Making my dreams less mundane?

My dreams have little out of the ordinary, and so I never have something that would make it obvious I’m dreaming.
I’m getting nowhere with WILD or hypnosis, because as long as I’m at all concious, I’ll stay completely concious, and my body will stay active.
And I should consider myself lucky that I got a CALD, even if it didn’t succeed in the end, it’s quite something that a character created without meditation, hypnosis, or an LD was able to do that.
So it looks like making my dreams more surreal is the only way to go.
I’ve tried making them more surreal with direct power of will, but all that does is boost recall.
Any better approaches?

Immerse yourself in games, movies and books. I watched x-men: first class and last night people started dropping from the sky and hitting the sidewalk. Also met my CALD person before and after WBTB. During a nap today I finished Dark Souls in a dream. Just visualizing surreal scenes helps you encounter them in dreams. I constantly visualize surreal stuff when I listen to music.

My dreams very often are surreal, but they still don’t make me lucid. If I notice that I have had the same dream before, I might become lucid or if a DC gives me some clues that I’m dreaming. Very random stuff that isn’t related to the surreal aspect makes me lucid.

Agreed with Letaali! Video games can help thinking surreal, make yourself creative… There are many ways for what you are looking for.

[color=olive]Exactly. Along with that get creative. Add your own twists and plots to your favorite games or movies. Think of the what ifs and don’t just limit them to that specific series, have some collaborations. Get creative, make your own universe, really accept the surreal madness, and live through it in your dreams. "Just get Lost In It"
[size=75]Possible theme song for V3[/size][/color]

I have to echo Letaali when he says “My dreams very often are surreal, but they still don’t make me lucid.” I dream about being in games on a regular basis. (Not playing them, mind you.) Still, I don’t see it as abnormal that I’m vaporizing a Steve from Minecraft or fighting a dragon. You may or may not have success with trying to get lucid from strange scenarios.

But you could… If you are going for this approach try not to become so absorbed in the topic at hand when you do it. Constantly remind yourself while you play the game or read the book that it could be a dream. When I watch a really good movie, play a game, or read a book I get completely absorbed and for the hour, three hours, or even days that I’m occupied in the task I become a part of that world.

I should probably work on that. :razz:

Tried that multiple times with some pretty powerful placebos.
But I can still recall no time in which media has cropped up in a dream anywhere near the time I immersed myself, so I can’t make mneumonics out of media.
Maybe if they made Flatterland into a movie… That would obviously be a dream, and it would be pretty immersive for me.

Some really great tips from everyone here, but I think another key thing that might be holding you back is your belief that you don’t have interesting/surreal dreams. In my experience, simply wanting to have lucid dreams doesn’t work. I have to feel excited by the possibility of doing something amazing, and have a laser focused goal (whether that be jumping off a cliff and flying, or something as general as just having a lucid dream). When I’m able to do this it makes it easier for me to believe that I can (and will) have a lucid dream.

Even in completely ‘ordinary’ dreams there are still heaps of dream signs that you’re missing! If you have Stephen LaBerge’s Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming, there is an awesome guide to cataloging your dreams signs (it starts on page 40 if you already have the book - if not I highly recommend it, but I’m sure there will be a copy this list somewhere on ld4all :smile:). Dream signs don’t always have to be ‘out there’ or surreal, if you’re aware you’ll pick up on the tiniest little things that give away.

To use a recent example from one of my lucid dreams - I was standing in a room, and to my right there is a mattress against a wall. I move forward and notice that it’s windy. I move back so I’m next to the mattress I notice that the mattress doesn’t block out the wind and so I do a RC: I’m dreaming! There was nothing too out of the ordinary here, but still I was able to lucid dream - it’s all about mindset.

Also, when you say that you stay completely conscious during WILD - that’s a great thing! All you have to do is work on relaxing your body and you should be straight into a lucid dream. Good luck!

I can relate… a few days ago I had a dream that I was decorating my front room. Which is what I’ve been doing in RL all weekend…! My reaction when I woke up was to turn on my xbox and play Batman all day, in the hopes that I’d get awesome dark knight crime fighting dreams. It didn’t work as I thought it would, but I did get a LD the next night, completely unrelated to Batman but still awesome.

So maybe take a day off, relax, do stuff that you enjoy. Let the work wait and allow your brain some downtime. Try to do something creative, maybe imagine a really cool dream and write it down? I notice your goal is just ‘stable LD’… have you got something in mind that you’d like to do when you become lucid? Personally I find a very specific goal e.g. flying is much more motivating.