SemiLucid & Dream Instablity

[Serpent]

So the past couple of days Ive been reading 'Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming'. It's been a great help. I decided to try my luck at MILD's over the last two days with varied success. The first night was hopeless and I woke up to write down my dream rather frustrated that I had not become any were near lucid. Last night was a little better, but just as frustrating. After visulasing my self in a common dream scene, that scenario was in most if not all my dreams. I became semi-lucid, but once that happened the dream world started falling apart and going blank. I was barely aware that I was dreaming and what ever dream awareness that I had was desperately trying to clutch the dream and keep it together. But failed. This happened almost in every dream with each scene very similar. Any hints and tips I wasnt overly excited, but just becoming more irritated the more it fell apart. Hopefully tonight will be better.

[Flavour of Night]

Yup.. keeping an LD together can be a problem. The spinning technique or having a good stare at your hands can help. I've had countless LD's, and one thing I've come to expect is somewhat unpredictable control, vividness, etc. I simply don't let it bother me... I've been doing it too long to worry about a "cold spell", they always pass. Sometimes I can just black things out by closing my dream eyes, and relax and gather my thoughts, then I open them (either with intent to create a new scene or just to see what's there) and things often improve. If you wake up, be skeptical, chances are better than not that it's a false awakening.

[Serpent]

Thing is im not even lucid enough to remember to spin, it falls away so fast (like 30seconds). I will try it again tonight and try closing my eyes, I dont have enough time to think about spinning.

[Amelaclya]

I think if you dream fades THAT quickly, its because you're just excited about finally getting there. If you remain calm you should be able to remain longer. After a few LDs you won't get so excited about them anymore and they will last longer. Just like techniques to gain lucidity, techniques to prolong lucidity seem to vary from person to person. I've had decent success with staring at my hands, but spinning ALWAYS wakes me up. What I do now to prolong the dream and increase vividness is just to focus on the dream - take in all of your surroundings using as many senses as you can and basically reaffirm to your mind that it is "real". It doesn't take a whole lot of time either. A few seconds to stop and focus when I feel the dream fading can grant me another 5-10 minutes before I feel I have to do it again.