Newbie, yo :3

Hullo all! I heard about lucid dreaming from a friend, googled it, and found this wonderful site. I've had a few lucid dreams in the past, but only one where I could control things, and that was when I was around four or so (it was about Peter Pan in a factory that actually looked more like a bar, and the only thing I could control were my actions). However, I haven't had any recently. I tried doing a dream recall chant thing last night but it didn't work. I usually recall 1 dream every 3-5 days-- not sure if that's good or bad. One of the biggest problems for me is the act of falling asleep itself. I've always not been very good at falling asleep, but it's harder with the mantra. I found myself actually concious of falling asleep when I was saying it, like I could feel my breathing slow down and my mind getting hazy. But I'd get excited and my brain would snap back to the waking world. Any suggestions?

One dream every 3 - 5 days is not very good. But, it's nothing you can't improve! :D

The first thing you need to concern yourself with when trying to dream lucidly is remembering your dreams and making them vivid. This means, firstly, that you should keep a dream journal. You can write, type, record, whatever. When you wake up, try to move as little as possible and record your dream(s). With time, you will begin to remember the multiple dreams we all have each night, and with practice (lots of it), you can become lucid in each. You can find more information than I can offer you around this site (I'm still a newbie myself :P). Increasing vividness and awareness in your dreams can be done by increasing your awareness in real life. Stimulate your senses more often. Another poster related to the tunnel vision many of us use during the day, stating that it's good to just take a look around every once in a while.

Also, read about the different techniques for falling asleep to a lucid dream in the Tutorial forum. Lots of great resources there. It sounds like you've got a head start though, at least on me. Any time I've attempted a WILD I just couldn't focus enough. I certainly didn't feel conscious of falling asleep. Good job! :D

The excitement thing just takes practice. Many people wake up quickly with their first lucid dreams, simply because they get excited.

Again, I'm a newbie myself, so take my advice with a grain of salt. There are plenty of experts around here though!

Thank you :) Like I said, I've always seemed to have a hard time falling asleep, although it's gotten a lot easier as I've gotten older. I absolutely CANNOT fall asleep when I'm excited. Like... on Christmas Eve and such, when I was younger, I stayed up for practically the entire night. But, yeah. I could sorta feel my body slowing down and I was like 'Yay! I'm finally falling asleep!' and then my brain decided to turn on again xD

I've never kept a dream journal in the past, although I had a notebook by my bed last night, just in case. However, I think I might do it on my computer, as that's in my room also. But I've heard light messes up your dream recall... would my computer send off too much light and make me forget my dreams? My alarm clock is also this glow in the dark yellow color-- would that affect me?

I didn't think that was a very good number, to tell the truth xD I wasn't expecting anything big on my first night. But my brother came in and woke me up because he wanted to use my laptop, so I moved into my parent's room (both of them were already gone). I tried the same thing but I just couldn't go back to sleep.

Anyway, thanks for the advice. I'll be sure to try that 'stimulate your senses' thing. I love doing things like that, so it should be fun :3