Thread: Only seem to become lucid when not “trying”

^^Yes it is interesting, isn’t it?

A few months back, I had about 4 LD’s in the space of a week, and a few semi-lucids. I was actually surprised because I hadn’t even been practicing very much (and wasn't overly concerned about whether I would become lucid or not). I did about 1 or 2 RC’s a day MAX, as well as DJ’ing, but I wouldn’t say I was pushing myself to do these things -- it was more like I just did them for the sake of being consistent, to not let my practices dwindle to the point that it would be hard to pick them up again. I didn’t even have any sort of night-technique, like MILD etc.

On a similar note, I noticed that when I did have LD’s, I thought “well seeing that I’ve had so many LD’s in the last while, I should be able to do it again soon"……… as a result I stopped having them.

Originally Posted by FryingMan

We know that stress and anxiety are dream recall and lucidity killers. What if "trying [hard or not]" turns out to be just another form of stress/anxiety, even though we don't "feel" it the same way?

Now this is an interesting idea, and it’s something I’ve thought about myself. I do think that trying too hard may have an anxiety/ stress dimension to it. I’ve noticed it with many other things as well. It may well be thing which prevents lucidity.

Ugh, lucid dreaming is so complicated! It’s so difficult to know what to do!

Zaephr:

Yeah I think keeping up the work regardless is probably best. Also, I haven’t WILDed before, but I have had quite a few DEILD’s (which I think are fairly similar), and they were indeed more vivid than any DILD’s I’ve had. I’d imagine that WILD is a fine method for those who can do it.