Must it take me years just to master LD?

[PierceHerVeil]

I wanna master LD , and I'm willing to put the time towards it for practicing and stuff but , must it take me years just to master it? Because I wanna learn while I'm still young lol

[sparkley]

It might take a while yes, it's been since January that I've been lucid dreaming. I only got 7 so I'm assuming it takes a while. Some people on DV here have mastered it, but just keep trying and try to always think about it and try do the methods every night.

[FryingMan]

"Must it take time to master it". I'd say, "yes." Must it take time to get "good enough" at it to satisfy your goals? Well, that depends on your goals. Raising your general level of self-awareness to the point where you get frequent satisfying lucid dreams can take a while, and once you get there, it requires effort to maintain, just like becoming an expert in any field, whether it be creative, physical, or intellectual. Maybe the conscious effort expended can tail off in order to maintain a certain level of proficiency, compared to the level of effort needed in the beginning, since you're working on transforming your mode of existence from zombie/non-self-aware to self-aware, and that can be a big change for some. If you're really dedicated and serious, then the time won't matter. Just know and believe that if you do good day work and good night work (and constantly educate yourself, and honestly evaluate yourself to be able to objectively judge if your day and night work are good enough), you will get lucid, and you'll get lucid more and more the more your brain adapts to being lucid. And one thing is certain: if you quit, you'll never get there. If you start and quit and come back to it, the way back may be harder than if you never quit in the first place. "Living lucid" is its own reward, and having awesome aware dreams is a (very very sweet) benefit.

[tofur]

Mastering anything takes years. Just a fact, unfortunately. Lucid dreaming is a much deeper rabbit hole then most(well, any) endeavors, once you can become lucid at will the journey is just starting. That part of it is like, learning how to ice skate. Once you can skate then you still have to learn hockey. A couple of months can make a huge difference if you are consistently doing day and night work. Even if your not getting lucid all the time, your not as deluded in the non lucid dreams. Your non lucids become more lucid, more vivid, real. That is it's own reward, and it keeps building the more you work at it.

[Maxis]

I've had natural lucid dreams (sorry to sound like an elitist, that's not my intention) since I was a child, started actively getting into intentionally inducing LDs in 2011, know what methods work best for me and use them (when school isn't hanging over my head at least) and know lots of the ins and outs of lucid dreaming...and I still don't lucid dream everytime I sleep. Especially around April, when all that's on my mind is final exams and my dream recall drops to only a couple fragments a night, and I don't have a satisfying lucid dream for weeks. In fact, I wouldn't even call myself even close to a master, more like a... kind of skilled lucid dreamer, maybe. Or a wizard. I like the sound of wizard. At its finest, lucid dreaming is a skill, much like playing the piano. It requires effort to pull off, effort that will require you to change your lifestyle and become accustomed to lucid dreaming and think about it a lot. Like tofur said, even once you do have your first lucid dream, there's still steps along the way: Did the method I use last time really work for me, or are there others that will work better? How can I improve my dream control: how can I levitate, teleport, or walk through walls effortlessly? Can I improve my dream recall further than it is right now? Can I lengthen my dream time? How can I make my dreams more clear and crisp? Only when you can't improve on these any more, only when your ability to lucid dream is flawless (or nearly flawless), can you consider yourself a master. So now you're probably reading this and thinking: Well, what's the point of being a master? Well, I have to ask you the same thing, what is the point? Lucid dreaming (again, like any other skill) isn't about mastering it: in fact, lucid dreaming in its nature is honestly more about satisfying yourself by endulging yourself in a world where there are no limits but your imagination and no consequences to your actions. Having perfect lucid dreams everytime you sleep is a high goal, I admit, and I admire you for having such a goal. But, I think it's less about reaching that point, and more about getting to a point where you yourself are satisfied. Even if you do choose to go the extra way to become a master, there's two things you need to remember. Yes, doing this will take years, as it's not something you can learn overnight and it's more of something that'll change your lifestyle--you have to cooperate with your brain to make you aware when you're dreaming, after all! And also, remember that in something like lucid dreaming, it's a lot more about the journey than it is the destination.

[LucidTruth]

Lucid dreaming is a life-long quest :-)

[Screen]

Lucid dreaming isn't like other skills. It's not a straight path and there's more than one way to reach the end of learning it. I don't think it does require years to master. The issue is finding what works for you. Everyone has a method that will more likely work for them than others. You have to experiment to find out. That first step alone tends to be the hardest part of lucid dreaming for people, never mind what they might actually attempt in the dream. Will it take time? Yes. How long? Who can say. But if you seriously want to shorten the learning curve and go to bed knowing you'll have a lucid dream, than be willing to spend some money. Buy "lucid dream plants." Have them shipped to your house and use them. But be warned, as all the ones I've heard of taste bad. It's a safer and more reliable approach if you don't want to mess around with supplements. From what I've seen, people have more success with the former than the latter.

[FryingMan]

Natural plant forms can be just as toxic or dangerous as pill- or tablet-form. Wormwood seems particularly potent (and most recommend its use only infrequently), and look up on youtube what a person on a salvia trip looks like -- one hit of salvia smoke and they're out of their mind, literally, it's freaky as heck. It's true that the act of lucid dreaming is not like the path of other skills. It's basically impossible to receive direct feedback from a coach/teacher, unlike all other skills. But it is like other skills in that attention, directed effort, and practice pay off, over time.

[tofur]

Natural plant forms can be just as toxic or dangerous as pill- or tablet-form. Wormwood seems particularly potent (and most recommend its use only infrequently), and look up on youtube what a person on a salvia trip looks like -- one hit of salvia smoke and they're out of their mind, literally, it's freaky as heck. It's true that the act of lucid dreaming is not like the path of other skills. It's basically impossible to receive direct feedback from a coach/teacher, unlike all other skills. But it is like other skills in that attention, directed effort, and practice pay off, over time. wait, people take salvia for lucid dreaming? My roommate did that stuff once, said his couch ate him and he fell into another dimension. No thanks, lol.