Thread: How do I get the "want" back?

I have in a way lost my motivation, but I am still motivated. I still keep my dream journal, but barely, like I would make excuses for not taking notes to help me recall my dreams, and I don't reality check at all, or maybe just twice a day. All this has gone to the back of my mind, and I'm feeling really indifferent about this.

How do I get back to where I was of wanting a lucid dream? I still want to have one though, but just not nearly enough as I used to. Right now it's like wanting a nice car later in life- it's the same feeling like that instead of what it should be, if you know what I mean.

TL;DR How do I get back to wanting a lucid dream?

By telling yourself it's important and sticking to that. That's all there is to it.

Hi Avalanche. That's a problem I struggle with tremendously, and I'm sure a lot of others do too.

One of my friends on this board likened the "want" to "conscious appreciation." I thought that was a good term to describe how we feel about it. When your conscious appreciation falls, you lose motivation. Appreciation is key. So give it some respect and some of your time – show that you are taking it seriously to yourself, and learn to appreciate it again.

One way to do this would be giving yourself a ritual before bed. Dim all the lights thirty minutes before falling asleep, and do something dream-related, with lucid dreaming in mind. Write down a mantra to follow, plan out some task for your next dream, write down what you did that day to see how your dreams relate off of your daily activities, draw a dreamscene, meditate, read a book on lucid dreaming, do energy work, light candles, etc. Keep your journal beside you and make a point to write something down the next morning. Once it starts coming back to you, you will start writing down multiple dreams a night, and hopefully start to be appreciative of this fantastic world that you travel to every night. The trick is to stay appreciative, and one of the best ways to do that is to have lucid dreams. From appreciation comes recall comes lucidity. Good luck!

Originally Posted by Alsroge

Hi Avalanche. That's a problem I struggle with tremendously, and I'm sure a lot of others do too.

One of my friends on this board likened the "want" to "conscious appreciation." I thought that was a good term to describe how we feel about it. When your conscious appreciation falls, you lose motivation. Appreciation is key. So give it some respect and some of your time – show that you are taking it seriously to yourself, and learn to appreciate it again.

One way to do this would be giving yourself a ritual before bed. Dim all the lights thirty minutes before falling asleep, and do something dream-related, with lucid dreaming in mind. Write down a mantra to follow, plan out some task for your next dream, write down what you did that day to see how your dreams relate off of your daily activities, draw a dreamscene, meditate, read a book on lucid dreaming, do energy work, light candles, etc. Keep your journal beside you and make a point to write something down the next morning. Once it starts coming back to you, you will start writing down multiple dreams a night, and hopefully start to be appreciative of this fantastic world that you travel to every night. The trick is to stay appreciative, and one of the best ways to do that is to have lucid dreams. From appreciation comes recall comes lucidity. Good luck!

Pretty much what I said in tl;dr form lmao

Thanks guys. I was all about lucid dreaming a while ago, doing my best and sorta getting places after about 7 months of not much happening. Then some things came up and it took a bit of a backseat, and it has seemed to have petered out, like it was just a fad I was into and another one has taken it's place (Battlefield 3).

I was always keeping my dream journal but it seems to have just gone from 4 dreams per night to "I went to bed late so I didn't expect any dreams" or "I was too tired to take some notes during the night".

Same kind of problem here man. I love lucid dreaming but I just ain't as dedicated as I used to be... It's writing down my dreams I struggle with. Ever since this lazy week I had months ago it's been really hard to get back into.

I think where you are in life really affects LD motivation. When I'm in a slump IRL, it's reflected in the dream world which sucks because that is when I need good dreams the most. If I'm excited about life in general and have enough time for sleep, that is the prime motivation environment. Otherwise you just have to work with conjuring up the motivation from thin air, which can work but is hard and doesn't last the same.

I know how that feels. It's pretty much my final exams year this year in school so I can see how that would fit. But I'm not really stressed or worried, I just can't seem to find the drive to do anything. I haven't had much success with this stuff anyway, so that doesn't help.

Avalanche, I feel for you.

Try to recall, how good it felt when you first realized you are dreaming. Read some post with dream goals and imagine how great it will be when you do them. Make your own list. Read some LDs. Get inspiration.

If you have problem keeping DJ, make it easier to do. Put a nightlight or a flashlight with a paper and pen and a watch next to your pillow, so it's ready when you wake up from a REM cycle. Eliminate obsticles. Put up reminders to RC - sticky notes, laptop pictures - desktop or screensaver. Tell yourself, this is all just temporary - you'll feel better as soon as you have another LD. LDing is a coolest secret out there. Maybe some mean force is telling you not to LD anymore? Like when some DC trying to convince you that you are not dreaming? PROVE THEM WRONG.

I've just given up and accepted the fact that it is impossible for me to stay motivated about something forever. I go through stages where I am super passionate about something, then it fades to a mellow love, then it just becomes a habit. Months later, my passion will return, stronger than ever. This is just part of being human. It happens with everything in life. Relationships, sports, arts, music.

Perseverance takes willpower. If you know you want it, stick with it through the hard times so you will be ready for the good times. Your passion will come and go like the tides, so you can't rely on it completely.

A lot of people have already had great replies. I don't know if you have seen my guide or not but I have a guide to helping you keep motivated. You can find the link in my signature. Hope you get motivated again!

I read your guide when it came out, didn't pay too much attention as I was really into it already back then. Well today I made some effort and I stepped up the reality checking, and tonight is a weekend night so I might have a go at a WBTB.

This may sound unrelated and might make you go, "how in the world could that help?"... But, I picked up a new hobby the other weekend, and got back into drawing a lot, and my recall rose quite a bit. This gave me motivation not only to dream journal again and pick my recall back up, but also lucid dream as a whole. Who knows, it might work for you - try developing an interest in something else and it might motivate you!

Also, watch movies, preferably ones you haven't seen before. I've seen quite a few movies in the past month or so, and it gave me lots of cool dream goals - this made me want to LD even more.

I'll try that if I can fit in a hobby somewhere, or even just think of one.

I might get lynched for this but...maybe what you really need is to have a break from it. LDing should be a passion, not a chore. Give yourself permission to slack off for a little while and then come back to start fresh.

Originally Posted by Naiya

I might get lynched for this but...maybe what you really need is to have a break from it. LDing should be a passion, not a chore. Give yourself permission to slack off for a little while and then come back to start fresh.

OMG, TRAITOR!!!!

Actually that's not a bad thought. I've let it slide for even years at a time but I always came back and I'm doing better than ever before!!! Maybe give yourself, say, a month, without worrying about even dream recall, without beating yourself up for being slack, just relax, then revaluate how you're feeling.

i actually was suffering the same thing, and i found AL3ZAY's "Challenges To All For The Dream Realm" to be motivation for me. im not sure how you will like it but i would recommend it.

if i was allowed to post links i could just link you, but if you search it you can find it as well

I already took a week long break and everything just went south for me, breaks do not work. It's not motivation to lucid dream I need, it's a motivation to do all the extra bits of effort you need to do. Like I can reality check fine, but doing it 20 times I day or more I just can't do anymore for some reason. It has barely helped me in the past so why keep doing it is all I think?

Originally Posted by Avalanche

I already took a week long break and everything just went south for me, breaks do not work. It's not motivation to lucid dream I need, it's a motivation to do all the extra bits of effort you need to do. Like I can reality check fine, but doing it 20 times I day or more I just can't do anymore for some reason. It has barely helped me in the past so why keep doing it is all I think?

Personally I think RCs are useless unless I really try and conjure up the feeling of "what if I actually am dreaming?". It's all fine and good how people say to RC every time you look at a clock (or whatever) but it seems unlikely to me that people who RC this often can be doing them fully each time. Try doing really meaningful RCs where you pay attention to the present moment, sensations, thoughts etc. but don't worry about doing this more than say 3 times a day and I still think it's way more effective. Also, just solidifying my intent to LD in a brief WBTB, I find more effective than any RCs during the day.

That's some nice advice- less work with the same results lol. I tried to do a bit of ADA today, but it just didn't happen, couldn't remember to do it and when I did I was too tired anyway, plus school requires more attention.