Can you try too hard?

[Axel]

I was wondering if you can try too hard to become lucid, I've been trying various techniques (WILD, WBTB, FILD) all of which have not worked for me. I am getting pretty angry because I haven't had a lucid in a month. I was getting better results when I was not even thinking about LD when I went to bed.

[Cammy]

I was wondering if you can try too hard to become lucid, I've been trying various techniques (WILD, WBTB, FILD) all of which have not worked for me. I am getting pretty angry because I haven't had a lucid in a month. I was getting better results when I was not even thinking about LD when I went to bed. Im in the same boat dude. I've not had one for a year, i try things but they don't work. I know i can have them because i've had them before. Sometimes it feels like i want to throw my DJ out the window

[Barns]

Can you try too hard? Absolutely, that is the best way to guarantee no lucids.

[Axel]

So then, how do you have one without trying?

[Luminous]

So then, how do you have one without trying? If you take a small break from trying, you might end up "accidentally" having a lucid dream.

[Axel]

Yeah see that's what I did, I took like a 3 month break and I ended up having one the day before I got back into it.

[Woozie]

Yep. Trying too hard/stressing over lucid dreaming is very counter productive. When I first started out I was obsessed with trying to get WILD to work. I ended up sleep deprived and generally annoyed that I couldn't get lucid. So eventually I decided to take a break. And a couple of nights later I had my first LD

[Abra]

First of all, don't stress, as the others have said. But don't quit focusing on dreams altogether! If you're sick of trying to become lucid, at the very least continue writing in your dream journal. It makes it much easier to pick back up. Secondly, have patience. Try one technique for a few weeks. Just one. Because no technique will work on the first night, or even the first week! That doesn't mean switch techniques! It means you should give your mind a chance to acclimate to the technique through which you want to succeed before shifting gears!

[Adam]

I don't 100% agree - I think having it on your mind this much could prove to work into a positive thing. I mean you are more likely to become lucid through DILD if lucid dreaming is more on your mind, it would promt you to RC or question surroundings more if you are thinking more about lucid dreaming... I found when it is on my mind I tend to LD but when I don't think about it they are not as common. I might just be different though. Also I find one of the better techniques to be WBTB, staying up for little over 5 minutes, normally the reminder to your subconscious during REM helps a lot

[Axel]

Thanks guys for everything, but I heard that FILD was the easiest way to get into (doesn't take the most concentration) so I will try this technique for a couple of days and see how this goes. Also, all of my LD's I had were DILD and they happened when I didn't have it on my mind for like a month. AND i have been doing WBTB's and I just learned about FILD today so that's what i'm going to do, drink lots of water hoping to wake around 3:00 (which is what happened last night and I tried a WILD) and then just do a FILD

[visualize37]

The whole point is not to try. Lucid dreaming has to come effortlesly.

[S4ndm4n]

I think that's what happened to me last night when I tried a WILD!

[Gnumonic]

I think that it has to be effortlessly as well, the night before last I had a successful WILD. I really didn't try all that hard. I happened to wake up around 2:00 so I just stared at the ceiling for a few minutes. After that I started a WILD with only listening to my breathing and within minutes I noticed it felt like I fell asleep and woke up again but I found myself on my stomach in a False Awakening. As I was laying there trying to WILD all I did was every minute or so I would think to myself "I am fully aware."