JNoise and others - thank you so much for starting this topic and all the replies.
Lucid Living (LL) is my favorite topic too, IMHO it’s one of the most beautiful expressions of lucidity one can give. Only those who cannot avoid being caught by labeling and artificial distinctions will not see that what is strived for at one particular moment of the day - ie consciousness during REM-sleep - can also be a useful tool at other moments, like ordinary waking life.
To be continuously aware of the present moment seems to be difficult for many people, and that is absolutely normal. Actually, what we call Lucid Living is the essential part of a lot of traditional religious practices in east and west. Sufis, buddhist monks, hindu yogi, gnostics, all of them share this practice and their religions have developed tools that helps them to realize LL as far as possible. Those meditation techniques vary but they all share the essential component of paying attention - always returning to the present moment, again and again - with some kind of sitting.
My point is, those people practice for years and years and even then they still have so much difficulties to keep their awareness constantly in the present. I personally practice for some years (with ups and downs) and it’s still a daily challenge. So don’t be too hard for yourself by judging your progress, just keep practicing patiently and eventually you WILL enjoy the fruits of mindfulness. And those fruits include much more than just a lucid dream! It’s especially important to be patient during the first months of practice, because you are confronted with the hard part of practice (constantly being confronted with a monkey-mind that always drifts away and still keep the discipline alive) without enjoying the fruits.
Every moment a choice is made: to be drift away or to be here, aware of the present moment. It never stops, and it’s difficult because we like to be drift away and dislike the negative sides of the present reality we are confronted with. We are extremely conditioned, all of us, to get away from here and trying to get somewhere else where we think everything will be perfect (a place that is never reached, unfortunately, as long as we strive to get somewhere else). So it’s just NOT NORMAL for us to be here, and we even don’t realize how much we concern ourselves with useless mind chatter. That’s why LL is so difficult.
A crucial advice is to practice LL without keeping a far-away purpose in mind. The point of Lucid Living is Lucid Living. You are here, in the present, or you are there, in daydreams and only one place is the home of LL. Of course, combined with other LD-techniques LL will definitely help you to have more lucid dreams, if you have a lot of patience it will turn out to be the most effective technique for LDing. While I am absolutely not a natural, I have had some beautiful LD’s at moments when I didn’t practice any other LD-technique but LL. But it is very important not to spoil the present moment with presumpions, theories, judgments, big expectations about the future (“I will maybe have LD’s tonight!”), and if they come just watch them without pushing.
In the beginning, practicing LL will oblige you to do things more slowly because you are paying attention to what you are doing, with full awareness, instead of letting the automatic pilot do those things while the mind is concerning itself with zillions of thoughts. However, nothing to worry about, after a lot of practice you will be able to stay aware within the flow of your actions even in moments of stress when things have to be done really fast. It’s difficult to explain, it’s like the automatic pilot returns but it has become a fully aware pilot. What was subconscious becomes conscious. For example, you will become aware of anger long before the anger reaches the surface and will be able to let the anger go before doing any harm to others. And you didn’t have to supress anything (which is rather counterproductive), it just disappeared because you recognized it for what it is. That’s just one of the examples of what I mean with “more fruits than just a lucid dream”. To become truely aware of oneself and relations with others can only have positive effects for everyone.
Regular practice is crucial so never, never give up, even if it all seems so though and pointless. Once you get a glimpse of what being in the present moment really means, it will definitely encourage you to continue practice. Good-luck !