Thread: How do you keep "the spark"?

I think back to the first time i heard about lucid dreaming.
I googled "Dream Control" and there it was! A whole community dedicated to lucid dreaming, a term i had never came across but now seemed awesome.
I spent hours reading the forums, and did reality checks all the time, and two wild attempts a day was not uncommon.
Of course i never succeded in the first weeks, but i still kept going.

That was 3 months ago.
Now, i do my reality checks like a good boy, but cant find the urge to do more.
If i ever try to MILD i just give up from pure boredom, and when my WILD alarm goes of 4 in the morning i just snap it of and goes back to sleep.
When i wake up i might remember a dream, but never write it down.
I cant seem to find that motivation i had in the beginning!

Now my question is, how do you keep that motivation and excitement you had in the beginning?
I try hard to feel the excitement of my lucid dreams, but i still just roll over when my alarm goes of.
Apparently i cant force myselft to lay still for 45 min, even if the reward vould be a REM period in wonderland.

You say alot of things that also apply to me.. every now and then I will suddenly regain some confidence and motivation, but then after a while I lose it again.
I have noticed that alot of times I would be motivated when I talked with people about lucid dreaming and told then about what I experienced.. that way I kinda reminded myself how awesome lucid dreaming actually is i guess
then again, its not always easy to speak about it, because you need to find people that are somewhat open minded and generally interested/wont think youre a weirdo etc

I have noticed that for me personally journaling seems to be key to keeping up motivation. If you manifest your interest in lucid dreaming by spending a few minutes a day writing down stuff.. and maybe reread some of it before sleeping, to get into the right mindset.. that seems to help a lot.
However without any real reason I will become lazy often, not journal anything, turn the alarm clock off when I should be getting up (btw I think 45 min is a long time, often 10 minutes would already to the trick).. so its a constant up and down

I would also be interested in hearing how other people do it

I find that having a running goal helps. What really motivates me is having something specific in mind that I really want to do, and I just remind myself that I CAN have that thing, whatever it happens to be, if I just keep working towards it by dream journaling and doing all those other little things that help. I just know that the only way I'll ever attain that goal, experience that thing I want to experience, is if I stay diligent over the long term. When you really think about the sorts of experiences one could only have through lucid dreaming, the thought itself becomes motivating, knowing that those experiences could be a part of your life without replacing anything else, and there's only one way to have them.

I have my fair share of ups and downs in motivation too, what triggers me into putting more effort into lucid dreaming from time to time is mostly when I experience a lucid dream. A single lucid dream can give me enough motivation for weeks.

Another thing that helps me get my motivation back is reading other peoples Dream Journals here.

I find that when I slip into the routine of things, I become unmotivated. If you're feeling jaded, take some time to really think about what you are doing. "Lucid dreaming" can be just words, or the phrase can be a trigger to a whirlwind of emotions if you so choose.

A lucid dream. A dream where you're conscious you're dreaming, where you can control it. Don't let these words just sit idly; think about what they mean. You can do anything. ANYTHING IMAGINABLE.

Tie this thought to your emotions.
Imagine the most beautiful, heartwarming landscape you can. Now imagine yourself truly experiencing it, seeing from your mind's eye and understanding the joy of just being there. You could have this tonight.
Imagine a song that means so much to you, perhaps a song from a video game you absolutely loved as a kid. Now imagine this piece being played in an all new arrangement, harmonizing truly perfectly, instantaneously. You could have this tonight.
Imagine living your life as you want, not always reaching for more but simply living and experiencing happiness. For the next few hours, you have no pressures, no worries, no obligations. You can just be in the moment, and be free. You could have this tonight.


I can't make you motivated; I can only write words. It's up to you; do you want to be motivated? If so, take what I said, and experience it. Did you actually live what I said, or did you just skim over, reading with 50% awareness like always? The only thing keeping you from being truly motivated is yourself.

Originally Posted by Ladusence

I have my fair share of ups and downs in motivation too, what triggers me into putting more effort into lucid dreaming from time to time is mostly when I experience a lucid dream. A single lucid dream can give me enough motivation for weeks.

Another thing that helps me get my motivation back is reading other peoples Dream Journals here.

Exactly. When I would have dry spells and lose "the spark", it would usually take having a random LD to reignite my enthusiasm for them.

I agree. It's really hard.
The first few weeks I was pumped, then I lost my spirit.
I've been really slack lately, not dj, or trying any techniuqes apart from rcing.
But I will keep going

If you can only find the motivation to do ONE of the techniques, make it wake back to bed.

If you are too lazy to do reality checks, journal, internal suggestion (MILD) etc, at least hall your ass out of bed for 20 minutes early in the morning. Almost all of my lucid dream occur after waking up and then going back to sleep, regardless of whether I put any other effort in to it.

Bringing awareness into the late REM cycle works wonders.

Lucid dreaming is easy. you're just lazy! Which is okay, so am I

WBTB's are the easiest. Wake up after 4 hours of sleep, stay up for a half an hour and as you're falling back asleep just remind yourself the next place you'll be is a dream until you find yourself in one. So basically a MILD + WBTB combo (it's super effective!)

What someone else said, if you get into to much of a routine of lets say doing reality checks, you end up losing motivation. You can just try out new techniques so you experience new ways to lucid and since its new, you might have more motivation. Once you start getting close with one of the techniques, you will become more motivated. I also like to to just know that I'll have a lucid at night and just become very confident. If you practice that at night, you might feel better about LDing. Just kind of slow down with things and maybe just do a technique at night or during a wbtb. You can always just take like a week break and like others, its possible you'll get a lucid. And once you get a lucid, you will defiantly get the motivation your looking for.

a random ld has done it for me. And/or reading someone else's dream journal. I would recommend Hyu's dream journal (even though that's really the only one that i follow, heheh!). think of what you want to do fantasy-wise throughout the day or just before you go to sleep.