Thread: Will this help me increase my chances of LD'ing? (Please read)

It would help, but it's much better to set up a practice that would be sustainable, meaning something you would be willing to do every day for a long time. It's easy to get carried away with excitement just thinking about how badly you'd want to LD, but that won't really get you to where you want to be. What I'm saying is, this would certainly help, but unless you are REALLY willing to commit to doing this EVERYDAY for a long time, you're better off doing something else. Speaking from experience, I would recommend doing a number of reality checks that you feel comfortable doing every day, because that will just overall increase your awareness of real life and dreams, make sure you keep a DJ, don't force yourself to read about LDing, and do a simple induction technique during WBTB like mantras or SSILD or something that you like. The most important part is that you actually stick with it though! Not only will trying too hard get you to not have LDs, but it's wholly unpleasant! Slow and steady wins the race for LDing.

It would help, yes, but how much is anyone's guess. It sounds like you really want to have a lucid dream very badly. The first step I think you need to take is remove the stress from the equation, and not approach it from a sense of desperation, but rather confidence (easier said than done, I know).

I've read about some people who could never have lucid dreams, until the day they finally gave up and ended up having one. Point is the stress doesn't help in your ability to have one. I think, to an extent, it prevents it.

Reality checks are only a small tool to help you reach a lucid dream, but they will by no means on their own create one. And I personally have stopped investing time into them because I found them bothersome after a while, especially when they failed to helped me become lucid. My first lucid dreams weren't brought about by reality checks. That told me I didn't need them and to invest my time elsewhere. But everyone is different. If you've had at least one lucid dream through them, keep at it. If not, consider alternatives alongside them.

I personally use self-hypnosis, because it essentially imparts suggestions to your mind that convince you you're a lucid dreamer, and belief and expectation alone are enough to have lucid dreams. MILD is proof of it. I know hypnosis gets a bad reputation, but that's because it has many misconceptions, like the idea that it's mind control, which is nonsense. As one hypnotist said, if that were true, he'd be a millionaire by now. And I'd wager that until someone learned all the facts about it first (which wouldn't take long) it wouldn't work. So if you're willing to invest your time in learning about it, maybe you can add it to your list of tools. But again, this is just my recommendation and you have to discover what you feel works best for you.

I don't think the people above are right. If you really want to get lucid you should put in all the effort you can. If you get tired, so be it, but now that you have all this energy you might as well use it because maybe it won't happen again.

Sometimes I feel these surges of energy. In strength training, endurance training or violin playing. Sometimes I go through insane training or practice sessions that are absolutely impossible to put into a schedule. Because of the incredible mentol effort it requires. So go for it man. Use the energy while you have it. Moments like this are very rare.

Originally Posted by PierceHerVeil

Okay so I basically started to map out my whole day. Every hour I do about 7 or 8 different reality checks about 2x
Than About 30 mins later I read about Lucid dreaming for 15 mins
So my schedule basically looks like this
6pm ~reality check
6:30pm~Read about LD
6;45pm~Stop Reading
And so on.
And after my day is over I go to bed at 7pm (that was the night where I had several dream recalls)
The next night I went to bed at around 9 or 10 and couldn't recall anything );

Sure, that's a start; but you'll likely need to do more.

You're taking the first steps down a long path, and the routine listed seems well thought out, but you will probably find yourself adding a bit to it before finally getting to consistant LD'ing. I do suggest that the reading you do touches on things like self-awaress, memory, expectation/intention, and perhaps on the general routes for entry into LD's (i.e., DILD and WILD), and you will likely broaden your path quickly... perhaps keepinga copy of LaBerge's Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming hand will be helpful.

Good luck!

Originally Posted by Ginsan

I don't think the people above are right. If you really want to get lucid you should put in all the effort you can. If you get tired, so be it, but now that you have all this energy you might as well use it because maybe it won't happen again.

Sometimes I feel these surges of energy. In strength training, endurance training or violin playing. Sometimes I go through insane training or practice sessions that are absolutely impossible to put into a schedule. Because of the incredible mentol effort it requires. So go for it man. Use the energy while you have it. Moments like this are very rare.

Respectfully, I'd like to disagree. I'll use the example of strength training as an analogy to the skill of lucid dreaming. I've done strength training for the past 5 years of my life, in various forms. And I've had tons of those moments where I'm filled with energy, etc, and I don't think there's anything necessarily wrong with that, but it won't get you big, so to speak. It's more of just an outburst of energy. I spent probably 4 years fooling around with days like, mixed in between changing my routine and overall foolishness, and although I made progress, it wasn't anything to write home about. However, this year, I had a completely different approach. I completely forgot about the eventual goal, i.e. gaining muscle, and I just stuck to my plan of going to the gym 3 days a week. I would do it consistently, and I honestly completely forgot about gaining muscle, but then one day I got on the scale and found out I had gained 20 pounds!

My point is, the only way you are going to succeed is if you are consistent. Any person who has achieved a goal will tell you that the way to go is slow and steady. Make small changes, but make the change consistently. It might seem like going all out every once in a while at the very least wouldn't hurt, but the truth is, it will burn you out.

I mean, but hey, if it works for you go for it, but I would recommend using the energy for long term planning instead, because that's where you really see results.

I'm sort of in the middle on the whole "how much energy to put in." It is possible to exhaust oneself with too much effort that is unsustainable. But at the same time, you want to "build up" your "muscles" of self-awareness, memory, etc., so while you may get tired when using them in the beginning, later on you'll be able to maintain them at a higher level with less effort.

Every experience with LDing helps to build and fortify future experiences: so if you can go on an intense LD training spurt, you can get a bunch of LDs, which will help you in getting more in the future.

Dare I use the "B" word? (Balance....) It just keeps coming up all the time in LD practice. Finding the balance is part of the journey.

finding balance is the journey

How about a different word than "balance?" How about "moderation?"

Though it likely means the same thing as balance, somehow moderation seems a bit more on the mark. Moderation in all things does seem a good choice for living, I think. Especially with LD'ing: don't obsess on any particular aspect of the art, don't spend all your time on one technique, don't draw concrete conclusions based on a single experience, etc, etc. Another advantage moderation has over balance is that it literally implies the addition, as needed, of new concepts, habits, techniques, etc ... and that is a very nice thing, particularly when tackling a subject like LD'ing, about which somwthing new seems to be discovered every day.

So balance and moderation might be the same or quite different, but regardless I think they are both critical to success.

Funny thing, though: with all this discussion, I couldn't help but notice that OP's plan reflects nothing but balance, and hints at moderation as well... who's advising who here?

I think "balance" is the key concept. "Moderation" of effort is one of the things that must be "balanced" (with your other life's doings). So many other things must be balanced in LDing:

+ awareness & falling asleep in a WILD dive
+ effort divided between day & night work
+ time spent on different types of day work to cover all the fundamentals and beyond.

Just my $0.02.