So I had my first and only truly successful WILD (albeit a somewhat hazy lucid dream) about a month ago. Since then I have been obsessively practicing it every night before bed, and attempting to execute it nearly every morning when I can convince myself to get out of bed for more than a bathroom break. Since that successful WILD I had two attempts VERY soon after where I felt a shift in awareness and knew I was in sleep paralysis, but I failed them, presumably because I was over excited, or perhaps over-thinking the imminent transition into a dream state. The thing is, that time that I actually successfully WILD'ed, was actually after a long bout of trying to WILD all the time. As soon as I gave up, it kind of happened naturally. I was VERY still very exhausted in the morning before I tried it, and the last thing on my mind before going to take a nap was lucid dreaming... Yet, after doing the normal routine of gradually thinking myself to sleep, I suddenly gained some passive awareness and snapped back to my bed, where I felt a sudden shift in awareness like my body was just buzzing and sinking into the bed, accompanied by a very loud ringing. I knew i was in sleep paralysis, and I entered the lucid dream VERY naturally, almost without thinking. Is that the trick...? Just... not really paying attention to the transition? Because ever since, I had those two failed attempts where I couldn't help but feel excited, and I felt myself unintentionally break out of sleep paralysis... And then AGAIN.

This morning, it happened again, where I was thinking myself to sleep and then seemingly effortlessly fell into a passive awareness about my body JUST BEFORE I entered sleep paralysis.. So i felt it, and then tried to keep myself calm and imagine my dream scene. In the moment, I was fed up with the fact that I was only seeing pretty vivid hypnagagia at best, surrounded by the usual blackness that we see before falling asleep. Before I knew it, I wasn't in SP anymore. Can someone please help me? I don't think I am very natural at doing this technique, even though it would be my preferred technique if I could just get it to work for me. That sensation I got from my first actual WILD of a sudden feeling of my mind literally journeying out of my body and into a dream-state was the most ecstatic experience I have ever had, and I strive to have it again. So, should I just try to have a more meditative mindset when I realize I have sleep paralysis? Because most tutorials I have seen described that when you are in sleep paralysis, that is when mental action is needed, and that you need to focus mental energy on trying to create a dream scene. Any ideas on why this keeps failing for me? Thanks a lot for any feedback!