When I'm most successful

I haven't had huge amounts of luck with Lucid Dream. I go through phases of trying it and then giving up for a while and then trying again. I have had 2 lucid dreams that ended almost instantly after I became lucid, neither of which was very vivid. Usually I forget to RC when I am actually in a dream.

Another thing that I've noticed happens is that occasionally if I think about something a whole lot before bed, I will dream about it, whether its something I want to dream about not. Sometimes if I can concentrate really hard on that one thing and manage not to fall asleep immediately before bed, my dreams while not lucid will be about what I wanted to dream about. Is there a way I can refine this?

I get this at times too. Just remember that you don't have to reality check. It's mainly awareness. You just need to remember to stablize. Try focusing on something. :)

As i said in another post, explore the dream senses, touch, hear, smell, see and focus your mind and calm down in the ld. Then when you have full awareness explore you LD.