Don't fool yourself

[blue water]

I have been away for a while, but no way inactive in the art of dreaming. I come back here and face the forums, but this time I see all the people who desire to become lucid dreamers, yet do things that to me, seem like would block themselves from learning. I didn't bother with this when I was last here, but now I would like to say this to all who cares to listen. Listing the amount of times you have had lucid dreams, and listing your many in dream abilites (like creating fire and doing whatnot) is like running straight into a brick wall as far as progress is concerned. You seem like you have pride in your abilites, where does this pride come from? a sense of achievement? To believe that lucid dreaming is a difficult skill to learn is to make it harder for yourself. The sooner you realize that you can only become all powerful once you believe you are all powerful, the sooner you will be! I think being a good dreamer is more about your own ideas towards the topic rather than this fictionall "skill" level there seems to be commonly assigned. I am having a hard time explaining what I want to say here, and I know it will be misread, but whatever. I just want to help, and to get rid off the silly attitudes I encounter in some dreamers who are arrogant of their abilites because others is less "skilled" than them. It's a matter of understanding your point of view for dreams (in the basics) once you realize dream is just your imagination, its your imaginations awake or asleep it is down to, not your "skill" in lucid dreaming. (techinques is a different matter but i don't want to confuse any noobs with this) Don't make excuses for why you don't succeed at first, there is no rush, no race. I think the monthly challenges ave an unfortunate side effect in creating competition amongst those in the process of learning. But then again I'm also against glorified post counters and other bling.

[Maria92]

I think (for me, anyway), that the LD counter and the goals are all just ways to stay motivated. The competition aspect just keeps you that much more motivated. You make a good point, however, in that I hate people who think they're so much better just because they've been here longer, had more lucids, etc. (Banana, I'm looking at you). There are other "noob bashers," and I dislike them.

[gameover]

A little over dramatic I'd say. Let everyone find their own way as they have let you find yours. Monthly challenges are just a fun game for some. Participate if you want. Otherwise don't. Lucid dreaming serves different purposes for different people. Not everyone will share your vision. And what's so glorified about the post counters? Nothing flashy about them. It's just a piece of information for you to interpret anyway you like. If you're trying to make a helpful point it's lost in your preachiness.

[The Silver Bullet]

I count my lucid dreams because, for one I would just like to know how many I had, plus, like Mario said, it keeps me motivated. I like to think the more I have now leads to more later. My dream abilities/lucid goals I show in my sig is to show everybody a bit about myself. I like dragons so I would like to meet one in my dreams (sounds pretty corny, I know).

[imj]

Lding is what I think made up of these.......1)Motivation, what do you want to LD for. 2) Researching your own dream structure and formative routine. 3) Finding out from the research which type of stimulus the subconcious is most responsive to eg..visual, music, people relation and interaction, reading info, sex...etc. 4) Once the 'character' of the subconcious is found you can create a LD routine based on the media prefered by the subconcious. It's a longer road compared to just wanting an LD but I think knowing more about your own dreams would be less frustrating because you'd know Y it does not work when it does not.... IMJ

[Guinevere]

I've never listed my dreams before. Ever. I just don't bother. And yes I believe there's no such thing as skill in LDing. A first timer with enough confidence can have a better LD experience than people who have been trying for years but have no confidence.

[Xegar]

I kinda agree that you don't need skills to have a great LD. The first LD i EVER had was the best one. I only had these "oh im dreaming.. damn, i woke up" stuff since then. And i even levitated in my first one, which many ppl find a bit hard as i read. I don't know much about Lucid Dreaming yet, but i believe there's no such thing like "LD skill". Experience, maybe.

[no-Name]

A little over dramatic I'd say. Let everyone find their own way as they have let you find yours. Monthly challenges are just a fun game for some. Participate if you want. Otherwise don't. Lucid dreaming serves different purposes for different people. Not everyone will share your vision. And what's so glorified about the post counters? Nothing flashy about them. It's just a piece of information for you to interpret anyway you like. If you're trying to make a helpful point it's lost in your preachiness. I'm going to agree with Game, here We don't have any kind of competition in the ToTM, it's simply an achievement. You seem to talk about achievements as if it isn't a good thing. We should take pride in our ability. Plenty of people show this with a couple digits in their signature.

[Fattoxthegreat]

As humans, I think it's natural that we want to always wave our proverbial dicks. Everyone wants to think that what they do is hard and important and without them, the Earth would surely crumble. It's a human condition. But yes, I agree, being proud of flying once would probably only serve to make one think more and more of flying, making that a good hearty portion of their dream world instead of it being equal to all other possibilities.

[Snowy Egypt]

Listing the amount of times you have had lucid dreams, and listing your many in dream abilites (like creating fire and doing whatnot) is like running straight into a brick wall as far as progress is concerned. How so? I think the monthly challenges ave an unfortunate side effect in creating competition amongst those in the process of learning. But then again I'm also against glorified post counters and other bling. Again, how is counting how many LDs you've had bad? Maybe we like to keep track of how many we've had. I for one like to know how many of what I've had. LDing is one of the few things in my life I like to keep organized. And like no-Name said, there's nothing wrong with the ToTM. It provides entertainment in the form of reading other people's triumphs or failures. For some, it give them something to do when a new goal or adventure can't be thought of. I truely wonder about those that veiw that as counerproductive... EDIT: Really, no answer?