Good morning!

[Salathor]

Hello, Just wanted to make my introductions. I've been lurking on the forums for a while, though it's been a long time since I've been active in the practice of lucid dreaming. I am 26 years old, and am just now rededicating myself to the pursuit of lucidity. I was a natural LDer as a child, but the lucidity seemed to fade as I entered middle school. For a while in high school I pursued the art, but I was never able to devote enough time or mental energy to practice to go anywhere with it. A few flashes of lucidity, and that was all. About six months ago, I stumbled onto this website and remembered my childhood dreams. I started practicing. Within a few weeks I experienced one of the most vivid, extended lucid dreams I'd ever had. I was fully lucid, and though I reacted to the context of the dream, I was able to fly and enjoy the idea that I was dreaming for what was probably 15 full minutes. I've never felt anything like that total freedom. Unfortunately, adult life got in the way (I never realized just how much time I had as a kid to really devote to hobbies until I got a real job ) and I grew distracted. I quit practicing, quit trying to find lucidity in my waking life. I had a few more natural lucid dreams, and then they stopped. I'm posting this now as a promise: I am rededicating myself to the art. I hope that by joining this community I'll be able to draw on the support of others and continue to focus on something that is, without a doubt, one of the most difficult and mentally taxing practices I have ever seen. With lucid dreaming, I have found that you simply cannot succeed with half-hearted attempts. In order to dream, you must focus with all of your energy and truly believe that you have the strength to succeed. It's daunting for me, but that instance of lucidity a few months ago burn in my memory like a promise: I can do this.

[kichu]

Good luck in your attempts! Sounds like you have some natural abilities that should really help you with your goals. I agree, it is difficult and taxing. I can barely get my brain active enough to remember my dreams at this point. It's a an eye-opener in terms of showing where my mind is at. Mush is where it's at right now. But yeah, focus and dedication, it'll get you there!

[Zoth]

I can do this YES YOU CAN! Was interesting to read your adventures throughout your life regarding your lucid dreaming practice, sadly life can really get in the way, but when we enjoy it enough, there's always a comeback at some point ^^ I'm sure that after some initial effort you'll be able to keep up the pace without any problems And I'm also a bit envious of you because of your childhood lding See you around

[Salathor]

Thank you both for the well-wishes. My goal here is to post with slightly more confidence than I feel (apologies if that makes me sound too matter-of-fact about things!) because I'm trying to test my idea that confidence and a placebo-like effect will be powerful tools for lucid dreaming. I am hoping that if I can convince myself, then lucid dreaming will be an easier goal. Also, the childhood LDing was quite cool, but unfortunately due to my age I had no idea what was happening--only that it was amazing. I lacked a high level of dream control MOST of the time, but when it worked, it was great. This was all pre-internet, mind you, so I had no means of investigating or learning more about the dreams. I wonder what would have happened if I'd grown up now rather than in the early nineties.

[CanisLucidus]

I'm posting this now as a promise: I am rededicating myself to the art. I hope that by joining this community I'll be able to draw on the support of others and continue to focus on something that is, without a doubt, one of the most difficult and mentally taxing practices I have ever seen. With lucid dreaming, I have found that you simply cannot succeed with half-hearted attempts. In order to dream, you must focus with all of your energy and truly believe that you have the strength to succeed. It's daunting for me, but that instance of lucidity a few months ago burn in my memory like a promise: I can do this. That's a great post, Salathor. Welcome back to lucid dreaming. You're right that gathering your focus can be a challenge, but once you make it past that point, you'll have it all back (and more) in no time. Your awesome-sound 15 minutes lucid dream is testament to that. I think that once you find yourself slipping back into the patterns of thinking that made you a good lucid dreamer when you were young, it'll become easier and easier to think and play and explore the way that you did when you were a kid. That's what we're all doing here, after all. I'm looking forward to sharing experiences with you along the way and seeing what this new chapter has in store for you. We'll all be here to help any way we can! Good luck and welcome.