too tired ?

here is my experience:

I keep having lucid dreams via either DILD or MILD but they are always fuzzy. The last three times I thought - I am lucid now, let me ground myself in the dream. I would try studying my hands, looking at small textures, etc. But it never works for me, It's like lately I have full mental control but they are always so foggy i can barely see anything more than 10 feet in front of me. I also have noticed that they are always very dark. This last time, after studying my hands and the tree bark in front of me I looked up EXPECTING to see a detailed scene - but again foggy. I was pretty dissapointed. What happened next surprised me. i started again focusing on the tree in front of me. I had my arms around the other side of it. I was leaning back and letting my head and back arch away from it - almost like a child does when they are playing on a flagpole. suddenly all my will faded and I actually FELT drained and tired. my hands started slipping down until I was sitting on the ground. I actually felt the lucidity start to fade and for the very first time i didn't even try to fight it. It was like I just sat there saying "fuck it, i'm to exhausted to try"

Does this make sense? I thought that once you were alseep physical exhaustion did not matter since it is all with the mind. Could I have realy been too tired for a lucid or is it something else like stress?

Hi :-)
I have had lucid experiences like that before. What I usually do is relax in the dream as much as I can and let the dream pass before me. If I have to interact with a dream character then I respond as calm as I can until things get clearer.

I found out in the past when I try too hard to focus on the lucid state things become over lapped, foggy or not clear. I like move around and do things that I want to do in a lucid dream by just sensing the surroundings. I just think of it like a sensation.

How can I explain myself. Hmmm. Let's see, right now you are reading this posting and at the same time you can feel the temperature in your room. It may be cool or it may be hot. The part of your mind that controls the sensing part of what you are feeling on your body while you read this is the part of the mind I use to control my lucid states. It's like relaxing in a pool you just need to let yourself relax and take whatever is to come and once there experiment.

Good Luck
Do let me know how it goes :-)

Hi Flower,

Well most people may think that lucidity equals control - and unfortunately that's not the case. It's not due to skill or experience, however, it's really just a lack of confidence or belief in what you're capable of doing in a dream.

When you looked at your hands and the bark in the tree - did you see the detail? Of course, because you already know that technique works and your mind already has an idea of what your skin pores look like and the look of tree bark. But, what about this detailed scene you were "expecting"? Did you already have planned what you wanted to see? Where you expecting more trees? a river? a city? It's not always that easy for our minds to just whip up a dreamscape for us. Sometimes it needs a little help.

For instance, were there any sounds in your dream? Birds, boats, people, etc? If you were to concentrate only on sounds in a dream, you would (naturally just as if you were awake) start to build a picture in your mind. In a dream you could apply the same technique in which you go ahead and stare at your hands or tree bark and while you're doing that, listen to your environment. If you hear a car, try to imagine what that car looks like BEFORE you turn your head and see it.

I think this sort of goes along with what dreamlyn is suggesting. Take in all the sensory inputs from your dream (sound, smell, touch, etc) and let your mind come up with a scene to explain where all these sounds or smells are coming from.

I think you should do what the other people said, as it probably will help, but I think it may still be that you are just too tired, and need to get more sleep, and that even when you dream, you are sleeping too deep to dream vividly because you are so damn tired. I don't know how much you sleep, but I think you should try going to bed at like 9 or 9:30 at night for a few nights, and getting extra sleep if you are suffering from lack of sleep. I know when I don't sleep enough, even the real world isn't as vivid as it should be.

I know what you are talking about. I've been there many times. When you are all foggy and have been trying things to make it better and you get to the point where you're like, screw this I'm over it. The best way for me to bring an LD to clarity is to study my hands or surrounding textures...however if you are in a dark or foggy situation sometimes this won't help. Try using verbal commands...say outloud and firmly "stablize lucidity now" or "increase clarity now" or "increase visuals now" ...and if that doesn't work...my best suggestion to you is to try dream spinning. Whenever you are stuck in an undesireable LD situation or an FA...spin around in circles really fast...and soon a new and more vivid dreamscape should evolve around you. If you dream spin and the new dreamscape is still foggy, then try looking at your hands again.

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But, what about this detailed scene you were "expecting"? Did you already have planned what you wanted to see?

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no, i don't usually. the thing is even though I have never been able to control the dreamscape very well I have always been able to have a pretty good amount of clarity . Like walking out the door and expecting to see the street, I would usually see something else entirely. this never really bothered me becuase where ever i ended up was usually still detailed and interesting. Like dream spinning - I would always think of a location and end up somewhere else. :)

What surprised me is the fact that i actually FELT tired - this has never happened before. usually i feel energetic, i wanna jump or fly - things like that.

I guess i will try verbal commands and dream spinning since I haven't done that in awhile, being someplace i don't expect is still better that being in a fog!

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