An Honest Question About Adulthood LDing

[Dragonworkz]

Hey guys, been a while. As some of you may know by my appearances on this site, I often practice LDing for a while, only to stop for an even longer time. I've been a member for a few years, and nowadays I've moved out, starting the beginning of my adult life. Naturally this has squashed a lot of free time I used to have. My question is for any of you out there who have experienced this. Does it become harder to achieve lucidity as you get older? Does not having much free time also hinder it? I'm just curious. Granted, I'm only 20 still, but now's as good a time to ask as any.

[wannabelucid]

I also have run into the same problem. I joined this site 10 years ago when I was 15. I'm now married and working a lot so I can relate. I think as long as it's still on your mind and you run through the motions when you go to sleep you will still have success. It's harder for some people then others though.

[Nhuc]

I think it only comes down to how serious you are about it. If you can put in the time at any age you'll be fine. It's kinda like riding a bike or so the saying goes.

[cooleymd]

I am mid to late 40s of my 37 lucid dream count as of now, I only count 5 historic ones, who knows how many I really had long ago as an adolescent and young adult, I can remember several particular ones (I'm sure over the decades I had and forgot others) 32 of the lucid dreams however are all from the last year, so as long as you try you can have them, I suppose we should also try to live life a little, we don't want to be jealous of some criminal with a life sentence in solitary,: "Oh that dude is so lucky nothing but time for lucids! Everything except the usual 4 gray walls gray ceiling and slatted floor as a perfect dream sign, we should all be so lucky", Not

[Verre]

My question is for any of you out there who have experienced this. Does it become harder to achieve lucidity as you get older? Does not having much free time also hinder it? I'm just curious. Granted, I'm only 20 still, but now's as good a time to ask as any. Although I had random lucids now and then when I was younger, I didn't start to practice seriously until my late thirties. Of course it's impossible to say if I would have had even better success had I started earlier, but I've been satisfied with my progress. As for free time, hell, I often seem to have the most LDs these days when I'm the busiest, and not even trying to induce them! It's a bit of a hassle, because then I have to write down long reports which only adds to how busy I am! And yet somehow, during the rare occasions when I have plenty of free time in my schedule for dreaming, I don't seem to have them as often. So for me, anyway, stress is a perversely positive factor in getting lucid.

[Sivason]

You do not need time to be good at LDing. RCs can be done all day regardless of your job. Awareness training can be done regardless of jobs. You do not loose skill from age. I get better every year, year after year, after year,,,

[robertcox88]

For me LDing goes hand in hand with being a responsible person. I am more productive when I get a good night's rest, the chances of me having an LD increase with consistent good night's rest, and having a cool LD makes the day easier and more enjoyable. What better way to start off your day?

[Row]

Have had a break from lucid dreaming for about a month or more, last night I started to try lucid dream again and it worked on my first night.

[mimihigurashi]

Sivason nailed it. LD practice takes virtually no time at all, it's all mental. RCs take seconds, if you decide to do physical RCs, that is, you can do mental RCs while doing anything else. Same for awareness, you can go about your day doing all you need to do with a heightened sense of self awareness and thinking about lucid dreaming. Some people use the excuse that "they don't have time to learn to lucid dream", which is completely invalid. However, I have heard that the younger you are, the easier it is to have lucid dreams. There seems to be some truth behind this, perhaps because of the fact that children are more curious and questioning by nature, whereas us adults take the world around us for granted and are busy most of the time, which again, goes to show that you need to regain that questioning nature in order to become lucid. Also note, just because it's easier for kids it doesn't mean it's next to impossible for adults.

[Laurelindo]

The only thing that actually physically takes time while practicing lucid dreaming is recording your dreams in the morning. Everything else is about mindset, and this should even become a natural part of your attitude to life in general after you have got used to it. For example, if you practice Lucid Living for a while then you will eventually start having that "lucid mindset" without even thinking about it, because you have got used to it. It's just like learning to walk - when you first learned to walk you had to focus on that a lot to avoid losing balance, but then when you had mastered it you could do it with no effort at all while doing lots of other random things at the same time.

[FryingMan]

I have extremely vivid and present dreams, which really started kicking in about 1 year after I began training (just over 1.5 years ago). Oh yeah I'm up around the "late (very) 40's". Lucidity comes and goes with hot streaks, but I figure that's just a matter of getting my head right. The main thing: DON'T QUIT. On and off practice is about the same as not practicing at all. God, if someone had seriously taught me to LD when I was 20, ....well, I cry to think of how awesome I'd be today. All those lost nights.... Being single definitely has its dreaming advantageous: sharing a bed pretty much kills the chance for late morning DEILD chains as your partner starts to wake up: moves, sigh, etc. Mindfulness practice (paying attention) doesn't take any "extra" time, and benefits both dreaming and waking life.

[Memm]

Does it become harder to achieve lucidity as you get older? I guess it depends on lifestyle but in general I would actually say yes, it is harder, but only because life becomes more stressful as you get older which really messes with our ability to just let go and see things the way they are, in the present moment. Of course you can battle this with meditation and not losing your sense of self, but you have to make a decision to do that, why do you think monks always look so young haha.

[FryingMan]

why do you think monks always look so young haha. They're single?

[Memm]

They're single? I'm single and I've been pretty stressed lately though.

[Dragonworkz]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. It's helped give me a different outlook on the whole thing. FryingMan: Yeah, you're right. And it helps, still being 20 and all. I'm glad I learned about LDing when I was about 15. Crazy how much I've learned since. Memm: I've been thinking about trying meditation too. Thanks for the recommendation!