Best thing to do when lucid? Nothing.

[Pyramis]

This may sound like the lamest advice you've ever heard, but bear with me for a moment. Believe it or not, living out your wildest fantasies in living detail gets old after a while. When you wake up, you face the fact that all those sexy situations basically amount to masturbation. All those amazing conversations are just you talking to yourself. Sure, you gain access to creative and inventive parts of your consciousness that you don't normally connect to -- and don't get me wrong, that is wonderful and important! -- but you're still running up against the limits of your own mind. It's time to go further. The best part is, it's simple: Do nothing. I mean it. Do nothing. As soon as the lucid dream stabilizes around you, using whatever techniques you've learned to accomplish that, resist the temptation to create some new fantasy. Instead, just ignore whatever people or events are moving around you, battling for your attention. No matter how fascinating, intriguing, scary or repulsive the dream gets, just ignore it with calm dispassion. You're a lucid dreamer. Nothing can harm you. Likewise, nothing can interest you. People will approach you with beautiful things to look at, delicious foods to taste, dangerous weapons to murder you with, or eyes to fall in love with. Pay them no mind. Instead, will them away (if you can do so without distraction), and just sit down calmly wherever you are. What I like to do at this point is look at the ground or the bench or wherever you're sitting. Reach out and touch it. Run your fingers over it. Feel how real it is. Notice how you can feel every tendon in your hand as you touch it. Knock on it. Notice how the sound vibrates through it in exactly the right way. When you're nice and calm, look up. If you're outside, look at the trees. Notice how they sway so gently in the wind and how the light dapples through them in exactly the right way. Listen. You'll probably hear birds somewhere. You might see one or a few gliding up in the sky, making their way somewhere. You may hear the sound of distant traffic. You may see a jet plane high in the sky. By now, after a few moments of calm, detached observation of basic details in the fabric of the world around you, you'll notice that it has become perfectly and utterly real. There is no sense of fuzzy dreaminess, no detectable difference between the world you're seeing and what you normally refer to as the waking world. Try your reality tests. They'll pass. What you do at this point is up to you. Explore the world. Smell the flowers. Embrace the miracle of sensation. I tend to ponder my waking life and realize things that have forever changed the way I see the waking world. Sometimes I'm visited by people who identify themselves as higher beings and teach me things about the universe, sometimes forcefully. You may find it difficult to wake up from this state. Try not to be afraid. You will eventually.

[maxy126]

wow nice descriptions but first ld ill do this and have some lucid sex

[kaeraz]

I've been wanting to try this for awhile actually, but mostly so situations will come to me rather than myself having to create them. I like your ideas about making everything very real, but I'm wondering if that's just because you're an expert at dream control. Do you find after you do nothing and stabilize your dream that your dream remains very realistic afterwards even if you decide to go off and do something? I imagine that's why the dream turns fuzzy in the first place is because you're concentrating on events happening rather than the scenery around you. Please let me know and nice advice!

[Pyramis]

I've shared this idea with newbie lucid dreamers and they've had similarly realistic results, so I don't think I have any particular expertise here. It's a good theory you suggest that the realism kicks in because I'm concentrating on the scenery. However, it generally still holds even when I turn my attention to the dream content. It doesn't always hold -- like if I get caught up again in some dream plot. But there are certain kinds of experiences that actually reinforce the realism, like what I mentioned about contact with dream-teachers.

[DNK]

you'll notice that it has become perfectly and utterly real. There is no sense of fuzzy dreaminess, no detectable difference between the world you're seeing and what you normally refer to as the waking world. Try your reality tests. They'll pass. How real is real here? Excessive lucidity almost scares me. I like to know when I'm dreaming and when I'm not.

[slayer]

That's actually a great idea to do nothing. Just sit back and watch what your dreams does. Look at what your brain is making infront of you. And you wouldn't have to worry about accidently doing something to wake yourself up.

[ZmillA]

How is that any more "real" than regular LD-ing. Waits for "but bu it feels just like real life" Dont get me wrong it sounds very interesting but when you say stuff like "light shining through leaves in just the right way" dont you mean "light shining through leaves in just the way that looks right to me"? I guess I wont knock it before I try it, but in the end, it to is just your mind making the scene.

[slayer]

I guess I wont knock it before I try it, but in the end, it to is just your mind making the scene. That's exactly it. Let your mind do the controlling, not you controlling the mind.

[Siddhartha]

I like the idea! I got a LD last night on my first real attempt and the thing that was the most fascinating was actually to just observe the world and see how extremely realistic it was. Unfortunately i got distracted by sex and lost my lucidity. Next time I plan to basically do what u described. NOTHING. Just focus on remaining lucid and witness the world around me. Study its details, study the sensations in my body, how the world feel etc. Would be cool to try and meditate in the dream, though I think it could lead to losing lucidity quite easy, worth a try though. Definitely gonna try this next time, if i can resist the distractions.

[DNK]

Sex is so distracting. To be born without it... I actually got a rare LD last night and used it to try this. It was in the middle of a rather heated stand off with the police, but I managed to ignore that, sit down, and meditate. Unfortunately, I'm so accustomed to closing my eyes when I do that that I did so in the dream and quickly lost lucidity, so I didn't really notice much.

[apachama]

I would love to read your dream journal, sounds like it could be an intriguing read.

[LobbyDonut]

People keep talking about sex. Is that really what people do in dreams? I can think of so many cooler things to do in a dream.

[Abra]

It's fun to practice this in real life as well, y'know? Just ignore everything inner, and focus on what's outside of you, detatched. The world makes so much more sense that way. In a dream, I find this increases clarity and memory.

[weldp]

i partially agree with this concept. sometimes i just stop and look at the sky or the landscape. it's amazing what your mind can create. i will wake up much more relaxed if i just take it easy and admire the scenery. i still like to fly over my landscapes though.

[archdreamer]

I tend to agree. Examining the detail of the dreamscape does increase clarity, in my experience.

[Patrick]

Crazy. I was just thinking of this today. I was thinking, lucids get so crazy and hectic, why not just relax, and stabilise the dreamscape, and find a beautiful, quiet place to sit down and meditate, or enjoy the peacefulness? I've made this my new objective for my next lucid.

[WolfeDreamer531]

Yeah Im definitely going to try this tonight/tomorrow morning. I usually always rush into doing things and end up w/ blurry LDs. So Im going to try to stabilize my dream next time

[DNK]

I would love to read your dream journal, sounds like it could be an intriguing read. Mine or the OPs? OP: yeah, that would certainly be interesting. People keep talking about sex. Is that really what people do in dreams? I can think of so many cooler things to do in a dream. I like to do things in dreams that I don't get to do in reality... It's fun to practice this in real life as well, y'know? Just ignore everything inner, and focus on what's outside of you, detatched. The world makes so much more sense that way. Quite true. For whatever reasons, I can't do it often though. It's like LDing, buggered if I can figure it out. Whenever I try, I get distracted and forget about it.

[Leixor]

This may sound like the lamest advice you've ever heard, but bear with me for a moment. The best part is, it's simple: Do nothing. THAT is AWESOME. And you painted the picture extremely well. Awesome.

[ChaybaChayba]

Isn't this the same as meditation in dreams, like they do in dream yoga? Anyway, good idea and good read!

[supreme]

I do this often....I just sit and survey everything.

[Iamerik]

You worded that very well. I've been thinking about doing something like this for a long time already, but I always get tempted to do something else. I'll do my best in my next lucid and post the results here if I succeed!

[Misbijoux]

It gets boring, though. I've tried it. It's woderful to just sit there and soak everything up, but it really gets boring. Kind of like waking life. If you live a groundhog day, everyday, it's boring. When I'm lucid, I want to do stuff, not just sit there and soak things in, you know? I do that every day. I want to live, even if it's just in a lucid dream.

[supreme]

one time i really just sat there in my bedroom and took a real good look around. It was my bedroom all right, but when i stopped to look i noticed things were a little off. For instance...no curtains on the windows...or little trinkets were absent or the color was wrong....weird stuff like that, that you wouldnt notice right away if you took off immediately. Once i look around tho, then ill do something more interesting, Ill not waste an LD sitting around for long when i can be flying!

[DNK]

I'd imagine an important part of this would be learning to appreciate the simpler things, a deeper connection with personal reality and experience and understanding. Certainly, for the average person, sitting and staring at the world around them can get them antsy in a hurry.