Trouble staying in the dream...

[deisempai]

I keep having dreams that i actually take control of, but I pretty much get kicked out within seconds (my current record is 10 seconds maybe). My question is: "How can I stay in a dream longer than a simple stagger across the street?" By the way, I have tried the spinning thing, and it made one of my dreams two seconds longer.

[Redrivertears]

Hey there, In my opinion, two things will cause a dream to end prematurely. One is you getting too excited. The sudden rush of lucidity or the feeling of possibility as you gain dreamcontrol is very nice, but it can also wake you up. Staying calm, not rushing things, and not feeling like you 'have to be fast or else you'll wake up soon!' are important things to keep this from happening. The less you worry about waking up, the less likely it will happen. A second thing that will cause dreams to end prematurely, imo, is withdrawing your attention from them. This can happen very easily with lucidity. As you become lucid, you get so wrapped up in your own thoughts 'wow I'm lucid', 'ok, what was my dream goal', 'oh, I can now try this and this and this'. Sometimes, we get so wrapped up in all this we stop paying attention to the dream itself, and wake up. So, when you become lucid, pay plenty of attention to the dream. "Ground" yourself in it, so to speak. Look around you, try to touch things, feel them, try to smell things, try to listen to the sounds. By immersing yourself in the dream you will keep them going. Do this regularly, and whenever you feel the dream begin to fade out, take a moment to just be aware of everything around you. That usually keeps it going again, at least for me. Hope that helps! -Redrivertears-