Thread: Noob's question: Is there really anything that works better than stick-with-it-ness?

Noob's question: Is there really anything that works better than stick-with-it-ness?

I have only been at this four about two months. During that time, i have managed to initiate two lucid dreams, and maybe a half dozen or so strange dreaming experiences that I would not exactly call lucid. I have also read several books, and watched loads of youtube vids on the subject, done reality checks multiple times daily, etc.

My experiences generally:

There does not seem to be a lot of conventional wisdom about this, and many people say contradictory things.

For example, regarding WILDs, there are some who say that you do not scratch itches or adjust your body for pains that crop up, because, if you absolutely don't move, the body is fooled into thinking it is in sleep paralysis. Others say scratch or adjust as you like.

For another, some say that sleep aids (soporific drugs) are helpful, others say stay away from them altogether. Personally, the two voluntary lucid dreams I have had were one of each: one under a soporific and one not.

The one piece of received wisdom that does seem pretty universal is the dream journal, but isn't that really just a form of concentration on the lucid dreaming itself? You write it down, you read it over, and this just results in your spending that much more time concentrating on it.

Anyway, I guess my question is this: Since there don't really seem to be any rules (or at least not a lot of universal ones), but lots of people can voluntarily lucid dream, is it likely that it is simply the intent and desire and concentration on lucid dreaming in waking life that are what is really causing it to happen?