First shared dream & insight for reality checks

What's up y'all? This is my first time sharing but i figure doing this could help others as well as keep me engaged in the LD world.

I've been trying to LD for about 8 years since my first one and have only had limited success since then. It's only recently that i realized that the failure has been due to not honestly applying the basic methods that we all know. For those of us that don't easily LD, we may have to take a look at what is going on in the mind when we do reality checks, set intention, or use MILD. It's not as simple as just asking yourself if you are dreaming or telling yourself that you will become lucid. There is something extra going on in the cognitive processes of the natural LDers. Basically, it is about bringing attention to the next level.

With reality checks, the result of the test is not as important as the state of mind that the test brings about. The inquiry should bring in a deeper awareness. It is the sensation you get by becoming present enough do determine whether you are dreaming or not. If you are only using logic to perform these tests, you are not doing much to add to your ability to recognize the dream state. It is the state of awareness and not the logic that is important. You don't even need the test if you know this state well.

With MILD (after WILDing), try to bring about that awareness and watch yourself. Watch images appear or whatever your MILD thing is. Just try to stay passively alert.

If you don't know what this level (state) of awareness "feels" like, you can try doing reality checks in reverse. Rather than trying to prove to yourself that you are not in a dream, try hard to convince yourself that you ARE DREAMING. This might be easier for you if you have already become lucid in a dream before. If so, try to bring back that unmistakeable feeling of realizing that it is a dream (the one that gets you so excited, you wake up)...and stay in it as long as possible. I think this method is similar to Naiya's "all day awareness" method.

For those of you familiar with advaita vedanta, I think this method has a direct relationship to self-inquiry and pure-awareness. I've only recently put these into practice and started taking lucidity more seriously. In the last month i have remembered 2 briefly lucid moments out of about 10 remembered dreams. I started doing WILD last week and began to remember more dreams. However, last night's LD happened after hitting the snooze this morning instead of waking for an hour before going back to bed.

Dream:
I was in a small boat with 3 other people that i didn't bother identifying. We were rowing out to sea when the incoming swell started to break in front of us. It kept rising to the point where it seemed that it was going to break before we got over it. I braced myself for the impact and closed my eyes. The moment of anticipation went on for far too long. I realized it was a dream and said it, then dove off of the boat into the still rising wave.

Unfortunately, that was all.

Hope this helps someone.