Thread: return to dabbling

Hey folks.

I just started dabbling in lucid dreaming again a few days ago, wanting to do it because it's a good fun solitary hobby, and thinking I could use more solitary hobbies. But now that there's a discussion forum...

I had my first moment of lucidity in a dream when I was 17 and had first gotten fascinated with the idea of controlling my dreams. Unfortunately, I woke up immediately after I realized I was dreaming.

It took 'til I was 18 1/2 or 19 to have a lucid dream in which I stayed asleep. It was one of those WILDs where you free-fall into REM sleep and are conscious of the whole process of being awake, then falling asleep, then the next moment you're dreaming. I'm now 27.

After 2 days of no luck with lucidity after reading tips over at the Lucidity Institute, I just had a WILD kinda like that first one I described above this morning. A long, failed attempt to fall back to sleep with some semblance of consciousness after waking up and reading about lucid dreaming was followed by a moment of being awake enough for a second chance...and BOOM, I was due for some REM and went straight into it. It was lots of fun.

The "instant REM" WILDs are often the best. They're the easiest to maintain lucidity in, IME.

When I'm not actively trying to lucid dream, I have occasional DILDs that are usually short, and some "almost-lucid" dreams where my reality tests turn up a false negative and I conclude I'm not dreaming when I really am dreaming. Lately, having not practiced lucid dreaming or dream diary keeping for a long time, most of the (very rare) lucid dreams I've been getting in the interim have been "nightmare-induced lucid dreams," i.e., DILDs where the dreamsign that triggers lucidity is something bad, such as an airplane blowing up nearby or failing a class when I realize that I don't have any classes and that nightmares about failing classes are extremely common for me. I remain lucid just long enough to get out of the pickle, and then go back to regular old dreaming, usually in a totally new dream scenario.

I may read around here quite a bit while preparing myself for lucid dreaming early in the morning, and maybe even post sometimes.