Alright, so one of my problems with MILD (and autosuggestion) is that right after a mantra, follows a negative thought. There’s just always one part of me that seems to ALWAYS doubt my attempts at lucid dreaming.
I’ve tried telling myself that it’s just me spawning the negative thought (which it is), but that does nothing to suppress it. I know it’s the whole “someone tells you about elephants, what do you think about?” effect, but EVERY time I attempt to affirm that I am going to have a lucid dream… BAM! Cancelled by a negative thought.
I don’t want to move on to another technique (I feel that’s what I’ve been doing wrong these past 1 1/2 years…). I’ve been trying to use MILD in combination with Silverbullet’s “natural” LDing guide over at dreamviews (I know I can’t link to it here).
My mantra, after playing around with different ones for weeks, is simply, “I am dreaming.” The first night I used this I had a REALLY long FLD. Ever since then (a month ago), I’ve had nothing of the sort.
I am trying to figure out a solution, but nothing is seeming to work.
I imagine that we have all dealt from time to time with that “inner coward” voice. You know – that voice that pops up from time to time in your head to discourage your success and get you to stop trying something outside of your comfort zone. It’s normal and affects people in all sorts of endeavors.
I have a general recipe for defusing worry and anxiety in life that I think may apply here. Understand that this “voice” is a fearful, wretched little thing and will always be there worrying about a bunch of stuff. When these thoughts pop up, don’t try to force them away. Just acknowledge them, note them for what they are, smile inwardly, and then very gently set them aside.
Gently shift your thoughts to that first super-long LD and to what you plan to do with tonight’s lucid dream. If the negative thoughts return, no big deal! Just set them aside again and keep gracefully turning your attention back to what the LD experience is like and what your experience will be like. Keep this up, building that sense of relaxed but eager anticipation that precedes a night of potential LD’ing. If you do this, I know you will outlast that wimpy, whiny part of your brain that’s fretting about a bunch of nonsense. You know that you are capable of having LD’s – you’ve done it and you’ll do it again, either tonight or some night in the future!
Lucid Wolf:
Much thanks for the helpful reply! I’ll try this!