Thread: Lucid living efficiency?

Originally Posted by Likenight

I've practiced lucid living (LL) for two months. Now I'm able to pay attention to my surrounding and thinking "Is this a dream?" several times a hour. But the average LD rate is about 1.5 LD per week and I think a third of them was inducted due to feeling "I want a LD very much!" before going to bed.
When LD rate is compared to LL effort, LL seems to be a waste of time for me .
I think my subconsciousness don't like LL.
Any suggestion?
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Hi there!

Believe me, you are not alone. After almost 2 months of doing this myself I'm beginning to think I'm not ment to do this either since my LD count just won't go up even after all the time I've spent on different techniques. In one of Stephen LaBerge's books he stress the importance of patience that you'll need as a LD student. If you begin to think that you are not learning fast enough those feelings can in itself work as an effective mental block for you to NOT have LD's.

I think you just need to keep practicing and stick with the technique you like the best. Sooner or later your LD count WILL go up (or atlest that's what I've been told when I tossed out my frustration). Best of luck to you!!

Thank you for the encouragement, Wacom! You convice me of being more patient.

Don't worry, you're doing fine. At least you know you can lucid dream. It took me 3 months of consistent trying to get a few seconds of lucidity for me, and that was almost 2 weeks ago. Some people take even longer than that. You may not be a natural, but keep trying, keep a positive attitude, and you will get there.

I recall Dust_Mote's post about this. IIRC, lucid living is where one goes out and pursues dream-like environments during waking reality, in hopes they will carry over into one's dreams?

I think this idea is backwards, and instead we should live life like it is a dream. Then have the behavior carry over into the dream world where one is completely open to doing whatever the hell one wants, and they do not need to realize it is a dream to do so.

Heres somthing interesting - I felt the same way, mildly frustrated, but not totally discouraged, so I said HEY, i'll just give the LL a break for a day or 2, and believe it or not, that was enough to induce my first 2 lucid dreams... I kicked back into a more vigorous LL the very next day.

Originally Posted by Distant

I recall Dust_Mote's post about this. IIRC, lucid living is where one goes out and pursues dream-like environments during waking reality, in hopes they will carry over into one's dreams?[/b]

Not exactly. The point is not to "go out and pursue" anything. The point is to view your waking reality as a dream. Sort of like pretending, but not quite (for example, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to try to fly or to try to have sex with a random stranger). So while you go about your day, pay attention to the details around you, really observing all of your surroundings, all the while telling yourself that this beautiful environment is all being created by your mind. Because really, it is - your mind is taking all those frequencies of light and all those imperceptible vibrations in the air and interpretting them into what you experience.

The idea is that this "lucid" attitude will carry over into your dreams.

Originally Posted by Distant

I think this idea is backwards, and instead we should live life like it is a dream. Then have the behavior carry over into the dream world where one is completely open to doing whatever the hell one wants, and they do not need to realize it is a dream to do so.
[/b]

Interesting, but while "doing whatever the hell one wants" is all well and good, such an attitude certainly won't contribute to one's ability to recognize a dream. Might make for some interesting dreams, though. Rather than "live" life like it is a dream, we should "view" life like it is a dream; a subtle but important difference, which also happens to be the concept behind lucid living .

Anyway, to the thread starter - keep it up! Lucid living really is the best way to go. It's like reality checking version 2.0 .

Dude, if LL is giving you an LD per week, KEEP DOING IT!
I've been doing reality checks for 3 months and I've only had 1 LD!
Seriously, if it really is working that well, you are doing incredibly well.
*goes to do research on Lucid Living*

Originally Posted by DarthDallas

Heres somthing interesting - I felt the same way, mildly frustrated, but not totally discouraged, so I said HEY, i'll just give the LL a break for a day or 2, and believe it or not, that was enough to induce my first 2 lucid dreams... I kicked back into a more vigorous LL the very next day.
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LL break is a good idea!

One and a half LDs a week? That's damn good in my opinion. I've been working at this for over two months and I've only had one LD, and it was probably the lowest level LD that you can achieve. (But I'm still proud of it&#33 Want to trade?

- -Barrett

Now I think I'm too restive .

Yeah, I've only had one lucid dream, and that was after 2 weeks of trying, and now it's 2 weeks ago I had it, but I am still positive

Just stay motivated and you will win

DuB,
I do think life is a dream, that's why I live that way.

Originally Posted by bobvilax2000

One and a half LDs a week? That's damn good in my opinion. [/b]

I concur.

I shall make Lucid Living my new motto and philosophy. (hear that, brain? i"m serious).

(confidential to DC: Be careful, we worry about you sometimes! Just kidding have fun.)

Yeah, this whole LL thing really sounds like the way to go. The way that it works for me is that if I micromanage every aspect of LDing (thinking about how and why it works), the more frequent they become. Bottom line, the more you philosophize and expound on this whole way of life we are aspiring to, the more you understand it, the more natural it'll become. Right now I'm average about three a week, with my personal best being five in one week (this week). Don't give up, and don't set up mental blocks. Bide your time, it'll come.

Rather than thinking. "this is taking months" think about how much time you have to work on it. A couple months is nothing out of the how many years you have left in your life. Even if it takes you a year..you will have a long time to enjoy it once you have reached a level you are happy with.

As soon as I read your first post Likenite, I was going to suggest a break, but the cool Darth Nihilus guy suggested it first.

Plz tell us how it is going, as I am sure we are all looking for infinity ways to induce lucid dreaming!

(P.S - I think 1.5 lucids a week is great... but I'm not very jealous till you have 1 every 2 nights&#33

Originally Posted by Stoat

(P.S - I think 1.5 lucids a week is great... but I'm not very jealous till you have 1 every 2 nights&#33[/b]

Unfortunately, I have problems with dream control. And now I'm suffering from dry spell .

Originally Posted by Stoat

Plz tell us how it is going, as I am sure we
are all looking for infinity ways to induce lucid dreaming![/b]

My kind of LL:
During the day I keeping constant awareness for my surrounding and gently thinking about reality ("Am I dreaming?"). If I see something strange I do an RC.

My RCs:

1. Stopping all other thoughts
2. Enjoying and stimulating the feeling I could be dreaming (eg. imagine your physical body is laying in bed or imagine you're in the Matrix)
3. Pay attention to surrounding as much as possible and determining if is this a dream or not.

I've found out that doing LL intensively causing slightly pressure sensation in my head. I don't know what this means (maybe promoting the blood circulation). But I sometimes focus to the sensation when falling asleep after WBTB to induct LD.