Thread: partially lucid - half-brain dead.. help!!

Originally Posted by HivaPrnses

Lately a lot of my LDs are partial - That is to say that although I am aware that I am dreaming and somewhat controlling what is going on in the dream, my full presence is not there. I am not fully conscious. The dream may be detailed and vivid, but my consciousness is not fully aware. Does this make sense? In other words, I am lucid in that I am aware that I am dreaming, but it is not as though I have the same brain capacity or cognitive function as my waking state. I would say it's even as low as half of my normal functioning.
Let me also say that I am a natural LDer and have had LDs since I was about 12, that I remember, anyway. They have usually come in cycles, and I have just sort of flowed with the cycles, but for the past few months, I have been trying to have them on a more regular basis. Just spending more time thinking about it has increased the quantity of LDs, but the quality is not always there.
So, I guess I am looking for advice from more experienced LDers on techniques I can use to increase the quality of these LDs... Or maybe this is just a normal experience.. and I should continue on, just being happy with the increase in LDs and eventually the quality will increase, too?
Any advice is appreciated.
Also, I have tried some of the grounding and stabilizing techniques, if I have enough cognitive function to think of it. So far, these techniques have helped very little.. (i.e. paying attention to detail, my surrounding, looking at hands, feet, ground, etc.)

p.s.
this is the right forum for this topic, right?

I don't know if you are doing reality checks or not but they really can help. It has been my experience that the quality of the reality checks are crucial.

I too have had partial lucids for a long time. I had to become more thorough in my reality checks to obtain fully lucid dreams. What I do is convince myself of my state of mind by practicing the mental qualities that I wish to have. Some of my tests are: where am I, how do I know I am not asleep dreaming of this? What am I doing here & then for what purpose? Where was 10 minutes ago? Has my environment been stable? Finally, observing all these things am I dreaming.

It has been my experience that I take my wakefulness for granted. As I use my ramped up reality checks I experience higher quality DILDS & WILDS.

Happy Trails

Originally Posted by HivaPrnses

it is not as though I have the same brain capacity or cognitive function as my waking state.

I know exactly what you are talking about and I have that a lot too. And you can add to this zombie-like state of mind an extreme form of tiredness where I can hardly get myself to walk 3 steps away from my bed.(after WILDing)

I can only say that this is not always the case, and I think that you can get much stronger awareness and access to (regular) cognitive functions with practice.
I think the problem is that when you switch over into an LD, your dreaming brain will usually keep up the state that you were in just before you made the transition, which is usually a low brain-wave state where you feel drowsy and where it gets harder and harder to keep your focus on anything (the same state you go through every night when falling asleep).

HOWEVER, when we are dreaming alreadey, there obviously is no need to feel tired or dumb , those are basically restrictions that we are putting on ourselves by accepting them.

I assume that there are many different ways to up your brain-power after you get lucid. For instance, if you are able to easily summon things, you could draw an energy drink out of your pocket and drink it or get to the next sink and splash cold water all over your face or just loudly demand more mental clarity and awareness.

The main point to take from this, is that this can certainly be worked and improved on, just like the problem that many people have in the beginning with dark and blurry sight, which usually gets less and less of a problem with practice and will.

I am not sure if anyone has 100% of their cognitive abilities in their lucids, but I would say 80-90% should be achievable on a regular basis with practice.

Yeah I was confused as hell in my first lucid dream (recently). I mean I knew I was dreaming but I was still pretty delirious, and instead of RC'ing I stabilized the dream (must have got the two mixed up).

I found it is something that takes time like anything else. Full Lucidity is like any other ability like flying.

I'd say probably most people have this issue for a while at first. I know I did. And even after I was becoming more lucid in dreams I still found myself not completely free minded.

It's like you are aware that its a dream and take some control. But you are still some what dazed and would not act like you would if say, you were completely awake and were presented that same abilities in real life.

There are things that I did while I was awake that helped me gradually over come this. One thing is kind of silly, but it's to question whether or not you are dreaming all the time. Whenever you feel slightly weird during the day or anything semi strange happens, question or not you might be dreaming. If you make this a habit during the day, it might reoccur in your dream and will present you with more awareness.

Also performing little tricks while awake will help you recognize when you are dreaming. I've heard flipping on and off lights a couple times when entering a room helps. Supposedly its difficult to change lighting in a dream. So in a dream if you flip a light on and nothing changes, you are dreaming. I never got that one to work for me though. I did get this one to work however, at various times through out the day I held my nose shut and tried to breath through it. Obviously I couldn't breath. But in a dream you can. In a dream I attempted to hold my nose and breath and I was able to and instantly realized I was dreaming. Drastic realizations like these will cause you to know very quickly you are in a dream as opposed to that dazed questioning that you might be dreaming.

Also when in a dream and you first realize or question whether or not you are dreaming, take it slow. Standing around for a moment and really thinking about things and taking in your surroundings can help you become much more aware, and also helps you to prolong your dream. The first few times you become much more aware, it's very easy to wake up.

Hope this helps you...even a little bit. Best of luck to you.

i don't know if this is stating the obvious, but clearly in a dream, our mind is using a lot of its resources creating the dream environment. it makes sense that we'd not be as clear headed as when we're awake.

but yeah, i find i'm improving with practice.

Very good advice there JBurger.

Originally Posted by lemmefly

I know exactly what you are talking about and I have that a lot too. And you can add to this zombie-like state of mind an extreme form of tiredness where I can hardly get myself to walk 3 steps away from my bed.(after WILDing)

I can only say that this is not always the case, and I think that you can get much stronger awareness and access to (regular) cognitive functions with practice.
I think the problem is that when you switch over into an LD, your dreaming brain will usually keep up the state that you were in just before you made the transition, which is usually a low brain-wave state where you feel drowsy and where it gets harder and harder to keep your focus on anything (the same state you go through every night when falling asleep).

HOWEVER, when we are dreaming alreadey, there obviously is no need to feel tired or dumb , those are basically restrictions that we are putting on ourselves by accepting them.

I assume that there are many different ways to up your brain-power after you get lucid. For instance, if you are able to easily summon things, you could draw an energy drink out of your pocket and drink it or get to the next sink and splash cold water all over your face or just loudly demand more mental clarity and awareness.

The main point to take from this, is that this can certainly be worked and improved on, just like the problem that many people have in the beginning with dark and blurry sight, which usually gets less and less of a problem with practice and will.

I am not sure if anyone has 100% of their cognitive abilities in their lucids, but I would say 80-90% should be achievable on a regular basis with practice.

I agree that our state of mind right before experiencing the lucid moment strongly but not entirely. I do think it is the most likely probability. One time I WILDed and my body fell asleep instantly. I was tired mentally too. I sat down on my couch & closed my eyes. As soon as I closed my eyes I felt what felt like a wave of refreshment & darkness flooded with deep blue light. Next, I exited my body in a human cannon ball kinda way. For almost 30 sec my feet hit the hall way of the room in which I WILDed until I got to excited & woke up.

Also I really admire your ingenuity in increasing you lucidity. Thanks

Originally Posted by The Dreaming Zombie

Very good advice there JBurger.

Thanks Zombie.

Thanks, everyone, for the good advice. I have been doing more reality checks during the day.. and I will try to remember to spend more time in observation, after I first become lucid, instead of trying to move into action, right away.
It occured to me that I might be expecting too much. I guess because lucidity has always been a sort of natural thing for me, I just expected it to come much easier... I guess it just takes patience and hard-work to perfect, like anything else.
I am sure that with practice, I can improve.
I just want to say that I love this site.. It's been an interesting and helpful resource for me.
Thanks, all, for your participation.