Why is it so hard to become lucid? Especially when your dreamsigns are so obvious.

[dreamship]

I have been lucid in the past. I know it is possible for me. My interest in LD's waned and now it is back but getting to that point so I have more control over dreams is hard. I do direct dreams even when not lucid but I want to realize that I am dreaming and can have better control. I have been telling myself, I could be doing this wrong or with not the right amount of effort, all night for a while now that when I see Aragorn, because for some reason he just seems to be in my dreams on a fairly regular basis, I will know that I am dreaming. Last night before bed I was able to watch nearly all of my movie Hogfather on the computer. The DVD is from England and won't play in my regular DVD player so I can get my computer to play it but sometimes it freezes up. At any rate, I am watching it and the last dream of this day had Death of the Discworld in it. The guy in my avatar picture. He is in the film. I used to not ever be able to see him before until this movie now there he is as bold as brass and I make up the stupid story that he is a model I created. I carry him to some area in some room of some place and stand him there. I don't remember the whole dream but I would like to know why I can't seem to recognize that this was a dream or that other things I have dreamed of are not real. I mean, I am talking to Aragorn and sometimes in the dream body sometimes not and flying and all sorts of stuff but I'll be darned if I can get lucid. Sometimes it is funny. Sometimes it is just plain annoying. And right now I am starting to get really upset.

[BohmaN]

It's because your conscious mind is almost entirely dominated by your subconscious. So in the hard competition from the subconscious mind one's consciousness naturally has a hard time in the dreamworld. And that's why it's so hard to become lucid.

[Moonbeam]

Maybe you need something from real life that shows up a lot in your dreams, so you can do reality checks whenever you see them and hopefully you will do one in a dream. Like I dream about my dogs a lot, so I try to do RC's whenever I see them.

[folded]

I have noticed the same principle with my own dreams. I used to have plenty of lucids, and just got back into LDing. For a few weeks, I was getting into DJing again, then I tried "ramping up" my practice to aim for LDs. I have plenty of dreamsigns. Some old, some new. I have been putting as much effort into this as I can, and not much yet to show for it. The two recorded in my sig were fleeting and momentary, hardly the LDs I used to have. As bohman said, I think that while we are dreaming non-lucidly, we are unconscious. Normally goofy stuff that would get our attention while awake just doesn't do the same trick in la-la-land. You have Death himself walking through your dreams, and you don't even see him for what he is. (I understand that attention can be lacking even while awake: once, while walking down the street AWAKE, a guy passed me in a HUGE 2-foot wide pig mask, and I didn't notice until a friend said "did you see that?") I have noticed entire nights' worth of dreams that show my dreamsigns slip right by me. So, I am trying an experiment. Although, not a "dreamsign" perhaps, I know that my hands are often visible to me in dreams. For my reality checks, I am trying to do an RC every time I see my hands. I want them to become a trigger. Its hard. I remember to do a reality check without seeing my hands, but I have not yet remembered to do an RC after seeing my hands. The other thing you may want to try is waking up and staying up after about 4 hours sleep, reading about LDs for 30-60 minutes, then going back to sleep (Wake back to Bed). Or, try its cousin, the polyphasic sleep method: only take naps throughout the day, do not sleep all at one 8-hour shift at night. LDs should occur more frequently because the amount of time between thinking about LDs and the actual REM sleep itself is minimal -- you won't forget so easily to realize you are dreaming. Personally, I cannot craft my sleep schedule around these two methods, but you may. Good luck.

[dreamship]

You have Death himself walking through your dreams, and you don't even see him for what he is. (I understand that attention can be lacking even while awake: once, while walking down the street AWAKE, a guy passed me in a HUGE 2-foot wide pig mask, and I didn't notice until a friend said "did you see that?") Now I don't feel so bad. Yeah, I have some stuff like that in real life also. I guess it is because we are basicly on 'pilot' until the evening comes and then that is when we start thinking of dreaming. LaBerge recommends trying to sleep an extra hour or so and this has worked for me in the past. The REM's get longer and you don't have to wait for your brain to cycle for hours. This works for helping with my recall when I get dry spells. I got four lucid dreaming books on the bed now that I keep there at all times so I can read them sometimes. LaBerge's Lucid Dreams and Exploring the world of and Patricia Garfield's Creative dreaming and Lucid Dreams in 30 days, which is just a rehash of LaBerge. I'd try the wake up for a while technique but have a hard time sleeping again. I stapled a poster to my ceiling above my bed that I made that says "I will dream of Aragorn and I will become lucid" and it has a picture of Aragorn on it. I am also drinking more water again and doing vitamins because my diet is rather pathetic. The brain is mostly water and I suppose that if you are nice and hydrated you think better. I know I do actually feel a lot better physically and mentally when I drink a lot of water. I guess they don't make wrist watches with alarms any more or I'd get one of them. I had one in the past set to beep every 15 minutes so I could reality check.

[dreamship]

Maybe you need something from real life that shows up a lot in your dreams, so you can do reality checks whenever you see them and hopefully you will do one in a dream. Like I dream about my dogs a lot, so I try to do RC's whenever I see them. Hey, Moonbeam. Yeah, I have real world dreamsigns also. I have to start to rc more but I sometimes forget, all right so I forget all the time. I haven't done a regular set of rc's for years. As I was saying before I want to get a watch with an alarm. Problem is I want one I can set to beep every 20 minutes and costs under $20.00 or even under $10.00. I have some subliminal software on my computer now called Subliminal Mind. See my thread on subliminal software for a link. I like it. Seems to not screw up my computer like the others. Only thing is it isn't free. You can make your own messages though and have the color of the message the color you want. I got mine blue because blue seems to make my mind all hazy and receptive. Blue and black really trance me. The walls of my bedroom are black because it is my favorite color and makes me feel sleepy and calm. The reason I note the software is because I thought it would be funny if someone could make glasses that had a chip in them that would randomly display Are You Dreaming? on the lenses.

[Lordalmar]

its not that i get fooled by my dreams, its more that i have never TRIED being lucid. i will actually TRY tonight, and see what happens. it should be VERY easy for me to go lucid. it even seems like my mind WANTS me to be lucid, my dreams are almost ALWAYS abnormal. its almost like my mind is TRYING to get my attention. it even seems that my DCs try to help me get lucid. the cool thing about my DCs is, its almost like they know im in control. very few will EVER try to resist me/not follow my orders. it seem the only thing my mind can't do is get my attention. my subconsious seems to be almost exactly like me, it likes order/control. if i am EVER lucid, i am almost positive i can get control just by taking it. all the puzzle pieces are there, and i have the last piece. all i need to do is put it in place and it will be complete.