Thread: Thinking about lucid dreaming too much I don't know what I need to do.

Hello, I'm new here, not new to lucid dreaming, I've never had a "true" lucid dream in my opinion but I'm familliar with the topic for years and tried it before.

I would be happy for some help.
I've been practicing for a month and few weeks now, and I don't know what to focus and learn, I'm thinking like there is so much to learn and not sure
in which order and what the process i should take. I'm read alot about lucid dreaming.

The one think that bothers me, is that I can't stop criticizing and thinking about it. I don't know what to do, I want to lucid dream, I have my goals, but I can't feel my exicted, as if I don't have intention, even though I do. I just think I need something I can grab on.

1. Im maintaning a dream journal. If I wake during the night, I will write key words which I can translate in the morning, when I write my dreams. Before I go to sleep I copy those dreams to my computer. I have found already dream signs in my dreams, and have decent recall - up to 3-5 dreams a day, even though they are never vivid or close to some sort of sensation as in real life (they do rarely). I will remember them as images, or brief very short "clips/segments", and even when I'm finding myself I'm lucid, it's still my "ego" in dream, I dont get rush of clarity and "being" in the dream as im in real life.

2. Im practicing awareness during the day and do reality checks (watch and count my fingers, and plug my noise to see if i can breath).

3. Before sleeping, I relax myself, my muscles, until i feel comfortable, and then I keep telling myself some kind of mantra - I don't know which one to focus, about what to think, If I want to remember my dreams, I will say something like "I will remember my dreams when i wake up", but in the same time, I also want to produce lucid dreams, so i might say something as "next time i will see "X" i will be lucid", "my next dream will be lucid", it might be stupid but i know the intention is strong, and im not sure what to say each night.

4. I'm having hard time visualizing, If i want to focus on a person for example, I will lose track of his face, what cloths he is wearing, i can't be "stable" when imagining.

5. I'm not sure how often i should try induction techniques, I've tried a couple of times MILD and I also wake up naturally at night sometimes, but having trouble going back to sleep, my own thinking about dreams will keep me awake. I feel like have the tools but I don't know what to do with it, as if, I often I should try to lucid dream, WBTB and such.

6. The only one thing I don't do is meditation, and once again, tons of way to do it. would be a simple meditation for relaxing would be enough?

Sorry for bad english, hopefully you get the idea of what I'm feeling. I'm not frustated, I like dreaming, I feel that I advance and become better each night. but maybe I am over thinking, or need a peaceful place. maybe I should go back to the basics. A certain guide would help?

The best to describe would be, how to accept my thoughts and my experience about dreaming, and not thinking "beyond".

Thank you in advance.