A newbie which needs help at gaining lucidity and realizing he is in a dream.

Hello there,
I am quite new to this subject. For a month or so I have been keeping a dream journal and got to a level that I remember at least one dream every time I wake up (sometimes even more than one and it is all thanks to the journal). Now I would like to get a little advice over here. Even though that I remember my dreams so well I can't manage to understand that I am dreaming. I was able to understand that I am dreaming only twice and on both cases I woke up the moment I realized it was a dream. Do you have any idea how can I figure out more easily that I am dreaming (besides doing reality checks which I do all day long) and not wake up after realizing it was a dream.
Thanks in advance .

I have already posted this thread at the Introduction Zone and my thread was moved here ,but since I was not able to find it and did not get any replies I am posting it here too :cheeky:.

Hi there, sounds like you may be getting over excited when you realise your dreaming which then makes you wake up!, maybe if you practised relaxation also imagine yourself in a dream then imagine you realise your dreaming and imagine staying calm and just touching things to stabilise yourself more. This will help you to become more relaxed when you do actually have a Lucid dream as you have re programmed your mind to stay calm etc. try just standing still once you realise and just slowly rub your hands together and call out "clarity now" to stabilise and enhance your dream. Hope this helps a little :)

Try the WILD tutorial. If you learn how to do a WILD (which is tricky), then going lucid will be rather easy.

Lucid dreaming on cue is an acquired specialty. The most important thing you can bring to lucid dreaming is the understanding that the phenomena is real. If you think it is all BS you will not succeed. I know it is real. I have been there. I have felt the cold and rough concrete walls in a LD and been amazed. I have smelled the musk of a llama in a LD. It was as real as I feel typing this. I have strolled through brunt out cities, flown incredible journeys, and done the things only Greek Gods could have done. Lucid dreaming is altered reality that only enlightened humans can appreciate. To anyone who has not had a lucid dream I can only say this... believe it. You have not died... but you will. Lucid dreams are the closest thing to the heavens showing us what death is. Once you have a lucid dream... a real lucid dream... you will lose all fear of death. This freedom will allow you to do incredible things in your life. Good luck to you!

There is so much I could write about this but if I was to give you one piece of advice that you would remember is this: Keep things simple. Allow your dream energy to be there through out your day, and start a dream thread during your day, one that will seamlessly carry on into your lucid dream and continue to have energy after you awaken. I do this by allowing that vibrancy of dreaming to exist during the day, and not think of lucid dreaming as an off and on switch. IN other words, begin before you go to bed. And know in advance what you would like to dream about.

Thank you guys!

Angie- I think I will try to practice relaxation and imagine myself dreaming through the day just like you suggested :) .

Delgado- I have already considered to try methods like DEILD and WILD so since you suggested it I guess I will give it a shot ;) .

Faceonmars- First, I must say that you write like one of those greek gods you compared yourself to. Second I do believe lucid dreams are REAL and I will obtain the ability to create them no matter what!

DreamInception- Your advise was an interesting one. To tell you the truth I am a very realistic guy (I am very good at math and science) and I am not sure that I 100% understand what is dream energy and a dream thread . Even though I understood what you meant and I will take the feeling of the dream to the rest of my day since just like you said there is no switch which gets you in or out of a dream.

In other words I will combine all of your advises and use them in order to get my first lucid dream!

Well guys I have to thank you once again because thanks to you and to my strong motivation today I achieved a lucid dream!
It was not a very 'lucid' dream and I got it by failing WILD ,but this is still an achievement. I tried everything you suggested me. I tried to relax through the day and fancy myself dreaming. I took the feeling from that little meditation and continued with it until I went to sleep. Before I tried the WILD (that Delgado suggested me to try) I reminded myself that lucid dreams are a real phenomena and that I wish to achieve one no matter what. I WBTB and then at 4:00 am I tried to enter a WILD. I tried to relax my muscles like the WILD- Guide I was following said and I have to say that it is quite a good feeling ^.^ . Although at some point I lost consciousness and entered a normal dream. I am not sure that you can even call it a normal dream because, it was a false awakening where I was in bed with my macintosh talking to a friend through Skype. And when it seemed like everything is lost and I am not going to have a lucid dream suddenly a part of me came out of my body (LITERALLY ) and forced me to the ground. I looked at the mirror and saw myself forcing myself to the ground. Then I realized , it was my motivation , my strong mantra "Today I am having a lucid dream no matter what!" that forced my false awakening into a lucid dream. Even though I found it hard to control everything and did not get to do what I wanted to do , I am still very happy that I was able to create myself a lucid dream and I am feeling those remarkably relaxing 'Dream Energies' (that DreamInception talked about) until now. Well now I just want to say: Thank you Angie, Delgado, Faceonmars and DreamInception I am not sure that I would have been able to do it without you :) . I wish the 4 of you the most 'lucid' lucid dreams!