Thread: I become lucid, but then...

I've been at lucid dreaming on and off for over 2 years now, and have always run into trouble once I become lucid. Basically, the dream immediately fades away as soon as I realize I'm in a dream.

In my first few lucids, I would get really excited upon becoming lucid and that had something to do with the dream fading away, but excitement hasn't been the issue for a while.

Another problem I assumed I was having is that immediately upon becoming lucid I would try to exercise dream control far too intensely and that was why the dream would quickly fade.

Realizing this issue, my recent goal has been to not only remain completely calm upon becoming lucid but to attempt in no way to control the dream. Instead, I just want to follow along with the dream and work on simply staying lucid in the dream for as long as possible.

Well, last night I became lucid and followed my plan to remain calm and to not attempt to control the dream. However, the dream faded almost immediately.

What I usually do immediately after becoming lucid is look for something to hold on and feel, or rub my hands. I try shouting commands sometimes for the dream to stabilize or become more vivid, but to no success.

When I say the dream fades what takes place happens in about 3-5 seconds. All of the colors start to turn white while all the details of a room or landscape start disappearing. Usually, I wake up at the end.

Does this kind of thing happen to anyone else? Any ideas on something I may have overlooked or what I should be doing upon becoming lucid to overcome this fading?

Yeh, I've had this problem since 2007, when I first began lucid dreaming. I still haven't found a way to fix it. I'm assuming it's because I don't have a concrete sleep schedule, being as how I never go to sleep and wake up at the same time. At this point they either go on, or end. But most of the time they just end. Which pisses me off because I don't even get overly excited anymore.

I have had lucid dreams for the past 17 years or so and this is what I have learned from my personal experiences.
During DILD I found that excitement upon becoming lucid disrupts the dream state quickly. Upon becoming lucid I tend to mellow out and let the dream happen as it is being given to me. I remain mellow until my dream environment becomes enriched with details (e.g. color, sound, physics, etc). At that point I found it easier to do more (e.g. being analytical) without casing too much damage to the dream state/environment. I believe that over thinking immediately after becoming lucid disrupts it. This probably occurs because over thinking access parts of the brain that activate ones external wake senses (the 6th senses). Although I’m only speculating, however I discovered this really early and it has since become my “escape pod” whenever I find myself in uncomfortable dream situations.
When experiencing dream control in conjunction with lucid dreams, I found that trying to exert a lot of control ruin the dream state. I avoid doing difficult task. For example, breathing underwater or doing activities that would cause pain to the body during a wake state because it induces pain in the dream state and that’s not conducive to staying asleep.
I found that using peripheral vision destroys the dream environment. The colors quickly fade but it is possible to recreate an environment although I often lose whatever was taking place before.

Keep experimenting and over time you’ll get a better handle on it. I hope this was helpful.

Originally Posted by The Subatomic Level

I've been at lucid dreaming on and off for over 2 years now, and have always run into trouble once I become lucid. Basically, the dream immediately fades away as soon as I realize I'm in a dream.

In my first few lucids, I would get really excited upon becoming lucid and that had something to do with the dream fading away, but excitement hasn't been the issue for a while.

Another problem I assumed I was having is that immediately upon becoming lucid I would try to exercise dream control far too intensely and that was why the dream would quickly fade.

Realizing this issue, my recent goal has been to not only remain completely calm upon becoming lucid but to attempt in no way to control the dream. Instead, I just want to follow along with the dream and work on simply staying lucid in the dream for as long as possible.

Well, last night I became lucid and followed my plan to remain calm and to not attempt to control the dream. However, the dream faded almost immediately.

What I usually do immediately after becoming lucid is look for something to hold on and feel, or rub my hands. I try shouting commands sometimes for the dream to stabilize or become more vivid, but to no success.

When I say the dream fades what takes place happens in about 3-5 seconds. All of the colors start to turn white while all the details of a room or landscape start disappearing. Usually, I wake up at the end.

Does this kind of thing happen to anyone else? Any ideas on something I may have overlooked or what I should be doing upon becoming lucid to overcome this fading?

How would you describe the over thinking you mentioned?

I just posted this in another thread, so I'll copy and paste what I said there, here.

Originally Posted by Deco

Try to ground yourself once you become lucid so that you don't wake up. Look closely at your hands, get down and feel the grass, taste something, do whatever you can to use all of your senses. This makes the brain focus on simulating all of those sensations for you, and keeps you in the dream. If you do this, the dream should be stable and you won't wake up like you normally would. If you really don't have time to do that and you feel like you're just about to wake up, then spin around. Just spin around in a circle, and the feeling of spinning should stabilize you.

I have had most of my lucid's using the DILD technique. And this does indeed sometimes come with horribly bad lucids. Dreams without detail, partial awareness, etc. Like Aviator said above, I also tend to just go along with the dream when I become lucid. If the dream is interesting, then I even tend to follow it through to the end. If the dream is not interesting to me, then I'm normally already aware enough, and in a dream which is vivid enough for me to enjoy messing around.

Regarding excitement, I don't really know what to tell you. I had this problem in the beginning. I've heard most people try to calm down, and stabilize the dream. I... did not. If a dream was unstable, I would launch into the air, performing the wildest of acrobatics. Or blow up a building, or even charge a random woman (without going into details, ehem!). The dream might have ended soon, but atleast then I had some enjoyment in it. It's hard to explain how this worked for me, so I'll use an example;
If you take the biggest ride in the amuzement park a couple of times, then the other stuff ain't that impressive anymore.. Thus making you less excited. Though you can still go and ride the other stuff, and have plenty of enjoyment!