Thread: Question on base lucidity

I'm trying to understand what is wrong.

Is it that you want to do something during a lucid dream but can't remember to do it? If so, I also sometimes forget previously intended dream goals during lucid dreams. What works best for me to help me remember dream goals is telling myself my dream goal just before I go to sleep.

Is it that you aren't becoming lucid during dreams even though you are doing things you usually do during lucid dreams? If so, I also occasionally have these dreams. These dreams happen when we are more motivated to focus on whatever we're doing than we are to associate whatever we're doing with the fact we're dreaming. This can be tricky to solve because we can be really motivated to do things during non-lucid dreams, but I find having a dream goal helps gives me the motivation I need to realize I am dreaming.

Is it that being lucid demotivates you to do anything else? If so, you just need to be motivated to do something during your lucid dream. Think of some dream goals!

Whatever the question is, I suggest you tell yourself what your dream goal is just before you go to sleep.

I agree with dolphin. Having goals can be very important. I think that you need to slow down in dreams. Instead of focusing on lucidity, I recommend slowing down. If you are close enough to lucidity, slowing down will help make good and fun decisions. I have recently been having many many more dream goals because I am so close to lucidity.

Note, I am not saying to slow down in your waking life. I am saying that when it comes to your dreams, your only goal is to slow down, everything else is secondary.

I think that in most dreams at this time, I know I am dreaming, I just don't slow down. I don't know if this is a good idea if you aren't close to lucidity, but it might be. Of course, you seem to be either lucid or close to lucidity most of the time. As long as I have sleep in a night, I can have lucid dreams, and if I don't I can spend 30 minutes and just have a WILD if I have the time.

Originally Posted by Sensei

I agree with dolphin. Having goals can be very important. I think that you need to slow down in dreams. Instead of focusing on lucidity, I recommend slowing down. If you are close enough to lucidity, slowing down will help make good and fun decisions. I have recently been having many many more dream goals because I am so close to lucidity.

Note, I am not saying to slow down in your waking life. I am saying that when it comes to your dreams, your only goal is to slow down, everything else is secondary.

I think that in most dreams at this time, I know I am dreaming, I just don't slow down. I don't know if this is a good idea if you aren't close to lucidity, but it might be. Of course, you seem to be either lucid or close to lucidity most of the time. As long as I have sleep in a night, I can have lucid dreams, and if I don't I can spend 30 minutes and just have a WILD if I have the time.

Just to clarify, I still have lucid dreams. Lots. It's just that every time I'm not actively lucid, my sub conscious acts as if it were lucid.

Another example was last night where I was in a non lucid. I was in the middle of a fight but my punches were much slower than real life (I train martial arts). When I saw I was moving slowly, my internal dialogue was "wow, I guess punches are much slower than in dreams" but I never got lucid. Even though I EXPLICETLY STATED to myself that I was dreaming, I never got lucid. If I were to question if I was dreaming, I would just know the answer.

I don't exactly think of it as a bad thing because I still have tons of lucids. If anything, it's a good thing because I never have to do reality checks, I just get dilds. I was wondering if anyone else had the same situation where they always just "knew" they were in a dream.

You might be describing what some of us call “false lucid dreams”. This is a somewhat controversial subject because it sounds rather self-contradictory at first glace. But some of us believe it is possible to behave as if we are lucid in a dream, including saying that we're dreaming, without truly being self-aware (that is, lucid) in the dreams. These dreams are actually nonlucid dreams despite initially appearing to be lucid dreams. With enough experience and familiarity with being in a lucid state of mind, it should be fairly easy to tell upon awakening whether there was any actual lucidity/self-awareness in the dream, regardless of what the actions and content in the dream might otherwise suggest.

I experience something like this on occasion. I'll wake up thinking that I was lucid in a dream, but I'll feel a reason to doubt it, compared to dreams in which I'm sure I was lucid. Looking back, I might find that I was using dream control but don't remember directly realizing I was dreaming, or I might not remember the dream as well as I would expect to for being lucid, or I might recall that the supposed lucidity actually was a thought or false memory that I had in a nonlucid dream rather than an actual LD. I also remember a couple of dreams I had where I said to myself that I was dreaming and then, upon hearing myself say that, actually become lucid/self-aware after saying it. There was a noticeable transition in my state of mind going from nonlucidity to lucidity that I could feel, which was pretty enlightening when I first experienced it.

From what I've heard other experienced lucid dreamers say, this phenomenon is normal. As long as you're still having true lucid dreams regularly (those that you're sure you're lucid without any confusion or apparent paradoxes), it's probably nothing to worry about. If not, though, it might indicate a problem with your current lucid dreaming mindset or technique.