Mindset

Quest for Lucidity
1

Guys, I’ve been here for a while now (though I mostly keep to my DJ), and all this time I’ve noticed a trend.

Most people with problems LDing have the same problem: they lack a LDing mindset. I’m not saying about Lucid Living. And I’m not saying I got it either, but to me, well, it seems like “a thing”.

It’s just that, to me, at least, it seems like the “Naturals” or the really experienced people who just WILD, MILD or DILD easily have something else figured out. It’s like something clicked in their heads and they just get it right.

The same way frustration makes things harder, they seem so adamant in their belief that it just goes that way. I may be making little sense or be just plain wrong, but at least that’s what I think we should be learning, or focusing on. It’s just that sometimes it looks as if more than RCs or techniques, it’s the right mindset that makes it work.

How do you guys do it? How do you “believe” you can LD?

Also, do you have some hint, shortcut or something else that might help people get the right mindset?

I have occasional LDs, mostly DILDs or WBTB/MILDs that just seem to happen (most are unplanned). But all this time I’d have trouble on doing it on purpose, either getting too excited or it just plainly “not happening”.

2

You’re absolutely right. Mindset is everything. Yes, there is something that those who have frequent LDs have, but that isn’t to say that it cannot be a learned skill.
See, I haven’t been focusing much on LDing. My focus has been more DR. But I think now, or soon anyway, I will shift my focus to LD. And I have found since I have focused on DR, I remember a good deal of my dreams. My goal is to remember 5 or more dreams every night.

But the mindset that makes me fail to DR, is one that goes smething like this: I feel disappointed because I didn’t remember any dreams. I mull over why, I can’t figure it out, chalk it up to an external factor (stress, tiredness, wife, child, parents, friends, leg hurts etc, etc) and then I become worried that I won’t be able to succeed.
The way that I combat it, is I stop trying. I forget about my DR, and just have fun for a day, reduce my worries, meditate, enjoy moment to moment existence. When I’m not ‘doing’ DR, the DR comes naturally. I suppose it is much the same way with LD, you don’t ‘do’ the LD, the LD comes to you, naturally, on its own.

It’s like the Taoists, they have a system of belief where you don’t “do” work, the work comes naturally, like, say you have to clean the floor. You pick up the mop, you’re aware of it, but it doesn’t feel like a task, the cleaning of the floor is natural. However, as with anything, you have to already know the movements to mop the floor, you have to have a basic ideation of what it is that needs to be done in order for the floor to be cleaned, so while you are learning that, it does feel like work.

so just like with LDs, you must know first what it is that must be done in order to LD, and once you know what it is that you need to do to LD, you must let the LD do itself. You understand what I mean? That is the mindset to dream lucidly, and it can be applied to anything in life.

3

Wow, that makes a lot of sense!

Thank you very much :smile:

I’m still figuring out how to put an objective in this perspective, so I won’t be “trying it too hard”. Still, gave me a lot of food for thought. Thanks!

4

I struggle with the same question, how can we believe that we can lucid dream? Here is my theory on the answer… What it takes is motiavation created through imagination. We can record or dreams, reality check 100 times a day, and use WILD WBTB etc… for months and get no results. Maybe we would increase our dream recall or occasionally get lucky and remember to reality check, but for the most part just focusing on technique is not going to get you anywhere. In order to believe we can lucid dream we have to pick a specific event to accomplish while lucid and answer the question why did you choose this event? For example my event is to prove to a DC that this is a dream. However instead of answering it with words you have to answer it with your imagination. You have to feel like you are there and believe you are there in the moment.

5

https://community.ld4all.com/t/i-am-a-lucid-dreamer-commanding-the-subconscious-mind/32155

just found this thread… its awesome

6

cosmocrater, that 3rd paragraph in your post… can i place it in my signature as a quote credited to you?

7

Yep. I haven’t gotten stressed about LDing once, and since starting working on this goal in June I’ve had 2 proper LDs already. My biggest focus for the first part of June was DR. As I’ve been reading and learning about lucid dreaming however it has crept more and more into my dreams.

LDing must be treated as a long term goal. If you are achieving any of the following things, take heart and know that you are making great progress! Remember, the lucid dreams themselves are just the ultimate goal, and the lucid mindset will come:

  • Remembering more dreams
  • Remembering more detail in dreams
  • Getting SP
  • Thinking about dreaming within a dream
  • Almost doing an RC in a dream
  • Having an FA (these can often make for easy DILDs)
  • Seeing HI
  • Feeling more aware during the day
  • Getting lucid for a few seconds in a dream

You mentioned yourself in your post Rodrigo that the people lucid dreaming at will are either naturals or very experienced. I doubt they’re going to be able to come up with a magic formula for a lucid dreaming mindset that suddenly allows a novice to LD at will, simply because they’re all unique. I reckon, as Cosmocrator suggests, the lucid dreaming will come naturally if you maintain focus, confidence and awareness.

EDIT: Sorry I didn’t realize you were actually quite an experienced LDer Rodrigo (having had more than 60) so this advice is more aimed towards people at the same level as I am, beginner.