just experiencing objects in your dreams. Focus on the feeling or sight of an object and try and make it seem more real.

Good luck with your future Lucid Dreams! :grin:

Hrmm make a list, that sounds like a good idea, because a lot of my excitement probably stems from “Oh my god what am I gonna do now?!?!” and I just want to do everything so quickly eh?

Thanks for the advice!

I also agree with Wyrmfell, because I have this same calmness in my LDs. :woot:

My first LD was just like yours. When I fully realized I was dreaming I became way too excited and woke up. :razz:

But now, I have a list of things to do. And whenever I enter a dream, I’m really calm and I start doing whatever I wanted to. :happy:

But!

Welcome to LD 4 All! And happy LDing! I wish I had a scheludge like yours. :sad:

Hey there, AfterHours. Welcome to ld4all! :grin:

I also have the excitement problem, but it is getting a bit better the more LD’s I have. Spinning and rubbing hands has helped me a bit, but one thing I tryed yesterday that worked very well for me was grabbing on to something in the dream world. I got into the dream and everything seemed very unstable, so I threw myself to the foot of the bed and held onto it, like holding onto the dream… I kept rubbing and “squeezing” it and concentrating on the feeling and how real it felt. I also thought to myself “Increase lucidity!” which I think helped. After that everything got pretty stable…

Hi AfterHours.

:peek: I know it seems a bit rich me posting adice when I’ve only 3 posts to my name but I’ve been having trouble also but more with focusing my attention in order to stay with it. What I’m currently road testing is the idea of performing a task. My RC of the minute is rubbing my hands together; not only can I use it as a Dream Signal but if I end up DILDing then once I’ve said to myself ‘ok I’m lucid’ I have an immediate task to perform which should prevent excitement from taking over.

OMG you would not believe the massive de ja vu I just experienced! :eek:

Anyway, yes, a task. You could make it a bit more elaborate; something like turning on a light would mean looking for a switch which in it’s self would prolong your LD. Also you could tell yourself that you will not accept that you’re lucid until you have proof which gives you objectivity and calms the excitement.

This is what I’m working on at the moment and thought it might help your situation. :shy:

I hope you don’t think I’ve been out of order posting this newbie as I am. Although I am only new to this forum, not to LDing. :wink: :grin: