Thread: What do you think is the most IMPORTANT factor for having an LD?

Perserverance and motivation with no doubt for me. Practice practice practice and don't give up, you're telling your brain that its important to you and you will finally get it.

I have the motivation I just hope it will last. About how long did it take to have your first LD?

Hum, since I discovered this forum it took me 2 weeks two have my first lucid I think, but it was too short for doing something, so my very first good ld took me about two months (9th lucid)

There is evidence in Stephen LaBerge's reported dream frequency during his dissertation study at Stanford University that motivation plays an extremely important role.
Note the bars marked with letters, those are the months when he had to do LD research in the laboratory and therefore needed to have lucid dreams.

Simply telling yourself throughout the day "I am going to recognize that I am dreaming tonight" and really take those words seriously can get you really far.
That is essentially what MILD is all about.

Very sinister looking profile picture Laurelindo lol, but very helpful advice. It did seem like the first day I heard about LDs is when I had the most progress or development because I was so excited to have one and experience one I just thought about it all day.

Originally Posted by Primal

Very sinister looking profile picture Laurelindo lol, but very helpful advice. It did seem like the first day I heard about LDs is when I had the most progress or development because I was so excited to have one and experience one I just thought about it all day.

What's so sinister about my profile picture?

But yes, I believe intent and motivation is extremely important - if you have made it one of your priorities to recognize the dreamstate then it is one of your main concerns, and this will make you spontaneously start thinking about it during the dreams as well, especially if you regularly try to prove to yourself that you are awake in waking life.
Of course, sometimes you feel a little too sure that you are awake to even bother doing any reality checks, but whenever I think that way I remember some of my previous dreams, where I hae actually "known" I was awake, only to wake up for real a few seconds later!

Ill tell you what is the most important factor...not worrying about the factors!!

ok, seriously though perseverance and consistency are massively important, but not necessary. The main thing you should be doing is not worrying about this stuff. Just work hard, be happy and enjoy it.

Originally Posted by dutchraptor

Ill tell you what is the most important factor...not worrying about the factors!!

ok, seriously though perseverance and consistency are massively important, but not necessary. The main thing you should be doing is not worrying about this stuff. Just work hard, be happy and enjoy it.

Pure wisdom !

That´s so true but it´s very normal, in the beginning, to get very excited about LDing and worry about every single factor that will help or not

You should aim, in the long term, for this relaxed approach. Contrived lucidity is not so much fun, and can drain one's mental and emotional energies.

Definitely motivation in my opinion, because I've lost it a few times and my recall and awareness dropped significantly. Staying motivated is a bit easier when active on this forum though, because then lucid dreaming is on your mind a lot more.

Yes it's very discouraging when you hear about people getting an LD on their first attempt. I think about Lucid Dreaming almost every hour of the day, still no luck or even progress it seems. Staying motivated is very hard.

Enthusiasm and patience is all you need. =]

persistence

To have a pattern of RC's, for exampel: Doing a RC every time you walk through a open door. Or doing a RC when something wierd happends. Like if you for some reason try to walk through a closed door And remember to always question your reality as if you dont know where you are, every time you do a RC. Holding my nose when going for a short atempt to breath through it, does always work for me as the best RC. Good luck

Primal, I was literally in your situation yesterday! Last night I had my first LD - only lasted 30secs but I was lucid, realised I was dreaming, did some RCs and had few clear thoughts about influencing and interacting with the dream.

I've been interacting on this forum and trying to work towards this pretty solidly for 2-3 weeks. I focused heavily on dream recall for the first two weeks and for the last week ramping up MILD mantra techniques. Even these mantras took me about 1-2 weeks until I had a combination of mantra and a 'process' of going to bed that felt right to me.

So IMO if I can be bold enough to offer advice. Stay motivated, aim high but realistic. It's unlikely you're gonna have a 2 hr LD straight up if you only remember 1 dream every 2 nights!

I would recommend going to the DILD forum and starting a workbook. Talk about your experience and people will try help you as you go. For what it's worth my workbook is there and you know what you can read it and see how I too just last week was asking this type of question.

I'm not expert ha ha ha but hey I feel like I'm on the right path now!

Cheers

O and I've been using the website dreamboard / also an app to record my dreams. I've been pretty diligent and tracked about 45 dreams in around 4 weeks. This site plus app worked for me, but my DJ has made all the difference. I was lucky to remember a dream every 2 nights just a month ago.

In my opinion, it's persistence to keep trying to induce your lucid dreams no matter if you keep failing and motivation by really wanting to achieve it and never giving up. Consider making it a fun experience and not something like work. When you really enjoy what you do, it keeps easier to achieve you goals .

1. Realize you will have a lucid dream tonight.

Had a lucid dream?

Yes= repeat step 1.
No= repeat step 1.

2.??
3.Profit.

Intention is the key. The techs work generally on anyone by degrees. Some techs we modify to fit our own makeup. Intention is the flaming torch necessary to illuminate the "situation" enough to ask the question, "Am I dreaming?"

Here's the paradox: You have to possess that which you seek before you find can it. In other words, you have to be lucid before acquiring lucidity in the dream. Otherwise, you would never ask the question in the first place. Intention helps light the path to the question.

Intention is the key. The techs work generally on anyone by degrees. Some techs we modify to fit our own makeup. Intention is the flaming torch necessary to illuminate the "situation" enough to ask the question, "Am I dreaming?"

Here's the paradox: You have to possess that which you seek before you find can it. In other words, you have to be lucid before acquiring lucidity in the dream. Otherwise, you would never ask the question in the first place. Intention helps light the path to the question.

I just want to say that wow! Im glad that I had the chance to read this answer here. I also think that this is a such a big statement, that It could be applyed at all goals in life. Thank you LucidHealer! I think I will write this down as a reminder