new lucid dreamer says hi, asks ?

[Croneus]

Just saying hi to all. I've been working with lucid dreaming the last few weeks as I'm home with a very badly broken ankle from work and school, and have little to occupy my time with besides mental pursuits such as learning to play the guitar, reading, and lucid dreaming. I know I've lucid dreamt in the past, not really knowing what it was. Recently however after trying, I've had two lucid dreams. One very powerful, one somewhat strong before I shocked myself awake. However in the about a week and a half since these two incident, which happened on a Friday, then Saturday, I've been unable to get myself to lucid dream. My dream recall is fine, and I'm keeping track in a dream journal word paper on my pc here. Earlier tonite I was napping, and I believe I had a WILD, but am unsure. My thoughts drifted from standard waking type thoughts into a dreamlike setting that I could control. I don't remember drifiting off at all, just thinking about fraternity brothers to suddenly having a job at Barnes and Noble. Is this a WILD, or some other type of dream? Any comments appreciated.

[james-25:22pm]

Welcome Croneus! That does sound like a WILD to me. The 'textbook' definition of a WILD is passing from thoughts to a dream with no lapse in consciousness. Lucid Dreams are theoretically easy, but theres a few things that may stop you being able to induce them ALL the time. Its all in practice and repetition; and its important not to stress! If you get stuck with one technique, change it or try a whole new induction method. Just persist and be optimistic ps. Keep up the guitar

[Robot_Butler]

I'm jealous you have so much free time. Sounds like a great opportunity to master lucid dreaming. Naps often turn into WILDs for me, too. It sounds like you could have the opportunity to really exploit this. I like naps at 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon.

[Croneus]

Hah. Trust me after the first two months, EVERYTHING becomes really boring. Anyhow, what's the thoughts on the following: I'm not sure if it's me or my recall but I don't remember having multiple dreams per night, I usually have one long one that just scene changes for me. But I don't count the scene changes as mutliple dreams.

[james-25:22pm]

this is pretty normal; its all a part of gaining/losing recall. Just try to -stick to consistant sleeping times -sleep 7-8 hours a night -RECORD AS MUCH DETAIL as possibly about your dream. Like. colours, smells, sounds etc. Even if all you recall is like 2 seconds.

[Robot_Butler]

Its pretty tough to remember all your dreams when you wake up in the morning. Its even more difficult to remember which memories belong to which dream. I try to notice when I naturally wake up after each REM cycle. I jot down some notes every time I wake up thoughout the night. After a few nights, you should notice a pattern to where your REM cycles fall.