Ideas for strenghtening intention and willpower for LDs

Hi fellow oneironauts !

There is probably some topic on this, but never mind...Show must go on :cheeky:

I am getting more and more confident about the importance of intention and willpower in life. Also, i can see how it may be the common mechanism behind « so many LDing techniques ».

There are some recent studies and books on willpower, since the groundbreaking «marshmallow test» ( btw, its so funny and insightful to watch some demonstrations on youtube )

Laberge's EWOLD also has some exercises to build willpower/ intention and he stresses its importance throughout the whole book.


So, what would you do in order to build your willpower and intention to improve your LDing goals ? I will start:

1 -Stop smoking...( btw I don't smoke )

2- Do 30 min daily walk...

3- Treat your parents kindly...

4- Practice a lucid dream technique... :cheeky:

I believe that willpower, intention and expectations are 3 most important factors in lucid dreaming.

The best way to build willpower/intention is to build it inside your lucid dreams. Our waking life willpower and intention is pretty weak compared to dream, I would say around 5% out of dreaming willpower/intention.
Of course you cant simply rely on lucid dreaming to build your willpower/intention, you have to set goals and reach them.

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Originally Posted by flowofmysoul

I believe that willpower, intention and expectations are 3 most important factors in lucid dreaming.

The best way to build willpower/intention is to build it inside your lucid dreams. Our waking life willpower and intention is pretty weak compared to dream, I would say around 5% out of dreaming willpower/intention.
Of course you cant simply rely on lucid dreaming to build your willpower/intention, you have to set goals and reach them.

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Hmm, that shows the importance of working in the dream state. So, how do you do it in the dream state ?

My problem is getting intent to get to the dream state. Any ideas on how to set intent on attaining lucidity? I don't want to put all my reliance on a technique.

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Originally Posted by VagalTone

Hmm, that shows the importance of working in the dream state. So, how do you do it in the dream state ?

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I think there are several types of dreams, but I will write later about it. Let's talk about about one of them, dreams where we are the creators, we control absolutely everything.

In the beginning if you try to put as much effort as possible to do some actions in dreams, sometimes you are doing the opposite, sometimes you cant even move properly. Whenever you have doubts, dream changes to whatever you are worried about. For example when you try to fly and inside you keep the idea that flying is hard or impossible then you will stay on the ground and wont be able to fly high. Step by step you will understand that forces that control our dreams are willpower and intention. As soon as you get to this point where you know how to control your dream you can start improving your willpower and intention.
First try to understand that our dream is not working like a computer game, there is no delay between thoughts and actions. There is no delay at all. The moment you intent to do something you are already doing it, you can change your intent really fast and your dream picture should change together with your thoughts. Try to switch between 3-4 different dreams really fast, try to be in 3-4 dreams at the same time. Like you are alt-tabbing between 4 different games and you are trying to control them all at ones, you need to switch between them really often because you do not want to skip a single moment, your brain is working much faster then a computer, use its full power. Start step by step, try to master your dream control using your willpower and intention until the moment where there will be no delay between your intention -> dream action.

The more I lucid dream the more I understand that the only barrier to improve our dream capabilities is our mentality, beliefs and prejudice of certain things.

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Originally Posted by PartyOnDudes

My problem is getting intent to get to the dream state. Any ideas on how to set intent on attaining lucidity? I don't want to put all my reliance on a technique.

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For me it was excitement of things that I could do in lucid dreaming, I created several reminders for reality checks and after few weeks they worked, I never used any technique except of a reality checks. Audio books were a coincidence, never thought that it might help, but it did. I started by my self and at that time I did not know how to control my dreams, did not understand the importance of intention. Until today I am not using any techniques and I have lucid dreams every night.

Just stick to what you feel is working good for you, try several things, you can find many on this forum. I would advise to work on ADA and Reality Checks.