Ok… I’m not sure how to phrase this… so I’m gonna try my best.
When i was little and used to have ld’s I would think about and visualise my dreams before i had them. My dreams were usually about random stuff. Sometimes flying, sometimes floating, sometimes fighting enemies and being the hero. Average kid stuff. When i think back on it now a days(I’m 16 now… back then i was 8-12) when ever I would think about floating, flying, or jumping really high and slowly coming back down, I would have dreams all with various levels of lucidity. Now a days I don’t think about things like that before I sleep. I visualise hero stuff and guy stuff. I rarely visualize flying, or falling, or floating anymore. I don’t know when this change happened… but I do know that this change has stopped those lucid dreams from happening. My theory is this. For a lucid dream there are two parts. The first part is initialization. Initialization happens when you experience a strong feeling. In my case and most likely every other case… that strong feeling is the feeling of falling. That weightless feeling. The 2nd part is awareness. Awareness is what everyone here talks about. Everyone here pratices awareness. The ability to know you are dreaming. No one here actually practices the 1st part. For many here it comes naturally. They don’t think about it. It’s a normal thing for them. Not for me. I’ve grown out of that somehow. I now have to change me way of thinking before I sleep.
Hopefully this will help someone. This realization of me has helped me alot. As soon as i realized this I forced myslef to think about falling before i slept. I didn’t have a completely lucid dream. My dream was about me jumping off a tall tower and falling and hitting the ground. Every time i hit the ground i would feela strong spasm. My guess is that it was sleep paralysis. I haven’t dreamed like that in years. When iw as young I would have that dream often. Finally it’s coming back to me. Again I hoped this helped someones.
When I say strong feelings, I mean physically(sensation of movement)… not emotionally(fear). Although I do suppose strong emotions might cause the same outcome.
The one LD I do recall having so far was actually due to a strong feeling (what you call initialization) and then awareness. I was having a nightmare (strong feeling) and then I realized it couldn’t be real and that I was dreaming (awareness). If only all my dreams with strong feelings caused me to become lucid, I’d be set! I had a ND a few weeks ago with majorly strong feelings in which every single thing was weird and freaking me out but I still didn’t become lucid even though I think the deepest recesses of my mind were trying to point me in that direction.
I don’t have any falling-feeling dreams anymore either…I used to get them periodically like a lot of people when I was younger (am 33 now) but haven’t had one in a long time…like the falling feeling that can jolt you awake, is that what you mean?
It sounds like you used to incubate dreams when you were younger. When you had the dreams about flying etc, did you realize that you were dreaming while in the dream?
I’d have to agree. It seems to me that I did incubate my dreams.
The problems now a days is that i can’t concentrate anymore. I used to be able to focus my mind on one thing(the visualization), but I can’t anymore. I seemed to have gooten A.D.D. or something. I’m working on fixing that. But what do you think of my theory of the 2 steps to lucid dreaming? Does it happen to all like that? Or just a few?
I don’t know that I would call them steps but, they are two things that can greatly improve your chances of success. Having a strong desire to lucid dream is very important. If you are not trying or don’t take it seriously then it probably won’t happen. That is pretty much the point of the MILD technique. I would also add that having a positive attitude about lucid dreaming is important as well. If you think it is hard then it will be. Now awareness is critical. Developing an awareness of both your dream live and waking life is the point behind keeping a dream journal and doing reality checks.
I don’t remember to have do reality checks and keep a dream journal. I’m too busy doing various thing. Again… I can’t seem to focus on one thing anymore. I want to so badly but I can’t. Any advice on how I could improve my concentration besides medication? As for my two step process. I’m going to work on developing the first one as mucha s I can. If ic an get that back to what it used to be… maybe I can starting having lucid dreams more often(now a days it’s down to 1 a year if I’m lucky). Once I can incubate my dreams better… I’ll work on gettin better at awareness. I find the first more important and much easier to learn. My only problem with it now is concentration. Once I can successfully incubate my dreams on a regular basis… I’ll move onto awareness.
I would suggest that you get a progressive relaxation tape to start. When your body is relaxed it is easier to focus your mind. Also, by using a tape you don’t have to think so much. You just follow what the tape says.
The thing is, I have to have complete silence to concetrate. Any noise triggers my thinking. I hear one sound I begin to think of all the things that could of made that kind of sound. Music or talking also keeps me awake.
Earplugs should help that. That will prevent you from using a tape, but you can still use any progressive relaxation technique. I posted a simple one in themeditationthread.
Also, I strongly suggest that you make time to keep a DJ and do reality checks.
It also might be helpful if you post one of your old dreams if you remember one. Explain what you did before you went to sleep, how you entered the dream and finally what you did in the dream. This would help us give you better advice.
One of my old dreams I remember quite vividly was when i was at my grandma’s house. Before I fell asleep I imagined the house. At the time they were working on there house so I imagined it with scafolding going 7 stories up. I climbed to the top of it in my mind. I looked at the ground and everything was small. Then I fell asleep. While I slept I remember dreaming about falling off the top of it. As I fell my body tingled. When I hit the ground there would be a huge shock that would go through my body. I can remember thinking “Stop! I don’t want to hit the ground again.” I didn’t like the feeling of hitting the ground. Then I would wake up. That’s about it.