Lucid dreaming assistance?

[Jarrod]

Hi.  I've been trying to have an out of body experience with various different methods for several years but haven't been able to.  Since pretty much the same thing can be achieved by lucid dreaming, I figure maybe that's the route for me.  I can manage to have a lucid dream on rare occasions but the realization usually just wakes me up. I read somewhere about people actually helping each other to lucid dream.  One person would astral project or get to the real time zone from lucid dreaming and go to the other person's body while they were asleep, then just locate their spirit body and inform them that they're dreaming.  I'm not sure about the specifics like whether or not the helper had to know where the other person was physically or not.  Does anyone here have any experience with that, or would anyone like to give it a try?

[Xanth]

I've been Lucid Dreaming all my life.  Mostly, they come about completely random for no reason that I can really discern.
However, there are things you can do to help yourself learn HOW to Lucid Dream.

I made a post on my own website regarding it.
http://unlimitedboundaries.ca/2010/09/11/how-to-have-lucid-dreams-by-summerlander/

I hope it helps. 

PS... once you have a lucid dream, you can convert that into a full astral projection.
This is my chosen method for doing that:  http://unlimitedboundaries.ca/2010/09/01/how-i-convert-a-lucid-dream-into-an-astral-projection/ 

[Jarrod]

Thanks Xanth.  I used to keep a dream diary but gave up the habit a couple years back.  I suppose I should pick it back up   I think I will also acquire a watch I can set an hourly alert on and use that to remind me to do the reality checks so they become a habit.  It's kind of hard to keep enthusiasm up because I've been trying to AP for so long, about 6 years on and off, but I'm not giving up.  It's kind of my driving passion.  Does anyone know about the helping technique I mentioned in my first post though?  I have a couple relatively psychic friends but don't know anybody who APs regularly so I haven't been able to try it.  I usually just wake up out of excitement but I think after I do it enough to get used to it that will stop being a problem.

[Xanth]

Thanks Xanth.  I used to keep a dream diary but gave up the habit a couple years back.  I suppose I should pick it back up   I think I will also acquire a watch I can set an hourly alert on and use that to remind me to do the reality checks so they become a habit.  It's kind of hard to keep enthusiasm up because I've been trying to AP for so long, about 6 years on and off, but I'm not giving up.  It's kind of my driving passion.  Does anyone know about the helping technique I mentioned in my first post though?  I have a couple relatively psychic friends but don't know anybody who APs regularly so I haven't been able to try it.  I usually just wake up out of excitement but I think after I do it enough to get used to it that will stop being a problem.

I know the feeling, trust me.  I've been trying for the past 10+ years now for conscious exits with little luck... well, little luck until I ran into the stuff Frank wrote. 
Now, because of his stuff, I'm seeing all the connections in the other books that I've read.  It's really nice to be able to begin to put the puzzle together.

As for a Dream Journal, that's a good idea if you have the motivation.  I'm too lazy to... >_<

The watch thing is a semi-good idea... I tried that one myself, but could never remember to do my checks, even with the beeping.
For your reality checks, you want something that isn't so "exact"... and is something that you might find yourself doing while dreaming. 

Keep up the effort though, and you WILL be rewarded.
I think it's very rare for people to fail if they REALLY and TRULY put in the effort.