I have experienced lucid dreams in the past. The way i would achieve them was through affirmations and constantly thinking about lucid dreaming, but the lucid dreams would come spontaneously.
However, for a long time now I have been doing the same things and it has just felt as if something has been blocking me from having lucid dreams. I have not had them in a very, very long time. I have had things to deal with internally and so what i have also done has been to give myself suggestions right before sleep to release those things in sleep. Such dreams have been vivid and i have felt protected as i became the observer to them. I would wake up feeling lighter.
And so, I wonder whether i need to keep doing this, releasing that is, before i can accomplish lucid dreaming again and hopefully and eventually becoming proficient.
What do you think?
Thank you for your time.
Hi LD Wonderer,
Good questions!
At my workshops, I routinely meet people who had a very active lucid dream life — then it drops off — and they want to get it re-started.
From their experience, I have seen a few common situations, and resolutions:
- Got Too Busy — Some people have a life change (marriage, kids, new job, anxiety/depression, etc.) and their time and interest in lucid dreaming plummets. Years later, life stabilizes and they want the lucid dreams to ‘return’. 😉 For these people, the resolution normally involves generating interest and enthusiasm in lucid dreaming again — and having ‘concrete goals’ instead of mushy ‘I-wanna-get-lucid’ but can’t explain why goals.
- Sudden Stop — Some people tell me that their lucid dreaming just stopped. And they have not had any major life change or anything. 😉 Normally with these people I encourage them to return to the last lucid dream or two — and see if something happened in the lucid dream that may have asked them to grow or to change, or resulted in resistance or fear. Often when they return to the last remembered lucid dream, they can see some ‘issue’ (and have ego resistance to it, or fear of it). The resolution? In the waking state, dialogue with the issue until you resolve the fear or the resistance. Done thoughtfully, your lucid dreams will return!
- Hurt Feelings — At a workshop, a guy told me he had not had a lucid dream in a couple of years. I ask him, “What changed two years ago?” It took a couple of days, but then he realized that two years ago, he was lucid dreaming a lot. He got so excited that he asked his dad to watch the movie, ‘Waking Life’ about lucid dreaming. At the end of it, his dad said, “What a bunch of rubbish!” and said that lucid dreaming was stupid. The guy cared about his dad — and suddenly stopped lucid dreaming. 😉 Having this realization, and moving past the hurt, his lucid dreams began again.
- Medications — If you look closely, some medications have ‘side effects’ in really small print! And occasionally you will read, “Inhibits dream recall” or “May create vivid dreams”. If you notice that your lucid dreaming life changed around the same time you began a medication, then check into the side effects.
- Other…. Sometimes people read something silly or adopt a new belief where ‘lucid dreams’ appear frightful — and their subconscious fear makes it difficult to lucid dream. Research has shown that lucid dream is natural, and happens spontaneously in children as young as 6 years old (and a bit more than half of the population). Understanding that lucid dreaming seems a natural thing should dissipate any concerns. 😉 Dreams happen!