Quote Originally Posted by Tiktaalik View Post
I agree that getting lucid earlier in the dream gives you a longer window to play in and lucidity appears to be more common at the end of cycles. However, even if you successfully WILD at the start of a cycle it can be hard to maintain the dream. I do think the heightened awareness/ wakefulness you get during lucid dreams is what brings you closer to those snap wake ups. Beginners struggle for this reason but more experienced dreamers get better at walking that tightrope. I’ve never seen much evidence of spinning, yelling things and rubbing my hands together keeping a dream going but I think they’re just actions that contribute to staying connected and engaged with the dream which is what is needed to maintain it.
I used to think that WILDs are inherently more unstable, that morning dreams are more unstable or that not engaging with the dream makes it collapse. Then I have a WILD that lasted over 25 minutes, happened when I was oversleeping (snooze situation), in which I expected to end it early (it didn't) and in which I got lost in my thoughts (the dream stayed but I almost lost lucidity).
At this point, I believe that almost always when I feel the need to stabilize, it is just a schema issue.
I still have dreams that end very quickly, but there is never any warning that would give me the time to stabilize. I absolutely can't relate to Sivason's description of possible dream endings.
The truth is that I can't relate to most of his post but it is still valuable advice for me.