Thread: a list of what I've learned

That's a great list and I would add a number of those to my list as well.

I've been LDing for 2 months and I've learned:

1) Remembering things you read and what people say is very difficult
2) Focusing too much on one thing wakes me up
3) When in sleep paralysis I can enter an LD by feeling my surroundings
4) It can take a long time for dreams you just had to come to you, so just keep laying there and thinking
5) Just because the visuals of a dream fade, doesn't mean the dream is over

and 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, and 12 from your list.

Maybe I'll think of some more later.

Your list is a great conversation starter.

I can't help but READ IT to the tune of that SUNSCREEN Song. Especially the first item on your list. But trust me on the sunscreen...

If I had to choose one thing to pass on, it would be to relax and enjoy. The minute you get too excite about being lucid, you start to loose it. Your mind will start to make sense of everything it sees. Once rationality comes in your lucidity leaves. Or at least you'll need to fight to keep it.

I'd unfortunately have to agree with #1, though I've never met anyone who really put a serious amount of effort into it and was unsuccessful. Many more are just plain lazy and view sleep (positively, they see it) as a way to tune out for about 8 hours.

Sex for me in LDs has been a one step forward, two steps back kind of process it seems. I've never had a chick I was banging turn ugly or into a man though I've had some refuse to have sex with me though.

Totally agree about the supplements. Like you said, Galantamine and Choline have been consistently effective for me for over 2 months, and I can guarantee I'll be lucid when I take them. It's really reinvigorated my love of the hobby. Have you tried taking 5-HTP and Melatonin before bed? Before I heard of Galantamine, taking Melatonin before bed would actually contribute to many LDs, even when I wasn't actively pursuing them. Together they're an extremely potent combination.

I've only met one natural lucid dreamer in real life, and he always seemed to want to go with the flow of a preexisting dream plot rather than control and change things. From what I've read on the boards, this seems to be the case for most natural LD-ers.

Dream journals are great...though at the beginning I recorded absolutely everything, which took a lot of effort and got tiring after a while. Now I only record the most vivid dreams and of course the LDs. With my current supplement regimen it works great because I can mentally focus and plan for when I'll need to be diligent in recalling. I'd rather look back on a dream described in great detail than a vague plot summary.

Haha, I would have disagreed with you on #12 about 2 months ago. Before I started taking supplements I had a 100% success rate with the finger-counting RC. Since taking them, however, that has failed for me at least once. It's interesting though, sometimes now if I just glance at my fingers I'll see five, but if I really focus on them, new digits will appear, like new pinkies sprouting off the side of my hand and such. I just tried the lightswitch RC recently and was surprised to find that it was effective...I couldn't turn on the light. I expected this one to be the most faulty.

Nice list, I'll add more of my own if I can think of them.