doodben

Greetings Doodben!

Thank you first for blowing some dust off this old thread; it's nice to know that someone is still paying attention to it.

Sure, I'm happy to offer up a few answers for you:

Originally Posted by doodben

Q1: from what I have read this is very much a process and there is no absolute paths to achieve it, it will take a good deal of time with much trial and error, which I am fine with. But if you were to restart from the beginning of your lucid dreaming life what would you start with and what would you have cut out to make to make your path as efficient as possible?

If I had to do it all over again, how would I do it? Probably in the exact same way, believe it or not.

I think the inherent inefficiency in not really knowing what you're doing or where you're going is a very valuable tool for developing self-awareness: if you're alone on a raft in a strange sea of unconscious information and images, it's much better to figure out for yourself how to navigate than to have someone do it for you. This is especially true in the case of dreaming, which is by its nature extremely personal and perfectly subjective -- sometimes the efficiencies, like the endless parade of techniques that wander across these forums, can do more harm than good... in other words: sure, you might get a lot wrong on your own, but an outsider stands an excellent chance of getting everything wrong.

When I first started seriously doing this stuff I studiously avoided books and other information on the subject, for fear it would corrupt my vision and send me on a dead-end path. In retrospect, I think I chose wisely. For instance, I think that if the internet existed when I was 20, I would have risked abandoning my slow, time-consuming self-awareness work for some of the sparkly-shiny techniques, machines, and supplements that everyone talks about, thus missing my chance to "get it right." I also might have taken the all the hype surrounding crap like "SP" seriously, and forgotten that it's the dream that matters, and not the noise.


Aside from keeping my global settings intact, I can think of two things that would have helped me:

First, I always wanted a guru... someone who was already "there" who would guide me through example, encouragement, and maybe the occasional kick in the pants. He or she wouldn't have to teach me anything, only keep me treading a narrow path from which it was so easy to stray. Speaking of that:

The other thing I would have liked was to have had the wisdom and experience I possess now back when I had a sharp, fully-functioning 25-year-old brain. As I age (I'm 51 this year), I'm discovering that the slow decay of an aging body (punished, of course, by years of happy neglect) is taking a toll on my LD'ing. Things that once came easily, like memory, focus, or long periods of deep concentration, are now only achieved through a combination of very hard work and extreme luck. In other words, I know exactly want I want to do, and know there was a time I could do it with minimal effort, and I know that time is long gone. More attention paid on this stuff when I was young and strong would have been a very nice thing indeed. (Aside: This bit may be more rant than advice, but I think it might carry some cautionary meaning).

Q2: As a beginner what are habits that I should not get into and what are habbits that I should get into?

The most important habit you can get into is developing a solid sense of the fundamentals, of course! A waking life with self-awareness on constant tap will lead to a most excellent dreaming life.

A habit of doing memory exercises, even if its just crossword puzzles or similar, will help as well. Pausing now and then to remember where you were and what you were doing an hour earlier would be a good habit, too.

Spending a lot of time imagining is a great habit. Set aside some serious time, every day, to imagine what you might do in your dreams, what mystical doors LD'ing might open for you, all the new worlds your dream life will create; really let your mind go. Doing this will establish a powerful sense of expectation, make setting intention second nature, and make dealing with the transcendental stuff that comes with high-level lucids much easier. And it's a lot of fun!

And, of course, the "standard" good habits like doing RC's and keeping a dream journal are very important as well.


Some habits to avoid:

Don't overindulge on echo-chambers like these forums, and when you are on, try not to take what you read too seriously (even stuff I wrote!).

Don't let techniques become more important than the dreams.

Don't take yourself too seriously -- though you should keep that dream journal, try to just write down what you remember and nothing more: don't fill in forgotten moments, add interpretations, or dismiss any bits as unimportant.

Another thing you must avoid is making RC's -- and the thoughts that accompany them -- too habitual. Every RC should be interesting to you, and that important question, "Is this a dream?" should always be asked with great interest... it is extremely important to avoid letting this (or any of this work) become rote.

Q3: What would you say is the most general way to attain and continue to consistently have lucid dreams.

Stick to the fundamentals, period.

I suppose if you also developed a good sense of timing -- learning which sleep periods are most conducive to your dreaming success, and then actually seeing that you enjoy those sleep periods regularly, that would help.

Also, a deep understanding that Ld'ing is not the result of any technique, trick, or drug trip, but rather is a state of mind that make take years to establish and a lifetime to perfect. This, I think, is the most important bit.

Oh, and did I mention that you should stick to the fundamentals?


That's all I got for now. I hope at least some of it made sense, and also hope that if it didn't you'll ask me to clarify.

Best of luck in your journeys, Doodben!

Hello there ! Your first post was extremely insightful I am very happy that I happened to stumble upon it. I am brand new to the "lucid dream scene " though when I was a child I could control my dreams at will. I thought it was funny how you said that you are past the adventure and exploration stage of lucid dreaming just because I didn't even think about that when I first caught wind of LD'ing, i was strictly going to use it as a tool for my studies and theories. But now that i know of the possibilities i am extremely excited. If you are still answering question it would be much appreciated to a newbie like me.

Q1: from what I have read this is very much a process and there is no absolute paths to achieve it, it will take a good deal of time with much trial and error, which I am fine with. But if you were to restart from the beginning of your lucid dreaming life what would you start with and what would you have cut out to make to make your path as efficient as possible?

Q2: As a beginner what are habits that I should not get into and what are habbits that I should get into?

Q3: What would you say is the most general way to attain and continue to consistently have lucid dreams.

Again it would be greatly appreciated to hear back. I find it much easier to get information from a person who many people believe is a very trustworthy source of information such a as yourself, than sifting through the thousands of posts getting myself into all kinds of bad habits.

Hello there ! Your first post was extremely insightful I am very happy that I happened to stumble upon it. I am brand new to the "lucid dream scene " though when I was a child I could control my dreams at will. I thought it was funny how you said that you are past the adventure and exploration stage of lucid dreaming just because I didn't even think about that when I first caught wind of LD'ing, i was strictly going to use it as a tool for my studies and theories. But now that i know of the possibilities i am extremely excited. If you are still answering question it would be much appreciated to a newbie like me.

Q1: from what I have read this is very much a process and there is no absolute paths to achieve it, it will take a good deal of time with much trial and error, which I am fine with. But if you were to restart from the beginning of your lucid dreaming life what would you start with and what would you have cut out to make to make your path as efficient as possible?

Q2: As a beginner what are habits that I should not get into and what are habbits that I should get into?

Q3: What would you say is the most general way to attain and continue to consistently have lucid dreams.

Again it would be greatly appreciated to hear back. I find it much easier to get information from a person who many people believe is a very trustworthy source of information such a as yourself, than sifting through the thousands of posts getting myself into all kinds of bad habits.