Thread: Another newbie here!

Hello!
First of all, as the title implies, I am relatively new to lucid dreaming. Actually, I've been attempting it for about a month now. So I do have a bit of experience on trying to attempt lucidity. Now let me first explain. I got into lucid dreaming after it was first introduced to me in my 12th grade Psychology class a year ago. Ever since then, I've been doing a lot of research. I then bought two very well rated books called Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming by Stephen Laberg and Are You Dreaming?: Exploring Lucid Dreams: A Comprehensive Guide by Daniel Love.
So after about 3-4 weeks of reading these books and researching, I did have my first consciously aware dream. It was very realistic and vivid! However, the dream ended almost as fast as it began So I just have a few questions. I've been struggling with the MILD technique. Does it only work after sleeping 4-6 hours and then waking up to perform it? Or can I do it anytime I plan to sleep? I've also been struggling with using mantras. In your experience, what is the best mantra to use (for MILD or DILD).
Look forward to your responses! Thanks!

Hey DreamBeard! Welcome to DV! Here you'll be able to do wayyyy more research, and you'l be able to hear other's LDing experiences, they're very inspiring also And you don't always have to wake up around 4 hours of sleep, only if you're doing a WILD or anything else that you need to wake up. But for DILD & MILD, you can go to bed whenever And also MILD works just incase you wake up a couple hours later, kind of like a WILD but you can just go to sleep after your mantras. And the best mantra that I use is, "My next dream, I will be lucid" or, "The next thing I'll see, is a dream". Of course, you can make your own It's better anyways because you made it up and it's your very own mantra And keep repeating those until you fall asleep. Good luck!

Hey, thanks for the encouragement! I'll definitely keep those tips in mind. Just one last thing. Usually, my dreams vary a lot. So when I'm searching for dream-signs, it's really hard to implement them in my waking life since my dreams are so random. Would "imagining" my dream-signs and reality checks be good enough in this case?
Thanks!

Welcome to dream views! I just started here myself, though i've been a lurker for awhile. Another lucid dreaming book you might give a try is 'Lucid dreaming: gateway to the inner self' I'd say it's more for entertainment purposes, not focusing on how to get lucid, but about lucid dreaming itself. It shows a perspective on lucid dreaming that you might not have seen before. A really good quote from the book is:

One common assumption…. is that the lucid dreamer controls the dream. Yet, any thoughtful analysis shows that lucid dreamers direct their focus within the dream but do not control the dream (as the sailor does not control the sea). Those maintaining the assumption of control limit their experience and understanding, unless they are able to see through this assumption and broaden their viewpoint.

I was highly inspired after reading it. Anyways, gl with your dreaming!

Welcome to Dreamviews!

This is indeed a great place to develop your dreaming skills and meet some awesome people!

Make sure to check out the Induction Methods and Techniques as it will help you a ton

Also, do not miss the following!

• Attaining Lucidity -------------------------> Many techniques here as well as users sharing their own experience.
  
• Tasks of the Month & Year ---------------> This will give you a great motivation to LD as these tasks are fun and gives you a reward for accomplishing them (and that will be an extra goal to help yourself to LD!)
  
• Lucid Dares ------------------------------->This thread has a ton of lucid tasks for you to do. I have been personally adding some basic tasks to get started plus other some advanced tasks as well. Many other users are adding dares for everyone as well as making personal dares, it is lots of fun.

Best luck and let me know if you got any questions