Conrads Journal

Alright, I will start this journal by expressing my frustration that I have yet to experience a LD. I have been at it on and off for about 3 months. I chronicle about one dream every other night.

During the day I do around 10 RC's by drawing an A on my hand and either when I notice it or when I see something unusual I try to push my finger through my hand, then recite alittle mantra that I will notice the unusual things in my dreams.

I also meditate around half an hour every day. I sit in front of a candle and watch the flame. I then close my eyes and visualize it and go back and forth.

Before bed I do the MILD by reciting "I will have a LD tonight" usually around 120 to 240 times. Then I try to visualize myself in my chosen LD.

About 5 hours later I naturally wake up and try to do a WILD. I lay on my back and recite the same mantra. Once I feel more relaxed I try to not move and keep my mind clear. I usually switch positions about every ten mins. I usually end up laying there waiting for something to happen, and when nothing does I go to bed disappointed.

My short term goals are to obviously have a LD, increase my Dream Recall, and get better at meditating.

My long term goals are to have at least one LD a night, face my fears in my dream, meet my true self in my dream, and to better myself through LDing.

Right now my big disadvantage is that I get discouraged easily and frustrated at my failure to LD so far.

Hey Conrad! :welcom:

Sounds like you are on top of things. Try not to get too discouraged. I know its tough but getting frustrated can make it worse.

Quesiton: Do you visualize during WILD? It seems to me that since you meditate with a candle, visualizing the flame during WILD would be a good way to enter the dream as it will keep your mind active while your body sleeps. You may end up in a dream were you are looking at a candle!

Wow that never even crossed my mind. Im sure its much easier than visualizing myself walking on the quittage pitchbeing cheered on by the crowd

Totally. I find that the simpler the visualization, the easier it is to enter the dream without keeping yourself awake. Maybe someone who is better at visualization could do more complex things but for now I try to keep it simple. Once you are in the dream, THEN you can go play quittage or whatever else you desire. :D Good luck!

Welcome, Conrad! Good to have you here.

You've gotten some great advice above. It sounds like you've already figured out that frustration won't help you very much on your LDing journey. Learning to lucid dream can be a long haul, but you will be successful if you are willing to put in the work.

One thing that I find helpful for addressing frustration is bringing up dream recall a bit. Many (in fact, most!) nights, I do not have a lucid dream. But waking up with interesting non-lucid dreams serves as a great consolation prize for those nights when lucidity doesn't come. Furthermore, dream recall helps you build an understanding and relationship with your dreamworld and dream signs. When you build that bridge between waking life and dream life, it becomes far easier to be aware of when you've slipped from one side to the other.

Are you maintaining a dream journal at this time? If not, I strongly encourage you to make that a fundamental part of your practice. If you have trouble with recall at first, it is completely okay to write down just fragments or fleeting emotional residue that you have upon waking. Just make that effort to reach back and try to remember.

Keep us up to date and continue working through the lessons. If you have trouble bringing up dream recall, let us know what you're struggling with and we'll help you out. We've all been there!

Welcome, Conrad!

Welcome Conrad :D

A Wise man once said:

"Do or do not, there is no try." -Yoda

And if you do not, there is always tomorrow...unless you die...but we will cross that bridge when we come to it...