I've not been as regular a contributor here as I would have liked, but I read often and learn so much. I wanted to share this reflection : So six months into my lucid dreaming practice, where am I at?
I've hit a steady two lucids a month, three of them WILDs. Mostly they've been very short, but two of them were really joyful dreams where I did something amazing.
The best things about this?
1. That it happens at all is amazing! There's really nothing to beat that moment when you realise you're dreaming.such a tingling sense of delight, surprise, disbelief, achievement. It's extraordinary. But I don't need to tell you guys that!
2. My three WILDS. Speaking as someone who has never taken hallucinogens , these were absolutely amongst the most remarkable experiences of my life. The gradual materialisation around me of things that I know don't exist..... So thrilling. Even when it was frank sinatra being held prisoner by nazis.
3. My two ecstatic dreams. Not wishing to sound greedy..... But I'd love more of those please!
4. One of the biggest thrills for me though has been discovering my persistence. I've always been someone who really only loves to do things that I'm good at. So this is proving a real challenge for me. This must be what is like to learn a musical instrument, the hours of practice, the constant failure. I didn't know I had it in me. And probably would never have started if I'd known this is what it would be like! But now it makes me think, wow! Maybe there are other things in life I could do even though they don't come at all easily to me?
5. Plus, learning to love lying there enjoying my hypnogogia has been a blast.
The not so good?
1.dealing with the massively raised expectations induced by ETWOLD.! we're obviously all indebted to laberge.... But I can't help noticing that he tells a lot of stories about people who fly to the moon or meet God in their dreams, and not a lot of stories about wandering around slightly boring airports wondering what to do next!
2. I'm also dealing with having a much lower hit rate than i had expected, but one of the best things about discovering this forum is that you see just how common that is. Pointing the finger at ETWOLD again, I'm sure its meant to be encouraging that he opens by saying "lucid dreaming is much easier than you imagine".... But I've found it much more helpful to read all the people here who say "I never knew it would be so hard"!
3 at the risk of ending on a negative, I'd have to say that at this point my overall quality of life is down, in the sense that although I'm spending some time amazed by my discoveries, I spend a lot more time disappointed! The two days a month I wake up from a lucid dream are amazing... But the twenty eight days a month I wake up disappointed and frustrated are very tough. I guess anyone who ever learned to play the violin would say something similar. I think that developing the skills for dealing with disappointment are going to prove as important for becoming a regular lucid dreamer as are learning the induction techniques! I'm surprised that most of the books I've read reduce this to a small note saying "don't be discouraged by failure". It deserves a whole chapter... Or even a whole book! (a whole DV tutorial maybe ??) I'd be glad of any tips for handling that.
Goals for the next six months?
1. Work on WILDS as I love them so much
2. Double my hit rate! I'm aiming for four a month by the end of my first year.
3. Spot one of my regular dream signs in a dream. So far I only become lucid when I see something really completely bizarre. I'm practicing reality checks with comics, chocolate, and animals in my waking life, but I always overlook them when they turn up in dreams.
4.More ecstasy and fewer airports.
Jo
