Does practice make perfect?

[starrynight]

Does practice make perfect when it comes to LDs, or is it possible to try "too hard" and practice "too much"? I had started a dream journal, and then the first morning that I tried WBTB I succeeded in having a lucid moment (I realized it was a dream, but got too excited, and spun to try to stay in the dream, but it faded). I continued to try WBTB every morning for a week, but didn't have any more success in attaining lucidity. So I started thinking I was trying too hard and needed to loosen up on the every day thing. I guess I didn't want the lucid attempts to become mere habit--maybe it's more successful when I pay special attention to trying to become lucid? Same with reality checks. I feel like I'm doing them so much that I don't even think consciously about it, so I might do one in a dream but fail to become lucid.

[Wavefunction]

Does practice make perfect when it comes to LDs, or is it possible to try "too hard" and practice "too much"? I had started a dream journal, and then the first morning that I tried WBTB I succeeded in having a lucid moment (I realized it was a dream, but got too excited, and spun to try to stay in the dream, but it faded). I continued to try WBTB every morning for a week, but didn't have any more success in attaining lucidity. So I started thinking I was trying too hard and needed to loosen up on the every day thing. I guess I didn't want the lucid attempts to become mere habit--maybe it's more successful when I pay special attention to trying to become lucid? Same with reality checks. I feel like I'm doing them so much that I don't even think consciously about it, so I might do one in a dream but fail to become lucid. Every time you RC, you have to actually ask yourself if you're dreaming! If you do them without asking if you're dreaming, chances are you won't ask the question when you're dreaming. For example, if you do the nose RC during the day without asking yourself if you're dreaming, you might dream of doing a nose RC. But since you haven't trained yourself to ask if you're dreaming after the RC you won't do that in the dream. You'll probably say "cool, I can breathe even though my nose is pinched shut" but won't draw the conclusion that you're dreaming. And WBTB usually isn't practiced alone. It's usually put with WILD or MILD. Are you doing those too? Because if you're not, that should help.

[ninja9578]

You can't try to hard, but you can stress out about it. Stress kills lucid dreams, so forget about it for a week, then come back to dreaming. When first starting out you have to do lots of reality checks, but with a dream journal you will find recurring signs and use those to get lucid instead of just at random times. One a week is not that bad, I average one about every five days, and I'm not trying very hard. Webmaster: I tried the space saving technique in your signature and now my computer won't turn on, what gives?

[TheDGP]

I find that whenever I try to ask myself if I am dreaming while dreaming I tend to get excited and immediately wake up. It's frustrating knowing that you almost had but lost it right away.

[starrynight]

Also, at first it was really exciting to wake up and write down as much as I could remember of my last dream, but now I'm remembering so much of multiple dreams that it's almost an overwhelming task trying to get it all on paper when I first wake up. Is it critical to try to write every morning? Would it be better to write in very great detail say, every other day, than to halfass it every day?

[ninja9578]

I write down the nuts and bolts and trust the rest to memory. If I think something is important, or it's something very specific that I know that I won't remember like a number or something I get that too.

[NeAvO]

Practise does make perfect, the more you think about lucid dreaming, the more it will be in your head, and the easier it will be to lucid dream. Think of lucid dreaming like a skill, the more you practise the easier it gets, for example the more you practise playing a piano, the better you will play.

[Torcher]

I'm a lazy LDer and rely mostly on luck or fatigue for my LDs. However, during times when I am devoted to paying attention to getting lucids -doing RCs, keeping a journal, practicing induction techniques - the LD count per week usually skyrockets. Practice and focus helps tons. But don't worry about getting one every night. It's like fishing. Sometimes they're just not biting.