Some kind of mental block surrounding my dreams/failing to go lucid

Making my tri-yearly or so return to trying to lucid dream.

I barely remember my dreams as it is - in the past few months I've given up smoking marijuana, and I figured that'd clear out my brain enough to help me start concentrating and being able to perform WILDs and such (not my reason for quitting, but one of the benefits of quitting) but I still only seem to remember maybe two or three dreams per week if I'm lucky. I've been reading up on lucid dreaming every day and in the morning I generally try to remember what I dreamt about, but I pull up nothing. If I wake up and try to WILD, either something disturbs me and makes me get up all grumpy or I fall asleep and wake up later, feeling like I've wasted a few hours. All I want to do is talk to my subconscious, find out why I'm who I am, maybe do some cool stuff, and then return to focusing on my waking life.

For the record, I've only had one lucid dream - when I was 13. It wasn't very exciting. I'm 18 now.

Anybody had a similar issue? I feel truly stuck here. :tongue:

Short Answer: Well a dream recall of only two or three LDs a week is pretty low if you're looking to get lucid. Perhaps just focus on building up a dream recall and then move on to getting lucid.

Long Answer: Whenever I feel like I've hit this mental block, I like to remind myself of these three things:

Probably the most important one is confidence and commitment. Decide what you're going to do and do it 100%, have a plan and stick to it. Use the Lucid Dreaming methods and techniques that you are most comfortable with, and don't waste your energy on anything else. For example you're going for WILD (Now I honestly wouldn't recommend WILD for you if you've only had one LD in the past, as WILD is generally considered to be the more advanced method.) but if that's really what you want to go for, then you've gotta commit to it, and have a plan. Its important that your plan be solid, doable (not too overwhelming) and flexible for future change. For example my plan is:

-Dream Journal Every dream I have in detail. If I don't think it's good to post on the site, personal DJ. (I'm pretty good about DJing)
-Record and Listen to Lucid Dreaming Memonics. (Pretty goo about this too)
-Reality Check whenever I see a dream sign, or simply whenever I suspect I might be dreaming.
-Go to bed at 9:00pm (Still working on this part) :P
-Once I get lucid three nights in a row, I will begin looking to achieve dream goals.

But in your case, you might just have one item: DJ everyday, even If I dream of nothing, I will just write the date and say 'no dreams.' Once I recall dreams five nights in a row (or some other self-imposed goal) I will re-evaluate my plan to include some lucid dreaming induction.

Second is Observance and Curiosity. Ask questions, even if you don't arrive at the answer. Observe your reality for flaws and things that don't add up, and try to be as nit-picky as possible. I sometimes like to think of this like the Youtube Channel CinemaSins where they find mistakes in movies. If we were all as observant of our realities as the guy who makes that channel is in observing movies, we'd all be lucid dreaming left and right.

Third is Acceptance and dealing with Entitlement. I don't think that as many people have trouble with this one, and it has a bit of overlap with the first. But try to stay away from the mindset of 'I did everything right, so why didn't I LD?! It's not fair! It worked before!'. This is just putting yourself on the fast track to getting really frustrated with yourself. (I would know, I did it.) What I have been trying, and seeing more and more success in doing is making lucid dreaming practice FUN. Then when your practice is fun, LDs are just the frosting on the cake.

I always make the analogy that lucid dreaming is like getting in shape. Everyone wants to lose weight and have that sexy beach bod, but almost nobody wants to do the work to do it. So instead of making your workout a chore with schedules and weightlifting what not, instead take up a sport that you enjoy. Sure you might not get in shape as fast, but you'll have a lot more fun and be a lot more motivated to exercise. (And what you enjoy is the weightlifting and protein shakes, more power to you.) In that same regard to lucid dreaming, the technique that works the best and the technique that is the most fun won't always overlap. (Granted you don't want your technique to be all fun and games and have basically no effectiveness either.) So try to find a balance between the two.

Just my $0.02...

So I should focus on recall, stick to whatever feels like it might work and generally condition my brain in to being dream-ready? That sounds do-able!!

Exactly. My recommendation would be to just focus all your energy on recall until it improves (the general benchmark for being 'ready' to LD is at least one medium-length dream a night, but everybody is different), then come back and evaluate how you're going to become lucid.

It will also let you build up a list of dream signs, (whether or not you plan on using the traditional DILD or not) and get a feel for what your dreams are like.

If you have any more questions, feel free to PM me.

Well, in my opinion, the only mental block is the one that you have created from living up until now. It isn't there on purpose, it is just what everyone has to get over in order to ld, because with every night that you didn't try to LD before learning about it, and with every night you didn't try to LD since learning about it, the wall gets bigger. Of course every time you practice LDing you start breaking down the wall, and the longer you practice without taking a break, the more easily the wall will break down.

So as you can see, with my wall analogy, you must be consistent, and don't think of anything being against you more than it is against anyone else, the biggest mental block is the one that you think is there. Haha. Here is a thread I made about mental blocks and techniques.
http://www.dreamviews.com/dreamviews...technique.html

Good luck with your lucid endeavors. Don't forget to practice the fundamentals. Recall, awareness, and sleep schedule! If you keep working on them every day, you will continue to get closer to LDing bossery.

Practice being present with yourself in waking life. That ability to observe what you feel without being absorbed in it is instrumental in dream recall imo.