After 3 months effort, I had finally succeded in having a short Lucid Dream, then the very next night a good, long, cohesive LD that went on for some time.
But since then, I’ve not had any more. I may have come sort of close a couple of times – depending how you count – but no solid LD. . .
I can’t figure out why I haven’t been able to repeat my earlier performance, when I should be able to learn from them and build on those previous, successful experiences.
yea, I’ve been having real trouble LDing lately too.
I think it’s because I’m sleeping EXTREMELY deeply; the deeper I sleep, the more “Out of it” my brain is. I’ve been having the most bizzar dreams lately (In my dream last night I dreamt I could press the quotation mark key on my keyboard and I could teleport around ).
I had one four days after trying (It lasted 10 minutes, too!), but haven’t been lucky since.
Meh, I’d take a 10 minute LD over a few 2 minute ones any day.
Bernard, the cause for this can be very diverse. Depends on what technique you are trying, how much effort you put into it, how well you record normal dreams, etc etc. A general advice, which you undoubtly already know, is to stick to it and wait till you dry spell ends (because it will, one day sooner or later). Sometimes it can also help to take a break from using techniques, this can cause spontaneous lucids to appear (I heared of this from a few people). Any way, good luck in breaking your dry spell!
My experience of LD’s over the last 20 years is that they sometimes come in waves. And just when you think you have a good stretch going with good results, they disappear for awhile.
The key is to find the practices that you know will help with your long term lucid dreaming success, and stick with them. Repeated practice is what finally leads to lasting results.
… my last “dryspell” lasted several years – I don’t see that as an acceptable level of performance.
When I was a kid I would have a fair number of prelucid and lucid dreams, without even trying (or realising I might be able to do it on purpose). So I figure I should be able to recover this inate ability, the same as I recovered the ability to be awareof my dream-life…
I’ve had some pretty arrid dry spells, but I attribute those to the fact that I wasn’t keeping a dream journal at the time and doing nothing to try to become lucid.
If you keep putting in the effort, you will ulimately have the amount of lucid dreams you want.
I just got back into improving my LD’s, so hopefully my dry spell will be ending soon.
I’m not sure if it will help or not, Bernard, but one thing that used to help me get over dry spells was to change different things. If you usually sleep on your back, try sleeping on your stomach. If you usually don’t listen to music while you sleep, listen to something. If you normally play the radio, don’t. Just change up a bunch of different things to shock your mind again.
Exactly my experience too (although not 20 but merely 3 years ). I wonder if this is caused by psychological or physiological factors, or perhaps a mix of both.
A lucid dream – It was very short, barely long enough for me to realise I was dreaming.
On the plus side, it was from recognising that a discrepency was a sign that I was actually dreaming. I was checking my Lotto 6/49 ticket (yes, I know the odds suck: ~ 14million to one against) and my ticket only had 5 numbers. After double-checking I realised that it just couldn’t happen that way – and figured out that I was dreaming. Then I woke up. That’s the first time I’ve become lucid from actually recognising a dream-sign.
(there was almost a 2nd one too. I was at my computer and noticed a browser-tab or program button labled “Hungry” and somehow knew that it didn’t belong there, and was actually describing how I felt. But I woke up while realising it was probably a dream).
I’ve had a couple of FAs and prelucids lately too.
I’ve found many times it’s my sleeping environment that has a big impact on lucid dreaming. If my cat wakes me up a lot in the middle of the night, that can lead to lucid dreams. Also, sleeping in a strange place sometimes will trigger lucid dreams.
Do you suppose Stephen LaBerge can have LD’s basically whenever he wants* (instead of having waves and/or dry spells like nearly everyone else) because he is so deeply involved in it? That would be nice, go to work, work on LDing, have one any time you feel like it.
I’m so busy at my job it’s hard to even remember to do RC’s.
That’s actually a good idea…I just may try that, thanks. I hate to rely on an external reminder like Outlook, but at this point anything is an improvement. I’ve also decided to really try to buckle down and do the Appendix exercises in EWLD, like “Strengthening Your Will” and others.
I think it’s worth the effort, and if you have to set up external reminders, then go for it. And it’s important to imagine while you are doing the reality testing that you are actually in a dream.
).
). I wonder if this is caused by psychological or physiological factors, or perhaps a mix of both.
