Been at it for at least a year, still no luck.

[Ryartran]

So, I've been working off and on towards my goal of having my first lucid dream. I've tried pretty much everything I can think of. Nothing. I have given up on DILD because I worked at it for months, writing down everything. The only result I ever got from that, was when the dream was fading and I realized that it was a dream only slightly. I've been working at WILD for a couple of months now, still nothing. The one year mark of my first hearing of lucid dreaming is fast approaching, and I literally have jack to show for my efforts. I'm using a WBTB of 4-6 hours after I fall asleep. But I have to constantly mess with my alarm because I have MASSIVE trouble getting to sleep. After I wake up, I sit with the lights off for ten minutes, than lay flat on my mattress. I passively observe the traffic outside, and everything else around me. I slow down my heart rate and breathing and I usually feel a little bit of tingling/discomfort in my extremities. That never goes away and I've literally never had Hypnagogic Imagery, (not that I care) and I'm getting a little nervous. I am on the spectrum, so could that have any effect? I also take .25 mg of Risperadal before I go to bed. Does anybody have any tips/suggestions? Thanks. ~Ryan

[melanieb]

I would suspect Alyzarin would know better than I about the effects of Risperadal. I'll ask her. I don't know how it might affect sleep and dreaming. It sounds like the effort is causing its own stress. Maybe it's time to take a break from the effort. Trying to lucid dream is great but if all your efforts are having no luck and the lack of success is causing frustration you might need to let your mind concentrate on other aspects of life for a while. Allowing your mind not to worry about the effort may produce spontaneous results. Even if it doesn't your mind can solve other important facets of your life in the interim and when you return to the effort your mind will be clear. The only thing that seems to remain universal about lucid dreaming is that you need to keep a positive attitude. Give yourself permission for this not to bother you.

[faceonmars]

Have you tried visualizing the last dream you can recall in your WILD attempt? You see, we visualize and we dream in the same area of the human brain - the secondary visual cortices. Give it a try next time!