Lucidity Success and Personality/Genetics

**DeeryTheDeer** · 12-05-2010 09:05 AM

For some people, lucid dreaming takes almost no effort and their experiences are fantastic. For some it has come naturally to them all their lives. Yet for others, like myself, it's like chasing a bus, and even the slight successes are utterly pitiful.

I wonder if those who have the natural gift have a certain personality, a way of living life, or a biological disposition for it. For example, when I analyze myself I know that I'm WAYYY in my own head all the time, I often ignore or lose reality in my daydreams and circles of thoughts/worries, and I'm generally excitable, passionate and anxious. That could have something to do with my lackluster dreaming experiences.

When I was a little kid and I had a couple DILDs occur naturally, I felt uncomfortable and only wanted to wake up. I even once summoned a scary rhino to come charging at me so that it would scare me awake. I wonder if that discomfort and fear also affects my ability to let go and have great lucids.

Maybe we should conduct a large survey of oneironauts, from the naturally gifted to the struggling, and ask them to describe their personalities, and maybe even their sleeping positions. Just a hunch I have.

**TheShadow** · 12-05-2010 09:59 AM

Since Ive started LDing about a month and a half ago, Ive paid a lot of attention to all of my habits, daily events, eating and sleeping. Ive had 4 LDs, but that's more for lack of trying because of university than inability... anyways, I find that nothing works better than having a regular sleep schedule with long sleep times. If I go to bed at 3am every night and get up at 1pm or 12pm then wake back to bed till 1pm, I'll be petty successful for the amount of effort i put in (I don't RC that often, usually 1-2 times a day). I take a multivitamin every day and monitor my eating habits (no caffeine after 7pm, no large meals after 8pm, working out no later than 3 hours before bed etc.), but regardless of what else I'm doing (aside from drinking, but then recall is shit), i don't dream at all if my sleep schedule isn't regular and long (8-10 hours), and when i keep to my schedule i can recall 3-6 dreams (usually only 2 or 3 long ones) each night....

As for bad dreams, my first lucid (before attaining lucidity and waking up after ~30 seconds) was a dark themed with some rabid-looking dogs, and when i was trying to keep myself in the lucid the entire time i was just hearing "now you're haunted," but it was more trippy than scary, and that's pretty much the worst of bad dreams for me

**Matte87** · 12-05-2010 03:57 PM

I've also wondered about this. Exactly what makes a certain person have natural LD's as a child? My sister and I are the only naturals I know in my family of 7. She's nothing like me, so I guess it's a bit random. What about dream recall? Does creativity play a big part in it all? If you have a very good memory, do you also have a good dream memory?

Is daily residue affected greatly by the amount of thoughts and events?
Person A: Has 100 thoughts and events total during the day. 50 of them is about Lucid Dreaming.
Person B: Has 500 thoughts and events total during the day. 200 of them is about Lucid Dreaming.

Which one has the greatest chance of becoming lucid? Sure ALOT plays a big part in it all, but it's just a thought I have. I would say I'm like Person B. But I seem to have regular LD's. What if I could stop thinking and just focusing on Lucid Dreaming? A person with a minimum amount of thoughts would benefit greatly from this, as he doesn't have to struggle as hard. Even though that might affect his amount of dreams overall.

There are so many questions unanswered, and I got way more. The good thing is that even though I might not get an answer to them, I still think about Lucid Dreaming. Which increases my chances

I sleep on my left side.