There are a few golden rules that can take your lucid dreaming practice from good to great and the best part about it is that they are all completely free!
There are a few tips and tricks that you can incorporate into your daily life to enhance your lucid dreaming experience if you’re having trouble becoming lucid, or if your practice is inconsistent.
Great Expectations
Volumes and volumes can be filled about the importance of positive thinking and visualisation. So if you imagine something then you’ve already accomplished half the battle. As Luis Jorge Borges once said:
“if we see the Milky Way, it is because it actually exists in our souls…”
Or
“If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, nothing shall be impossible unto you.”
Simply put: just having the expectation firmly planted in your mind that you are going to have a lucid dream is enough to get the ball rolling on developing a long and fruitful lucid dreaming practice. This is as simple as telling yourself that you are going to have a lucid dream and then doing a few other things to help “anchor” the belief and make it a reality.
It’s also important not to be frightened or scared by what you might encounter in the lucid state. Remember: you have the ultimate control and can steer the reigns in any direction you choose.
Being fearful and having negative expectations will stop you from achieving lucidity at all so rather than sabotaging your efforts before you’ve even had a lucid dream, read on to find out what you can do to help nip all fear in the bud.
Start Small
So how do you start having lucid dreams and telling yourself that you’re going to experience lucidity in your dreams? It’s best to do this in small, bite-sized chunks.
Every night before you go to bed tell yourself that you are going to remember your dreams that night and have a small notepad and pen by your bed so you can jot them down upon waking.
Once you start consistently remembering your “regular” dreams, you’ve laid down the groundwork for achieving lucidity.
The Art of Keeping a Dream Journal
Continue to keep a dream journal as a way of keeping track of your progress and keeping your morale high. There’s nothing like being able to look back at your lucid dreaming journey to see how far you’ve come.
The habit of keeping a dream journal will also clue your subconscious into your goals and will help you remember your dreams more frequently.
Many people who start off on their lucid dreaming adventure claim that when they stop writing down their dreams every morning, they start to forget them upon waking. So give your subconscious something to look forward to and you will start to remember your dreams more regularly and with more clarity.
Tell Yourself you’re going to have (and remember!) your Lucid Dreams
After about a month of remembering your dreams upon waking, start telling yourself that you are going to have a lucid dream that night (use this in tandem with methods such as the fall back to sleep method for example).
Leave no room for doubt that you will have a lucid dream that night and that it will be a positive, life-affirming experience. Don’t, whatever you do, let lack of confidence get the better of you. Belief and expectation are key and I cannot overemphasize these points strongly enough.
They might sound simple but they’re what are going to take you from being a non lucid dreamer, to a full-on, bonafide lucid dreaming expert.
There is one other thing you can do to start having lucid dreams, which I will now discuss below.
Meditate, meditate, meditate!
I’m sure you’ve heard this a hundred times but the number one thing that you can start doing to enhance your lucid dreams is to meditate daily.
Meditation is the number one golden rule to improving and enhancing every spiritual discipline and that includes lucid dreaming. Even just 10 minutes a day can take your lucid dreaming practice from non-existent to off-the-charts.
As with incorporating any new habit into our daily lives, it’s best to break into meditation gradually. Meaning: don’t bite off more than you can chew. Start with 10 minutes a day and then build up to 12, 15, 17 minutes a day to reap the benefits.
Why is Meditation so Great?
Meditation has been touted by every major religion and spiritual discipline since the dawn of time.
Coincidence? I think not. Meditation has been scientifically proven to do many things (all of them good!) and it is a veritable panacea for whatever ails you.
Not only does meditation improve psychological functioning by reducing stress and anxiety, it also harnesses creative thinking, cultivates inner awareness and improves concentration (which is key to getting your lucid dreaming practice off to a good start!)
Other benefits of meditation that are of particular interest to lucid dreamers are an improved sense of connectedness and improved memory. Why are these two points important?
If your memory is functioning at an all time high then you’ll be able to recall your dreams with more clarity on waking and if your sense of connectedness is improved then there’s absolutely no limit to what you can experience in the lucid state!
So, as we’ve seen, meditation isn’t just for monks and you’ll be amazed at just how powerful this deceptively simple practice is in improving every aspect of your lucid dreaming practice.
Many newbie lucid dreamers who start meditating daily see major improvements in their ability to induce lucid dreams and in their lives in general (i.e. improved mood and better cardiovascular health).
Conclusion
There are two golden rules to help get your lucid dreaming practice off to a head start and that is to have positive expectations (“I WILL have a lucid dream tonight”) and to start a daily meditation practice.
