Frustrated with LD'ing

About a year ago I had 10-15 LD's using a combination of supplements and WILD. Gave up on LD'ing after having so much difficulty with visual clarity in many but not all of the LD's. Now, almost a year later, had a long LD using supplements and WILD but had the same problem with visual clarity. Felt like it was a struggle to open my dream eyes to see clearly. Had a concern that if I tried to open my dream eyes, I would actually open my waking eyes and end the LD. Also seemed like I was in a hurry to do things in the LD and couldn't remember to slow down and work on clarity by looking closely at hands, etc. I've experienced some very good LD's, but can't seem to overcome that clarity problem despite having read many of the tutorials and posts dealing with this problem. Suggestions?

^^ Im just reading some posts elsewhere about this guy that has been LDing since he was a kid after he ran into it by accident and then developed his abilities on his own. Now after like 20 years, he is like really, really good. He talks about how by developing your imagination you can improve vividness, control and recall. For him imagination has been a foundation of his LD experience. PM me if you want to know the links and stuff.

For example, he says stuff like this....."I can say, though, that the more active my imagination has been during the day, the more potent the dreamstate is. I see lucid dreaming as far more than just controlling dreams, but a lifestyle based on practicing our imagination like an athlete would his sport. If anything, my dreams have become more vivid as I've grown older and had more time to practice and mature my imagination."

I have had similar experiences, with the struggling to open eyes etc... This fixes it, and many other visual problems in LD's for me:

From another thread: I also wanted to mention a tip that I have been using to solve different problems related to visuals in LDs and had a lot of success with. If you have a bug in your LD that might be related to vision, just close your eyes and figure out how to see with your dream-eyes closed. Hold up your hand in front of your face and identify the fingers. Touch stuff etc. It just takes a few moments once you get good at it, but it seems to work as a kind of reset. One thing that is a common problem that is easily fixed with this technique are black spots in your vision. I for example sometimes get only half the visuals, the top half might be black. If I do the closed eyes technique it's fixed.

But be aware... This is a great way to decrease or loose your lucidity as well. So reality checks etc. are reccomended during and after.

Thanks for the tips. I think a big part of the problem is my excitement from not having done any LD'ing in awhile made me rush. I need to develop enough memory to slow down at the start of an LD, focus intently on something like my hands, and get some clarity before starting on my adventure. Guess it'll just take some practice.

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Originally Posted by pdunc

Thanks for the tips. I think a big part of the problem is my excitement from not having done any LD'ing in awhile made me rush. I need to develop enough memory to slow down at the start of an LD, focus intently on something like my hands, and get some clarity before starting on my adventure. Guess it'll just take some practice.

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Sounds like a plan, but I want to advice against focusing on something too long. I have read that it can collapse the dream as your eyes stop moving in waking or something like that. I'm not sure if this is true, but I have noticed dream collapsing if I focus on one point for long time. Anyway, I had lucid dreams where I'm unable to open my eyes. I learned to see through my eyes, but doesn't work all the time. I would just risk opening eyes. It's not a big deal if you open your waking eyes. As long as the room is sufficiently dark and you don't move around much you can do a DEILD which is just a type of WILD. ^^

I haven't read anyone go deep into the connection between dream-eyes and real eyes. But there is definitely something there, and I am trying to udnerstand it more. Trying to force your dream-eyes open is a good idea, if you're already good at re-entering it's not a problem. but sometimes I just can't open them...

I wonder how commonly visual problems in LD's stem from something funky going on with the eyes in waking life. I found out this winter that I sleep with my eyes open from time to time. gandalf style. If the room isn't completely dark it's easy to identify. It can mess up EVERYTHING, not just visuals, the whole dream can bug out, and it can get insanely frustrating. I posted about it before: There was a dream character teasing me as I couldn't get out of bed for more than a few steps before I was slammed back in under the sheets by an overwhelming force. The dream couldn't allow that my waking-eyes were looking at the wall in my room, while dreaming about another scene. And it kept going on for a loooong time. This was how I stumbled upon closing my eyes, it was a fluke really, I had tried eveything else several times... So I just went: "I'll do it with my eyes closed!" When it worked, I was so angry that I walked blindly around my apartment so I could beat up the character that had been making fun of me. And I did.:chuckle:

Other times it just layers itself. During a afternoon nap a few weeks later, I had a lucid where my arm from waking life was constantly in front of my face covering up part of the dream. I thought that was pretty interesting, so I decided to keep it, besides, I could just change angles to see what was behind my arm. I ended up in a very strange and very fancy garden party with what seemed to be 18'th century super rich british colonialists on mars...:D

I haven't been able to identify this when it's dark. But I wouldn't be surprised if some visual bugs I experience come from my wizard eyes being wide open.

I think it may help to try to remember during the dream that issues like darkness, opening dream eyes, being trapped under blankets, etc., are just part of the dream and therefore part of your mind. In a dream, you don't have to treat it like it's an actual problem that absolutely must to be solved.

I've had issues like this occasionally, and what seems to help me is to ignore the issue entirely. If I can't open my “eyes”, it doesn't matter because I don't need to open them to see anything. It's just a dream, after all; it's not subject to waking-life laws of physics. Usually it just takes a little patience. If I don't obsess about the problem of not seeing anything but calmly give it a few moments (perhaps exploring the dream through other senses in the meantime to pass the time), I usually get normal dream visuals eventually. Maybe my mind just gets stuck and needs a bit to come up with new dream content, or maybe I'm not quite in the proper phase of sleep yet, but in any case, usually it just takes a few moments.

Same when you do have visuals but they're not very clear. I get that sometimes. Again, I just try to enjoy the lucidity for what it is and not worry about it too much. Often things clear up eventually once I'm no longer concerned with it. Sometimes it doesn't, but I don't let that stop me from enjoying myself. It's still possible to have interesting dreams even with vague or weak visual imagery.

I think problems like these in LDs are kind of like Chinese finger traps: The harder you struggle against them, the tighter they grip. A better approach is to try not to make a big deal out of them. Consider them unimportant and let you focus shift toward other things so that your lack of attention on the issues gives them a chance to disappear from the dream (or at least move themselves out of the way a bit).