is your level of lucidity predetermined for the night

[gvoigt21]

i have probably had about 30 lucid dreams so far, some where i wake immediatly, some where i remain for what seems to be about 5-7 minutes, and some where things are going good until i try something out of my league. I am very much still a beginner though and was wondering if the problem im having is common in beginners. It seems like my level of lucidity...my conciousness, awareness in the dream is either all there, partly there, or almost non existent when i am lucid from the very beginning, even before i do a reality check, and there is nothing that I can do to improve it no matter what i try, it either remains the same, or diminishes. I know that a lucid dream means simply the fact that you know you are dreaming, and all other control is an added bonus, but it seems like my mind reacts differently to the knowledge that i am dreaming each time. Its so annoying when i wake up after a weak lucid dream and ask myself why i behaved that way when during other lucid dreams my thoughts were much more clear and my decisions more rational, sometimes i almost don't seem like myself even though i know im dreaming. It seems like there is a difference between your conciousness and lucidity because i have defintly been "lucid" before and realized later that if i had been totally concious in the dream i would have acted completely different. I know there are ways to know your lucid, reality checks and whatnot, but is there a way to improve your awareness/conciousness...its hard to do that in a lucid dream when you don't care to do it or want to do it for whatever reason, and i have no control over that in my dreams, i either want to or i dont, but if i was totally concious, i defintly would want to, but then again if i was totally concious i wouldn't need to improve my conciousness...sorry if none of that makes sense or i repeated myself has anyone experienced this and does it improve over time?

[TygrHawk]

I know what you mean. It seems that in most of my LDs, my lucidity level is fairly low. I have little to no control over the dream environment (only over my own actions), and I don't think things out clearly and do the things that I know I should do and can do to improve upon my lucidity and control. Other times, it seems that I can think almost as clearly as I do when awake, and those are the really cool dreams, where I can do what I want, where I want, when I want, and with whoever I want. Those are rare.

[Split Infinity]

For me whenever I go lucid, I have a huge amount of control over the dream, and the things I see in it are just crystal clear. I posted a topic long ago about the fact that when I go lucid I make special note of the detail in the dream, and it looks like it's real life in my dreams. I always make note to remember it when I wake up. (If you find yourself lucid in a dream, telling yourself something works REALLY well.) But my dreams mostly start off like that, so I don't have to worry about increasing control or clarity. The only tips I could give is to spin if you can or focus on your hands. I find that if I can see clearly in a dream, my level of control will be much higher. If a dream is blurry or fuzzy then my level of control will be very little, if any and I tend to lose it very fast.

[Clairity]

Remember these sayings: "Clarity Now" and "Increase Lucidity Now". Next time you're in a lucid dream shout them out and see if things don't dramatically improve. :-)

[TygrHawk]

I've tried shouting those things (when I can remember to), but it doesn't seem to help much. Rubbing my hands together does seem to help increase my focus, though.

[Number 6]

I've been trying to increase lucidity also. I've said the words with no result. I finally remembered to rub my hands together a few days ago...the first time I've ever done this in a lucid dream. I did it when I felt the dream fading. I remember thinking that my hands felt cool and dry when rubbing them but the level of lucidity didn't seem to change. The dream faded and I woke up in bed in my bedroom. It turned out to be a false awakening as my air conditioner was making awful noises and had flashing lights on it. I got up to look at it, realized I was still dreaming and did a reality test which confirmed that I was dreaming. I then woke up for real. I don't know if the rubbing extended the LD or caused the false awakening or both. The dream was a WILD/OBE, which most of my recent LD's have been. 6

[Ivegottheskill]

I seem to have a mild level of consciousness within LD's. I've tried to manipulate things for the sake of it, but they're on a fairly tame level, and don't always turn out quite right I haven't tried to fly, or look at the back of my hands (many have said they look old/deformed in dreams), or look in a mirror (again, many have said it looks like you have "no soul"). It's as though you're normal personality/thought patterns aren't fully there (i.e. you dont think like you do when you're awake, don't seem to be as alert, or interrogative). Presumably due to several areas of the brain being inactive during sleep

[Split Infinity]

I avoid mirrors like the plague during dreams. Mirrors have an extremely errie 'aura' about them, especially in dreams. Things can easily turn crazy in dreams, and mirrors are just a phobia of mine. (Only while dreaming though.) Must be from playing Silent Hill 3. That game scarred me for life =

[Lucky27]

Originally posted by Clairity Remember these sayings: \"Clarity Now\" and \"Increase Lucidity Now\". Next time you're in a lucid dream shout them out and see if things don't dramatically improve. :-) I've tried this. It doesn't work for me, but I hear it works fairly well for some people. My favorite is spinning around in a circle with my hands spread out, falling down, and then staring at the sky/ceiling (like we all used to do when we were kids.)

[Syntex]

It seems that saying "increase clarity now" and so forth, only work when the dream has just began. It looks like for alot of us, we're trying to keep a dying dream from ending and it's trying to fade out. Us keeping it alive doesn't seem to work. I've tried alot of techniques and the best one from what I can see is to just let the dream go and focus on waking up into a new dream. I usually just do this by closing my eyes and spinning with the intent of ending up in a bright and vivid new dream. It's worked everytime for me so far. -Daniel

[mickmcc]

my dreams always seem distant... does a good vivid ld feel like real life, in the sense you are actually there, and not just witnessing it?

[Syntex]

Definantly, many people here can tell you that a full on lucid dream that is vivid, can be as vivid as real life... some even claim it to be even more vivid and mentally arousing than the plain old reality we're experiencing right now. It just takes time to find out for you, in what way you can increase the vividness of your dreams. I've had alot of distant and non-vivid dark dreams, that you can't really do anything, most of those are just dying dreams, so I spin and intend to wake up into a more vibrant and new dream. -Daniel

[Alric]

I can't prolong dreams at all, maybe a few seconds tops. Its just really hard. I think it kind of depends on when you go lucid, towards the start, middle or end of a dream. If its at the start and your fully into the dream then you have a lot of control and its very vivid, which is why WILDs are so good. If its the end of the dream though, its not very vivid and you wake up easily and theres not much you can do about it. Then theres a lot of area in the middle. I think most people go lucid closer towards the end, so its easy to wake up and stuff. Starting closer to the start isn't always a good thing though, because instead of waking up you get false awakenings, which can erase your entire lucid dream. You shouldn't be scared of mirrors split. I use them all the time, as a RC and as a way to get to new locations. I always push right through them and its fun.

[gvoigt21]

yea man, mirrors are gateways to all kinds of things, at least from my experience so far. All kinds of weird stuff can happen like body distortions, elbows bending the wrong way...once i was able to grow a third arm from a mirror distortion, didnt have very good control of it though. I always am curious to see how i look in a mirror in my dreams cause it often reflects my current mental state. Sometimes i look like a piece of crap like i got hit by a truck or im losing my hair and falling apart, other times i look like a million bucks, and its funny how every time this happens in a dream, i remember how i felt the day before the dream and if i was depressed or something i look bad, happy i look good. I've recently had some better luck with the spinning technique, it seems to work a little better for me then fighting to stay in the same dream ( I always wake up before i want), although its kind of annoying when you really want to remain where you are, still its a lot better having 3 or 4 brief different lds than just one struggling short fading out ld.

[Clairity]

Originally posted by gvoigt21 I've recently had some better luck with the spinning technique, it seems to work a little better for me then fighting to stay in the same dream ( I always wake up before i want), although its kind of annoying when you really want to remain where you are, still its a lot better having 3 or 4 brief different lds than just one struggling short fading out ld. I used to avoid spinning as well because I wanted to stay in the current dream but I am beginning to agree with you (sometimes quantity does take precedence over poor quality)!

[Kula]

Originally posted by Alric You shouldn't be scared of mirrors split. I use them all the time, as a RC and as a way to get to new locations. I always push right through them and its fun. If you've played that paticular part of Silent Hill 3, you'd be scared of mirrors too. The mirror scene was one of the most frightening things i've seen. Split Infinity, you know what i mean right? Damn that series is scary! I've only had a few 'real' lucid dreams and i can't recal my state of awareness ever changing. It's either quite low, or quite high (but always short of full lucidity).

[TheUnknown]

That spinning... doesn't work here. Squeezing my eyes, depending on the intent will change dreamscape, or wake me up.