Thread: Long dry spell

why don't you try a decent WBTB with MILD and if even that does not make you lucid again, pop a nice pill of Galantamine (you lucky Americans can order that over-the-counter, right?) which will easily bust your dry spell. Good luck

Nothing like a good dry spell to get you back into the swing of things. I agree with Raipat: WBTB + MILD (or whatever you do) and if that doesn't work, take the red pill. Wishing you the best, kadie.

Originally Posted by kadie

I haven't had a spontaneous lucid dream in almost a year. I haven't been really trying to be lucid, but it's really a long time for me to go without at least a few spontaneous Lucia's. I hope I didn't somehow lose my lucidity all together.

Unless your brain falls out, you really cannot lose your lucidity altogether, Kadie... but you can become disconnected from your ability to LD, or to be self-aware in general -- this disconnection I believe is the default setting for most of humanity, so a lack of LD's is actually normal, I suppose. Maybe your waking life has become too normal, or too often set to autopilot?

The advice already given is sound, so no need to add more -- besides, I have a feeling you already know what to do to get back on the LD'ing horse!

I do have one question, though: was there a deeper reason you posted in "Beyond Dreaming?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzQUwxlWpJs

this is kadie's hangout, man . . .

Interesting. I meant to quote you, Sageous. Instead I posted a song from Live. I think I will leave it as is. No offense to anyone involved!

Hello all, I guess my notifications are off or something. I had no idea anyone replied when I logged in. Maybe it only shows likes and friends requests. Idk.
Thanks for the boost of confidence none the less. I guess I'm just a bit spoiled having Lucids just pop up from time to time. I truly am too lazy to work at it much anymore unless it's a game like Nomad used to run here. Those were fun.
@ Sageous, 3 cats right, I prefer this section, but it's been a little neglected since nomad and some others left.
Hmmmm auto pilot....Could be. I have been doing the 40 hr grind with 10 hrs travel at least a week.
@Cat, what are the red pills? I can barely take advil these daysites. Any medecine makes me tired.

I meant Galantamine, in reference to the Matrix

Omg! Are you guys crazy! Gelentamine is for memory loss and dementia.
I'm glad to have the natural ability to LD and glad to lose the ability with out feeling so desperate to use that kind of crap to be lucid again. SMH

^^ Gallantamine/choline is indeed meant for helping memory loss and dementia, but the things it does to help those problems also help with improving your chances to have and sustain a LD.

In my mind it may be the only "crap" that actually works, and it was developed -- quite responsibly -- as a LD supplement by Dr. LaBerge himself. Using it really wouldn't -- and shouldn't -- be done out of desperation, but out of an interest to give your existent abilities a little boost.

Oh, and you still need to have the ability and state of mind to LD on hand when you take it. Like everything else, gallantamine/choline will not magically make you lucid on its own.

...just sayin'

Thank you, Sageous, for being on hand with your sage replies

There is really nothing wrong with taking Galantamine for LD if you do it occasionally like once a week/month/year depending on you lifestyle and if G is legally available in your country...

Predictably, I agree with Kadie about Gallantamine.

My dream lucidity has been way down for about three years now. Site traffic at the dreaming sites appears to be way down too, so maybe its not just me.

I also used to have premonitions and mild quasi-telepathetic experiences a couple of times a week. Now its down to maybe once every couple of months. Its not gone completely though. I don't think it means I'm stagnating though. Although my intuition isn't as active, my karma seems to be expressing itself fairly effectively through my waking life experiences. Dreaming isn't as much of an outlet in large part because it doesn't need to be. I think this state of affairs is probably healthier.

I also think that part of my dreaming decline has been because I'm not talking about it as much though. When I talk about it, I have to think with feeling to know what I'm talking about, and that exercises that part of my mind more. So I'll try to do that more again, even though I have two jobs now, one of them half time, plus the three kids. Hopefully I'll be less busy next year.

Galantamine is the easy out or a acetylcholine terase inhibitor supplementation. To do it quote on quote naturally with higher success rates you must simply have the intention to lucid dream consistently and immediately upon each awakening through out the night and morning for 5 to 10 secs then fall back to sleep it's called the indirect technique. - namaste

I wake up 4 to 6 times a night. Have for years now. Lately, I do just go back to sleep. I guess you are right about intention, because if I try to play along with any dream games here, I usually have some degree of a lucid, even if I can't control it. I just haven't had anything I have really want to dream about I guess.

I think boredom accounts for most of the decline for me also. I have very rarely dreamed about the same thing twice. Eventually I run out of new experiences, for a while anyway.

Yeah, I think it's the same here. Boredom. The only thing on my mind a lot lately is earthquakes, but even then, I don't dream about it.

I'm thinking there's another aspect to this besides boredom. I think that the part of ourselves that is capable of transcendent dreams finds that it is largely unable to express itself constructively under our present conditions. We have ways of temporarily faking it to ourselves, and those fantasies produce fleetingly real transcendent experiences. But we can't sustain it, because its a fantasy. There's a core that's real, but its not as immediately compelling, and we're often tempted to undermine it for the sake of more satisfying fantasies. I think the only answer is to resist the temptation and continue upholding the real part, since that's all we really have anyway.

I'll try to explain what I mean using a similar example. There are gurus who are able to sustain blissful mental states, and followers who discover and cultivate such states through their relationship with the guru. A large part of how that works is the faith the disciple has in the guru supports the disciple's faith in themselves. The disciple's experience largely comes from the disciple, not from the guru. Many gurus acknowledge this, that they are playing that role. But I think they don't acknowledge the way in which the dynamic undermines the spiritual health of both the guru and the disciple. The disciple perceives the guru as a man-god, and since the man-god deigns to bestow a little bit of attention on the disciple, that validates the disciple, the divine spark in both of them communicates a little bit, and lives a little bit. But in a way its all based on a lie: the guru does not truly have the knowledge or the virtue that the disciple attributes to them. And the dishonesty in the relationship distorts it, and tends to eclipse the real aspect of the relationship. In fact, a most essential aspect of any relationship, honest communication, is suppressed because it threatens the lie which the fake relationship is based on. Strip that away and what's left? Just the ordinary facts of real life, and whatever natural high still lives when the drug high is gone. Romantic relationships are like this too.

For me, relationships are connected with transcendent dreams because its the same part of myself that has them, and they inspire each other. If I move in this area, if I think and act with that part of myself, I feel alive. But dreams stop for many the same reasons that friendships stop. Relationships can be unhealthy, or lack common ground, and friendships can be abused. So it seems the challenge is to accept and make the most of what is real in either area. It seems as if much of my capacity for transcendent dreams is connected to experiences in relation to other people, and yet, like a relationship with a guru, I think that somehow its really coming from myself. Its not that the relationships are purely incidental, I think that our capacity to relate and care for other people and act accordingly is a core part of what we are. And yet, somehow its being in the right place ourselves that really matters, its us who are really doing it, not our outward reflections.

How's it going Kadie I like the advise you got - hope your getting some lucidity soon

All I had to do was set out a 4mg galatamine tab with an Alpha-GPC tab by my bedside last night, and I had my earliest-ever LD (about 2.5 hours) (with goal memory and completed a TOTM) with strong intention to get lucid last night. Never took the tab because 2.5 hrs was too soon and the next noticed waking was too late about 5.5-6 hours, but I just may make setting it out a pre-bedtime ritual in case I find myself awake at the ideal time (about 4-4.5 hours).

I find that vivid dreams stay more or less constant if you keep up your recall and pay attention to your dreams, but lucidity always seems to require an extra OOMPH of effort/intention/focus.

edit: Well, I did take it (4mg galantamine + 300mg alpha gpc) at about 4 hrs tonight, going "immediately back to sleep". And this is my life right now, 3 hours into my "micro WBTB": The "Joy" of WBTB ala JadeGreen Remind me to just say no to G next time I get all excited about it.

Hello Patience,
Still no spontanious Lucids. Have not tried to focus on having one. I hope I have a spontaneous lucid soon. It would just be a nice break to the monotony.
@ Frying man....good luck with that. Hopefully you can get to where you don't need it though.

Originally Posted by kadie

Hello Patience,
Still no spontanious Lucids. Have not tried to focus on having one. I hope I have a spontaneous lucid soon. It would just be a nice break to the monotony.

I have had spontaneous Lucids too through out my life - but very far in between sometimes years - now I have them weekly with some gentle focus ... Hope you get some soon coz it's a great feeling hay

Why do they need to be spontaneous? Also, does this mean you think you can try to have an LD, and it would happen, but you are just not doing that?

Just cuz you went into dry spell or 'lost' lucidity for a while doesn't mean you dont have the ability to have LD

others nicely told you the advice pretty much, but I'd like to add something which can be kinda important. you know why we are super lucid in reality right now? its because reality is super real.. but as we fall asleep *zzz* we lose lucidity.. because we dont detect any senses that aren't real, just pure black void... we were 'lucid' before.

So it's not your fault or whatever for having a dry spell.. dont punish yourself too much instead compliment yourself having done something like 'I recalled great amount of dreams today' 'I wasn't lucid, but I was semi-LD enough to play some cool dream controls.' your subconscious likes compliments..

But yes if you don't get the result is because you didn't stick to the practice. i was like this before and blamed on myself.. you know if you wake up from the dream it doesn't mean it's the end of dream, if don't move a muscle you can go right back to the dream and gain lucidity. if it doesn't work use MILD... or whatever that comes into your mind at that moment . play with the techniques like a child! and if it doesnt work do it again, do it again, do it again, do it again. it will work and you will have the result..

also this is from my experience, try to feel the senses IRL. what i mean is that a lot of us hear that you have to pay attention to the senses you receive (vision, sight, smell etc) and it has good effect on dream recall. that's true but somehow not consistent because you are paying attention to the senses that are not 'real' in the dream. Dream is about creating the world based on 5 senses whether you're lucid or not. but this type of method is 'receiving' the senses not creating the senses. So instead try to feel a tree you see. dont just see the tree and pay attention to its details. Feel its texture and temperature in your mind, becoming one with the tree. So it's like sight + feeling sensory overlap. If you get to the point where you can just feel anything as vivid as Real sense sometimes you can even really smell them, then you're doing much better.
In general, since you're creating the senses by projecting them out IRL(feeling them), your dream will feel much more SOLID and REAL and will make more sense. And your lucidity will naturally follow.. dreams are real places not some whimsical foggy place..

just my 50 cents, but if you experiment with it id be curious to hear your experience..

Originally Posted by ThreeCat

Why do they need to be spontaneous? Also, does this mean you think you can try to have an LD, and it would happen, but you are just not doing that?

Exactly. I can lucid dream if I want. Have done it for over 30 years. I just like when a spontaneous lucid happens. It's more interesting to me and sometimes leads to an opening of new experiences.

That's a bit different from what you said earlier:

I hope I didn't somehow lose my lucidity all together.

I would start trying to have lucid dreams again. The spontaneity will come back as a result of your practice. Otherwise, this is more or less saying, "I'm not doing anything, and nothing is happening." Which we can hardly be surprised at....