Thread: Essentials to Having a Lucid Dream

I like this. It doesn't tell you what paths to choose, but in what directions you should go.

I feel like I add things often when talking about this just like everyone else, but my own personal journey has been very similar.

Great post! Very helpful for myself (and a lot of other people I can imagine). I tend to get quite obsessive when attempting to LD (or anything related), reading through the forums and trying out all kinds of techniques and tricks, often forgetting the essentials as you describe.

Originally Posted by dolphin

2.You must be able to remember your dream.
You can't honestly say a dream was lucid if you completely forgot it. However, some people get so caught up in having a lucid dream that they forget increasing their recall will give them more chances to have them! When picking a lucid dreaming technique, you should pick one that not only increases your lucidity, but allows you to have great recall as well.

I'm not sure how exactly, but dream recall is closely linked to dream lucidity in different ways. Only after improving my dream recall by improving my dream journal using Sensei's guide to effectively DJ did I break a dry spell.

3.During the dream, you must have a memory related to the word "dream".
Your dream can't be lucid if you don't recall any memory of what a dream is during your dream! The type of memory most often used to make this possible is event-based prospective memory, that is, memories that are recalled as a result of experiencing something else. But, even recalling a memory of your dream goal or just the word "dream" during your dream are among the many memories that can use to help you become lucid. Strengthening your memories you want to recall during your dream is very useful, especially as you're falling asleep when the subconscious is more open to suggestion. Also, remember that memories are stronger if they are more important to you!

Would making an effort to keep dreaming in mind as long as possible throughout the day help with this? (In addition to an increased sense of self awareness and RCs)

Would making an effort to keep dreaming in mind as long as possible throughout the day help with this? (In addition to an increased sense of self awareness and RCs)

Yes, remember, the more important you make something, the easier it will be to remember during your dream. Remember to be confident that it'll work!

3.During the dream, you must have a memory related to the word "dream".
Your dream can't be lucid if you don't recall any memory of what a dream is during your dream! The type of memory most often used to make this possible is event-based prospective memory, that is, memories that are recalled as a result of experiencing something else. But, even recalling a memory of your dream goal or just the word "dream" during your dream are among the many memories that can use to help you become lucid. Strengthening your memories you want to recall during your dream is very useful, especially as you're falling asleep when the subconscious is more open to suggestion. Also, remember that memories are stronger if they are more important to you!

What do you mean by this? Are you talking about something like an RC? So you do those throughout the day whenever something dreamlike happens while focusing on the fact that you could be dreaming?

Also, you mean kind of like a MILD? So when you are falling asleep you focus on the fact that you could be dreaming?

Put in another way-one can't realize they're dreaming if they can't recall what a dream is during the dream. In order to recall what a dream is during the dream, dreaming has to come across one's mind in some way during the dream.

So, a dog or any other animal can only have a lucid dream if they recall a previous dream experience during their dream. Make sense?

The DILD and MILD methods are ways to make dreaming come across one's mind during the dream so they are able to recall what a dream is during the dream and become lucid.

Originally Posted by dolphin

I'm going to lay out the essentials to having a lucid dream. I feel that there is so much non-essential information out there related to these essentials, that people often forget about the essentials themselves! I feel that if the essentials were laid out in one place, people would realize how simple becoming lucid in a dream really is and would avoid many pitfalls along the way. I hope people use this information to help them find their own path to lucid dreams. I feel this is the best way, as lucid dreaming is a very personal thing and no single method will work for everyone.


1.You must fall asleep.
You must fall asleep in order to have any dream, let alone a lucid one! Yet, sometimes people don't seem to take the time to figure out how to sleep efficiently, resulting in much frustration along the way. When finding your way to fall asleep you should find a way to stay in the present, thinking about nothing related to the word "awake" which will keep you so.

2.You must be able to remember your dream.
You can't honestly say a dream was lucid if you completely forgot it. However, some people get so caught up in having a lucid dream that they forget increasing their recall will give them more chances to have them! When picking a lucid dreaming technique, you should pick one that not only increases your lucidity, but allows you to have great recall as well.

3.During the dream, you must have a memory related to the word "dream".
Your dream can't be lucid if you don't recall any memory of what a dream is during your dream! The type of memory most often used to make this possible is event-based prospective memory, that is, memories that are recalled as a result of experiencing something else. But, even recalling a memory of your dream goal or just the word "dream" during your dream are among the many memories that can use to help you become lucid. Strengthening your memories you want to recall during your dream is very useful, especially as you're falling asleep when the subconscious is more open to suggestion. Also, remember that memories are stronger if they are more important to you!

4.You must have a certain level of confidence.
You can't become lucid during your dream if you only think you're dreaming during the dream. You have to know you're dreaming during the dream. This requires a certain level of confidence in yourself. If you're consistently having trouble doing anything while doing something that has consistently worked for you in the past, your confidence is likely the thing that has changed and made the difference.


Keep all of these essentials in mind when finding you own path to lucidity and I think you will begin to get there much more efficiently.

If I were to write a FryingMan's guide to lucid dreaming, it would look very much like this. Well done!

Particularly: 1) sleep, and 2) recall. I agree that emphasis on recall does not get enough discussion time, or enough of the right kind of discussion. It is not simply for not forgetting lucids, and not simply for identifying dream signs: I believe great recall is an essential basic ingredient in getting lucid in the first place. Good dream recall somehow makes you closer to your dreams as you are experiencing them, it brings "you" there to the dream scene, increasing chances of lucidity. It probably is a sort of feedback-cycle effect of increased self-awareness and access to memory, which I cannot claim to understand (can anybody?), but the correlation is unmistakable.

But of the 2, sleep is the more important one! Without sleep, there are no dreams, there is no chance to build dream recall without sleep and dreams. This gets barely any discussion. And so many people (like me) struggle with sleep and getting back to sleep. At least I discovered this importance early on and have been working on it ever since. Very few resources give serious discussion to this topic, and I think it deserves multi-chapter coverage. It's that important! Lucid dreaming is a journey of self-discovery about how we *sleep* and dream.

edit: the other one I'd add is: dedication and discipline. If you quit, you *can't* succeed. This hobby/discipline demands dedication and discipline. "Wanting" is not enough -- as my sig says, "You Must NEED It!" People make life changes for needs, that's how much you must want it.