Is lucid dreaming worth sacrifing the time before falling asleep?

Hey guys.
For the last week I've been sick and therefore didn't spend any time with lucid dreaming at all. When I was in my bed i realized something. I think I forgot about that feeling since I started trying to have a LD. I was in my bed an just enjoyed lying in there, feeling warm and save and not having to think about stuff like "I'm dreamin./ I'll realize that I'm dreaming." I really enjoy just lying in my bed, feeling save and comfortable. At that time I can camly think what I'm gonna do in the future and how I'll deal with mistakes I did in the past and stuff like that. When I remembered all of that I became really demotivated towards lucid dreaming and induction techniques espacially because I haven't had even just one lucid dream within about 160 days. I really start to wonder if it's really worth it. Is it worth giving up to enjoy feeling save while lying in bed and thinking about stuff? Is lucid dreaming really worth all of that? I don't know waht I should do now. I'd really like to come back to lucid dreaming but I'm not motivated enough to do so. Can you give me some motivation/ advices? Could I maybe both enjoy sleeping/ thinking about things and dream lucidly / do induction techniques?

Sorry if my grammar isn't correct.

I'm like that too, that's why I started waking up in the middle of the night (not even for a minute), to use autosuggestion. That way I can enjoy the time before falling asleep, but still have lots of lucid dreams. You can just drink a lot before falling asleep, that way you'll wake up. Eventually, it' ll be natural. :)

It's all subjective, but I say yes. There's other ways of having LDs, though. You don't have to just MILD before you fall asleep, focusing on your mantra instead of what you did that day, how to make tomorrow awesome, etc. Give yourself the time when you fall asleep to just lay there and let your mind wander. It sounds like it may be time to try another method. Personally, I love MILD and have had great success with it, but I rarely have success when I first fall asleep. I like to set a WBTB several hours after I fall asleep. Wake up, not necessarily even get out of bed and do a true WBTB, but I always use this time to perform another MILD. At this point, I'm tired, I want to fall asleep, and for you, you've given your mind time to wander and think about whatever you want to think about. Give yourself a couple minutes now to focus on LDing.

The nice thing about combining a WBTB with something is you're more tired, you've been asleep already, and you'll more readily return to it. Everything goes faster and feels like it requires less effort; you don't want to put a lot of effort into it because your tired, but use that to your advantage. Just use a simple mantra, "I will lucid dream" or even just think about what you want to dream about, and float off into the dream. I find that sometimes I WILD on accident because I just drift off so quickly, but the tranquil state of mind you're in helps more than you'd think.

Another thing you could try doing is meditating, or at least thinking about your past/future at other times of the day. Take your lunch break or free period to just sit/lay down comfortably and calmly and just let your mind wander. Meditating doesn't have to be emptying your mind and reaching a state of "zen" like many people think, it's just a time you give yourself to let the mind do whatever it wants. It's a great way to relax, relieve stress, or accomplish whatever you want to, without necessarily hurting your LDs.

Remember back on your LDs and think of future LDs you'd like to have. Remember that feeling of exhilaration after performing a successful RC, becoming lucid and having limitless possibilities. I find that always motivates me to want to lucid dream. When people ask "is it worth it" I always say yes. No matter who you are or what you enjoy doing, lucid dreams have endless possibilities to create whatever scenarios you'd like. You could even test out future scenarios/deal with past mistakes in the dream ;)

I would say give it all you got to have at least one decent LD. Then, decide for yourself if it's worth the effort.

Btw, you don't have to spend all falling asleep time on mantras. Think about anything. We all use the falling asleep time to reflect on past day(s), how we done things, how to do it better, what upset us or gave us pleasure, and on planning for tommorow and future.

Then, as you get really close to falling asleep, repeat mantra for few minutes. It takes away less then 5 min of your time. Because most of the practice should be done during day anyways.

It sounds though as if you got bored with the practice. That can happen to any of us. If I may suggest, read some new tutorials. Find some new RCs, that you and your mind are not bored with yet. There are some fun and exciting ones here in the RC tutorial, that you can even cutomize Induction Methods and Techniques

Also in the above link, check out the DILD. It's the basic guide, that should give you good results. Try to think of this as a new start. Wipe the slate clean and start anew. Read some dream journals and your old dreams. I'm sure there will be some you have already forgotten about and you will go "wow, i did that"?

Participate on the forum. It's the best motivation tool.

If you want, take 1-2 weeks off before you start anew. Think of something cool you want to do in your LD, make a picture, daydream about it.

Good luck:alien: