Thread: Why do I become lucid when I don't try.

I don't really know. Same happened to me. But hey man, at least you got a lucid dream!
I'd say that maybe you waking up and going back to sleep had something to do with it, because that's happened to me twice now, and maybe its technically a very fast WBTB.

I don't think a pattern is there. Not for me, anyway. I have become lucid when I've been jumping through hoops to try to achieve it, and also when it's the last thing on my mind. Over the years I haven't found a pattern. I suspect it's easier to see this "oh my god, I tried to become lucid for ages and then it happened when I wasn't trying" pattern when you start LDing.

Perhaps it's the fact that you allow your mind to fully relax that sometimes brings lucidity? There is such a thing as 'trying too hard'. Maybe once we stop trying too hard and let go, lucidity just comes to us. Happened to me too a few times.

Some of us have a theory that there is a finite resource of mental energy that can be entirely spent on strong intention during the day, that leaves nothing left for night-time lucidity. That explains the "relaxation" effect which many people have noticed -- a lot of people get lucid right at the end of a LD competition, for example. You still had strong awareness buildup from all the earlier practice, which does not simply vanish, it's like building up muscles, it takes a while of inactivity before they start to atrophy.

In some ways, its like "trying to sleep" -- which usually results in insomnia. As with just about everything in LDing, there is a fine balance to be found between trying too hard and not trying hard enough.

I have found that lucid dreaming is a lot like a golf swing; its muscle memory, if you can call it that. Our preparation is learning the techniques, repeating our mantras, practicing awareness... This is much like practicing a swing path, going through a checklist for a proper putt, and what have you. If you focus on all the small parts of the machine, you often forget one in the process. It's all about practicing so much that eventually your body takes over and knows what to do; and does it perfectly. I find that if I have a heavy meditation session, have been mindful all day and then do a mantra, its the day AFTER that I become lucid. Just something to think about.