Very detailed post about my dream experiences, & why I'm seeking help

What's up, I don't normally post a lot on DV but I am very active upon studying what you guys post EVERY SINGLE NIGHT :goodjob2:

This is where I'll start, I discovered lucid dreaming in 2009. At the time, I was in 6th or 7th grade so when I would study it then, it seemed easy. Lay down, stay still, wait for sleep paralysis. I was very familiar with sleep paralysis at the time because when I was even younger I would be sleeping, and would wake up out of a bad dream like wtf, & would be afraid to go back to sleep. But when I did lay back down, I could feel my body floating upward. :holyshit:

And I would see a dream scene forming up again and I would try to move and do whatever I could to get out of it and it just didn't work :( BUT at that time I was very unaware of lucid dreaming and had no clue on wth was going on.

Anyways, I gave up trying to lucid dream because nothing was working. Lmao at the time I didn't know it needed much, much more effort than that. I picked up back on it in 2013 of November, much more aware of what I was getting myself into and that it needed lots and lots of effort. When I found DV, All of the methods on here seemed so convincing. But since I was experiencing sleep paralysis, I decided to study WILD. & Keep studying it until I found a solid method that would work for me.

Now I do realize some say dream journals are required, some say they are not. This confused me, so I just used one anyway. Weird thing is, I can wake up sometimes and remember the dream I had, or I could remember it way later throughout the day out of the random without a dream journal. I'm 17 now, At times I smoke marijuana. When I'm high, I remember dreams I had way long ago at any random moment. Its weird af. But very, very satisfying to see because some of those dreams I had, as a kid I wish I could have went to sleep and went back into them. After studying WILD for quite a while, I did a WBTB one morning and when I went back to sleep to do the attempt, and there was Sleep Paralysis. I seen no VH, I was stuck, felt like something was touching or rubbing on me and when things felt "right" I tried to look at my hands, they were clear, I could see through them. So I knew I was doing something right. My dog was sleeping on the bed with me so he got up and moved to switch positions, While still in the dreamy state I could feel him moving but I could not SEE him :-?:-?:-? I had no idea wtf was going on. Someone told me it was astral projection. Who knows. Anyway, I also tried FILD. It works sometimes, but when I enter sleep paralysis I cant FORM A DREAM SCENE. I cant step into a dream. The sleep paralysis method just ENDS. I still try everynight but so far all this week I keep falling asleep lol my bad. But can anyone give me answers to anything you've just read? lol Please. If you didn't understand anything just ask. If you want to talk personally please ask. I just need help.

Maybe instead of trying to form a dream scene you need to let it happen don't try to control it too much to start with, for example when you are getting these hallucinations etc don't try and picture a random dream scene instead just try roll out of your body or feel yourself getting heavy and falling out your body theres lots of ways, and some might be easier for you, it works for me and I'd imagine it generally is easier for your mind to recreate your room as the first dream scene..

And when you say you looked at your hands and they were clear? Sounds like that's not a VH you were already dreaming? The mind plays lots of tricks on us I know I've done wild before and heard someone break into the house and walking around banging stuff and I immediately broke out of the wild woke up my wife and turned all the lights on only to realize it was a hallucination lol :p

And as for astral projection I don't know much about it, I just started reading a book on it because it so closely resembles lucidity but there are plenty of members on here that know a whole lot and can tell you more info on it.

Bro, you're 17 and already thinking about this? Whoa. You're light years ahead of where I was. Just try not to over think it.

At first I tried forming scenes too early into the dream, but soon realized the dream itself was the mastermind behind most of it. It will literally create a masterpiece of art for you to explore based on your suggestions, if you work with it. It will almost always throw it's own spin on things though, which can sometimes be pretty hilarious. Maybe try to embrace whatever the subconscious throws at you, try to stabilize the dream first. And once you are fully lucid then you can begin to appreciate it and explore it, giving the dream interface suggestions and working with the dream intelligence itself.. that's where it get's epic bro!!

You're on the right path man, keep going at it, for me living a healthy lifestyle and avoiding drugs and alcohol helps, so does meditation before sleep. Lucid dreaming has a way of teaching itself, you will go through trial and error and learn your own methods that work best for you. And the fact that you're 17 and interested in this topic is pretty awesome in itself, so keep at it and you will surely succeed.

I don't know if any of that helped. But hey man, good luck and feel free to PM

Anyone else have any advice?