the BIG Reality Check Topic [part II]

I don’t get lucid from my dreamsigns either even if I remember to do them about 70% of the time I encounter them IRL. But if I do a RC in a dream I usually get lucid. But for some reason the only RC’s my dream self do are ones that I don’t do IRL. Once I got lucid form trying to put my hand trough a window. And I never do that RC IRL. Lately I too have been getting lucid for no reason.

So…any tips on how to build up the Critical faculty to actually attempt an RC in a dream. I’ve RC all the time during the day had have only sporadicalyl attempted an RC in my dreams. The few DILDs I have had, I just all of a sudden realize that this must be a dream and then after the fact do a state test…

That is the way it works for me to. I think that just doing RC during the day, remembering my dreams, keeping a dream journal and studying it so that I get to know my dreams all help develop my critical faculty. I believe that by doing these things I develop a critical attitude toward my reality while awake that carries over to my dreams. I also believe my intention to recognize I am dreaming plays a strong role as well. So far the only dream sign that has caused me to become lucid was flying. I have failed to recognize blatant dream signs that occur almost every night. I either become lucid using WILD where I stay conscious or in the case of DILD I will just realize I am dreaming then I do a RC to confirm what I already know. Im dreaming.

Hi Milod,

Yes, I agree with what you said. I think that perhaps what is important about state testing and keeping a dream journal during waking life is developing an overall familiarity with the difference between the states of waking and dreaming and that familiarity will, in and of itself yield lucidity after a period of time…

Take care :wink:

Hi Pleban

That’s what I believe. It seems to be true for other people I have talked to as well. However, there must be a way to learn to recognize dream signs while dreaming. Otherwise a product like the nova dreamer would be useless. Like I said anytime I find my self flying I know I am dreaming. I don’t even have to be actually flying for this to work. In one dream I was running down a flight of stairs. As I neared the bottom of the stairs I glided over the last few steps and instantly knew I was dreaming.

What is weird is that I never trained myself to try and recognize flying as a dream sign. It is just not something that happens frequently enough to be a good dream sign. Yet any time I find myself in flight or even just a few inches of the groung I instantly become lucid. I am grateful for the times when WILD fails and later I just become aware of my dream state and then lucid. I have several good dream signs that occur almost every night yet they never cause me to become lucid.

my longest and best LD to date (ive only had about 5, handt even heared of LDs 2 months ago either) was after doing a reality check

i was on my landing in my house just about to go down stairs, and i thought ‘ther’s absolutely no way that im dreaming right now…’ and i did actually think this, i was totally convinced that i wasnt dreaming. i looked at my hands like i do IRL after thinking like this and my little finger was sort of flickering on and off. needless to say i became lucid but had a heart attack in the process cos i was totally thinking i wasnt dreaming. i even collapsed and had an FA into another dream but still lucid.

It seems, for me, that whenever I am experiencing a dream, it is like watching a movie without any control, and everything I do seems completely normal, for example: the other night I dreamt, myself and some friends were walking on the freeway in between fast moving cars! You know, just walking along, chillin’ and it all seemed completely normal. I have been doing RC’s in RL for the last week or so, but I don’t do them in dreams yet, but what is frustrating is that even though these things in my dreams that are obviously wrong or things that I wouldn’t be doing, are normal in my dream, and don’t give me any reason to become lucid, even though after the fact, the things I was doing seem exceedingly strange or wrong. Any tips? Unless the answer simply is “practice.” I am actively keeping a DJ, but it just gets a little frustrating…

Quickbeam

You already said that you are doing RC and keeping a dream journal. Both are important for any of the induction techniques and can even cause you to have LD’s buy them selves.

What technique if any are you currently using to induce lucid dreams?

Well, none right now, I kind of have just been hoping to have a DILD, but if you were to suggest a method, which one would you pick?

Yes keeping a DJ and doing RC ‘is a technique by its self and will give you LD ‘s you just stay diligent with doing the RC ‘s and writing in your DJ every night. If you are not already doing it I would also suggest that after you do a RC and if you conclude that you are not dreaming tell yourself that everything you see is a dream and that the next time you are dreaming you will realize you are dreaming.

Some other techniques you can add:

You can look in the How tab on the top of the page to get a basic overview of the skills.

MILD- As you go to bed at night you tell yourself over and over “the next time I am dreaming I will realize I am dreaming”like a mantra until you drift off to sleep. You can read more about it in the BIG MILD topic. This is a very popular technique.

WILD- (my favorite) Where you fall asleep consciously. Find more info in the big WILD topic

These are just a few of the techniques you can learn.

Happy Dreaming

it just occured to me that (being a busy person) i look at my whrist watch quite a lot during the day, but i can’t seem to recall having any dream in which i looked at my watch. would that make the watch RC ineffective for me?

No, it would probably be fine. Why wouldn’t it?

i’m sorry my question was vague :shy: so i’ll try to clarify it now. i didn’t mean that it won’t work, i meant that i won’t do it out of habit. I read in so many places that after performing too many RCs in waking life one would perform them in dreams out of habit. But i look at my watch so many times in waking life and still never looked at it in dreams. That’s why i’m thinking that i won’t do the RC until i become suspicious of whether or not i’m dreaming. Now that i’m doing the watch RC during the day, i’m wondering if it will still work on its own without associating it with noticing a personal dreamsign (i still haven’t collected enough dreams to recognise personal dreamsigns :content: ).

Well, you need to seperate looking-at-watch-for-time and looking-at-watch-for-RC. Every time you check the time (hehe) do an RC, but sometimes do an RC and don’t check the time, or check the time after you do the RC. That should work.

One of my classic RCs worked again!

I was back in Boston with my room mates and I said… wow it is great being here with you guys… then I was like… hmmmmmmmmmm… so I plugged my nose and was definitely dreaming… so I grabbed my roommates and took them for a fly.

During my LDs something funny happened… I usually fly through windows, but one of the windows was two small so I tried to crawl through it and I couldn’t fit… hahaha

I often just “know” it’s a dream in my LDs…
But when I get an RC-triggered LD it’s been the hold-your-nose RC that has worked for me. And almost exclusively after an FA

So that might be a good idea for those that are too lazy to do RC’s during the day (like me :smile: ). Do the nose RC everytime you wake up, it’s so effortless (it takes a second, no counting, no looking away/back etc) and you will have a FA-to-LD. And for some reason (at least for me) these LD are extremely vivid

I’m not having much success with RC’s but it’s my own fault for not practising them enough during the day. I’m so anxious when I’m out anyway, too busy thinking of unimportant things that I just end up forgetting them.

My ND’s are often vivid and I remember them pretty well but theres not much chance of me having a DILD :cry:

I read on www.lucidity.com that Dr. laberge (sp?) runs lucid dreaming convetions every now and then, and at these convetions they are required to do a reality check whenever they pass through a doorway.

Does anyone else do this, or am I the only one?

Sometimes I find it hard to remember to RC, so i put up post its on the doorways in my house to remind me, this method works great.

yeah

yes, but who will put up post its in your dreams :smile:

no see the idea is that you will begin to RC whenever you go through a doorway, and you will no longer need the post its.