Need Motivation

[jhnnyman]

I was wondering, how do you guys motivate yourselves during your quests for bigger and better LDs? I had my first LD after a year and a half of nothing (well, it was almost an LD - I lost control immediately). This happened a few days ago, and inspired me to join these forums.. But the same thing has happened that happened a year and a half ago, I just find it impossible to motivate myself. I guess I just don't believe LD's to be worth the effort. I've had a few, and they were cool but nothing special, and certainly not worth the massive amount of effort some people go through to get LD's (by which I mean keeping a dream journal, carefully monituring their sleep cycle, WILD preparations, etc). And I want to believe that LD's can be a lot cooler than what I've experienced, but I don't believe that, and though I'm trying to, it's hard. And even harder to put the effort in if I'm not sure I'll get the reward. So this is the roadblock I come across - getting motivated. And it's an important roadblock. So I was wondering how you all motivate yourselves. And I also need to get past my realization that LD's are overrated, (this will require some doublethink on my part..) Just for kicks, here's a banana

[imj]

I was wondering, how do you guys motivate yourselves during your quests for bigger and better LDs? I had my first LD after a year and a half of nothing (well, it was almost an LD - I lost control immediately). This happened a few days ago, and inspired me to join these forums.. But the same thing has happened that happened a year and a half ago, I just find it impossible to motivate myself. I guess I just don't believe LD's to be worth the effort. I've had a few, and they were cool but nothing special, and certainly not worth the massive amount of effort some people go through to get LD's (by which I mean keeping a dream journal, carefully monituring their sleep cycle, WILD preparations, etc). And I want to believe that LD's can be a lot cooler than what I've experienced, but I don't believe that, and though I'm trying to, it's hard. And even harder to put the effort in if I'm not sure I'll get the reward. So this is the roadblock I come across - getting motivated. And it's an important roadblock. So I was wondering how you all motivate yourselves. And I also need to get past my realization that LD's are overrated, (this will require some doublethink on my part..) Just for kicks, here's a banana I think what U should do is to work back on the night U had the LD. What did U do or think before U slept...was it a WBTB and U did something or thought of something LD related. For me my motivation comes from creating a new technique to have them...not so much having an LD. The ultimate goal is to create one that will work everytime with minimal effort or strain. Also U can't really get motivated if U just want to have an LD. The real motivation comes from wanting to do something in the LD. And to answer Ur question on whether LDs can be cooler than Ur experience...YES! They can be......hyperreal. Realer and clearer than real life..I've had one Hi-Def LD before..unfortunately it only happened once. But that does not mean it cannot be repeated.....I could have done in my other LDs by rubbing my hands or doing the other techniques to intensify the dream clarity, just that I din't do it..... So are LDs worth the effort....a big YES! But have U asked Urself....is reality worth the effort? Answer is U don't have a choice...Ur in it... IMJ

[Gabo]

The truth is that having regular LDs takes some effort. For me, the big effort required is one reason I don't have LDs often. But every once and a while I just decide to become active and try going lucid. Personally, I find a dream journal something fun to do and it only takes a few minutes a day. The reality checks are the hard part. In the end, persistence is really the key. Make notes for yourself with your lucid goals. Remind yourself that you want to become lucid and that you will do RCs. As with anything you really want in life, the important thing is keeping yourself aware of what you want to do and how to get it done. Good luck with your lucid dreaming!

[Venomblood]

I'm in a similar situation. I've tried a bunch to have lucids, maybe for 3 months, yet only had one that, as my signature says, involved me waking up almost instantly. And what I did experience wasn't vivid. Although I have had some pretty vivid non-lucids, the vividness was no better then an animated movie.

[DuB]

So this is the roadblock I come across - getting motivated. And it's an important roadblock. So I was wondering how you all motivate yourselves. And I also need to get past my realization that LD's are overrated, (this will require some doublethink on my part..) Truthfully, LDs don't "require" much effort at all. You've already discovered this - while it may have taken you a long time, you had a lucid without even trying. Now, with that said, to some extent what you get out of LDing is what you put into LDing. That is the general trend anyway. For us non-naturals, the hardest part is getting started. The dream journal, the reality checks, the *ILDs, it all helps to get your dreaming mind in the habit of lucidity. Once you get rolling, however, it doesn't take much effort at all (although it still helps to some extent, its just not as necessary). For example, the only "effort" that I put into LDing now is to do a few reality checks every day, which is just total habit and really not any kind of hassle at all. I also keep a dream journal, but I only use it to record remarkable dreams. I don't bother with techniques such as WILD and WBTB. Could all that stuff help? Sure, but as it is now I have about two lucids per month and that is fine with me. I think the key to enhancing your desire to practice LDing is not going to be in emphasizing the benefits of having lucid dreams, but rather from reframing and downplaying the cons associated with lucid dreaming (namely, that it is "hard"). Fact is, you have nothing better to do while you sleep, and the waking time commitment is absolutely minimal. The only thing that could really be construed as "hard" would be making regular entries in your dream journal. And I think once you start doing it, you'll find that it's not so bad.

[james-25:22pm]

Lucid Dreaming is your goal = your motivation. What more can you be asking for?? You obviously want lucidity...which is why you asked this question. But this seems like a paradox because if you wanted lucidity you wouldnt have asked the question in the first place.