Any DILD tips?

[Flycat]

I´ve been keeping a dream journal since a month now, do 3-4 mindfull reality checks a day, but i can´t seem to DILD. Heh, the fact that i ALWAYS find myself having a dream about playing a videogame, might mean that i should RC each time i start playing videogames. Should i? Any tips?

[Meskhetyw]

If those dreams are that common I would not only reality check often while playing, but think about it as a sign of dreaming often during the day as well. Perhaps you could make the subject of video games in general a dream sign, but use a system that you can be consistent with. Nice avatar, by the way.

[MasterMind]

A big important factor for success with anything but especially lucid dreaming is a change in belief and expectation. When you are in a dream you can intend that you will be able to fly, but if you don't believe or expect that you can do it, well you wont be able to do it. It works the same way for the induction process itself, if you think of lucid dreaming as something difficult then it will be. It's of course not odd for a beginner to think of it this way, but it's important for you to know that you are in full control, too much control even of your experience. How do you change your belief and expectations then? What I did in my first years of practise was to experiment and come up with my own techniques like if I do this, this will happen because of that, and so on. For example I used to think that waking up multiple times during the night would increase my chances because the aminergic system of the brain (the chemical system that governs critical thinking) would be increased. If this happened or not doesn't matter, the idea is to believe that it matters and you will behave accordingly which in turn will produce the desired result. Later on when you have all the experiences from different methods and techniques you will realise that it wasn't the techniques in themselves that produced the desire result, it was always your own belief and expectation so in other words it was always YOU. But to try out different things such as reality checking while playing video games because of the fact that you dream of videogames often and that will in turn make you reality check in one of those dreams, is a good start. And while you are at it, learn about affirmation and mantras so you can say before you go to sleep " I dream about videogames and will perform a reality checks and realize that I am dreaming." By doing this you set your intent but at the same time already decide that you are going to dream about videogames, also called dream incubation. Good luck!

[Flycat]

Thanks for your support! It worked, i realised i was dreaming, but woke up. Meh. Well, i'll keep trying!

[sanctum]

Reality checks never actually helped me that much in achieving a DILD. It really varies from person to person. But when I'm in a dream (non-lucid), I often try to fly, and I've learned to recognize that in my dream as a sign of dreaming. It might be different for you because your activity happens in real life as well.