Thread: Noob squared

Hi guys!

This is the first community I join, so I'm a noob even at being a noob... Sorry in advance if I do something wrong!

As for lucid dreaming in particular, it's been on my mind for several years now, but this one is my first serious attempt at it. The other time I relied on sloppy guides found on the Internet, without much digging on my part -- but there again I didn't imagine, back then, it would be so tough to get some results. So, I continued cherishing the idea, but gradually abandoned any practice.

Some months ago, however, I bumped into some videos on YouTube selling the idea that you can AP tonight. Well... didn't work, of course, but it served to catch again my interest in the matter of LD, which in my opinion is tightly related. In fact, once I get a bit more proficient in LD, I'm interested in AP also, and I'm curious to compare the two.

As of now, my LD record still leaves something to be desired, to say the least. I remember having some rare lucid moments in my child dreams, long long ago, when just before awaking I realized I could fly because I was dreaming, and then dejectedly waited for the spell to be broken in a while. Then, there are a couple of episodes dating to the first time I intentionally tried to get lucid, but I didn't keep a dream journal at the time and don't remember other details. This time, however, I've decided keep track of my experiments and results. I've been dream journaling since the end of March, although skipping some days here and there when I'm late for work or particularly frustrated by the lack of results...

Since the beginning of my practice, three months passed before getting the slightest result, in the mid of June. To be honest, however, I must say that I still had to orient myself in the topic, thus I probably took the hardest way. When I finally got things more into perspective, I got back to basics: DJ, RC's, recognizing dream signs etc., hoping that I would consistently get DILD's (which is kind of LD entry which I deem most suited to me). Unfortunately, these happen very rarely to me, and did not happen at all until I discovered the SSILD technique. I've abandoned the idea of trying to WILD, at least for the moment, due to my utter restlessness and to the abundance of unavoidable disturbances in my bedroom. However, I suspect that I may have on some occasion performed a sort of hybrid between SSILD and WILD, when losing count of the cycles and thus inadvertently looping until a spontaneous transition took place.

More recently, I discovered this community and I finally feel at home: the tutorials (which I devoured ravenously) are great and the staff seems friendly. Plus, I really enjoy the feeling of community, where people want to openheartedly share their experience rather than hook potential purchasers. Based on those tutorials, I've started practicing awareness to the best of my ability: that is to say that I tried ADA for a couple of days, then my brain got burned and I switched to SAT and reverse-RC. I still have a lot to learn, however, and sometimes find myself not practicing enough, or enouth often, or with enough focus.

In this last month I've recorded more episodes (17 between LD's, FA's, failed "dives"...) than in the rest of my life, which is encouraging, but I lack consistency: whenever I think I've got the hang of it, the next night is fruitless. Also, it is high time that I improve LD stability, because they tend to be very short. I only had one long LD, but with third-rate level of control and lucidity, and two dubious cases where it may have been me messing it up by inexperience.

So, that's it. I hope to grow in experience soon and be able to contribute in return to the community!

Sweet dreams!

YinEdmon