Really struggling

**knarF** · 08-17-2012 04:57 PM

I'm sure you get quite a few threads like this, so i apologise in advanced.

I've always found dreams interesting, i've always had such vivid ones compared to people i know and been able to recall them pretty well. A while ago, about a year ago in fact, i was really into lucid dreaming, trying my hardest to achieve it (keeping the journal here, constantly asking myself if i was dreaming, noticing patterns when i was dreaming etc), but i never managed, nothing seemed to work and i gave up.

A couple of weeks ago it just happened, after being 11 months since i last even thought about lucid dreaming. It was a stupid and short dream, that Norris from Coronation Street picked me up outside my girlfriend's house in a helicopter, and while flying around the town we crashed. While crashing i just realised i was dreaming and woke up while says "this is a dream", and as i woke i was still in the middle of the word "dream".

So, i guess, what more can i do?

For the record i sometimes have trouble gettnig to sleep.

**Iapetos** · 08-17-2012 06:31 PM

The best way to get your dream awareness kick started is to not only focusing on lucid dreams, appreciate your non-lucid as well. Because those are after all what will make you lucid in the first place.
Instead of focusing on becoming completely aware of your dreams, try to just become more aware of them you do that by recalling dreams, the more vivid dreams you remember the closer you are to get lucid.

**TruMotion** · 08-17-2012 07:21 PM

When you mention trouble getting to sleep, what do you mean exactly?

**faceonmars** · 08-17-2012 07:58 PM

We visualize and we dream in the same area of the brain.. the secondary visual cortices. This is not a theory but a scientific fact. Visualizing helps me fall asleep and can also help in inducing lucid dreams. The easiest way to test this fact is to turn on some soft music and imagine someone ice skating to it. You will be asleep in no time. Anyhoo, don't give up! Here is a blog I wrote about visualizing: The Secret to Falling Asleep

**TruMotion** · 08-17-2012 08:13 PM

Originally Posted by faceonmars

We visualize and we dream in the same area of the brain.. the secondary visual cortices. This is not a theory but a scientific fact. Visualizing helps me fall asleep and can also help in inducing lucid dreams. The easiest way to test this fact is to turn on some soft music and imagine someone ice skating to it. You will be asleep in no time. Anyhoo, don't give up! Here is a blog I wrote about visualizing: The Secret to Falling Asleep

I had never really thought about this but it actually makes a lot of sense. Everytime I'm in that state of lack of presence, right before falling asleep, and wake myself out of it, I realize that most of the times, I was imagining things.
I have been having some trouble falling asleep lately, I'll definitly try this tonight!

**knarF** · 08-17-2012 09:44 PM

Originally Posted by TruMotion

When you mention trouble getting to sleep, what do you mean exactly?

Well, normally it takes me like 15 minutes to get to sleep, which is pretty normal i assume. However sometimes i'll go through a short period, like a week or something, where it can take me hours to get to sleep, when i do sleep i'll wake up constantly and struggle to go back again, and i spend like a week tired out of my mind like a zombie. Next time i'm just getting sleeping pills, it was getting to the point where driving was dangerous because i just couldn't concentrate on anything. This only happens for short periods every now and then though, perhaps twice a year.

Originally Posted by faceonmars

We visualize and we dream in the same area of the brain.. the secondary visual cortices. This is not a theory but a scientific fact. Visualizing helps me fall asleep and can also help in inducing lucid dreams. The easiest way to test this fact is to turn on some soft music and imagine someone ice skating to it. You will be asleep in no time. Anyhoo, don't give up! Here is a blog I wrote about visualizing: The Secret to Falling Asleep

Ok, that's pretty interesting, i'm definitely going to try that, thanks.

**djpatch999** · 08-18-2012 06:38 PM

If you have trouble getting to sleep try meditating a little before you go to bed, sounds silly but alot of the time can really help with lucid dreams as well as sleep. Or binaural beats, they have a similar effect.

For the LDing I had the same problem as you when I started, I didn't have my first LD for months and months. May I recommend the intro class in the Dreamviews Academy, when I started I joined a similar class and before long I'd had 4 LD's in the period of 2 weeks and, like you, this was months after I tried LDing before.

I wish you the best of luck in your attempts (not that you need it)