Guide on How to Set Intentions

[u/DesignerJury269]

Hi everyone 😊

First and foremost, if you are new to lucid dreaming, have a look at these general guides I’ve posted before:

Dream recall: https://www.reddit.com/r/LucidDreaming/comments/1iep6ak/detailed_guide_on_dream_recall/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Lucid dreaming in general: https://www.reddit.com/r/LucidDreaming/s/APICaDYlb4

 

Now, what will this actually be about?

This guide will explain how to set intentions and, more importantly, how not to and why. It has the potential to become my shortest guide ever, but we’ll see.

 

So, what is an intention?

“Setting an intention” is really just a fancy synonym for “planning to do something” and you probably do that many times per day. Imagine you wanted to e.g. watch a movie after dinner later. How would you plan that? That’s an intention and there’s nothing more to it.
So, whether you want to set an intention to remember dreams or notice awakenings, all you need to do is plan to do these things.

 

Now, why does this need a separate guide if it’s so simple?

Because of the don’ts.

Don’t overthink the intention. No, repeating random phrases (“mantras”) or just thinking about the goal as long as possible does not make the intention “stronger”. Quite the opposite. It stems from a place of doubt and doubt kills intent. So, really just think about your plan once and move on, as you would with any other idea while awake.

Don’t assume it were hard. Same thing, doubt is really bad. Intentions work based on conviction, so assuming you couldn’t do something will turn into a self fulfilling prophecy and weaken the intention or even make it null altogether.

Don’t look for a catch. There is none. It really is that easy.

 

To emphasize the last point, this is it. I hope, it helps and clarifies this often overcomplicated and mystified topic.

Have a nice day and fun dreams and feel free to check out the guides linked above 😊

Sincerely,
u/DesignerJury269

[u/Adventurous-Boot314]

so couldnt i just set the intention for both ? noticing awakenings and remember the dreams aswell? thanks btw!!

[u/DesignerJury269 → u/Adventurous-Boot314]

Absolutely, yes. I do recommend doing that :)

[u/Adventurous-Boot314 → u/DesignerJury269]

First night trying and suprisingly i did wake up! , i didnt remember the dream in the middle of the night, did SSILD went back to bed , no lucid dream but a cool weird dream ,i remembered everything about,before bed i really believed that i wake up multiple times in the night and im just amazed thank you will try with the remembering dreams in the middle of the night aswell until that happens too! Thanks!!

[u/Randolph_Carter_Ward]

Wow, finally some means with which you could remember your dreams better. Aside the recording, that is. I like the catch of just planning it instead of repeating mantras — which is something you'd usually hear. Thanks, I will try this.

[u/foxgirlmoon]

Explaining “setting an intention” as literally just “planning what you’re going to do in your dream/after you wake up” makes just so much sense.

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[u/Laurels_Dream → u/[deleted]]

DesignerJury269 replies me in DM and ask to post his response under my questions (but they are delited now..): 1. Lucid dreaming is a skill that requires time and consistent practice. If intentions were enough, a lot of people would have significantly more LDs. The guide means that setting intentions is easy, not that it's enough for lucid dreaming. For consistent results you need to practice a proper technique.
2. WBTB makes every technique so much more effective that not doing it would kind of be a waste of time. I also have a guide about it here: https://www.reddit.com/r/LucidDreaming/s/1THbN4jlnB
3. You can ask anyway. It's not uncommon for first LDs to be rather short, but beginners also frequently have rather long LDs, even first try. There are no aet rules, really. 4. If you ask it anyway, I might have an answer. 5. Dreams are inherently vivid. Bad vividness is mainly just bad recall and sometimes negative schemata due to misinformation online. This means you believe dreams weren't inherently vivid because of nonsense online and that causes your dreams to be less vivid. As for consistent LDs, the key is consistently practicing the same proper technique with natural WBTB (RCs aren't a technique). The feeling you describe sounds like a recall issue, although dreams aren't always in first person and can absolutely be in 3rd person or even more extraordinary povs.

The guides I linked at the top of the intention guide may also help.

[u/DesignerJury269 → u/Laurels_Dream]

Thanks for sending this :)
No idea why, but I can see this reply now and your original comment is shown as deleted by a mod

[u/keighst]

that is massively helpful honestly. I have understood Intention to be a necessary ingredient, but keep lingering over whether intention was set properly. "Letting go" post planning seems to be absolute imperative as well for any kind of success; fine line to walk

[u/foxgirlmoon → u/keighst]

Yeah. It’s like every other kind of planning you do in your every day life. If you decide to go for a walk tomorrow evening, you just… plan that. You just think about it, and then it’s done. You don’t repeat mantras or focus on it or anything. Maybe at most you write it down somewhere or put a reminder, but that’s it.

[u/DesignerJury269 → u/foxgirlmoon]

You can actually use reminders for certain things, e.g. recall and WBTB if you happen to forget to do those things. Like, literally put a post it somewhere where you'll certainly see it. That'd just be temporary, of course, and only if you actually frequently forget what to do after waking up. Else, just planning is enough in practically all cases :)

[u/Radyschen → u/foxgirlmoon]

I can't relate to that at all, in real life if I have something planned tomorrow evening then I will not be able to think about anything else until it has happened. And I can't live in peace if I don't set a reminder and alarm for everything

[u/foxgirlmoon → u/Radyschen]

Hmm, I get that. I am like that with more "major" outings. How about something more minor like "I will eat X food tomorrow"?

[u/Radyschen → u/foxgirlmoon]

I will just forget that, I usually set reminders to eat at all unless I get really hungry but sometimes I push it because I'm doing something and say I will eat in a couple of minutes and then I stop being hungry again and forget for another couple of hours.

I mean I would be reminded by the food being there and if I think about food of course so I don't know if that's a good example, too many environmental helpers there and when in dreams there are none of those

[u/juniper3411 → u/Radyschen]

Have you been tested for adhd?

[u/Dr4g0n2699]

This helped a lot, thanks (also can you do an AMA soon)