Thread: newbie!

yay! after trying to dream lucidly for many years and giving up I finally, by accident had my first ever lucid dream!

one day I looked at my hand and it was all distorted and the fingers were twisted like through some disease- that instantly led to me remembering what that meant and instantly feeling great freedom/liberation, more pronounced than anything I've felt in wakefulness, like a fish being poured out of a constraining bucket into a pond. Anyhow, upon seeing my hand to confirm my suspicions I made it into a V or a vulcan hand-sign, and was able to split it into two like an amoeba just by thinking about it, then I thought "yeah, I'm dreaming" - that led to the ecstasy of liberation and I flew through my window for some flying (I have recurring non-lucid flying dreams), then went on to make a nice lil "movie" with 3 beautiful chicks, though the first time I tried to create them they turned out all blurry/incorrect, like burnt out photographs . currently I try to look at my hand as many times as possible during the day, reminders I use are whenever there is a change of location or whenever something exciting is happening. I used to try the looking at the hand then looking away and then back at it technique to get it to distort but now I just take my hand and try to distort it with my mind since that is slightly less weird looking in public when done discreetly. So far (about 5 days since first lucid dream) I have had some success- I was walking towards a bus stop and pulled out my hand to examine it, when I suddenly realized I was in my bed looking at that very same hand. Also trying the techniques from this list throughout events or location changes in the day:

http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ead.php?t=4470

and also I'm attempting meditation and have no trouble sitting (almost) thoughtless in the lotus pose for 10-20 mins just being immersed in my surroundings. Also I started writing my dreams down again- they happen every night now.

is there something I'm missing? I really want more lucid dreams and don't want this one to be my last!

From info and techniques, your missiong nothing, however, remember that sometimes trying too hard may have a negative effect, so don't push yourself to much. Also, congratulations on the lucid, more will come eventually.

What Walms said was mostly correct, but in my experience, you should try as hard as possible, but don't over think it. Also, it helps to realize that RCs are for the purpose of questioning your reality and not really for the sake of doing reality checks. Only once have I RCd in my dreams to make me lucid. If you question your reality enough and think about lucid dreaming when you go to sleep and when you wake up in the middle of the night then you will have a better chance of just becoming lucid naturally without even needing an RC.

Keep in mind that it's different for everyone though and you need to find your own way to lucid dreaming. There are some things that will help you get there though. Don't ever let yourself get discouraged, keep a dream journal and read up on LDing as much as you can. Best advice I can give.

Welcome to DV by the way!

I agree with John that it is very rare that someone will do a spontaneous, random RC in a dream and become lucid as a result, but I think they are fun to do anyway. They are useful if you are someone who has a hard time intuitively distinguishing dreams from reality or especially if you have just had a FA. Plus, I think they are a common element of the subculture of lucid dreaming, something that makes us stand out as a group or that you can show to someone who has never heard of LDs before to pique their interest. In that sense I think they are useful and something to be celebrated and proud of.

Welcome