Thread: Trouble staying asleep after becoming lucid.

OKay, so I could use a bit of help and encouragement. Now, it's been a little while since I've been to the site and, unsurprisingly, my initial success in inducing lucid dreams dropped off. However, recently I've made a concerted effort to do my RCs and generally get my mind back into the right mode.

My efforts were not in vain. Last night I induced a lucid dream through DILD (which is the only method I've tried so far, but I've had great success with it). The problem is this...the last two times I've attained lucidity, whenever I try to do any of the "cool stuff" I end up waking up.

As some of you may remember from my last post about it, in my frist "real" lucid dream (in which I didn't awaken immediately upon gaining lucidity) when I spoke in the dream, I thought I could hear myself physically speaking in the waking world. This disconcerted me and I woke up.

Last night, after counting my fingers and gaining lucidity, I immediately started rubbing my hands together, since someone here mentioned this is helpful, and told myself "I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming." Then I tried the spinning thing to change scenes. I close my eyes, spin a few times and when I opened my eyes.... Well that's just it. I actually OPENED MY EYES. Thus, I was awake. Not a false awakening, either. I checked.

So it seems that when I become lucid, I get extremely close to wakefulness. Will this change over time as I continue to become experienced as a lucid dreamer? Or is there anything I can do to further ensure I'll not wake up so easily? I'm glad that I'm able to become lucid, but it doesn't do me much good if I keep waking up!

This is very common for beginner LDers. Don't worry about it, and just remember that it will get better over time. I recommend "practicing" during the day. Randomly stop and pretend that you just became lucid. Analyze your surroundings. What do you do? Drill a routine into your head, and think about anything other than waking up. Do some reality checks, rub your hands together, and get a clear goal in mind. Do you fly? Run? Summon a dragon and wreak havoc?

You might get used to it over time. -Not that it won't still be awesome, but once it's happened a few times maybe you won't be so surprised and it won't wake you up. ...maybe

Well it's not exactly that I was surprised...not the second time anyway. It just...I don't know! I opened my eyes and....actually opened my eyes. I don't know why that happened. I guess I just get really close to consciousness after gaining lucidity. Hopefully that'll taper off as I get more experienced. I still haven't been able to do anything fun before waking!

What I've learned and, noticed in my own dreams, is that if you feel yourself thinking about your physical body, stop your thoughts and distract yourself with your dream environment - rub your hands together, look around, or just keep telling yourself that you are dreaming. Stay calm too. =3

One word, Practice.
I'm still trying to tackle lucid dreaming too.
Nice goals by the way Demara.