Ah, okay. I think I understand more so now. I have had that happen to me a couple of times now. It is a strange happening to have false lucids.
I wonder if the vividness aspect of your dreams would be remedied if you were able to attain lucidity. I have read multiple accounts of vividity increasing astronomically upon becoming lucid and after stabilization. A lot of my non-LDs are not the most vivid either. At peak levels and on average, how would you describe your level of vividness or detail in dreams?
From what I understand, WILDs are more difficult to successfully execute for most than DILDs.
I recently read Stephen Laberge's Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming and Robert Waggoner's Luicd Dreaming, Plain and Simple.
Laberge wrote about using autosuggestion that, "I recalled an average of five lucid dreams per month." Compared to the MILD technique he developed and writes,"I gradually observed a psychological factor that correlated with the occurrence of my lucid dreams: the presleep intention to remember to recognize I was dreaming. Once I knew how I was trying to induce lucid dreams, it became much easier to focus my efforts. This clarification of intention was followed by an immediate increase in the monthly frequency of my lucid dreams. Further practice and refinements led to a method whereby I could reliably induce lucid dreams. With this new method, I had as many as four lucid dreams in one night and as many as twenty-six in one month."
Waggoner writes, "I had been lucid dreaming for more than six years when I first heard of this technique. When I began to use it, my lucid dreams doubled in frequency."
Also, according the the Lucidity Institute, using WBTB with induction methods increases your chances of having a lucid dream by five to ten times.
Of course, different techniques work better or worse for different people, and I know not of your experience with MILD or other techniques and how they mesh with you. I wouldn't want you to miss out on a DILD technique because of the lack of vividness, though, if it could have some success to offer you.
It's possible that you could develop other ways to realize the difference between your waking and dreaming state that does not depend on higher levels of vividness, which I can attempt to elaborate on, but others may be better with that that have more experience.
I have tried a few techniques so far (WILD, MILD, SSILD with WBTB), and MILD has worked the best so far in my experience. I think the key to MILD is working on prospective memory(among other things, of course), which you might already be familiar with. There are ways to work this part of your mind. The intent to remember to recognize or become aware that you are dreaming seems to play a big role in the success with lucidity I've had. I had my fourth LD two nights ago and there was no big apparent dreamsign during the moment I became aware. I think it was due to trying to remember to be aware in my dreams. Falling asleep with that intent to remember and keeping the instructions in mind has really helped me so far.
I've also read in three books now - Dream Yoga: Illuminating Your Life Through Lucid Dreaming and the Tibetan Yogas of Sleep being the third - that it is best to stick with each induction method for at least a month or several weeks to really develop a sense for it.
When you were working on the mindfulness and your dream recall seemed to diminish during that time, is it possible that your lessened dream recall could have been caused by some other factor? Does it seem recurring issue?
My first LD came about one morning when I combined WBTB with MILD. In the dream I was sitting in a church my father had me go to with him as a child. He made a joke, laughed at it, and then rested his head on my shoulder and head. It made me feel uncomfortable and strange and I started to feel hot. I looked down at my body and realized I was shirtless during a church service. That caused me to realize I was dreaming. I felt really excited. I wanted to do something but I didn't know what to do. I stood up and walked into the aisle of the church and yelled to get the attention of the dream characters. This seemed to destabilize the dream. When I noticed it fading, I decided to try the spinning technique to take me somewhere else. I spun around in total darkness for several seconds and then I ended up in a hallway with a door. I opened the door but lost the dream at that point.
Another long reply. I just realized how long I have been typing for. A lot of this or all you may already know, but I hope some of it can be useful; maybe discussion helps in itself somehow. I'm really hoping you can have some lucid dreams, though!
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