Thread: forgetting to do RCs in the day

Huh, I was just about to complain about this same problem for me.
I try to do the count your fingers and try to push your hand through the other thing, along with the block your nose and try to breath one. I do them whenever I think of them, but I doubt its enough. I do it about 6 times per day...

Im going to watch this thread to see if any help comes for the both of us.

One idea is that maybe we should wait for our day off, or one with the least going on, and maybe carry our phones around which can go off to remind you to do it every 40 minutes.

Awareness - just be more skeptical as to whether or not you're really dreaming. You know, you could be in a dream right now - you think you're awake but how do you really know for sure? Just because everything looks real, doesn't mean it is. You don't question things while you're dreaming, so do it now because that's a telltale sign that you're asleep. Be aware, and do an RC to confirm. My favourites are the nose-plug because it hardly ever fails, and the finger-counting one.

Another way to test if you're dreaming, which has worked for me a few times, is really thinking on the spot and seeing how aware you are.

Are you aware of the floor under your feet, and how it feels?

Can you feel gravity? Put your arm up into the air and then relax it, expecting it to float up or something (if you were in a dream, it'll probably do what you expect it to do - float upwards).

How awake do you feel? Groggy, or sleepy? In dreams, even lucid ones, sometimes you aren't fully conscious. This helps you to become more aware, which leads to an RC.

How can we be aware all day if we can't even do enough 5 second R.C.s?

Sure, I can see the questioning reality thing working, but how do we do it more often throughout the day?

It's because, after doing a RC for 5 secs, you'll forget about doing it. You do ADA as long as you can from the point u start. 5 ADA practice periods is better than 5 RC's IMO. Read Kingyoshi's thread, he included how to get started.

If you wanna stick with RC, try something like a dot on the back of your hand, and do 1 or more RC's whenever you see it.

You don't have to be aware all day - just every time you remember. Put some sticky notes or write a message that will remind you every hour or so, and then when you become more adept at it, remove the notes. But don't raise your awareness or do RCs all the time!

I guess it will be worth it. Well its the weekend tomorrow, so I can do whatever I want tonight. I think I will try the WBTB thing, and tomorrow I will try an all day awareness. Hopefully I will get something out of it. I got 2 S.P.s one night, but couldn't remember what I was supposed to do, so I stayed put and it wore off... silly me.

I keep a page in the front of my notebook at school that says to do a RC every time you see it. I get some weird looks from my neighbors, but it works.

I wrote on the back of a business card: Are you dreaming? I put it in my wallet, in the spot that whenever I open it, I see it. It helps, because I use my wallet a lot, unfortunately. Trying to turn it into a positive thing, lol.

I tried an ADA. I got up, got ready for school, made it to school, and was halfway through the first class when I'd say I forgot to keep on it. I must have had to remind myself to keep doing it about 7 times that day, and I guess they lasted about 5-10 minutes before my mind wandered. This good enough?
Dream recall and general lucidity progress is going a little south as of late...

Originally Posted by Origami

I tried an ADA. I got up, got ready for school, made it to school, and was halfway through the first class when I'd say I forgot to keep on it. I must have had to remind myself to keep doing it about 7 times that day, and I guess they lasted about 5-10 minutes before my mind wandered. This good enough?
Dream recall and general lucidity progress is going a little south as of late...

Yeah, that's definitely good. ADA is VERY hard to keep up when you're new to it (I'm quite new to it myself).Keep practicing and you'll be able to keep it up longer. That's when you'll start to see results. Consistency is the key (or 1 of the keys)

About the RC's...

I always use the jedi power, like moving stuff with your mind using your hand as a guide, I've had some LD's because I randomly RC in them using this and it worked, what I found really helpfull is before I do the RC I ask myself "wait a minute are you dreaming? how do you know you're not dreaming? you know how you got here, but what if that was a dream too?, it sounds stupid because you feel reality all around you right? but you do the same in a dream you may be fighting a dragon but your brain is telling you this is reality, so play a "trick" on him RC in your normal life but try to believe it will actually work I always spend like 10 second trying to move something but REALLY hard like putting everything into it.

I tend to dream about another city, the one I've always visited, so I always tell myself after I dream of that city "There's no way you can go there now, If you're there you're dreaming" and It seems to be working

Hope this works for you guys

well i was thinking of setting an alarm on my cellphone, but i don't think the alarm will go off in my dreams...

If you want to get into the habit of doing RC's, then do them at set things. Everytime you get up, walk, go to the bathroom or drink something. If you still have trouble doing it, then you could set an alarm, but as soon as you think you can go without it, stop using it. Just to get into the habit of it all

I've had some luck with my phone actually. I don't wear a watch so I check my phone fairly often for the time. This can work well as most people have their cell phones on them 24/7. When I'm dreaming if I try to check my phone it won't turn on, the screen will be messed up but usually I just get a black screen and a phone that wont turn on - which lets me know I'm dreaming.

Another thing is digital clocks - everytime you see one force yourself to do a quick RC: (I know this is a common thing most people know but I do it a little differently) Check the time on a digital clock, and stare at it for about ten seconds. Sometimes when I'm dreaming after a few seconds the numbers will just start randomly changing. If they don't change, note the time and look away, then look back after a few seconds. If the time changed by more than one minute you're probably dreaming. Even if it only changed by a minute - which could easily happen in reality - perform the same check again and see if it changes further.

Lastly, most people (including myself) have difficulty reading text in dreams. Sometimes, for me, this manifests itself as me physically not being able to turn my head towards text, seeing jumbled words and letters, words not making sense, or just seeing a garbled grey blurry mess. So when you can read text (such as this) remind yourself that you're likely not dreaming because you can read it. This can be deceptive though because sometimes I can read substantial amounts of text in my dreams - it just normally doesn't make any sense.

Good luck!