Thread: Brain overload when going lucid

So I have this problem.

I randomly go lucid once in a while, and when this happens, the dream instantly starts unstabilizing.
It feels as if I now suddenly have to manually control the dream, and anything that happens in it, while also fighting to stay asleep. Doing both at the same time is hard. I don't have the excess built-in RAM to stay creative while focusing on not waking up. It also causes some boring dreams, as nothing unexpected will happen. Eventually the dream fades away, and becomes mere thoughts, so instead of having lucid dreams, I might as well just daydream.

Have anyone else experienced something like this, and do you have any tips on how to improve and ease my experience?

I experienced this, the first time I actually realised I was dreaming after the few accidental times, my dream seem to freeze like a movie or video game, and I heard some really weird electronical like noises(or at least thats all I can describe them like) then everything went faded black and I had to wake myself up manually. The couple times after that It all just faded away and I would wake up, the only tip I could really give you is to keep practicing and find something that helps stabilise you, I usually look and study my hands, I've heard other people spin, My guess is everyones stabilising actions would be different. sometime my dreams still fall apart on me fairly quick though but I'm still pretty new to this.

Makes sense.
I just feel like if I stand still or look at the same thing for too long, the dream will end. I will try just standing still and stabilize next time I get a lucid, no matter if I feel like that would make me wake up.

Originally Posted by LuMikkel

Makes sense.
I just feel like if I stand still or look at the same thing for too long, the dream will end. I will try just standing still and stabilize next time I get a lucid, no matter if I feel like that would make me wake up.

If you stare at something in a dream, that'll cause you to wake up, since your eyes won't be moving anymore. Your eyes have to move to be able to dream, wonder why REM (Rapid Eye Movement) is called like that

Other than that, try to don't have thoughts like "oh i might wake up soon ", ect... since your thoughts control everything in a dream and if you think you might wake up, then you'll do.
Also try to believe that your dream will stabilize, try to focus on it that it'll just stay that way and it won't fall apart.

I didn't know keeping ur eyes moving helped keep dreams from destabilizing. Thanks littlezoe, I will try and remember that.

Originally Posted by littlezoe

If you stare at something in a dream, that'll cause you to wake up, since your eyes won't be moving anymore. Your eyes have to move to be able to dream, wonder why REM (Rapid Eye Movement) is called like that

The term Rapid Eye Movement was coined before anyone realized than your physical eye movements correspond exactly to your eyes movements within the dream. I don't see any reason to believe that you have to keep your eyes moving around in order to stay dreaming.

Originally Posted by dms111

The term Rapid Eye Movement was coined before anyone realized than your physical eye movements correspond exactly to your eyes movements within the dream. I don't see any reason to believe that you have to keep your eyes moving around in order to stay dreaming.

It's called Rapid Eye Movement since your eyes move fast during it. But since your real and dream eyes move the same way at the same time, then it should be obvious that once you take control over the dream, your real eyes will move the same way as your dream ones do.

Try staring at something (without moving your eyes of course) in your next lucid for 10 seconds or so. Then come back here and tell me what happened

I'm so confused

I have this incredible desire to quote every other comment here, in multiple places, all with insane laughter mixed in. Maybe I will!!! Yes, yes, yes, I will ... but will show restraint. Would that be rude? I dunno, oh screw it, here we go.

Originally Posted by littlezoe

If you stare at something in a dream, that'll cause you to wake up, since your eyes won't be moving anymore. Your eyes have to move to be able to dream, wonder why REM (Rapid Eye Movement) is called like that

Other than that, try to don't have thoughts like "oh i might wake up soon ", ect... since your thoughts control everything in a dream and if you think you might wake up, then you'll do.
Also try to believe that your dream will stabilize, try to focus on it that it'll just stay that way and it won't fall apart.

I have no idea how you drew the conclusion you can't stare at anything due to REM. Just no clue. No clue.

I have read (others dreams), heard (other friends tell me), and done plenty of staring in my own dreams. Maybe I'm not fully understanding of what you think staring is. Maybe we have different ways of defining that term. Maybe that may be your own belief which stands true for you. However, I assure you, this is not common for others to experience.

My other issue is how you pass this 'fact' off to other people. Please do more research on the processes of sleep (especially REM sleep) if you're going to lead others down your path of knowledge. I'm not saying you're wrong, but what if you are? How would that serve the people who happen to believe you?

Then to ... the thing with Rebel Seven and saying her opinion is invalid due to 'lack of experience'. Just, how can you.... why would you.... just gah! And she was classy enough to disregard that comment and come back with something mature.

I could go on... and on.... but I won't.

Littlezoe, if you wish to be a leader (in anything) here are a few neat things to stuff into your purse:
1. Humbleness
2. Openness
3. Understanding

Just because people disagree with your idea(s) isn't because they lack experience. Just because you think you have a lot of experience, I promise you'll eventually meet people who have more. The real people who DO have experience, will most likely be the ones to push at you and prod you to think differently. Not in hopes of changing you. You can stay the way you are if you want. It's usually with the hope to broaden your mind with new thoughts, new ideas, new knowledge so that you can experience the world with greater capacity and understanding.

Originally Posted by Kaomea

I'm not saying you're wrong...

She might not say it, but that doesn't mean I won't...

Ready?

You're wrong, littlezoe.

Not that anything anyone says will get through that tangled mess you call a belief system. Let alone make a lasting impact.
But hey, doesn't hurt to try, yeah?

Usually, at this point, I'd provide a wealth of information backed by relevant links, but I don't think that'll help here, so I won't waste my time.

Originally Posted by Mzzkc

She might not say it, but that doesn't mean I won't...

Ready?

You're wrong, littlezoe.

Not that anything anyone says will get through that tangled mess you call a belief system. Let alone make a lasting impact.
But hey, doesn't hurt to try, yeah?

Usually, at this point, I'd provide a wealth of information backed by relevant links, but I don't think that'll help here, so I won't waste my time.

I really don't see what you guys have against the belief system, because beliefs do change, if yours never has before then that just shows close-mindedness and unopen you are to new Ideas. Have you ever thought that maybe she just has more natural control then any one else has had, so what she believes are always true in her dream. I've only had one moment where my belief that I was in a dream and belief that I could throw my DC's around with my mind, and that was because I conflicted those beliefs with my beliefs not to hurt kids, even though the kid was creepy and pissing me off.

Originally Posted by Kaomea

I'm so confused

I have this incredible desire to quote every other comment here, in multiple places, all with insane laughter mixed in. Maybe I will!!! Yes, yes, yes, I will ... but will show restraint. Would that be rude? I dunno, oh screw it, here we go.


I have no idea how you drew the conclusion you can't stare at anything due to REM. Just no clue. No clue.

I have read (others dreams), heard (other friends tell me), and done plenty of staring in my own dreams. Maybe I'm not fully understanding of what you think staring is. Maybe we have different ways of defining that term. Maybe that may be your own belief which stands true for you. However, I assure you, this is not common for others to experience.

My other issue is how you pass this 'fact' off to other people. Please do more research on the processes of sleep (especially REM sleep) if you're going to lead others down your path of knowledge. I'm not saying you're wrong, but what if you are? How would that serve the people who happen to believe you?

Then to ... the thing with Rebel Seven and saying her opinion is invalid due to 'lack of experience'. Just, how can you.... why would you.... just gah! And she was classy enough to disregard that comment and come back with something mature.

I could go on... and on.... but I won't.

Maybe she came up with the conclusion that she did Staring in REM wakes you up, because it happens to here every time, or maybe its because thats her belief, and because she thinks that, in involuntarily makes her wake up.

I love how this first half,

Originally Posted by Kaomea

Littlezoe, if you wish to be a leader (in anything) here are a few neat things to stuff into your purse:
1. Humbleness
2. Openness
3. Understanding

Just because people disagree with your idea(s) isn't because they lack experience. Just because you think you have a lot of experience, I promise you'll eventually meet people who have more. The real people who DO have experience, will most likely be the ones to push at you and prod you to think differently. Not in hopes of changing you. You can stay the way you are if you want. It's usually with the hope to broaden your mind with new thoughts, new ideas, new knowledge so that you can experience the world with greater capacity and understanding.

Could be responded to with this half, only by replace Littlezoe with your name, If your gonna tell someone how they should go about something, it usually holds more persuasion and makes more sense if you practice it yourself. In other words I think you should practice what you preach.

I have this problem too. When I become lucid my dreams begin to destabilize and fade. Oddly enough the moment I become lucid my dream is a bit more vivid, but like I said it down hill from there. I think it has to do with the processing power that you need to be dream lucid. This is why im trying to see if we cant get the more experienced LDrs to test out simplifying there dreams to lower the processing power. If you want u can see if my call for extermination goes anywhere. Its in this thread here http://www.dreamviews.com/f14/explor...dreams-132128/

I agree with dms. It's not true many times I have stared at something over 10 seconds, I've even closed my eyes and looked at nothing for over 10 seconds (sometimes the scene changed, sometimes it didn't) but I was always still dreaming.

And, not to pick on LittleZoe, I think the "believe it and it's true" way of thinking is false and out-dated. Sure, Belief forms the skeleton of the dream, in that - the way something is and always has been, will appear that way in your dream (like the fact that you have hands, or that trees grow out of the ground) but using belief as a form of refined control is ridiculous, no one would ever be surprised if this was all you needed, Dreams wouldn't be the odd creative things they are if they followed belief structures that closely.


To the OP finally

It's really really common for early lucid dreamers to suffer this problem, it always gets better with more experience. For stabilization advice I demand you read this guide by Mzzck.

This guide is unique in that it makes clear the nature of stabilization. If you TLR (which would be a shame) Stabilization = Maintaining balance between your lucidity (your presence and control of the mind) and the dream (what is perpetuated by the subconscious and details the world around you). It really becomes more clear if you read the guide.

Originally Posted by RebelSeven

And, not to pick on LittleZoe, I think the "believe it and it's true" way of thinking is false and out-dated. Sure, Belief forms the skeleton of the dream, in that - the way something is and always has been, will appear that way in your dream (like the fact that you have hands, or that trees grow out of the ground) but using belief as a form of refined control is ridiculous, no one would ever be surprised if this was all you needed, Dreams wouldn't be the odd creative things they are if they followed belief structures that closely.

I guess you didn't really experience lucid dreams that much yet then.

If you believe that you can fly, you'll be able to fly. If you believe that you can pass through the wall, you'll be able to do it. If you believe that your dream will stabilize, then it will do... It's that simple, even if you think this isn't working like this because of lack of experience.

If you don't believe that you are capable of doing something in a dream, then you almost surely won't be able to do it... everything reacts to your thoughts.

I agree with dms. It's not true many times I have stared at something over 10 seconds, I've even closed my eyes and looked at nothing for over 10 seconds (sometimes the scene changed, sometimes it didn't) but I was always still dreaming.

As for this, i can only say the same to you as i did above: Try intentionally not moving your eyes at all in a lucid. During the cases you say you did this already, you must've not realized that your eyes were in fact moving, even if just slowly.

I have had over a thousand lucid dreams, some over an hour in length.

I believed that I could fly, something I have done a thousand times before with complete ease, and yet, when I tried to take off, I felt chained to the ground and no amount of tinkering could return me to the power I BELIEVE I had. Belief is not the only mental tool active in dreaming.

Alternatively, attempting something while sure of it's failure (diving in to lava, I was prepared for intense pain) is not assurance of it's failure (it turned out to be quite a pleasurable experience)

Dreams are not shallow representations of what your brain MOST expects, that it BELIEVES to be the way things are. If this were the case dreams would be the most boring repetitive rehashes of day to day life in which nothing surprising or unexpected occurred.

Originally Posted by RebelSeven

I have had over a thousand lucid dreams, some over an hour in length.

I believed that I could fly, something I have done a thousand times before with complete ease, and yet, when I tried to take off, I felt chained to the ground and no amount of tinkering could return me to the power I BELIEVE I had. Belief is not the only mental tool active in dreaming.

Then you didn't believe in it enough, you had some doubt, which is enough to ruin it. Or you weren't fully lucid...
I never said anywhere that belief is the only mental tool, but it's something that helps with everything.

Alternatively, attempting something while sure of it's failure (diving in to lava, I was prepared for intense pain) is not assurance of it's failure (it turned out to be quite a pleasurable experience)

That's just a bad example. Diving into lava is something you can simply do, no matter if you don't believe in it, since walking is simple and that's all you need to get into the lava. If something is simple and just comes generally, that's hard to convince yourself of it not being possible.

Not being able to pass through a wall because of not believing that you are capable of it is a better example.

Dreams are not shallow representations of what your brain MOST expects, that it BELIEVES to be the way things are. If this were the case dreams would be the most boring repetitive rehashes of day to day life in which nothing surprising or unexpected occurred.

You misunderstood things if that's all you got out of my comments It's not about what your brain expects. The dream world forms itself without your conscious help, but your thoughts will form it as well, even if unintentionally.

That's why this is such an out-dated idea. Everything can be excused by the ceaseless repetition "You just didn't believe in it enough. You had some doubt" and then it is impossible to get at the true mental mechanism of the dreamer's difficulty with dream control. It smothers the chance to grow.

In my lava dream (sorry I didn't make it clearer) I was believing that I would fail to protect myself, and that I would feel pain from the heat, to the point that I almost bailed on the whole idea, but here my beliefs were proved false.

The dream world forms itself without your conscious help, but your thoughts will form it as well, even if unintentionally.

Thoughts are incredibly different than beliefs. Thoughts and attention are far better tools to manipulate your dreams. You can affect them, tweak them, play with them. Learn to control your awareness and focus your mind, this is all useful in dreaming and life.

Beliefs are stagnant and by their very nature are unchangeable. This makes them a useless form of control

Originally Posted by RebelSeven

That's why this is such an out-dated idea. Everything can be excused by the ceaseless repetition "You just didn't believe in it enough. You had some doubt" and then it is impossible to get at the true mental mechanism of the dreamer's difficulty with dream control. It smothers the chance to grow.

In my lava dream (sorry I didn't make it clearer) I was believing that I would fail to protect myself, and that I would feel pain from the heat, to the point that I almost bailed on the whole idea, but here my beliefs were proved false.

What if that repetition is the truth? What if you really failed because of that you didn't believe in the success? Oh just because people repeat something that doesn't make it false instantly.

Thoughts are incredibly different than beliefs. Thoughts and attention are far better tools to manipulate your dreams. You can affect them, tweak them, play with them. Learn to control your awareness and focus your mind, this is all useful in dreaming and life.

Beliefs are stagnant and by their very nature are unchangeable. This makes them a useless form of control

Beliefs are built upon thoughts. They are not that different in their nature as you seem to think
Your beliefs can also change, so that's false.

As you were walking towards the lava, fearing that it might hurt you, you probably realized that you have nothing to fear, since it's just a dream even if the lava seemed scary at first... therefore it didn't hurt you
Your belief about the dangerous nature of the lava changed.

Anyway, i don't plan to continue this, since we don't seem to get anywhere. You have your own way of thinking and i have mine

Again everything is explained with minute changes in your beliefs that "you didn't even realize." :O

And yes, while thoughts are the early stepping stones of beliefs, it takes time - time and focus and intent, and even then can fail. To someone just trying to throw a fireball, that is a nonsensical way to go about it.

Ok, I'm willing to call a treaty Though I suggest that next time you get into a debate you don't write someone off as just being "inexperienced" even if someone is new to lucid dreaming (or anything really) it doesn't mean they don't have anything worthy to add. It's condescending and insulting.

I added the "inexperienced" part since you said "and not to pick on littlezoe"... When people write stuff like that they often tend to mean the opposite. I took that as an intentional pick on Was i wrong?

no, I meant it the way I said it, you're a cool person even if we disagree on little points.

Okay then, sorry for it

And now i stop being off-topic

throw my two cents in I agreed with littlezoe on every point, I always fly when I believe it and I always move things with my mind and I always summon people when I believe it, its how I have any dream control.

also especially on the whole beliefs can change.

My brains turns to scrambled egg when the first time I got lucid. I don't know what to do.

This thread makes me sooooo sad.