New here ^^

Hi hi! Just a quick hi from a new member.

My name's Adam, and I'm currently studying Computer Science at York university in England. I've been attempting to Lucid Dream for ages, but having no luck at all, and lately my motivation has gone down the drain. Being a student, more sleep means less hours of personal time - of which I hardly have a lot....so seeing as I'm not having much luck Lucid Dreaming, I'm not exactly inclined to keep trying if its wasting me a lot of valuable time in bed. A bit of a weird outlook on the whole thing, I know.....but its something I want to get out of once and for all. Its a little annoying knowing what a lucid experience is like, but not being able to find that feeling again.

So, any pointers on ending a serious dry spell? The worst thing is, without motivation its really hard, and my motivation is at a massive low at the moment due to having lost that lucid dream feeling. I'm a bit stuck.

Any pointers would be appreciated ^^ and I'll just have to sit and wait until I'm eligible for the adoption program.

-Adam-

Hey Adam, welcome to DV :)

I was in your same shoes, I think. Years ago I had my first natural LD and was floored, thinking it was amazing. I only managed to get about one a year for a number of years, and this hardly went up even when I bought EWOLD. It wasn't until I joined DV and started putting in a bit of effort that I actually began to have success :) So, you've already made a step that I think is important! Joining a community of people who are eager to talk about it and (for the most part) dedicated to practicing it, and exposing yourself to a great number of resources on the topic :)

I'm not sure what kind of lucid experience you've had in the past, but I recommend doing a few simple things like keeping a dream journal, doing reality checks, and finding some dreamsigns. IMO one of the main benefits of DILD is that, for the most part, you don't waste a lot of time with induction during the night. You get the same amount of sleep, but put in effort learning to be aware and RC during the day. For people in your situation (like many of us students) I think it's ideal.

Welcome to Dreamviews! I admit, dry spells suck big time. Here is what I like to call my, "Dry Spell Buster." Basically, you have to set your mind up for success. Its kind of like acting, in the sense of how actors mentally get into their role. You want to fall asleep with the mindset, "I know, 100% fact, that I will easily have a LD tonight." Don't only think/say this to yourself, truly make yourself believe it. Basically, you need to fall asleep expecting and knowing that you will have a LD tonight. This confidence approach has helped me break out of a few dry spells. You can pair this with your usual technique to maximize your odds for success. The key is to truly believe/make yourself believe that you will easily have a lucid. Pretend/truly believe that you are an expert lucid dreamer and you easily LD every night. I would try this a few nights and see if this helps you out. Good Luck to you!

Wow, great advice, Yoshi! I gotta remember that.

Thanks for the advice everyone ^^

I'll start doing what's been suggested. One thing though - how many hours of sleep would I need to get for a higher chance of Lucid Dreaming? The trouble being, most of my personal time is spent late at night, I tend to only get about 5-6 hours sleep in an average night. And I'm not sure that this is enough, but extending it would lose me a lot of time I would normally have, and often for no reason should I fail to become Lucid. I guess this is the main problem to my failure.

Any ideas?

I speak from experience when I say that it is crucial that you get enough sleep. From comparing my weekends (when I get enough sleep) to the weekdays (when I get far too little), my recall vastly improves on the weekends. You really need to strive to maintain a consistent sleep schedule. It may be tricky to work your schedule around lucid dreaming, too. If all else fails, see if you can find a moment to nap during your day, preferably 5 hours or less from waking up. Other members may be able to offer you more/better advice.

Get more sleep. 7 at the least for the majority of the week. Everyone has a couple of days where they get too little. Too many let that happen too often. If you're really serious about lucid dreaming, revamp your sleep schedule, but also revamp your waking schedule. Figure out how you are spending your time, really spending it, and try to rearrange it and change your behaviors to optimize your work time, maintain your recreation time, and increase your sleep time. I recommend making a table (like this but for one day). On the lefthand column, put the time of day in 30min chunks. Even go to 15 if you want. Midnight to midnight. Carry it with you all day and constantly update it with precisely what you have just done for the past 30/15 minutes. Figure out where you're wasting time being idle and inefficient. Try to eliminate this. At the very least, consider how much time you are wasting from each day of your life. This might help you think about your days in a different way, and also motivate you to set time aside for sleeping.

If you are going to continue getting minimal sleep, it is absolutely imperative that you keep an incredibly strict dream journal. Sleeping for 12 hours is great for recall. Why? Because out of the many dreams you'll have that night, you've just got a greater chance of recalling. If you're going to limit the number of dreams you'll be having per night to 2 or 3 or 4, then you need to be extremely dedicated to writing down every single dream the moment you wake up, no matter how exhausted you are or how little sleep you've gotten. Otherwise, you'll be getting maybe one dream per night and that is no way to do it.

I've also found that when I get enough sleep, I am able to be awake and alert and aware, which is pretty important for DILDing. For me it's much harder when I'm shuffling around feeling like a zombie all day to be aware or even to give a shit about lucid dreaming. Much more motivated and aware on a decent amount of sleep.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Shift

Sleeping for 12 hours is great for recall. Why? Because out of the many dreams you'll have that night, you've just got a greater chance of recalling.

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For me, I need to keep a minimum of time sleeping and a maximum amount. Like no less than 6-7hours of sleep and no more than 10hours because if I sleep in too much I end up waking up all crappy feeling and I don't remember as much dreams. I'm sure it's different for everyone.

It also has to do with the time you're sleeping in. Between the hours of 9am-12pm are said to be great for sleeping in.

And King Yoshi, that's not a bad idea, I'll have to try that out because I have been having a major dryspell lately. I'm only concerned that by not meeting my 100% guarantee, I might end up losing hope quickly but I should probably find a phrase to say to myself if it doesn't.

Oh and welcome to our community :D