How *NOT* to attain lucidity

I'm sure many of those sifting through the seemingly endless pages of information on dreams that the internet provides are seeking advice on how to attain lucid dreaming. Well, I'm going to tell you how NOT to go about it. It's quite simple, actually: don't buy anything! Don't be fooled into buying expensive CDs, books, or crazy gadgets. You just don't need them! :roll: The only thing preventing you from dreaming lucid is your own mind. You just have to talk yourself into doing it, and that's really all it takes.

I, being the naive person that I am, bought one of those crazy devices once. I believe it was called the "NovaDreamer," or something similar to that anyway. It's design is relatively simple: two LEDs are placed in a mask in which you wear over your eyes. After you've fallen asleep, these LEDs will start to blink after a while (the delay time is programmable, I believe). The intention of the blinking is simply to remind you that you are dreaming. For the device to work effectively, you are supposed to train yourself during the day to watch for blinking lights, and perform reality checks upon seeing them. That way you can program yourself into performing these checks when you see the LEDs blinking in your dream. Thus, you will automatically perform a reality check, and realize you are dreaming.

Anyway, I found the mask ridicuously uncomfortable and couldn't fall asleep with the damn thing on! Thus, I wasn't overly impressed with the product. It's important to realize that buying that device is not enough to induce lucid dreaming; it must be accompanied by personal training. Thus, instead of spending a bunch of money on a simple, uncomfortable mask, and spending your time trying to train yourself to watch out for blinking lights, why not instead save your money and spend your time simply training yourself to be more aware of the world around you? For that is really all that is necessary to attain lucid dreaming: increasing your own perception of the world around you.

As for spending money on books, there is again no reason to (other than to support authors who have donated their time to helping disseminate information on lucid dreaming). But other than that, there isn't much you can gain from books when you consider there is a plethora of information on lucid dreaming to be found on the internet! Hopefully this forum will become a valuable asset in that department.

Thus, I strongly suggest everyone just save their money and simply spend more time on their own practicing reality checks, and thinking about gaining control of their dreams.

Yeah thats true. Gaining LD's from a device isn't as rewarding as doing it yourself, sometimes we rely on technology to much and let it control our lives, im probably craping on but remember technology is there to ASSIST you, not govern your life, well anyway, ZEPPLIN RULES! :twisted:

Thanks for the info Ice, Its much better to improve your mind then to get lazy and buy a stupid device. (Nice avatar by the way) "im currently at the beggening phases of lucid dreaming though I've had some unexpected ones in the past that made me relise they do exist.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by GestaltAlteration
Thanks for the info Ice, Its much better to improve your mind then to get lazy and buy a stupid device. (Nice avatar by the way) \"im currently at the beggening phases of lucid dreaming though I've had some unexpected ones in the past that made me relise they do exist.

---

Thanks! I had completely forgotten about that post. I still firmly stand by it though: save your money! Unless, of course, you've already begun to master lucid dreaming and you just want to expand your mind somewhat and read what some authors have to say on the subject. But even then, there is so much useful information on the internet that is completely free. As I mentioned above you may simply want to support an author who has put a great deal of time into studying lucid dreaming.

For a time I was advertising an audio CD that was designed, apparently, to help one attain the ability to dream lucidily. Well, I wasn't actually advertising it myself, but they asked if they could put their banner up and I said sure (to help alleviate the monthly cost of the site somewhat). Anyway, they never paid me anything at all and I'm sure their product was bull****, so I removed the banner. There's just no point in buying something like that, because you can make your own! Just record your own voice repeating guidance and instructions over and over (like "I am dreaming," and "I will awake from my dreams and completely remember them.")

Good then I won't buy one of those LED things, although they look kinda cool.

Thats so true about not to buy anything. I wasted so much money on that nova dreamer thing and never used it. I cant fall asleep with that goofy thing on.

Providing the book is interesting, then a good book about Lucid Dreaming provides a great deal of suggestion to your subconscious that you would appreciate a Lucid Dream. Yes, certainly, the same time applied to actively suggesting Lucid Dreaming and working upon Lucid Dream Checklists and Reality Checks would be equally or even more efficiently effective. But with the amount of time it takes to read a book ( and all that time counts for influence in the Mind) and since most books are not really all that expensive, I would say that books are not a waste of time or a particular waste of money.

But do yourself a favor and try to get reviews of these books. I recently got a book, and its emphasis was supposed to be upon Shamanistic Dreaming. Well, that was the author's angle but all he did was rehash all of the old Dream Seminars from all of the old Dream Dinosaurs that had come before and already plowed those fields. to read Patricia Garfield and Carlos Castenada rehashed by somebody with little worthwhile knowledge of his own was annoying, and rather turned me off to dreaming than to subconsciously encourage it.

Right, it's like excercise -- you don't REALLY need any of those expensive tread-walker-magjigs, all you need is a pair of good running shoes and the good old outdoors!

People get so lazy, they just want a device to magically do things for them...I know, I've been there.