My dream self is a little stupid.

Hey guys,
I recently got back to lucid dreaming and quickly encountered a problem that I now remember I've had in my previous experience.
Not always, but quite often, my lucid self seems a little clueless. I often don't remember what I wanted to do in a dream so I just fly around and do completely random things and I don't mean exciting random, but really boring stuff (I went to a supermarket today, what?). It's like I'm trying to access an area in my memory dedicated to lucid ideas and techniques but I've got nothing. Same with stabilization techniques, sometimes I remember them, sometimes I don't. Also, despite doing countless reality checks and being absolutely sure that I'm dreaming I'm too scared to jump out of the window because it seems so real. With my normal level of intelligence I'm pretty sure that I'd know that it's safe to fly if my finger goes through my palm ;)
I think that this leads to less and less lucidity in a dream. I start with a false awakening that seems absolutely real but with each stupid decision my surroundings get more and more distant and I end up mindlessly floating around. On the other hand, I do have dreams when I'm in control and I know what I'm doing. Can anyone relate and maybe have some tips for me? Thanks in advance.

Think about what you want to do in your lucid dream before you go to sleep. This will help keep your goal fresh in your mind by the time you become lucid.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dolphin

Think about what you want to do in your lucid dream before you go to sleep. This will help keep your goal fresh in your mind by the time you become lucid.

---

That's what I do every single night, then I wake up from a lucid dream and wonder what on earth was I thinking, just walking around in a dream. I'm wondering why this happens, sometimes I'm super sharp but sometimes I'm completely clueless and completely waste the opportunity to do something amazing.

This is happening because your intention to do what you want to do isn't strong enough. If simply setting an intention isn't enough, then you need to make the intention stronger by increasing and maintaining interest in doing what you want to do. Imagine a successful lucid dream and set an intention to replicate it against all odds. That way, when you are actually replicating it, you'll get a boost of confidence which will help push you forward.

In addition to what dolphin said, don't dwell on past failures. I think what you described happens to all of us sometimes, but once we start treating it as a problem it can become one because of over stressing about it.
I also sometimes go too much with the flow in lucids, instead of doing always only goals (which I have plenty of) - but I try to see it as a place for improvement rather than a sudden step back. Very successful and satisfying lucids make every lucid that follows them feel like a step back - but it's not, that's an illusion of our brain caused by the fact that it assigns more value to more recent events. Instead try to look at the average of let's say 1 month - do you see an improvement overall? If so, having some imperfect lucids is just normal fluctuation and is not a problem overall...

I think a lot of it, too, is just a matter of time and experience. I also often had confidence issues in some of my early LDs, causing me not to do nearly as “risky” actions as I planned to do, but over time I began learning to trust the results of my RCs and fearlessly do whatever crazy thing I want in a LD. Also, lucidity level will vary from dream to dream; in some, I seem to make decisions in a very impulsive way, which is pretty much a total opposite to my approach in waking life, but with practice the number of higher-level LDs where you're more like your waking-life self should increase.