Waking up too fast.

Lately i haven't been having a lack of lucid dreams, although i cant seem to retain it. I have read the tutorials and articles about methods to retain lucidity, but to no avail.

By waking up too fast i don't mean i want an extra few minutes but the last few have only lasted about 30secs before i woke up. I did have some success last night, still didn't last very long but it was longer than usual although i had to use a strange method that took most of the time. I found that as my vision drifted i could slap myself and everything would become sharp again, although very soon, my vision would drift again, so in the end i spent most of the dream slapping myself :roll:

Any tip or hints to help retain lucidity.

(Most of my dreams are DILD's if that helps)

Spin! Seriously. Close your eyes, stick your arms out and spin like a top. Your brain focuses on the sensation of spinning, and stops you from waking up. This also has the effect of changing the dream scene. You could be in your room, and all of a sudden you're in a forest having a picnic with homer Simpson. Unfortunately, it is easy to lose lucidity here, so you have to do a reality check as soon as you stop spinning. Once you get better at staying lucid, you can spin to teleport. It is an effective method of transportation in the dream world. Just try to keep your excitement down, k?

Happy dreaming ;)

What does it feel like as the dream fades? Do you get too excited, and just snap awake? Does your vision fade to black, or look hazy? Do you become aware of your body, lying in bed?

I find the best way to keep your dream lasting is to engage with your environment. Touch things, listen for things, look closely at things. Speak with any nearby people. I often wake up because I become aware of my real body. I will suddenly hear my heartbeat, or become aware of my breathing. I need to keep myself occupied with the dream world to keep my attention away from my real body.

I'd say you're experiencing what I call Introversion.

The very first thing you should know about dreaming is that everything requires your attention to exist.

My guess is the moment you realize you are dreaming, your thoughts rush inwards with thoughts like "I'm dreaming!" and then thinking about what that means and what you can or should do next. That sudden introversion creates a vacuum in your surroundings because you're not focused enough on what's around you.

The best thing to do is to have clear dream goals or do something, anything, as soon as you realize you are lucid. You can still think about things, just stay aware of your surroundings as you do so.

I have the same problems. My dreams will fade until I can't see anything. Although, it's more of a symbolic fade... I can feel it happening, but I don't really see the effects until I wake up.

Anyways, I find that, by far, the most effective means for my stabilization is to focus on an object. Pick one object and stare at it. More often than not, this will have the effect of the object becoming sharper, changing colors, etc. But it will keep you ground in the dream world. A disembodied voice in one of my lucids gave me some great advice, too (no, I'm not kidding).

I wasn't really thinking right, and I heard some incredibly loud noise. I found it that it was coming from a vacuum cleaner. I tried to unplug it, but it was stuck in the wall. Then the voice came in my head, and I saw writing (it looked like a forum post.). The voice read aloud the writing. It said "Don't worry about trying to stop the noise. Use it. Focus on it, and it will help you stay lucid". And then some incredibly random fact. But that sentence was pure gold for me.

All good advise here, but one other thing you might try is, rub your dream-hands during your LD. Works like a charm for me, always prolongs and stabilizes my LD. Good luck :).