Trouble with becoming lucid

I've been trying to become lucid for over 2 months now. I've been able to recall 1-2 dreams per night (dream journaling all I can remember) since I first started back in Nov. except for a week or so of a dry spell due to lack of motivation because of my lack of success after a month of trying. Each night when I'm settling in to go to sleep I have a lucid dreaming sort of mantra in mind. Though since beginning, the amount of detail recalled from my dreams has increased, I have yet to actually enter a lucid state. Also, I sleep about 6 hours per night, so would that be a large contributing factor for my lack of success? Tips and/or advice for attaining lucidity?

Going into broken record mode : Visualize, visualize, visualize! Practice progressive muscle relaxation and combine it with visualization of something you find relaxing. We dream and imagine in the same part of our big human brain.

Hey HakiLuffy, sorry you've been having trouble. Can I ask though, why only 6 hours of sleep per night?

I'd sleep more if I could but I have a pretty busy schedule for the time being :(.

I totally understand.

If I may share a secret (based on my being a raging insomniac with 10-14 hour work shifts), I take naps on my days off. Naps are like manna from heaven for my LDs. Is there any way you can spare a nap or two every now and then? If so I might be able to help.

Unfortunately no to naps, however I had a minor success last night when I woke up in the middle of the night and went back to sleep. As I felt my body entering more of a sleep mode I heard the voice of someone very clearly in my right ear. It sounded as if the sound were coming through ear buds , perhaps this is because I wear ear plugs while sleeping.

Oh that's cool! I have very sporadic WILD's, and sometimes when they initiate, I hear voices. Sometimes the voices sound electronic (like in that moment when Neo took the pill from Morpheus). Sometimes it's just a buzzing or vibrating sensation. The point is, there are alot of sounds someone might hear at the initiation of a WILD, or even a WBTB, which sounds like what you might have accomplished the other night.

Remember that voice you heard. Jot it down in your journal, anything and everything you remember. And please keep talking about it, either here in this thread, or other threads in this forum, or with friends, whatever. For some reason, the more you talk about it, the more you bring the entire subject matter into your waking consciousness. And this awareness is a HUGE trigger for lucidity.

I'll tell you Hakiluffy, I've never been one of those folks who can just "LD whenever, easily, and without effort." I've had to work at it. So I really hone in on the details that work for me. Anytime you have a question, I'd be happy to help, and share with you everything that has worked for me. I personally think that experience from a lucid dreamer, who has to really search for techniques that work, is a valuable resource. I am really glad you made it one step closer to lucidity.

Good luck and never hesitate to ask for advice!

What worked for me were All Day Awareness and DEILD (combined to be exact). Also, there is one thing you might find useful, which is more of an approach to LDing in general than a technique on itself. It is to work hard, yet in a relaxed manner. For example, if you are doing a technique which you find really troublesome because it doesn't fit your way of life or something, don't bother to follow the rule of trying something for a minimum of three weeks. Do something that is comfortable for you. That way it will not only be easier to put effort into it (it is easier to put effort into something that is fun than in something that is a real drag), but nights without LD will become less of a problem, because you didn't go through a whole drag of annoying techniques in advance. Choose a technique that is comfortable, then just fall asleep (I have a tutorial on falling asleep quikly and easily by the way, it might be useful to check that out).

As for not sleeping a lot: this can make it harder to LD, no doubt about it. It is still very well possible to get a lot of LD's though. It might take a bit longer, but that is no problem with a technique (or a mix of techniques) that suit you.

I completely agree with Ophelia when it comes to effort, LDing doesn't come that easy for most of the people. But you CAN do it. Even with little sleep, you CAN attain it, and you WILL. All it takes is time, and effort (again, effort in a positive and non-stressing manner).

I hope this helps, and congratz on your succes with WILD!