how often should I remind myself I am in a lucid dream?

**WaltersDreams** · 02-20-2015 12:21 AM

Title says it all.
I have yet to have a long lucid dream, but I only lose lucidity by naturally waking up.
I am pretty good about remembering I have achieved my goal.

**ThreeCat** · 02-20-2015 01:04 AM

Reminding yourself you are dreaming really only helps to prevent drifting into a non lucid dream. You might try rubbing hands or (perhaps) spinning around to stabilize the dream, and thereby preventing a wake-up.

**Azul** · 02-25-2015 07:35 PM

I second what ThreeCat said. Convincing yourself that you are dreaming isn't the ideal way of becoming lucid. Instead just focus on your awareness so you can differentiate the physical and non-physical realities.

**AstralFlare** · 02-26-2015 03:56 AM

From my personal experience, not very often. For me, keeping my mind focused and on one train of thought helps maintain lucidity for longer durations. If you're in a dream and you know it, there's nothing more to be said. Constantly reminding your self "I'm in a dream, I'm in a dream" is breaking your self apart from the experience of the dream its self making you more likely to lose track of what's going on, instead of just focusing on what you're doing in the moment. Trying to tell dream characters that they're in a dream, now that's another story all together.

**FryingMan** · 03-03-2015 11:46 AM

I think that while lucid, it's important to keep at least in the back of your awareness a constant recognition of the dream state. Otherwise it's so easy to get sucked into the plot of the dream and lose lucidity entirely. It is not "breaking yourself apart," it is recognizing the truth of your present state. Just like mindfulness in the waking state is a constant recognition of your present moment, from moment to moment.

**Laurelindo** · 03-03-2015 01:53 PM

I have noticed that my lucid dreams tend to always feel like they could end at any moment if I don't pay a lot of attention to them.
It's kind of like trying to keep balance on a slender rope - in order to do that you must be very focused at all times and constantly shift your weight to avoid falling.
That's kind of like what lucid dreams feel like to me - always very close to fading and making me wake up as a result.

I agree that you shouldn't worry too much about trying to stay in the dream, but rather just try to be self-aware of the dreamworld and calmly remind yourself that you are dreaming.
Might as well enjoy the dream until it ends, since you can never be absolutely sure when it is going to end anyway.

**FryingMan** · 03-03-2015 02:03 PM

Ah, that pesky thing, Balance. Yes, enjoyment and moving frequently from mini-goal to mini-goal seems to give the best experience, while maintaining that pearl of awareness that it's a dream.

**FOATL** · 03-06-2015 07:39 AM

Originally Posted by WaltersDreams

Title says it all.
I have yet to have a long lucid dream, but I only lose lucidity by naturally waking up.
I am pretty good about remembering I have achieved my goal.

if you havent gotten used to it yet, you should remind yourself every few seconds.....sometimes lucids can be fragile, and very unstable, so much so, that you have to constantly tell yourself "this is a dream" while dreaming it......otherwise you wake up......i had a lucid this morning like this.....it was very unstable.....i had to keep reminding myself because the environment kept changing on its own......it almost felt like i was drunk, and couldnt see very well......this dream really tested my stabilization skills....thats for sure....