Maintaining Lucidity

**Petrokov** · 05-31-2012 07:16 PM

Hello, everyone.

I often have dreams where I realize that what is happening isn't real. Just last night I dreamt that everyone at my school was being relocated to what was effectively a concentration camp. One of my friends told me she was scared, and I remember thinking that I wasn't scared because it wasn't real.

Another time, I dreamt that I saw a girl I used to know who died a few years ago walking down the street on which I used to live. I looked specifically at her legs to make sure I wasn't confusing her with her twin sister (who became a paraplegic in the accident that killed this girl), and when I saw that she indeed was walking, I clearly thought to myself, "this isn't real."

I had another dream where my IB scores were compromised because I had sex with someone (it made sense in the dream), and I thought to myself, "that's not fair; I dreamt that, so it shouldn't affect me now."

My problem is that once I do this, I go back to dreaming. I can sometimes identify when what I am experiencing isn't real, but I never put two and two together and figure out that I'm dreaming and that I can control what's happening.

So does anyone have any tips for making the leap between realizing that the situation isn't real and actually becoming lucid?

Thanks.

**OpheliaBlue** · 05-31-2012 09:13 PM

Hey Petrokov!

Well I gotta say, you've kinda got the hardest part out of the way: you in fact knew it wasn't real. My suggestion is to start practicing reality checks during the day. That way, the next time you feel "this isn't real" or "something just isn't right," you can perform one. Upon a successful check, you will turn your realization into a DILD (dream induced lucid dream). Some popular checks you can do are listed here: Reality Checks.

Good luck on getting that full lucid, and don't hesitate to PM me if you have any questions.

**gab** · 05-31-2012 09:25 PM

Hi and welcome to DV!

Reality checks are great thing to do, as they will help you to get lucid. You could add some awareness technique to it to make them more potent. Check out this collection of methods you can do all together to get the most out of them. Happy dreams

**faceonmars** · 05-31-2012 09:34 PM

Welcome to the forum. Sounds like you need to develop a reality check system for your dreams. When I think I might be dreaming I simply do a gravity check and jump. Dream gravity is much less limiting. I usually jump to the top of a building. Bingo... lucidity! Then the fun begins ;:^) .

**Petrokov** · 05-31-2012 09:46 PM

Wow, thanks for the help everyone!

This makes sense. I've been getting lazy with my reality checks. I even set the background of my phone to say "Reality Check," but I usually just ignore it. When I do reality checks, I usually just do something simple like hold my nose and try to breathe or try to push my fingers through my palm. Sometimes I'll count the fingers on my hand. But they've become just a mindless routine. From what people are saying, I should more thought into them.

I think another problem might be that I have trouble focusing. People say that one of the keys to lucid dreaming is constantly being aware of your surroundings while you're awake. I would judge that throughout my life, though, I spend at least 30% of the time not seeing what's in front of me, thinking about and visualizing something else. I know that this is something that I need to work on by myself, but are there methods to becoming more aware?

**OpheliaBlue** · 05-31-2012 09:56 PM

If you're interested in increasing your awareness, check out Puffin's DILD Guide. It's hugely awareness based and I think you'll find it interesting and helpful.

**gab** · 05-31-2012 09:58 PM

Yeah, it's hard to stay aware, I guess we are used to just going about our business without paying attention to what we do. There is a simple random awareness technique in the link I posted in previous post, and there are two really good awareness techniques Puffin's DILD Guide - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views and ADA, but they require little more work. Happy dreams