Thread: Running out of ideas

I'm not sure if most of my LDs were when I was most excited in LDing but I know for sure that they were most fun when when I was most excited. The LDs I've had recently have been rather dull. Being in a dream and suddenly realizing I was dreaming felt like how christmas morning felt when I was a kid. Nowadays they just give me a short feeling of proudness but that's kinda all there is to it.

So technically, WBTB entails the whole concept of waking up and doing stuff related to LD and then going back to sleep? I always kinda thought it specifically meant the act of waking up, spending some time, going back to bed and WILDing. Perhaps it's a bit of an outdated definition or I just missed out on it somehow. What do you usually do when you WBTB then?

Originally Posted by Aziq

I don't know why or how, but the last 5 to 8 LD's I remember I didn't feel a shred of excitement when I became lucid. Nor did I try anything amazing or w/e I just kinda accepted that I was dreaming and shortly afterwards woke up or lost lucidity. I don't understand where my excitement went, it just dissapeared over time or something.

Originally Posted by Aziq

I'm not sure if most of my LDs were when I was most excited in LDing but I know for sure that they were most fun when when I was most excited. The LDs I've had recently have been rather dull. Being in a dream and suddenly realizing I was dreaming felt like how christmas morning felt when I was a kid. Nowadays they just give me a short feeling of proudness but that's kinda all there is to it.

I've been facing similar obstacles—and if I'm honest with myself it pertains as much to waking life as to dreaming. I love your description of how lucid dreams used to feel like "christmas morning when I was a kid." I remember that feeling—in relation to both dreams and Christmas!—but it's been getting harder to capture and maintain in both cases. This last Christmas was almost dispiriting, I was so not into it.

In my case, I'm aware that my biggest problem is that I become blasé about things very rapidly, whether they're good or bad. In the past this has manifested in absurd situations like getting used to showering in cold water for over six months before deciding, "Hmm, maybe I'd better get around to calling someone in to look at the water heater." Another aspect of this is a natural tendency toward emotional equanimity and a distrust (bordering on dislike) of strong feelings, again whether good or bad. I am one of the most low-drama people you're ever likely to meet. On the other hand, the near-constant sense of emotional neutrality—frequently interrupted by minor aggravations—that characterizes my life and most of my dreams is not particularly admirable or enjoyable either. Actually, one of the tasks I've set for myself is to try to cultivate various emotional resonances in the dream state, but I almost never remember to do that one!

I'm convinced that the solution is plainly apparent: the cultivation of "beginner's mind," a sense of freshness and enthusiasm, toward waking life no less than toward dream. But this is one of those things that is easier said than done, especially when one's motivations to do so are already impeded by a thick shell of blandness and cynicism! And the nature of cynicism is to resent itself but to resent the prospect of freshness and enthusiasm even more...

Verre, while I agree on the solution, I don't think we'll ever truly regain our initial level of excitement and curiosity. Nonetheless, we can certainly get damn close to that and we can remind ourselves of why it is why want to have LDs.

For instance, there's been a thread floating around for 4 and a half years now in which people share their ideas of what to do in LDs. A quick 15 minute look through that rewarded me with a list of my own of 30 things I would like to do in LDs. This in and of itself felt great to me because I had forgotten that LDs offer (near) limitless control of everything, and I had kinda forgotten about my goals but instead just focused on basic stuff such as flying or whatever. As a result, my dream recall skyrocketed and that gave me a boost of confidence I could do this.

Originally Posted by Aziq

Verre, while I agree on the solution, I don't think we'll ever truly regain our initial level of excitement and curiosity. Nonetheless, we can certainly get damn close to that and we can remind ourselves of why it is why want to have LDs.

For instance, there's been a thread floating around for 4 and a half years now in which people share their ideas of what to do in LDs. A quick 15 minute look through that rewarded me with a list of my own of 30 things I would like to do in LDs. This in and of itself felt great to me because I had forgotten that LDs offer (near) limitless control of everything, and I had kinda forgotten about my goals but instead just focused on basic stuff such as flying or whatever. As a result, my dream recall skyrocketed and that gave me a boost of confidence I could do this.

I think you're definitely right that planning tasks and experiments is a huge boost to the likelihood of getting lucid. But by a couple years into my lucid practice, mine were multiplying to the point where I so many ideas swimming around in my head that it got harder all the time to focus or decide on a particular one! That's why I love this site. The aspect I've found most helpful to my dream practice is the sense of community and shared goals fostered by the TOTMs and TOTYs, and the fact that they eventually expire is a great motivating factor to getting lucid and getting them done within the right time frame!