Should I just stop already?

[Avalanche]

I'm getting tired now. It's been over a year of journalling and apple juice drinking and reality checking and mantra saying and early nights and getting up at 4am... And all I got was about a cumulative 7 seconds of lucid dreams. Should I even continue? Maybe it's just not for me. I wake up after dreams and get annoyed that I have to note them down. I wake up without any dreams more and more often. They feel bland and uninspired. Never lucid. I have done many things, but none have taken this much time and effort to achieve such little results. I'm starting to wonder if I can even lucid dream, and whether or not I was just wasting my time. I used to think this was the shit, now it's just something to gradually forget.

[Harelori]

It looks like you're not believeing in yourself to the extreme. If you won't believe it, it won't happen. Every night tell yourself "today I will have a lucid dream! I will do xXxXxX in my lucid dream and do a XxXxX reality check! it will be so awesome!" if you'll believe it hard enough it'll happen

[Ninjaa]

Have some faith, to succeed in lucid dreaming you need to have the determination and the motivation, it needs effort, you need to be able to want to do it and be excited to do it, thats what will make you a better lucid dreamer.

[Avalanche]

I knew that already. I have lost that motivation. A long ass time ago. I just kept this up because I still had hope, but not anymore.

[Harelori]

Regain that lost hope and imagine how beautiful and lovely is having a LD on daily basis, aim for it, make it your mantra

[Ninjaa]

Have you tried different techniques?

[Harelori]

Ninja, he managed to lucid. The LD he had was a short one.

[Spyyko]

http://www.dreamviews.com/f11/motiva...thread-132162/ Check this forum out, it might give you the boost you need

[AscendedSleeper]

If I were you I would take a week or so off. Nothing seems to stave off lucidity like loss of motivation and doubt. When you decide you are ready to give it another try, I think you should try a new method, as others have suggested.

[gab]

I wake up after dreams and get annoyed that I have to note them down. I wake up without any dreams more and more often. Hi Avalanche! I know you have been trying hard for a long time. I think you got cought in a vicious circle of not having LDs - getting not happy with your dreams - getting even less dreams - your recall slipping - no LDs. Have you tried taking a break? Maybe you are burned out. If you don't appreciate your dreams, it's hard to expect for them to get better. Maybe it would help, if you were grateful for any dreams you have and when your higher self sees that you like your dreams, it will get you more and better ones. If you decide to take a break, before you do so, I would suggest you read through some tutorials you have maybe not read in a while, or some new ones. Maybe you have missed something, some important point. I put together this collection of methods for DILD. Have you tried SSILD, DEILD, visualizing, incubating, or any other method like that? If you are discouraged because your LDs are short - mine were super short for a long time. Sometimes I woke up as soon as I got lucid. I started using mantra like "my lucids are long and stable", or as someone suggested: "I wake up only when I'm ready". If you take a break, don't think of it as giving up. Just a little break. Good luck!

[jamiealexander]

Personally, I think all that stuff is great, but if you really want to be a successful lucid dreamer you should concentrate on meditation. Most people often overlook this because it's hard. I have lucid dreams more times than I don't and I strongly believe it's because I've built up my meditation skills. Soon you won't even need reality checks. When your self-awareness reaches a certain level you will just come to the realization you are dreaming in any normal circumstance. That's not to mention how beneficial meditation can be for falling back into a DEILD or even doing a WILD. Plus it makes your waking life a lot better and a calmer mind. My advice: master meditation.

[n00bf0rlyf3]

(nsfw) go a couple weeks without wankin it and you'll want to do it in your dreams (sex, not wankin) so you'll get inspiration that way, it works for me

[roman67]

http://www.dreamviews.com/f11/motiva...thread-132162/ Check this forum out, it might give you the boost you need You should click this link and read all the posts.

[Avalanche]

I tried pretty much everything for a while. DILD, MILD, WBTB, WILD (a few times), DEILD, mantras, lol not wanking. I also already read Sydney's motivational thread a few times before. I think I'll just take another break from this. It didn't really help before, I just lost all my recall for 4 days and I just went right back into it. This time I'll just take a break and try to get the motivation back again. I did have some dreams last night but I didn't note them down so I forget them already. Thanks for all the replies.

[RebelSeven]

I second Jamiealexanders suggestion. The whole meaning of lucidity is awareness, clarity of thought. being present in the moment. Meditation will get you that. Breaks are good when they are good, but from the little I know about your situation I'd say meditation is your best course of action.

[Avalanche]

I have done and still do a bit of meditation. Not specifically to clear my head or to lucid dream, but I do take time out most days to sit and collect my thoughts. Maybe if I do it more thoroughly over my break it might help.

[Ctharlhie]

I read these when I get a dry spell: http://www.dreamviews.com/f12/how-ha...-guide-124969/ http://www.dreamviews.com/f11/how-ta...eaming-120910/ http://www.dreamviews.com/f12/natura...chnique-39389/ That last link is probably the most powerful in its implications. I don't think you've ever believed in your own ability to lucid dream, and unfortunately lucid dreaming is like >90% belief <10% technique. Hopping from technique to technique is not good, you need to give your brain time to establish new associations and neural connections, if you hop from technique to technique each night then you never give your unconscious an opportunity to start working towards your goal, much less let you believe in yourself. Ultimately like gab said, you've burned out, the mental pressure of the reality checks, the mantras, the WBTBs, it's all too much. Take a break and then do something very simple, like MILD, but make it very consistent, build up your recall, put confidence in yourself. Here's a great video on the importance of putting efficacy in yourself and not abstractions like technique and bullshit like drinking loads of apple juice. Advanced lucid dreaming: part 6 - YouTube