Stabalising is Hard. What have I been doing wrong?

I've have 3 lucids over the past two weeks, but none of them have lasted over a minute.

The first one, I tried touching someones face to stabalize, and everything became really vivid and lifelike. I was therein punched in the face (I'm not sure why.) But then when I tried to exhert a little control (change the color of someones shirt), Everything distorted and faded to black. It only lasted a minute.

The second and third were both from one night. I was having a really disturbing dream, where there were dogs and people trying to kill me everywhere. I became lucid randomly while looking at a dog. I wasn't sure what the best thing to do was, so I just tried to sit back and observe the dog. Suddenly, i'm floating above the dog, and another person walks in, and they walk arround like they're really confused. The dog is walking like its drunk too. I'm really confused too at this point, and think, "I should try harder to stabalise this. I try to shout "I am lucid," But the effort saying it wakes me up.

That throws me back into my own bed, where i'm stuck in sleep paralysis (or a dream that was really accurate about what my room looks like, lol.), and one of the angry dogs in my dream is eating my legs, and theres blood on them. But I fall back into sleep somehow, and suddenly, i'm lucid again. This one was unusual. Right as I became lucid, a baby fell faceforward right next to my head. (I'm on the ground. I don't know why..) I try to get the baby to turn arround and show me its face, but I don't have enough control to do that. I ignore it, and try to stare at the carpet. I now see each strand of the carpet. I rub my hands together and say, "I am lucid." This time, I don't wake up, but it doesn't become much clearer either. I stand up, and look to the left. Theres a doorway. For some reason, I think of summoning my cat. I call his name, and (to my suprize), it works, and he pokes his head out the door. He isn't distorted or dreamlike at all. That really impressed me. I walked into the room, and think, "oh, its dark, i'll switch on a light." Forgetting that that doesn't work, I hit the switch, and it stays dark, which for some reason, wakes me up.

The first one was the first time i'd managed to stay in a dream for atleast a minute, the second wasn't exciting, and I had no control, but I really felt like I was going somewhere with that third one. I was able to summon my cat, which was the best thing i've done before (kind of sad, hehe.), but I don't know why turning on the switch woke me up. Is there anything I was doing wrong in any of these?

What I usually to is take a minute or two after becomming ludid to enage all of my senses. Rub your hands together and feel your enviroment, examine where you are taking note of small details, listen to your enviroment, and smell the air. Heck, even taste can be a good grounding method if you're in the right place. ;)

I also like to do a few extra reality checks after the fact. It's good practice anyway to maintain high levels of lucidity - It's very easy to get distracted.

you know, i've actually heard the senses thing before, but I just never remember to try it out. I always remember vocal commands and rubbing my hands, but usually, I forget that scents and tastes even exist in dreams. I'll try my best to do that next time too.

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Originally Posted by lemoncobbler

I just never remember to try it out... I forget that scents and tastes even exist in dreams.

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When I was having trouble with this, throughout my day, I would do 2-4 reality checks and then take a minute to engage my senses. This routine eventually carried over to my dreams after several days. If you get into the habit of doing it in your waking life, you'll start doing it in your dreams as well.

Try not to force anything, let it come to you. For example, when you shout, you lose relaxation and have a high chance of losing the LD. Instead, relax, focus on a visual and touch (both at the same time if you can) like feeling your hands, looking at the way your fingers move and feeling their texture. Grab something close, don't rush, it doesn't matter what it is feel how heavy it is, what kind of texture it feels like, what is it made out of, stuff like that.

make sure you work with your mind, not against it. for example, dont force a shirt to spontainiously change color, instead maybe throw colored dye on it first, and things like that. im with you on the problems with stabalizing, i got my dream to look like real life, then forgot to do it again and it deteriourated in about 5-10 mins.

After becoming lucid just wait for a minute... and breathe... then do whatever you want. It could be that you're just becoming lucid near the end of your sleep. That usually happens to me when I'm near the point of waking up. Something happens in my dream that will force me to scare or shock myself out of sleep.

Stabilizing is easy! Just remember everything requires your attention to exist in dreams, and stabilizing dreams should be a breeze.

You have 2 things to stabilize in a dream, your dream body and the scene around you. Many people use the had rubbing thing, but that only stabilizes your body. Better to kill two birds with one stone. Doing any kind of physically exerting activity forces your body to interact with the environment. The exertion of feeling of intense movement draws your attention to your body, and the motion in your environment creates the perfect balance between you and your surroundings.

Run, jump, jog, start throwing things, break things, all these will help stabilize the dream for you. Spinning might sound like a good idea, but I would caution against it. Remember that everything requires your attention to exist, and spinning can be disorienting, making it difficult to focus on your surroundings.

As a last resort, you can also smash your hand or foot against something. It usually does the trick.

Yeah just kick every wall you can find.

Thanks for all the suggestions you guys,
I had another lucid last night, my longest one yet (still only three minutes, haha- got distracted.)
Right as it dawned on me that I was lucid, I remembered what Buddy'd said about trying out all the sense. I was able to find some weird iceplant like substance arround me, and I was able to catch a scent from it. It smelt fresh, and suddenly, everything felt 10x more real, which was really cool.
It also tasted like sweet peas. :D I was able to walk arround (I was really impressed that I was actually walking arround in my own body instead of just hovering like a spirit. I was so impressed I started changing up my walk for fun.)
I got bored of walking, so I tried to fly, but a dream character distracted me, and I went with them for a walk instead, and we did that for like, 2 minutes.

The problem with this dream was that the whole time, I had this strange sense of my real body the whole time. Like, it was like, I clearly knew about my body lying in bed while I was doing all these cool things, and it made the dream seem less realistic then all the ones I'd had before. Involuntarily thinking about the other body was what made me wake up. Otherwise, this would've been my coolest and longest lucid yet. What can I do to not think about my real body, I've never had this problem before.

I'm sorry if this post I's a little off but Im too lazy to read your entire post.

Stabilizing I's hard. I wrote a tutorial in the wiki. Look under user articles.

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Originally Posted by lemoncobbler

Thanks for all the suggestions you guys,
I was able to find some weird iceplant like substance arround me, and I was able to catch a scent from it. It smelt fresh, and suddenly, everything felt 10x more real, which was really cool.
It also tasted like sweet peas.

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Eating is also another great way to stabilize the dream!

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Originally Posted by The Cusp

Eating is also another great way to stabilize the dream!

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Yes it I's.