New to LD, need a little help to get me started ^^.

Okay I'm just going to start off by saying I'm usually good at self helping, but with LD there are so many techniques I have no idea where to start :cheeky:.

I keep a journal on my iPhone before I go to sleep so I was thinking about writing "I will have a lucid dream" a few times, and also using it to recall dreams. I took to wearing an orange, white and blue bracelet all day as a reality check. I was thinking of looking at it every few hours and thinking "am I dreaming?". From what I've read so far it seems that in my dream, I won't be wearing it.

The closest I've gotten to a lucid dream was last night (Which made me join Dreamviews), I was in a dream with fictional characters from a t.v show and being vaguely aware that I was one of the characters, but the realization wasn't strong enough for me to be fully aware that I was dreaming.

Thanks in advance to anyone who wishes to help, I'm really serious about LD and have been reading about it on and off for a few years!

First of all, :welcome:to DV!

I really suggest getting a real dream journal that has a personal value to you. You can take notes on your ipod, but always make sure to write out your dreams in a real book. An ipod is not personal enough, and will not help you keep yourself motivated with dream recall.

As for reality checks I think it's a more solid choice to stick to reality checks using your body, rather than an item on it (although it works for some people). Classic reality check methods such pinching your nose and counting your fingers both work extremely well for me. Try and see what fits you the best. It's important to remember that the idea of a reality check is not to perform a mindless body motion, but to really question your surroundings. By improving your overall awareness you'll also increase your chances of getting lucid in a dream. Pay more attention to oddities around you and perform a reality check when you see something out of place. The more aware you are, the more oddities you'll find, and the more lucids dreams you'll have ;)

Other than that, try to get 8 hours of sleep every night. Try to dream journal every night. Reality check and maintain in a state of awareness throughout the day. That's pretty much it!

Oh, and keep motivated! Motivation is one of the core keys in lucid dreaming. That doesn't really need any further explanation though. :P

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

Good luck!

Hey, i just got into lucid dreaming too, and i feel like i'm making good progress in coming closer to a decent Lld, as well as in recalling dreams.
What I do is I browse this forum sometimes, and in the evening, the last thing i do (sometimes) is reading some more on the forum or somewhere else for about an hour or so.
Also, during the day, i excessively try to remember myself that I am dreaming, and i do some rc's like pulling my finger, and do the nose rc.
I usually set some alarms during the night too, sometimes i decide to do a WBTB, sometimes at night, sometimes in the early morning. I haven't had success with this yet, but it's a good method so i will keep doing it. At about 14 to 16 hours, i try to do a WILD but I usually give up after about 45 seconds.
Some nights, i remember no dreams at all, but i still remember a lot of dreams too sometimes.

Also, i am pretty self assured that i will ld soon and i know i can do it. i think this thought really helps.

Also when i wake up during the night, i try to remember my dream, and then i put 1 or 2 keywords for every dream in my ipod, so i can put it in my dream journal later that day.
for example, if i open notepad on my ipod right now, i read this: super saiyan tent cod gaming music
it is enough for me to remember (almost) everything else.

i have only had 2 ld's, and they were nothing special, the longest one was 5 seconds, and i just knew i was dreaming without doing a rc, the one from this night was different and i remember less of it, i had to close my nose with my fingers and discovered i could still breath, then i woke up.
the ld's were both somewhere in the morning and they came by luck :)

I hope my upsumming of things i do gives you some idea to get started ;)