Hi.
I started to be interested in lucid dreams since April 2006 (one year ago).
Since then, I started to write down my dreams into a dream journal (~ 1100 dreams noted).
In this period I became lucid in my dreams almost 80 times.
The main problem is that I didn’t had any success into preventing premature awakening. I tried spinning, going with the flow, and many other methods which I found on the Internet.
When I am becoming lucid, the dreams ends very fast (without being possible to continue it; even if sometimes dreams fades slowly (like 5 seconds) no method helps). This is extremly frustrating. I know many persons who dreams lucid a lot (including my mother and my sister - but they are not interested about this subject).
In novemeber last year I decided to stop writing dreams and avoid thinking about LDs, for few weeks, but this didn’t helped. As you will see below, I can say that I had many LDs, but unfortunately, they are useless, because I awake after few seconds
Thanks in advance for your help.
Paul
P.S
To show a bit how many dreams I noted in my DJ and other statistics, I generated a graph from my it (it is generated automatically by a software written by me and gnuplot):
The green line represents how many dreams a night I remembered, the yellow line represents how many pages (kB) I recorded in a night and the mangenta line represents how many times I went lucid on a week. Also, in this graph I represented each night I became lucid by a vertical mangenta line. There is a gap in the graph, because about 3 weeks where I didn’t noted my dreams.
P.S.2. Usually I wake up few times (up to 4-5 times) a night. This is not because of LD, but this is how do I sleep.
P.S.3. In last few months I record my dreams only after 5-6 hours a sleep (to be sure that the main reason of sleep rest) is fulfilled). Still, then I can remember dreams from earliest REM periods.
I gotta say. When I started to apply myself to lucid dreaming I woke up prematurely most of the time, for a long time. I struggled with it. Nothing seemed to work. I still don’t have very long lucid dreams, only once in a while. I can say this though, It gets better. Just keep at it. I used to wake up almost immediately, like you said, within seconds, and nothing I did kept me there any longer. Nowadays I don’t wake up immediately, though usually within a minute. But there are long ones too. I always aspire to prolong them, but I take the short ones with the long ones and try not to worry because it just makes it worse. Looking at statistics doesn’t help either. It just emphasizes losses and failures, if that’s what’s on there. That causes negative expectations.
Sure. I am trying to look at the bright side. I know there is, because I had many interesting experienced in my non lucid dreams.
Here are some examples: I fly many times in my dreams, I became invisible many times, telekinesis is not something rare in my dreams (I not just move objects, but I feel how my mind interacts with them), I experienced more than 3 spatial dimensions, I traveled in time , I changed the nature (made tornados), I passed many times trhu walls, many dreams was more vivid than real life, etc.
I even noticed that sometimes, when I become lucid, between the time I realise that I am lucid and awakeing (which, like I said, takes at most few seconds), I can full control the fading dream.
So, there are plenty interesting experiences. But, unfortunately, I cannot enjoy them at the full value, because of the premature awakening problem.
Also, I had (have) phobia of hallucinations, because until last year, when I realized that every sane person experiences hallucinations during sleep (i.e. dreams), I thought that it happens only to insane people. (btw. I didn’t experienced hallucination while awake ). I mean, I was very very afraid of the idea of “seeing/hearing something that is not there”. Now, I know this happens about 2 hours a day during sleep for each one who sleeps 8 hours.
{EDIT - added the folowing lines}
Before last year, I believed that dreams cannot be vivid as real life (because “it is impossible to see something which is not there”). I believed that they are just very very very blured impressions. Now I know that in dreams everything can “be” more “realistic” than real life.
Paul
Well. I started taking it more seriously a few years back, I don’t really know when, no more than 2-3 years. I used to try lucid dreaming on and off for a few years before that.
The longer ones come now and then and did from the start. The important thing is that it became easier to stabilise the dreams with practise. And not trying too hard. If I focus tremendously on prolonging the dreams I focus on the end of the dream, and then it comes. It’s not really a threshold to get over, You’ll learn in time. The reason why you wake up is not necessarily the same as for me. But keep a calm mind, and be observant. If you can observe your mind at the time you are waking up you can find answers. Try to not think habitually in that situation. like “oh no, it’s happening again.” or “damnit I can’t ever stay in the dream”.
There is also this to consider. When you wake up, you may be able to get right back to sleep, into the same dream. Only with your mind awakened you can enter it lucid.
If your waking up is solely due to your becoming lucid and sort of, unintentionally make yourself wake up, then your sleepcycle is not complete. But I have had many instances where I woke up right when I became lucid wich was in the end of a longer dream. It’s feasable that I was simply waking up and that itself triggered my lucidity. That means that I didn’t do anything wrong, it was just impossible to sleep any longer. Maybe that’s what’s happening to you.
rest) is fulfilled). Still, then I can remember dreams from earliest REM periods.
). I mean, I was very very afraid of the idea of “seeing/hearing something that is not there”. Now, I know this happens about 2 hours a day during sleep for each one who sleeps 8 hours.