aallrriigghhtt... more questions from Mikey G

alright
now I've basically got most of my confusion under control
I'm just pretty new to all of this..
anyways..
my story is..
my girlfriend told me about lucid dreams a month ago
I'd had about 3 or 4 before that
and one since she told me
and..
about 75 percent of the time I'm dreaming..
I know that it's a dream..
I just don't exactly know what comes next..
the times I've lucid dreampt I haven't really meant to..
I'd just realize I was dreaming and change what was happening..
but..
ever since I've learned about lucid dreaming
I haven't been able to do it
like..
now I'm just confused about the concept of...
what exactly do you do once you realize you're dreaming?
that..
and..
how exactly do you keep lucidity for longer?
I had one that lasted for a long time before I learned about LDing
but the one after only lasted for a minute or so before I lost lucidity
the other times I LD'd were really awesome
and I'd really like to do it again
so..
any help would be greatly appreciated
thanks

Once you realize you're dreaming...
you do whatever you want to do
That is the beauty of it
Personally.. I think you should just stablize it at first
you know, stay calm
look at your hands (focus on the details)
intesify it
and then explore...
fly..
and if you're feeling daring..
change the scenery (spin around and think of where you'd like to be, when you're done spinning it might be there)
&& to stay lucid for longer is a skill
you have to learn to stablize your dream
mainly by staying calm
but... if you feel your dream fading
you could spin...
rub your hands together
ah, I don't know, there are techniques
anyways
:)
I thought I would answer your questions...
just because you're my boyfriend
you get special privledges
I love youu

First off, you're not the first person that that's happened to. Others have found their lucidity lacking after they find out that it's more mainsteam than they thought and that there are "techniques." There's hardly a real wrong or right way to go about becoming lucid, so if you are able to do what you did before, then more power to you. Do you know if there might be something specific that could be holding you back?

As for lengthening the lucidity, with the limited number of LDs I've had, I think that mainly it just comes with practice. It's a matter of finding a way to continually remind yourself that you're lucid and you can try using tricks such as keeping a "lucidity card" in your pocket or something (you can get creatice). Mainly it's just constantly reminding yourself, though. In time, though, you won't have to focus so much on that.

You can also try deciding ahead of time what you would like to try to do in your dreams before you fall asleep. That can cut down greatly on the time it takes up in your dream.

And if you have more questions, we're more than happy to answer them... just as long as it's not the "how do I become lucid?" question. We get that one all the time! :shakehead2:

:) -Amé