30+ Dreams logged and nothing. NOTHINGGGG.

So technically I'm a newbie to the site, but I have been lurking Dreamviews as a guest for a while. I'll post in the Newbie section anyway because I've yet to have a lucid dream! :/ I've been working on LDing since i started school back in August (I know, not a great time to start when i had the whole summer to work on it, but i hadn't actually gotten into it until later). My closest experience has been a 5 second momentary realization of lucidity followed by me promptly getting excited and wanting to tell my friend, telling myself to calm down, aaaaand then waking up furious/excited. I've tried DILDing with daily RCs, i try to WILD every night, trying with the body tenses as well as the cardboard wristband (Inception technique), and I have gotten to the point where my body starts to tingle and shift which I will assume is SP. I know what a hypnagogic hallucination is and when to recognize it, but even through all this, my efforts remain fruitless. If anything, I've taken steps backwards since I don't hallucinate like I did when I first started :/ Is there anyone who could even SLIGHTLY help me out? I even have 35 dreams logged. I also have a friend with a similar issue. My only theory is that my school schedule is conflicting with me. :(

I understand where you're coming from. I used to be able to WILD, but for almost a year I haven't been able to get past sleep paralysis. If you aren't, keep relaxing into the sleep paralysis and imagine dream sensations. Sometimes people become so focused on the hallucinations and imagery that they forget about their objective: to enter a dream. So, they might end up drifting asleep or snapping out of the SP. Once you get to SP, focus on creating a dream and further tricking your mind into thinking you're asleep.

And, 35 dreams isn't necessarily a bad thing. It takes longer for some people to get their first lucid dream than others.

Maybe try practicing awareness, as I read you're doing RCs which are related to the DILD technique. Genuine skepticism is, in my opinion, crucial to becoming aware and lucid within a dream. Reality checks themselves rarely cause lucidity; if you aren't aware enough after all, you'll just end up doing mindless RCs in your dream.

First of all, welcome! The amount of dreams logged doesn't have anything to do with LDing, it's just to have a good recall so you don't forget a LD. The stress of school could have something to do with it, if you have stress from school. Just be patient and determined, a LD will come soon enough. I find that MILDs and DILDs work best for beginners, since you can practice both techniques at the same time, and are a bit similar in the way you become lucid, in dream. WILDs tend to be difficult for beginners, I haven't had a successful one yet. Just hang in there! Good luck! =D

Thank you and I'll be sure to try some of what you're telling me tonight. MY biggest issue i think is that as I begin drifting into sleep during the WILD, my body snaps back into semi consciousness so that i can monitor myself without falling asleep. However, when this happens, I become really aware that i need to take a big breath since I have been breathing really shallowly in my unconscious state. I'm wondering if this is disrupting the WILD?

I'm guessing you're talking about before you enter SP? The shallow breathing and urge to suddenly take a deeper breath happens to me too. Try to ignore it; if you can't, just take a deeper breath and don't make a big deal out of it. It's like when you're trying to WILD and you have to swallow: swallow, but don't think much about it.

Yep, that's exactly it. Alright then, I'll see what I can do, thanks for the help guys :D I'll be going to bed now.

I just recently had my first LD. I have 37 dreams logged and I'm not the kind of person that logs every single little dream I have. In fact I also took a couple of weeks off dream chasing.

I would, however, suggest that you don't do it simply to chase lucidity, enjoy your dreams for what they are and work on lucidity on the side.

I thought I was broken until it happened. Just keep at it.

:welcome: Since you've had momentary LD moments, I can tell you that you are close. I had a few of those when starting out too. Then they got longer and longer.

No luck last night, but yea i get what you mean by just enjoying my dreams. I look forward to them every night to see what my mind will come up with because its fun sharing them with friends and all that. I just got a little frustrated because id seen people complaining that they'd only had 2 lucid dreams in the week they had been learning it and it pissed me off lol. But its all good now, I'll be more relaxed and positive about succeeding and see where that leads me.

Oh dude trust me I totally get what you mean about people complaining when they don't realise they've had a lucid dream in a relatively short amount of time.

Well, first off Welcome! :D


Secondly, it seems like you're getting better recall, so that'll help improve your 'chances' of getting a Lucid. One thing I do recommend, if you're trying to focus on RC's, is when you do them, you really have to question if you're dreaming. I know when I started it was more of a, "Lets just do this. Yup, awake. Of course it worked." But you really have to imagine that when you remember to RC in waking life, forget that it's waking life. Really question it. If it doesn't work like this either, ah well, you just made your RC training more exciting! :D

Anyways, don't give up. It took months of on-and-off "I want this!" attitude to get my first LD. Good luck and once again welcome!

As Sigmund said the only way you are going to get a LD is with persistence stick with it and before you know it you'll be doing a reaility check in the dream world good luck and happy dreaming :D