My Frustrating Quest for Lucidity

Hello,

I have occassionally been to this forum, but this is my first post. I’m sure some of you have been discouraged about having LDs after trying so long without having one. I have tried unsuccessfully, on and off, since 1997 without having one. I first heard about it when I got the Nova Dreamer.

I did have ONE dream when I was a small child…I was trying something “new.” I told myself before I went to sleep that I would wake up in my dream. I repeated this to myself until I fell asleep, and I remembered it in my dream and became aware. The first thing I did was wake myself up on purpose. In my dream, I started jumping up and down, and I woke up banging my head on the pillow. I was reminded of this where, in this forum, one person tried to become more aware in the dream by rubbing his hands and he/she woke up with their hands over their head. Thought I would mention it.

WILD seems more appealing to me, mainly because I want to feel these vibrations. The most I have ever gotten is the feeling of being spun around, being dizzy, while my eyes go back and forth. I guess this can kinda be like REMs, but I’m not dreaming. Another problem that I have with WILD is swallowing. After so long, my mind seems focused on my throat, and it is so hard not to swallow that I have to, and any and all relaxation comes to an end.

The opportunities have been there. I remember being on a bus in my dream and someone TOLD ME that I was dreaming. And what do I do? I dismiss it. It has been extremely frustrating. Since I am posting this, is there anyone who can relate closely to this? I know people post that question all the time, but I guess it’s just my turn.

Thanks for letting me go on and on and on and on.

P.J.

Welcome to the ld4all forums!(although im fairly new too.)

Well my first one wasn’t on purpose, but the time since i’ve been trying really hard until i got my first on-purpose LD was really short.

since '97?!! :eek: was that’s like 7 years struggling.

Yeah the main techniques are: rubbing hands, focusing and spinning in your own axis.

for me is MIlD cuz to do WILD you have to at least got some sleep before…

Don’t worry, that’s exactly what has happened to me… I even asked Robin from the REal world: sand diego if i was Dreaming (she said no) but…

Well it surprises me the amount of time you have been fighting to have a LD and haven’t been succesfull; I’m starting to get deep into Lucid Dreaming ( i started a tuesday with my quest, January 11th, 05. And in like 5 days i had my first on-purpose Lucid dream.

What you have to do is be confident all the time and dedicate all the time you can to do LD without giving up. Some ppl are natural in LD so they don’t need much effort to be succesful but for the people you aren’t they just have to practice, practice and don’t give up.

Take care,

Cranberrydude :happy:
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in the words of LaBerge “practice and perseveriance will pay off” how are you motivated? (obviously motivated enough to keep going for so long!) My problem for a good few months was, I was always kinda motivated but kinda not motivated, I really became motivated this last month and LDing seems to come easy with the motivation. I was on my last wim just about to give up until I came here and someone pointed out this problem to me (thanks freeborn)

Enough about me, WILD is a really good technique with WBTB and somthing along the lines of a fast sleeper, and when you are doing WILD ignore the thought of having to swallow, im not saying drown yourself im sayin just dont think about it period usually when I am doing WILD and I think of an itch guess what happens somthing itches!

I would recommend taking up a MILD method, simply because it has been the best method for me. If you have a good perspective memory (such as you dont require a notepad to remember what todo throughout the day) you would be pretty much set for MILD, i also used to fail miserabley in MILD, I assumed that I would say the mantra and it would happen. It is not the mantra that does it! It is you yourself that does it, you recite that so you remember todo it. I had always assumed it just happens.

Usually when you see a Dreamsign or ask yourself if you are dreaming and dont become Lucid, is due to low motivation or concideration, this also used to happen to me. the thing that solved it is setting a firm resolution for myself “anything that slightly resembles a dream I will do a RC” so now each time somthing throughout the day seems wierd I will do a RC right infront of anyone. Because if I am afraid todo one infront of other people I will be afraid todo one in a dream.

And feel free to post away, alot of us were at your point, the important thing to remember is Lucid dreaming is easy its only as hard as one makes it. and hopefully we at this forum can help ease some of your questions.

You’re welcome :smile:

It seems that people who struggle for ages to reach concious dreaming have generally only one problem. They have an unsteady intent.

You have heard, that people do LDing, yet your rational mind says, that they are different from you. Or “I am never able to do that because I haven’t done so far”. Or even you are not sure that dreamcontrol is real. So you try for a few days or even a few weeks and have no results. And you give up, you get disappointed and say to yourself that concious dreaming is not possible for you to experience. :confused: You are angry at yourself for not being able to dream lucidly.

What a silly thought!

  1. You break your intent by saying the exact opposite to what you want to achieve!
  2. Instead of working towards ability to LD, you spend the same energy to blame yourself or the world.
  3. You strop trying (for a while).

But something in you wants to LD, some part of you can’t accept the failure and in time you try again. Don’t make the same mistake as before. Learn to guide your intent and try to strengthen your will.

If you start on one day with RC-s and keeping the dream diary don’t stop before you have a LD. Keep your awareness excited throughout the whole day, believe that you will have LD-s and ALWAYS KEEP YOUR MOTIVATION HIGH, NO MATTER WHAT :happy:
Btw, one of the worst thing you could do is to blame yourself for losing motivation or for not having LD-s. :ack:

Concious dreaming is real, it is fun and possible for everyone.

Very good advise already given here. To fuel your motivation a bit more perhaps, Greywolf, have you ever (for prolonged periods of time) tried to combine WBTB + MILD or + WILD? When i got my first on purpose LD’s, it was with WBTB + MILD. Seems that this is one of the best methods for someone to at least start with lucid dreaming. Once you have had a few, it should become way more easy. Anyway, good luck with it! :smile:

One of the things I forgot to mention is the fact that I have only tried WBTB once or twice, and I do have a problem: once I am asleep, it seems I could care less about being lucid. I’m not sure what’s going on here, but once I’m asleep, I just don’t want to be woke up.

Something else: the Nova Dreamer just didn’t happen. The only thing it succeeded in was waking me up. I would wake up in the morning with the ND laying on the other side of the bed, under the pillow, or even in the floor. The funny thing is, I don’t remember taking it off.

P.J.