Does It Just Come Down To Willpower?

I've never had a very hard time controlling my dreams due to not letting go of the action I'm attempting at. Is this the same for you? I'd imagine it comes down to this, even once I get lucid in my dreams, it really seems to come down to effort in order to increase the lucidity of the dream.

Probably, I think you gotta clear doubt and be assertive. If your mind is in a state of doubt I'd imagine that could work against you greatly in your dream.

In my opinion its all about actually believing that you can literally do anything in your dream. Just remember to rub your hands together and touch your surroundings. ;-)

More often than not, continuous willpower actually holds me back. That is, if I am so intently focused on making something happen, the sheer willpower to make it happen will not actually do anything--it'll actually just probably not make that happen. It's most likely based on my mindset and negative expectation--overtime, I'll just get plain frustrated if it doesn't work. Eventually, the longer I spend focused on an action, the less likely it is to succeed.

Becoming aware of this is the first step for me and I usually have to drop my thinking that the action is really that important. This takes off some of the pressure I feel and then I attempt to just go with sheer and simple expectation to get what I want (what I usually do anyway). I have to be confident and sure of myself to do this (self-affirmation helps) so some of that conscious expectation translates over to subconscious expectation as well. If it doesn't work after only a couple of tries, I attempt to do it with some sort of "helper" (e.g. instead of flying on my own, I grow wings, or something).

I never spend too many attempts on an action with the same technique. I realize really quickly it's redundant for me personally and I figure out a different way to accomplish it.

I think it isn't willpower, more like that in 'The Matrix'. Do not believe you can, but know you can.

if there are some issues in your life or aims you need to achieve then they probably come to your mind.. through dream we became more closer to our goal.. so there is nothing to worry...

Take what Forg said and go with it, I had a LD last night and I took that quote and knew that I could do all these crazy things and suddenly I wasn't having trouble doing stuff anymore (recent ld's I could barely do anything)

Heh don't know if its the rules or what but I always fail to do things out of willpower unless the power is based off thoughts to begin with. Knowing that I can do something doesn't helps either, nor does paying/not paying attention to but eh, doesn't happens too often.

Learn to have control over your thoughts while awake.

Get very good at limiting stray thoughts when you choose to focus. Have you ever had a stupid song stuck in your head? With practice you can learn to not have it stuck in your head by mental focus. It is hard to not think about something by telling yourself not to think about it. It is a much more subtle thing than that.


If you develop that skill while awake, then in your dreams you can prevent thoughts from forming that limit your abilities. Say you try something and do not immediately succeed. Well, you would normally have a thought occur along the lines of "It is not working, how can I make it work?" Instead with this skill the moment that thought would have formed you prevent it and instead think, "the visuals are a little slow, but I am doing such and such now." You actually refuse to consider that it did not work and assume it is working, just with a bit of a data lag. Then within a second or two you are actually doing the thing.


I hope that helps someone, but it has one flaw. That is that it is not a quick or easy answer, and will require training and effort.

Will, intent, belief and expectations are all important factors of manipulating the dream.

In swordsmanship you can have great strength and fighting spirit, but that is not enough to prevail. The same is very much true in lucid dreams. Much of your success is about perceptions, beliefs, skill and practice that over time can change the way your brain is wired.

It is more about how skillfully you can use the willpower you have to manipulate the dream.

I mostly do things by pretending to know, that I can do them, like I pretend to remember stuff being hidden behind something.
I've had extensive experience lately with conjuring a lightning storm, but it took me six tries to finally get hit by a bolt - cheers, Maxis!
I got the weather change down to almost instantly after doing it for several times, I just needed to think it, and it got dark and the show started. But five times I let myself down by not getting hit - the last time I was more or less begging and beckoning as if my life depended on it, I employed all my willpower - yes.
So sometimes sheer willpower can work as well, but usually I try to deceive my own mind into believing, and it's not that strenuous.
But it felt like sheer willpower was the force that let me get over my fear, and brought that bolt down finally, so maybe that's an unusual scenario - but one shouldn't sneer at willpower, I think. The different modes of mind all have their uses in lucidity, I believe, depends on circumstance, which ones to deploy at which point.

Just wanted to add - if you have difficulties with something, do it several times, practise it, and it can become completely natural, like my weather change.
Initially it wasn't very impressive, and it took me conscious mental effort in order to conjure up my lighting and darkness. After two times it was easy, non-strenuous, and at last it was working completely unconsciously - I just decided to give the dare a try, and it manifested.
Now this should be true for a lot of things, if not everything - so don't underestimate the wisdom of good old practise, practise, practise and then some, I'd say. :wink: