N00bs Becoming Masters At Lding?

I've thought about it, and I've been wondering whether a newbie to LDing could become a master in a week, having 3 - 5 every night.

The only real obstacle I see is belief. Those people (Like Laberge) that can have LDs at will don't have a superior brain, or anything that would make them better than Newbies, except for maybe better dream recall. Having LDs has made me realize the power of our minds, and it's probably far superior than we could ever imagine.

So... could just 100% believing that you're totally capable and willing make you that way?

Not always. The thing is that you have to find a technique that is wokring on you.

Your unconscious has to be ready for it. i say.
That takes some time.

I had my first LD about 6 months ago, and then I got ready for LDing. Had my second random one 3-4 days ago and started reading the forum. Last night I had a huge LD that lasted for about an hour and involved flying, climbing, smoking, drinking and several other things... The only difference was that I learned how to do the reality checks (I hold my nose and breathe every 5 minutes or so in the dream...) and I'm not freaked out when the LD starts (because of reading about them in the forum...). I believe that I will be able to come to a good level if I have 2-3 LDs a week. Maybe in a month I could be able to do a lot of things hopefully... well we'll see :bigteeth:

I don't think the power of natural talent can be denied - I have a friend who can lucid seemingly whenever he wants just by mentioning it an hour before bedtime, and he tells me that his family going back generations have all been gifted at spontaneously and frequently having lucid dreams, so to discount genetics in the equation is a silly step.

That being said, there's nobody alive who's genetically predisposed to never dream at all (unless we delve into rare, hideous hereditary diseases?), and if you have that foot in the door then determination can get you anywhere you need to go, no matter how long it takes. The tricks are old hat, but they work (eventually... even if it takes years, eventually): experimentation, dedication, positive outlook. I'd say more than anything else, faith that you can do this, even though there's no precedent for it, even though it looks insurmountable, even though you may have no ideas about how to get it done. Believe that you'll find a way as long as you keep trying; every time I lay down to follow HI or WILD to a slow count of 300 I learn a little more about my patterns of consciousness, the paths that feel like they're going in the right direction and the ones that don't.

I am the quintessential n00b here; I've been meaning (but not always trying) to LD for 7 years now, I reckon. I have full faith yet in my ability to master the craft if I keep with it, despite the saddening track record. I look back on it and tell myself every morning, "I guess I wasn't trying hard enough. Time to do better tonight then!"

Still, it would be nice to hear from someone, flesh and blood, who's actually gone from talentless LD loser to master of the inner mind through nothing more than sheer pluck and determination.

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Originally Posted by Spamtek

I don't think the power of natural talent can be denied - I have a friend who can lucid seemingly whenever he wants just by mentioning it an hour before bedtime, and he tells me that his family going back generations have all been gifted at spontaneously and frequently having lucid dreams, so to discount genetics in the equation is a silly step.

That being said, there's nobody alive who's genetically predisposed to never dream at all (unless we delve into rare, hideous hereditary diseases?), and if you have that foot in the door then determination can get you anywhere you need to go, no matter how long it takes. The tricks are old hat, but they work (eventually... even if it takes years, eventually): experimentation, dedication, positive outlook. I'd say more than anything else, faith that you can do this, even though there's no precedent for it, even though it looks insurmountable, even though you may have no ideas about how to get it done. Believe that you'll find a way as long as you keep trying; every time I lay down to follow HI or WILD to a slow count of 300 I learn a little more about my patterns of consciousness, the paths that feel like they're going in the right direction and the ones that don't.

I am the quintessential n00b here; I've been meaning (but not always trying) to LD for 7 years now, I reckon. I have full faith yet in my ability to master the craft if I keep with it, despite the saddening track record. I look back on it and tell myself every morning, "I guess I wasn't trying hard enough. Time to do better tonight then!"

Still, it would be nice to hear from someone, flesh and blood, who's actually gone from talentless LD loser to master of the inner mind through nothing more than sheer pluck and determination.[/b]

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Wait a second, You've been trying for 7 years and you haven't had an LD?

All vague notions must fall before a pupil can call himself a master. We are told that talent creates its own opportunities. Yet, it sometimes seems that desire creates not only its own opportunities, but its own talents as well.

ha, its been like 8 monthes for me and i had like 2 really crappy and short (like 10 sec) LDs uring that time. i've been getting very vivid uncontrollable dreams. but nothing close to an LD.

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Wait a second, You've been trying for 7 years and you haven't had an LD?[/b]

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And counting. The trick is mostly in how you define 'trying', since someone can ingest some calea Z for the night, spend two hours meditating with autosuggestion and affirmations, fall asleep follow a HILD, then WBTB twice in the night and WILD out of both of them, and call that trying for a day, while another person might do a couple RCs and think it a done deal.

Incidentally I'm in neither of those camps, the word I used was meaning, not trying. While I've certainly tried a lot over the years, it was sporadically and certainly not every day. Of course, some people can hear about LDs for the first time and mean to have one based off of that experience and lo and behold, do have one that night, so I guess for some people meaning to is all the effort they need, in which case a track record of seven years and running with nothing on the scoreboard does start to look pretty dire.

Most of that time was spent in a petty state of mind from which to approach lucid dreaming though. While I was certain of their existence, and certain of the neurological possibility of one happening to me, I was still approaching the issue from a stance of "well I've failed in the past, there's no precedent for my having one tonight either, I guess we'll just see what happens," which is a statement of skeptical empiricism devoid of faith in my abilities, a hollow, empty, and futile way to attack the problem. I think I've deserved the dry spell (is it a dry spell if it's never rained?) I've got, even if I don't like having had it: my defeatist, skeptical, fatalistic attitude could have generated nothing but failure.

But I'm getting better, and I can feel rain on the winds; it's coming sometime soon. I have to, because complete faith in the imminence of my lucid breakthrough is a predicate condition - the predicate condition - for it ever possibly occurring.

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Originally Posted by Spamtek

And counting. The trick is mostly in how you define 'trying', since someone can ingest some calea Z for the night, spend two hours meditating with autosuggestion and affirmations, fall asleep follow a HILD, then WBTB twice in the night and WILD out of both of them, and call that trying for a day, while another person might do a couple RCs and think it a done deal.

Incidentally I'm in neither of those camps, the word I used was meaning, not trying. While I've certainly tried a lot over the years, it was sporadically and certainly not every day. Of course, some people can hear about LDs for the first time and mean to have one based off of that experience and lo and behold, do have one that night, so I guess for some people meaning to is all the effort they need, in which case a track record of seven years and running with nothing on the scoreboard does start to look pretty dire.

Most of that time was spent in a petty state of mind from which to approach lucid dreaming though. While I was certain of their existence, and certain of the neurological possibility of one happening to me, I was still approaching the issue from a stance of "well I've failed in the past, there's no precedent for my having one tonight either, I guess we'll just see what happens," which is a statement of skeptical empiricism devoid of faith in my abilities, a hollow, empty, and futile way to attack the problem. I think I've deserved the dry spell (is it a dry spell if it's never rained?) I've got, even if I don't like having had it: my defeatist, skeptical, fatalistic attitude could have generated nothing but failure.

But I'm getting better, and I can feel rain on the winds; it's coming sometime soon. I have to, because complete faith in the imminence of my lucid breakthrough is a predicate condition - the predicate condition - for it ever possibly occurring.[/b]

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Man, that sucks. I had my first one the first day I heard about LDing. If I didn't have one within a month's time, I probably wouldn't have kept trying, but since I did I realized it's one of the most amazing things I've ever experienced, so I'm totally hooked for the rest of my life. I think it's all about belief and the mix of the right emotions, coupled with imagination that you could motivate yourself with.

I don't think a newbie could become a master that quickly, it requires a certain technique that you need to find on your own with at least a year of practicing LD.

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Originally Posted by LDerintraining

I don't think a newbie could become a master that quickly, it requires a certain technique that you need to find on your own with at least a year of practicing LD.[/b]

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i was a newbie and i instantly got to the point of having them every night. at first i had to conciously try to WILD. recently i haven't been arsed to do that and i started getting lots of LDs from false awaekining/nose pinching. even more recently, they just HAPPEN. i'll be in a dream and just .. know. the dream may not be that vivid or i might not have that much control, but i just KNOW without inducing it or even doing RCs (although i probably should start doing that to promote greater power over my dreams).

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Originally Posted by Spamtek

But I'm getting better, and I can feel rain on the winds; it's coming sometime soon. I have to, because complete faith in the imminence of my lucid breakthrough is a predicate condition - the predicate condition - for it ever possibly occurring.[/b]

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Wow, that's crazy, I too am surprised you keep trying. I mean, you hear all of us saying how it's the best thing ever, like being in a different world where you're completely aware and can do anything you want, but on the other hand, you probably think: "Hey, it's just dreams, not that big a deal."

It IS a big deal, in fact it's a huge deal and yeah, they may just be dreams, but when you're really standing there, knowing you are dreaming, it does NOT feel like a dream in any way, it feels as real as anything you've ever experienced.

Please, for your own sake, don't give up. Keep trying, use different techniques. When it does happen, it will be worth the wait and then some, I promise, and then you won't have to wait another seven years to get the next one, once you realize you're dreaming, it becomes easier to recognize it in later dreams.

I'd recommend you try really hard for a couple of days, combine all the methods. Spend all day reading and thinking about LDs. Do constant RCs. When you go to bed, attempt to WILD and MILD at the same time. Set your alarm clock to wake you up just a few hours later, then attempt to WILD/MILD again and set your alarm clock for another couple of hours later again. I can only speak for myself, but for me it's 100% about focus. I'm still at at least 1 lucid per night and have been for a while now and I attribute this 100% to how much I want to become lucid, how many hours I spend per day on this forum and how much I concentrate on lucid dreams when I fall asleep. And don't give up if even a couple of days with lots of focus on lucid dreams don't give results, as there are never any guarantees.

Good luck, I'm sure that soon you WILL pull off your first lucid dream and it will absolutely blow you away!

Could it be that we all have LD all our lives and just have to recall them. ? :shock:

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Originally Posted by pawstalker

Could it be that we all have LD all our lives and just have to recall them. ? :shock:[/b]

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I don't think so because I never really thought about it until I read a book on LDs. I know I had REALLY vivid dreams sometimes before I knew about LDing, but I don't ever remember knowing it was a dream. As soon as the idea of "being conscious while you're dreaming" was presented to me, I went - WHOA...