How long does it take??

How long does it take to have a lucid dream, I keep having dreams but I can't ever seem to realize that I'm dreaming. I've done the tutorial's for awhile now (mainly the HILD and MILD).Does it take awhile before before the lucid dreaming actually starts to kick in?

That's kind of a hard question to answer. It can literally range from 1 week to several years. Most people seem to say they got their first within a month but some unfortunately don't take to it too quickly. I personally never got one until around 8-12 months (forget exactly when).

There is no amount of time it should take. everyone is different. For me it took 4 days, for you it may take two years, but lets hope not. Maybe you should take a break from lucid dreaming. Also you may be making lucid dreaming hard, think of it as something easier. Good luck.

For me it took about two and a half or three months (can't remember exactly when I started trying to have them again). Do you have a lot of lucid dream books? What I did was, I bought quite a few LD books, on Amazon and at local bookstores, and read them. Now, even though I've read them all, I often read a chapter or two from one before I go to sleep, to help keep the idea of lucid dreaming in my mind. I also like to surf the net a bit most nights, and when I do, I try to have the last thing I do be reading Dreamviews for a while. I also do reality checks often. Do you do reality checks? I think they really do help - if you do them enough, you WILL start to do them in your dreams, and then voila - lucidity.

Anyway, after a few weeks of reading about LDing, doing RCs, ect, (and keeping a dream journal of course - are you doing that?), I started getting little "flashes" of lucidity. I had a couple semi-lucids that didn't last long, but I thought I might have been lucid for a few seconds to a minute or two. I started recalling my dreams a lot more often once I started keeping a dream journal, and so started to notice my personal dreamsigns. All of this helped. Last month, I had my first lucid. It didn't last *that* long, and it was fuzzy in places, but I realized I was dreaming, and made a certain person appear. It didn't feel very "solid" though. Then about two weeks ago I finally had what I personally felt like was a real, true lucid dream. It lasted a bit longer, but the thing that was most important was I felt very anchored in the dream, very aware and awake in the dream. And then a few days ago, I had another lucid, which was longer, and I felt even more solid and aware in the dream, and it was absolutely amazing :)

So for me, it took a few months. A few times I was slightly tempted to give up, of course, but I think the important thing is, I never did. I just kept doing my RCs, writing down my dreams, going over my LD books, trying to WILD, ect. I persevered, and kept believing it would happen..and it did :) I think the most important thing is to get over the "hump" - the point at which, after a few weeks or months, some ppl think "eh, this isn't working, it's not for me, I'm probably just not a person who can have lucid dreams", and then they just give up. You gotta get through and past that point, and keep trying... and then, most likely, lucid dreams will come :)

Ok, thanks. It helps now that I have some insight.

I have one more question, when I'm trying to recall my dreams...it seems like it takes me 5 or so minutes to actually remember the dream I had. Is this normal or should I be remembering my dreams right away?

For some of us it was the first night. Other than that it usually takes a few weeks to get the first and then they slowly start to become constant.

I'm sort of new to the lucid dreaming thing, but from what I can gather, a few months is about average, but don't quote me on that. I've been at it now for about 4 months, just keeping a dream journal, and I admit I slacked off a bit, but recently I've gotten more serious I think and I have gotten better at recalling dreams. The only advice I suppose I can offer is to hang in there and keep trying; that's all the new information I'm going on as of late. (Not that it's not bad advice, though. They speak from experience! :)

it took me about 3 to 4 weeks to have a lucid dream but the way i figured out wasnt RC, i fell off some stairs and it took a long time for me to hit the ground and was like "shit im dreaming!" i was so happy i woke up :embarrassed: . that may happen to you.

It's different for everyone. There's not really an answer to this question. For me it took me like 1 month. And I still don't have them every night.

haha, some peoplr get it on their first night, some people like me hadto wait 2 years. I think it is most important to try as many techniques as you can to find out what works best for you (in my case Wilds are just a waste of sleep). Don't try to hard and always keep positive. If you have a friend who can learn with you, it makes that time you spend trying to Ld much better and i think faster. Well thats my 2 cents. Good luck.

~Lucas

It took about 6 months for me.