Any advice?

[pbwilliams]

So, a follow up to my previous post... I tried to WILD again. As a result, I had crazy dreams last night, including multiple false awakenings and plenty of things that should have tipped me off that I was dreaming, but no lucidity. My memories of these dreams are just as vivid now as they were when I woke up (~10 hours ago). I started the night by attempting to WILD. Without going into details I had a very long and vivid narrative dream, full of potential dream signs. This initial dream ended with me "waking up" and telling my parents about the dream. First of all, I don't live with my parents, I live with my wife. Then I woke up for real and told my wife about the initial dream and the false awakening. Talk about layers. Anyway, I am looking for some advice or guidance. If I were to give myself advice, I guess it would be to start up the dream journal. But any other advice? I failed at both WILD and DILD; however, my dreams have become much much more vivid and memorable since I started to try, so that's good!

[GDSL43]

I started attempting to WILD since August 2010 2 or 3 times a week with no succes, maybe it isn't a good technique for you. But if you want to keep trying you have to do it in a WBTB, it will increase your chances of LD a lot.

[pbwilliams]

I see. Well, the vivid dream that included the false awakening happened after I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Either way, I am probably not having success with WILD because I am trying it first thing when I go to bed. Is there a good method for LDing from when you first go to bed other than WBTB? I am married as I said, and would prefer not to bug my wife with an alarm in the middle of the night.

[dakotahnok]

Have you tried any other techniques? I don't think WILD should be attempted when you don't have any experience. Try MILD or DILD

[pbwilliams]

Well, my past LDs have all been dream induced, so I know it's possible. I still have them maybe once every few months. The attempts at WILD have involved either breath counting, or some phrase like "I will lucid dream", so I guess that sorta constitutes a MILD. I'll give MILDing a more concerted effort. It just seems that making the connection that I am dreaming is the problem. It's been like a switch. Either I don't know I'm dreaming and I just go about my way, oblivious to all the obvious signs, or I absolutely know I'm dreaming and throw myself off a building with impunity. Thanks for the advice.

[pbwilliams]

I tried DILD last night and have to say it was pretty neat. While I didn't have any LDs, I woke up 4 times during the night, right after having dreams. So, I started my dream journal and wrote down keywords from three of the dreams I had (couldn't get up for the other one). When I first went to bed, I just used the mantra, "I will remember my dreams, and I will wake up after a dream." After waking up and writing down keywords, to go back to sleep, I just counted my breath and watched the HI. No lucidity yet, but I may have identified a good dream sign. I seem to dream of the city of San Francisco quite often.