Thread: I feel like I can't become fully lucid no matter what I do.

I know what you mean

I have been pracctising for a little more than 2 years now and all the lucid dreams that I have got have been fuzzy and short (2-3 minutes).
(Ok I have had some super realistic dreams, but they also ended fairly soon.)
And I am also frustrated over this, so I did some research and I read Hobson theory on dreams and our behavior.

The chemical system in the brain that make us crtical during the day or aware is called the aminergic system (serotonin and norepinephrin), and the system that takes over when we dream is called the cholinergic system (acteylkolin). This might be complicated terms but while reading just change aminergic to awareness and cholinergic to dream.

When we dream there is obviously an increase of the cholinergic system, but there is a decrease of the aminergic system, which is why we can accept odd events happening in the dream.

We normally remember our dreams when the cholinergic system decrease and the aminergic system increase, which can make us more aware of the dream and sometimes lucid and because we are then on the awake/asleep treshold it's very easy to wake up.

But when we apply the WBTB and wake up in REM we increase the aminergic system and we actually set the REM on hold, because the brain needs the REM, so the next time we fall asleep, about 30-60 minutes later, we will experience a much more vivid REM-period.

And if this is correct then, in theory, WILD combined with the WBTB should make us more aware and the dream more stable. Because the direct entry from awareness makes us go to the dream with a high activity of the aminergic system, and because the REM was on hold the cholinergic system is very active as well.

But with the DEILD we will sleep normally first which will make the aminergic system decrease and we will therefore not be as aware as if we would have been if we used a direct entry.

Here is this morning DEILD:

I had a normal dream, then I woke up. I was aware of that I had woke up and I started to see flashes of light and stars.
I then started to hear weird sounds and I noticed that it was sound associated with my thoughts, so I could control what sound I wanted to hear and hear it vividly. I imagined that I heard a bird singing it's song to me and I tried to stand up, but when I moved I was afraid that I had just ruined the attempt. (Later when I woke up I realised that I was in fact dreaming).
So I quickly lay down in bed again and tried the teleporting/jumping technique I was immediatelly in a dream in another scene.
I saw a big building, looked like an old tempel. I looked at my hands and my body and I was sure that this was a dream.
I started to think about stabilisation, so I rubbed my hands and thought "ok this dream hopefully will last".
But I didn't do more stabilisation and maybe that was the problem.

I then saw Tyra Banks and I really wanted to have sex with her :/ :S In real life I know that sex probably will ruin the lucid dream, but in this dream I didn't care, I couldn't control my emotions. And me and her had our little fun, but I lost the lucidity...

Maybe with more stablisation and the ability to resist sudden temptations this dream would last longer.

So in order to have super vivid lucid dreams the WBTB combined with WILD will give you dreams that some people would refer as an OBE, because it's more vivid than reality.

I need more pracctise to learn to stay in the dream, but maybe Stabilisation technique should be enough, but in theory you will wake up either way...

So this probably isn't the best tip to give to a beginner, to start WILDing I mean, because that is more challenging than normal techniques, but the reward is greater if this theory is right.
Or you can help me see if stabilisation is enough by setting an intention to stabilise the dream the next time you get lucid.

I hope this gave you more clarity to why some techniques work and so on.

It sounds like you need to evaluate your expectations of lucid dreaming. If I understand your post correctly, you've been trying for FIVE nights and haven't gotten 'high definition' dreams with complete control. It usually takes a lot of practice and discipline to be successful at anything. Now I don't know what techniques you've tried or how much you've read up on lucid dreaming, but I would suggest reading and learning as much as you can on the subject. Whether its tutorials on this site or books such as 'Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming', there is a wealth of information out there. Learn as much as you can about how dreams work, how our brains work, and what you can do to improve your chances (and just as importantly understand WHY they could improve your chances). And read other people's experiences. Each person is different and one technique might work well for one person but not another.

Today I was lucid dreaming in San Andreas.

It was fairly short, considering it lasted for about 15 seconds, but I know for sure it was a lucid dream considering I knew that I was dreaming eventually, which is the definition of lucid dreaming, being aware that you are dreaming.

It was as you described, fuzzy and without control, but simply being aware that you are dreaming is progress itself so don't really worry to much in the beginning of the context in the dream. The next thing you'll need to do is to practice some stabilization techniques too, as this will solve your problem of the dreams being in focus. I was unsuccessful trying to use some stabilization techniques this lucid dream, since it lasted for 15 seconds, and I forgot to do them right away and use a lot of time to focus on them, so the dream just slipped through my head.

All in all, if you are aware that you are dreaming in a dream, it's a lucid dream. Being lucid does not necessarily mean you're able to control anything. My suggestion would be researching some stabilization techniques, and remember that if you try to really believe something in a lucid dream, you might be able to control stuff as you'd like, but this will come after more experience.

A lucid dream is a dream in which you're aware that you're dreaming. Lucidity itself has nothing to do with control, only with the knowledge that you're dreaming and that you're really asleep in bed.

It sounds like you've gotten a lot further than most people who have only been attempting to LD for 5 nights, so congratulations on that.