Thread: Hello. Beginner here.

Hey there. My name is TJ. I'm 21 years old and have been having some odd experiences with lucid dreaming recently. Here's a little about the history of my dreaming:

I've always had lucid dreams, although they were really rare. I'd say 1 every few months(the ones I could remember anyway). However, recently I've been having very short and frequent lucid dreams. A few a week actually. I became interested in why the sudden rise in the frequency of them and I'm going to do a little self searching to figure out the answer. However, even though I am having frequent lucid dreams, they are very, very short. It seems like every time I realize I'm dreaming, everything becomes very vivid and real-like and then all of a sudden fades to all black and the dreams ends or I wake up(or have a false awakening). I'm looking to learn how to stop this fading(spinning and such doesn't work for me) and prolong the dreams.

Just a little extra information about myself:
I do not keep a dream journal. I never felt the need to, because I can recall a good many of my dreams by just thinking about what I dreamt the night before and usually if I can't remember, something throughout the day will remind me.
I do suffer from sleep paralysis. This usually happens early in the morning and it only lasts a minute or so. They were actually quite terrifying in the beginning(visuals, sounds, etc.), however I've gotten use to them, so I just ride them at this point.
False awakenings. This is by far one of the biggest issues I've come across in my dreaming endeavors. They seem to follow in a pattern as well. I will realize that I am lucid dreaming, dream will fade, I will have a false awakening, still realize I'm dreaming, and the cycle just repeats. I've just programmed myself to do a reality check when I first wake up in the morning by looking at my hand and trying to reform/melt it. So this is another obstacle I have to move towards overcoming.
Well, anyway, that's my story and it's great to be here and I hope to move forward with my experiences with help from ya'll. It's good to meet you all.

Me and the dancing bananas welcome you to Dreamviews!

You say that spinning "and such" don't help you prolong the dream, what else have you tried? I sometimes find spinning makes my dreams fade as well. I suggest trying rubbing your hands together if you haven't already, but the most important thing is to BELIEVE WITH ALL YOUR HEART that the dream won't fade. All doubt must be erased, it it will be for naught. Thats the best advice I can give, good luck!

The "and such" basically entails some other techniques I've read in books and on the web. Focusing on one point, willing the dream to stabilize, trying to create something, are a few I have tried. Honestly, it's gotten to the point where the dreams starts to fade that I just let it go, because I know I'm going to have a false awakening most likely. However, I don't seem to be as lucid when I have the false awakening. I have "some control", but I'm not entirely like my normal dream self when I'm lucid.

Stuff that's helped prolong my lucid dreams:

Touching stuff - tactile sensations always stabilize my dreams
Shouting out loud "I'm dreaming!" or "I'm lucid!" works really loud, too.
Simply looking at my hands.

Hope that helps.

Welcome TJ! Ooh, I hate sleep paralysis.. it has only happened a couple of times but I hated it, it's an awful feeling!

Has your sleep schedule changed? Has your diet changed? Have you started sleeping in a new location? These are all the obvious things that could cause a seemingly random increase in number of lucid dreams.

The problem of lucid dreams ending too quickly is a common one. What helps me to stop it is to look at my hands once my vision fades, and keep looking until I can see again. I think the biggest cause of this problem is that your mind doesn't become clear enough to become lucid until the dream is already almost over. For most people, the problem goes away as they begin to have less difficulty recognizing that they're dreaming, and thus can become lucid earlier in their dreams.