Desensitized to RC's

[Shabby]

Well, the topic speaks for itself, I suppose... I've always used a reality check reminder to keep me busy doing RC's, but recently I've just been swiping the notifications away without thought. My (self-)awareness has degraded immensely and therefore I have trouble forming the habit in other ways too. Do you guys have any (perhaps unconventional) tips to get me back to my old level of self-awareness? That's my biggest hurdle atm. Thanks in advance.

[dolphin]

Here's my unconventional tip... Try incubating a dream sign that comes up consistently in your dreams. If you already have one, great! Its takes only a good memory to do this, hardly any awareness. Once the dream sign comes up consistently comes up in your dreams, then work on your awareness if you're not aware enough to realize the dream sign means you're dreaming. That is more MILD than DILD, though. If you're set on DILD, then try to observe the world as much you can and limit your thoughts to what you're observing. Do a reality check if you observe anything unusual.

[TerminallyChill]

^ Sounds very interesting - is this how you got started? Do you have any additional tips on how to make that dream sign actually appear in your dreams? I think that relying too much on your phone for reality checks is not a good idea - I say it because I've tried it myself and, much like you, I found myself sometimes just getting rid of the notifications without thinking about it too much, basically out of habit. I guess the most efficient way to learn to reality check would just be to get into that state of mind - simply make it something that you remember naturally to do every now and then. One method I know of is to have reality check "triggers". Whenever you see a particular object, or something in particular occurs, do a reality check. Or, even better, whenever you see something you find weird or out of place, do a reality check. Also, I've read that writing 'RC' or, I guess, anything as a remind on your hand could also help a lot.

[Shabby]

Thanks for the tips, guys! I´ll work on them.

[dolphin]

I got started by catching my major dream sign-the false awakening. I still rely quite a bit on catching FAs to this day. To create a dream sign, you simply think about the dream sign relentlessly as you fall asleep, so relentlessly that you dream about it. I've gotten this to work with the "I'm dreaming" mantra and with staring at the back of my eyelids. I'm new to this but I've had enough success with it that it's reliable for me.