Pretending to see dream signs so you can RC more often?

[Eamo24]

Thought I might open the floor to this. Normally in reality, I don’t see my particular dream signs enough to be able to build a strong habit of reality-checking to them (objects out of place, things not working properly etc.). So I was wondering, would you be able to just ‘imagine’ them instead, or just visualize or pretend that it’s happening right now? I was thinking that this could increase the frequency and specificity of what you RC to, making it a lot more likely in a dream. Do you think this could work? Thanks for your responses.

[VagalTone]

Absolutely, as long as you keep your mind excited about LDing ! Keep us posted

[Tygar]

I agree with VagalTone. It definitely can work. You are building an expectation and a habit in your mind.

[Eamo24]

Thanks. Yes that’s exactly what I was thinking with this approach, that you could do a lot of the ‘work’ in your mind, so you can boost your RC practice. It may be a useful alternative sometimes if dream signs just don’t appear that much.

[FryingMan]

RCs are great ways to confirm your state, based on awareness that you could be dreaming. I think the more you do them, the better, if you want to become lucid very frequently. I think cultivating an RC as a reflex to just about anything is a great way to get lucid a lot. Or even in response to nothing at all, after every period of some time. As a modification on trying to imagine a dream-sign, (which I also never found very convincing when waking), I now just basically always assume I could be dreaming wherever I am, because this is what becoming lucid in dreams is like: there you are, doing something, totally involved in it, and then (if you're lucky) you realize you're dreaming. So it's kind of like we're always dreaming, that's the way I look at it. And I'm just trying to figure out which kind of dream it is. As for results, together with finally getting a semi-regular sleep schedule established, this very very frequent RCing (basically always telling myself I'm dreaming, doing a nose pinch, and being aware of my location ala ADA/RC), I had 7 LDs in 10 days, a new high for me, including 2 LDs in one night, also a first for me. Basically, you want to always be thinking about lucid dreaming as much as you can, and always think you could be dreaming, regardless of where you are or what you're doing. Be especially suspicious of strong feelings and emotions (fear, sadness, anger, joy, confusion, frustration). Use your dreamsigns (if applicable) to guide this as well.

[tofur]

this has always been my issue with reality checks based on dream signs. My dream signs are exactly the kinds of things that DON'T happen in real life, that's what makes them note-worthy.

[Nfri]

Yes, it is great way to increase your ''knowing and remembering personal dream signs'', I do it very often! First of all analyse all your successful dream sings which already triggered a lucid dream, then you can image them in various ways during the day. Be careful about reality check technique common misconception - RC is not a lucidity trigger. Notice a dream sign and question your actual ''state'' is the lucidity trigger! RC is just for the confirmation.

[FryingMan]

Yes, it is great way to increase your ''knowing and remembering personal dream signs'', I do it very often! First of all analyse all your successful dream sings which already triggered a lucid dream, then you can image them in various ways during the day. Be careful about reality check technique common misconception - RC is not a lucidity trigger. Notice a dream sign and question your actual ''state'' is the lucidity trigger! RC is just for the confirmation. I'd like to add an adendum to this: the physical act of the RC can help boost the effectiveness of the awareness. Most of my LDs are the way you say, generally before thinking about doing an RC I'm lucid. But with a few, more recently, in a general very low awareness dream, the "physical" act of doing a nose plug provided a needed boost. So developing a quick, unambiguous physical RC "reflex" in response to just about anything, can be part of your dawning awareness and even give it a boost.

[Nfri]

But with a few, more recently, in a general very low awareness dream, the "physical" act of doing a nose plug provided a needed boost. So developing a quick, unambiguous physical RC "reflex" in response to just about anything, can be part of your dawning awareness and even give it a boost. This is what I know by the name RC technique induction. It is based on ''day residue'' activity - doing reality check. On my own experience I can say that this is not an effective way to induce lucid dreams. ~3 of 148 What is my primary induction technique is ''dream sign awareness'' boosted with mild and supplements.

[Eamo24]

RCs are great ways to confirm your state, based on awareness that you could be dreaming. I think the more you do them, the better, if you want to become lucid very frequently. I think cultivating an RC as a reflex to just about anything is a great way to get lucid a lot. Or even in response to nothing at all, after every period of some time. As a modification on trying to imagine a dream-sign, (which I also never found very convincing when waking), I now just basically always assume I could be dreaming wherever I am, because this is what becoming lucid in dreams is like: there you are, doing something, totally involved in it, and then (if you're lucky) you realize you're dreaming. So it's kind of like we're always dreaming, that's the way I look at it. And I'm just trying to figure out which kind of dream it is. Thanks, Fryingman. Yes, I would normally reality-check whenever I remember to, or if I notice anything odd. I’ve often felt that between these times I could still be questioning my reality somehow, even if it just consists of some simple questions in the back of your mind like “where am I? what was I doing a few minutes ago?” etc. So, I can certainly understand developing a more ‘general’ sense of questioning, as you said, believing that most of the time, you are dreaming, regardless of any particular stimuli. Also, I have often found awareness to be complemented by doing some kind of physical reality-check, as you said. I think it might have something to do with the expectation that it actually could be a dream at that time. Yes, it is great way to increase your ''knowing and remembering personal dream signs'', I do it very often! First of all analyse all your successful dream sings which already triggered a lucid dream, then you can image them in various ways during the day. Be careful about reality check technique common misconception - RC is not a lucidity trigger. Notice a dream sign and question your actual ''state'' is the lucidity trigger! RC is just for the confirmation. Thanks, Nfri; this is great advice! Yes I’d imagine that creating a greater sense of awareness to these kinds of dream signs, through thinking of them or incorporating them into everyday things, would definitely make them more noticeable in the dream state, whilst also making for a very effective RC practice. Also: What is my primary induction technique is ''dream sign awareness'' boosted with mild and supplements. I agree that dream sign awareness is a very useful tool when it comes to lucid dreaming. I’ve often found DILD and MILD to be very effective when based around particular dream signs.

[Nfri]

awareness to these kinds of dream signs, through thinking of them or incorporating them into everyday things, would definitely make them more noticeable in the dream state yees!!! I agree that dream sign awareness is a very useful tool when it comes to lucid dreaming. Cause I can't wild correctly it's not a useful tool but ESSENTIAL!

[FryingMan]

This is what I know by the name RC technique induction. It is based on ''day residue'' activity - doing reality check. On my own experience I can say that this is not an effective way to induce lucid dreams. ~3 of 148 What is my primary induction technique is ''dream sign awareness'' boosted with mild and supplements. Maybe it's not effective alone, but I don't do it alone. I use it tightly coupled together with ADA/RC and reflection/intention, and the mindset that at any time I could be dreaming. One feeds into the other to keep my awareness and thoughts focused on lucid dreaming all the time. And since I just started really ramping up the nose pinch frequency only recently, it's doing much better for me than your rate, I'm more like 2/10 with it (again together with all the above). Plus meditation and autosuggestion / MILD. So I do a bunch .

[Sibyline]

Coincidentally, OpheliaBlue adressed this very issue in the latest podcast: http://www.dreamviews.com/dreamviews...wbie-tips.html

[Valdast94]

I totally agree with FryingMan, he came to my same conclusions: 1) Everytime I have that moment of focused awareness and the "Oh, am I dreaming?" thought popping up, I start to question my reality and look my surroundings, question myself about what I was doing before and conclude with looking at my hand and counting the fingers. While doing that though, and this is the important thing, if I happen to have thoughts like "oh, of course this is not a dream, this is so real!" I just remind myself that my mind can play tricks on me (which is exactly what it does when we miss the chance of becoming lucid in a stupid manner) and thus increase even more my focused awareness and re-check my reality. 2) It's true that it's not the RC's that get us lucid, but the awareness behind them, but I think they are still hugely important when awake (I remember another user here on DV said it, now I finally understand what he meant). I found that if I do RC's mindlessly I'll do them mindlessly in my dreams and not become lucid, or only dream of becoming lucid. Conversely I also found that by just being aware and mindful during the day I become lucid more often but not as often as I'd like. The best thing to do is have that sparkle of awareness that triggers me to question my reality and then use RC's to prolong this dream related awareness. Like I said, after the sparkle of awareness, I do some mental reality checks and the palm + fingers RC, but I very rarely do them in my dreams to get me lucid. Nonetheless, as soon as I stop doing them in waking life, I also start having less LD's

[Eamo24]

if I happen to have thoughts like "oh, of course this is not a dream, this is so real!" I just remind myself that my mind can play tricks on me (which is exactly what it does when we miss the chance of becoming lucid in a stupid manner) and thus increase even more my focused awareness and re-check my reality. ^^Yes, it’s a good point. This is definitely a good habit to get into, of reality checking ‘just in case’ and at any time you happen to doubt your current state (It’s how I had 3 of my LDs ). I think it’s also a good idea to develop a habit of RCing every time you simply visualize or think about dream-like occurrences. Often I would just visualize something unusual or impossible and then think “Oh, I must now do a RC”, even though I'm mostly sure that I’m awake, as I'd imagine it’s good to strengthen your awareness to these types of things in any way that’s convenient.

[FryingMan]

Yes, as I noted, after enough "you mean *that* was a dream!?" moments, it's really not that hard to dispense with the "oh of course this is not a dream" mentality. I pretty much always assume I can be dreaming at any time now. The really frequent LDers develop an attitude of continually and frequently evaluating their state. You don't need to "fake imagine" a dreamsign in "waking" life in order to do this. But visualizing dreamsigns and becoming lucid in response to them is a good meditation exercise, to be sure.

[Eamo24]

Thanks, Fryingman. I can see what you mean about having a mentality that you are always dreaming, or taking an ADA type of approach like you mentioned earlier. Normally I would do reality-checks to everyday things, developing a ‘reflex’ action, as you said, but I would also do some smaller ‘just in case’ checks between these reminders, like just looking at a clock, reading pieces of text, or asking some questions in the back of my mind while I do some other things. It’s not quite ADA standard, but I make sure to exercise proper awareness each time, regardless of how brief the check is. I am more in favor of reality-checks, as I think they’re very versatile and habit forming, but I find fully-fledged ADA to be a mentally arduous activity, to be ‘constantly aware’, and difficult if you have a busy schedule. But do you think the frequent reality-check practice I mentioned is good approach anyway?

[Nfri]

But do you think the frequent reality-check practice I mentioned is good approach anyway? Noooo, but you need to experience it and evaluate the results by yourself

[FryingMan]

Thanks, Fryingman. I can see what you mean about having a mentality that you are always dreaming, or taking an ADA type of approach like you mentioned earlier. Normally I would do reality-checks to everyday things, developing a ‘reflex’ action, as you said, but I would also do some smaller ‘just in case’ checks between these reminders, like just looking at a clock, reading pieces of text, or asking some questions in the back of my mind while I do some other things. It’s not quite ADA standard, but I make sure to exercise proper awareness each time, regardless of how brief the check is. I am more in favor of reality-checks, as I think they’re very versatile and habit forming, but I find fully-fledged ADA to be a mentally arduous activity, to be ‘constantly aware’, and difficult if you have a busy schedule. But do you think the frequent reality-check practice I mentioned is good approach anyway? I don't do "ADA" the way the term is generally described. I don't study the minutiae of shadows, sounds, smells, etc., like a mouse. That I agree is exhausting. I rather, just try to be "aware, all day". Generally aware that I could be dreaming, at any point, and frequently repeat "I'm dreaming.....I'm dreaming.." to myself, sometimes doing a "becoming lucid" moment, but I don't do those alot, and a bunch of physical RCs. And I try to maintain at all times my ADA/RC target of knowing my location and and the paths into / out of it. When walking down the street, I do reading checks on the license plates of parked cars: memorize the front plate approaching the car, repeat it to myself walking by, and check the rear plates after walking by. Street signs, too. On public transport I read do reading check on the ads: read, look away, look back. Inspect the people, anything weird (there usually is on public transport!)? I never say "I'm obviously awake," not because I'm forcing myself, but because I genuinely don't necessarily believe it at this point! I especially try to catch realizing that I've dropped my awareness, that's a peak awareness moment, how did I get here? What do I last remember, and so forth.

[FryingMan]

Thanks, Fryingman. I can see what you mean about having a mentality that you are always dreaming, or taking an ADA type of approach like you mentioned earlier. Normally I would do reality-checks to everyday things, developing a ‘reflex’ action, as you said, but I would also do some smaller ‘just in case’ checks between these reminders, like just looking at a clock, reading pieces of text, or asking some questions in the back of my mind while I do some other things. It’s not quite ADA standard, but I make sure to exercise proper awareness each time, regardless of how brief the check is. I am more in favor of reality-checks, as I think they’re very versatile and habit forming, but I find fully-fledged ADA to be a mentally arduous activity, to be ‘constantly aware’, and difficult if you have a busy schedule. But do you think the frequent reality-check practice I mentioned is good approach anyway? If they RCs are accompanied by awareness, yes. And try to hold on to this awareness longer and longer. Pretty soon you just won't "feel right" if you're walking through the world like a zombie, unaware, you'll want to always have awareness with you!

[Eamo24]

Thanks, Fryingman; that’s great advice. There’s just something else I was wondering about having a mentality that you could always be dreaming, as you mentioned earlier... I’ve often stopped and wondered if I was dreaming while in dreams, but the dream world is often so realistic and life-like, that if I’m not completely thorough with my questioning or reality-checks, I don’t become lucid (it’s happened to me many times). Or I may have to do many reality-checks before finally finding out that it is a dream. I just wonder if the level of everyday awareness with this approach is enough to instigate lucidity or if the level of questioning is enough. I definitely like the idea, but I just wonder if it’s as reliable as, for example, having particular triggers to make a RC more of an event, or an opportunity for more rigorous questioning? I could be wrong. Thanks again for your help.

[FryingMan]

Thanks, Fryingman; that’s great advice. There’s just something else I was wondering about having a mentality that you could always be dreaming, as you mentioned earlier... I’ve often stopped and wondered if I was dreaming while in dreams, but the dream world is often so realistic and life-like, that if I’m not completely thorough with my questioning or reality-checks, I don’t become lucid (it’s happened to me many times). Or I may have to do many reality-checks before finally finding out that it is a dream. I just wonder if the level of everyday awareness with this approach is enough to instigate lucidity or if the level of questioning is enough. I definitely like the idea, but I just wonder if it’s as reliable as, for example, having particular triggers to make a RC more of an event, or an opportunity for more rigorous questioning? I could be wrong. Thanks again for your help. Everyone's different. For me, I get lucid immediately at the first suspicion, or even in a sudden jolt without any prior reasoning sometimes. I've never had to do repeated RCs, etc. In fact I generally only use the RCs for confirmation, or as a reflex and an aid to getting lucid from a very low-awareness point. But I've never had to have a "gee, could I be dreaming now? Let me see..." sort of conversation with myself, the lucidity moment is really fast. So for me, the trick is getting that little push. I think the awareness is everything, together with the fundamentals (recall, sleep schedule). But you need to find what works for you! What I'm doing works for me, but it's still very on-again off-again.