Something's Hindering My Lucidity

Recently I've had minimal lucid dreams, and what's worse is that the ones I do have end within about two minutes (I don't believe it's excitement; I think I got the calm part down a while ago). My last lucid dream was recalled yesterday morning, but the last lucid dream before that was on January 12th, over 2.5 weeks earlier. I only had two lucid dreams last month.
Now that that's out of the way, here's what is odd: it seems that my lucid dreams got really scarce shortly after I began doing a lot of the exercises in Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming. I don't feel that I'm trying too hard, so the best reason I can come up with is that stress from school and Boy Scouts (which I am in the process of leaving) is completely killing my lucid dreams. My recall doesn't seem "damaged," however; every morning I take about five minutes to scribble key points from the 1-3 dreams I normally remember onto paper. Because of school I don't have any time to make an record more detailed than that.
Another thing I've noticed is that I don't seem to notice dream signs, even if they make it completely obvious that I'm dreaming. I'll see video game characters, have no clothes on in public, etc., and I don't think anything of it (if it helps, my main dream sign category seems to be action, followed by context). My reality checks (about five daily) don't seem to seep into my dreams, either.
Sorry for ranting, but I'm just so irritated with myself. I would really appreciate some help. Also, if anyone else has had a long-term "lucid block" like this, please post it here, especially if you found a solution.

It may very well be stress related. Work has been quite stressful for me lately and I haven't had a good lucid worth bragging about in the last 2 months. My recall has been quite poor also. Try hard to spend at least an hour or more to relax and wind down before going to bed.

In the interest of taking my own advice, I'm going to try and stop thinking about work issues in the evenings and just relax as much as possible. I know I've been burning the candle at both ends lately and I'm certain that's my problem. Hopefully this will get me back on track again.

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Originally Posted by anderj101

Try hard to spend at least an hour or more to relax and wind down before going to bed.

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Would reading a book for an hour do? This could work out great; I have a book report that I've been putting off, but if reading an hour every night would help with lucidity, then I would do it without hesitation!

Do the book report anyways. The mind is crazy and that could be the thing giving you stress you never know. I didnt recall anything for a 5 days last week and had to sit down and really think about what was going wrong. You tend to find the small things in life lead to bigger emotions, when not dealt with. It could all be in your head (jk)

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Originally Posted by LSDreamer

It could all be in your head (jk)

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...Why are you kidding? Maybe it is!

It looks like my lucidity block is gone, at least for the time being. :woohoo:

I got sick last Wednesday, so I've missed 2.5 days of school, and adding that to the weekend gives me a 4.5 day break from school (got 1.5 days left). Apparently that's what I needed, because I've had two good-length lucid dreams during this break, and I expect at least one more. I also suppose that the absence of my lucid dreams themselves was causing stress. Anyway, I need to make the most of this time while I still can.

Don't forget you may have lucids and forget about it! I have very little recall from last night, but the only thing I remember is trying to increase clarity and stabilize my dream. You may very well have just forgotten those "missing lucids"!

For your problem of stabilization: try to just sit down and increase the vividness. It's really fun, and it helps a lot with your dreams! You just think, "OK, let's get this as vivid as we can make it!", and just stroll around the room. It works better if it's one that you have been in repeatedly. I was in my classroom when I suddenly became lucid a few nights ago, so I just went around thinking about how I wanted it to be very vivid. It worked! It was very life-like, but when I started to leave the room and do something weird, it decreased and I woke up quickly. Lesson to be learned here: be careful with what you try. It can turn bad really quickly.

Plus, it will help with clarity; I may even reach the point where I can do life-like stunts as well! I can't do anything too crazy quite yet... getting there, though! Working on making a portal to the Dream Warrior Planet. My latest one blew up and... did something. I forgot everything that happened afterwards; I either woke up or had a FA.

Anyway, I am getting off topic. Good luck to you in this!

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Originally Posted by Snowboy

You may very well have just forgotten those "missing lucids"!

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I did consider that, and that may be a problem too. My dream recall hasn't been that bad lately, though: at 2-3 dreams per night. I'm assuming that lucid dreams would've been included in there somewhere.

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Originally Posted by Snowboy

Lesson to be learned here: be careful with what you try. It can turn bad really quickly.

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I stopped being as careful about that as of the lucid dream two days ago when I found that my control wasn't interfering with the stability. It may be a coincidence, but maybe my stress was also interfering with dream control in the few lucid dreams I had. In the recent dreams, I was using semi-manipulation (i.e.: saying, "Behind this curtain is a laboratory.").

Thanks for the advice. Did you know that this response was about eight hours in the making (every time I came to the computer, someone interrupted me)?

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Originally Posted by TheOneirologist

Did you know that this response was about eight hours in the making (every time I came to the computer, someone interrupted me)?

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:lol: Nice! Be sure to tell me how you do!