Trouble staying lucid for more than a few seconds

Since July I've been keeping a dream journal to help with recall, but I've made no conscious effort to become lucid (WILD etc).

However, in the past couple months I will become lucid in the middle of a normal dream for whatever reason (be it noticing a dream sign, or just having the message "I'm dreaming" enter my head). On all of these occasions I lose lucidity in a matter of seconds. In the four or five times this has happened, I have tried methods to prolong lucidity on two of them; once I tried spinning and once I tried a verbal command. I experienced no success with either method.

I am eager to try WILD and experience a true LD, but I am worried about putting a lot of effort into it and becoming lucid only to wake up a few seconds later. I am frustrated enough with the failures I have experienced thus far, and am not looking forward to failing again. Does anyone have a definite method of keeping lucidity once it is attained that I can try next time I have a DILD, or if I feel up to WILD?

Thanks in advance. Good luck and have a nice day.

Hey there,

Do you have a goal, a set idea of what to do when you become lucid?

I find this helps a lot in prolonging lucidity. Without a dreamgoal, I tend to lose lucidity quickly too. I'd get lucid for a while, usually long enough to use some dreamcontrol to deal with anything bothering me in the dream or to pursue some basic pleasure (like flying, sex, the feeling of power, etc etc)... and then quickly find myself just in a basic dream again.

If I have a set dream goal in mind though, I usually stay lucid until the goal is fulfilled (or a long time if I keep failing the goal :)), after which I will generally wake up.

So if you're not already doing so, be sure to have a strong idea of what you want to be doing when you do become lucid.

Hope that helps,

-Redrivertears-

I think redriver is totally right about goalsetting. I found that rubbing my hands together has been more effective than spinning. Also I think it would help if you try and let go of those past failures (which far easier said than done). People come back after months off from attempting to LD because of those failures to find that it was not so difficult. And once you jump over that first major hurdle you'll be doing great. For me, getting rid of the word "try" does wonders.

You will have a true lucid dream tonight. It will be awesome and you will never doubt your own powers again.

Let me know how it goes

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Originally Posted by Redrivertears

I find this helps a lot in prolonging lucidity. Without a dreamgoal, I tend to lose lucidity quickly too. I'd get lucid for a while, usually long enough to use some dreamcontrol to deal with anything bothering me in the dream or to pursue some basic pleasure (like flying, sex, the feeling of power, etc etc)... and then quickly find myself just in a basic dream again.

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What kind of goal do you usually set? I used to set some small goals like flying, handling physical objects, going to a specific place etc. Unfortunately these are fairly easily achieved and after that my LD's quickly fail and (and are therefore still short). Maybe one should set a more specific and complex goal, but then again: the dream setting I get lucid in is random and often doesn't match the goal.

-Tl

Hey there,

Well, my personal dreamgoals at this time mostly center around various ways of dreamcontrol, mostly adding or changing elements in the dream, or changing the dreamscene itself.

But goals can be very varied, and they don't necessarily have to be complex to be long. Simply things can be strung along:

For instance, rather then 'I want to fly', one could make the dreamgoal: "I want to fly, through various landscapes." Already the second would likely last a lot longer, without making the dreamgoal overly complex.

Or say you want to try and use a sort of symbolic portal to change the dreamscene you're in, you could instead of simply making the goal be 'I want to change my dreamscene', be 'I want to change my dreamscene, and then go explore the new scene'. Adding a person to a dream could be followed by what you want to do together 'I want to meet my grandmother who recently passed away and have a conversation about death', etc etc.

I'd be careful with setting the goal too complex. I find that unless you're always very highly conscious in your lucid dreams, complex dreamgoals are harder to remember then fairly simple ones.

And be sure to 'give yourself time' to explore, to take it easy, to appreciate the dream. When that idea is almost an automatisme, lucid dreams will begin to last longer pretty much on their own, I think.

Hope that helps,

-Redrivertears-

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm going to work on this. I have the same exact problem and have never set a goal.