Waking Up Options

I keep realizing I'm dreaming, then trying to lucid dream, but just waking up instead. I can make maybe a few minor things happen, but they blur and I awaken very quickly. Any tips?

I can only really sort of will the dream to change its content, not directly manipulate things like in the real world unless the dream has me already manipulating them as part of the dream already. Perhaps your trying too much too soon. Perhaps try and recognize fearful things, and hover and move whilst airborne to get away - use your instincts and make for the tree's for safety. After that my mind seemed to realize that those scary things had no authority and so I was able to will those things, like crocodiles and sharks, to disappear, not appear or be sufficiantly distracted. I did though notice that for whatever reason you might be dreaming about something scary, it still might try and appear in the dream in other forms...perhaps a little more dramatic - but that can be the point, to add complexity and interact with it.

This post has been edited by Adder: Mar 7 2011, 06:49 AM

I keep realizing I'm dreaming, then trying to lucid dream, but just waking up instead. I can make maybe a few minor things happen, but they blur and I awaken very quickly. Any tips?

Well that is another step in the right direction. It comes as a shock to your mind to realize that you’re dreaming. I have found that you can trick you mind into making the transition to lucid dreaming without that shock by realizing with the same jolt that you are “dreaming” while waking. As you go about the day, stop and look around, say to yourself “I’m dreaming” and attempt to suddenly realize where you are. In that the mind becomes used to being shocked. The Other trick I have learned is to be so tired that even the shock of realizing you’re dreaming does not wake you. To this end I recommend beer.

Alcohol has a sedative property which keeps you in a sound sleep. It also has the useful effect of suppressing dreaming. It sounds odd, but you can take advantage of your minds need to dream by suppressing that ability for a time. When you allow your mind to dream again, it will attempt to make up for all the lost dream time by making your dreams longer and more vivid. Most dreams are short, simple and are therefore had to remember. Longer dreams are also easier to remember because they have a plot. Something happens, and that leads to something else. Remembering just one part gives you a starting point where you can ask why that happened and what came after.

This is just a technique to help you past this sticking point. At some point you have to go back to normal dreaming. But when you do waking up is not bad. In fact it is useful. After you wake up I assume you jot down quickly everything you can remember, then go back to sleep. When you do focus on the details of the dream you just had. Sometimes, not all the time, but often enough, this allows you to continue the dream.