Internal or external awareness?

**Clidu** · 06-09-2016 12:19 AM

My dream recall is ok atm and im reality checking like i used to but still no lucidity until i realised that what im missing is that i havent practised awareness very much lately and the more aware you are in the waking life the more you are aware innyour dreams.
My question is.....whats the more likely approach the gaining lucidity.....internal awareness or external awareness? I am thinking towards practising external due to the fact that it will help me in dreams notice alot more things i dont usualy notice such as the obv you hear about...*i was at home but it wasnt home* etc.
I cannot see how internal awareness can gain lucidity any thoughts or opinions? Thanx =)

**Clidu** · 06-09-2016 12:22 AM

Whats helping me is that i had a lucid dream before where i stared at these small flowers on the floor and its amazing how sharp they looked and colourful....so im using this approach with external awareness....just noticing how kind of HD things are fron our eye site....the colour and maybe imagining the feel of things before touching them.I might use my other senses too when i get better =D wish me luck i hope this is what i need to get my lucidity back

**dolphin** · 06-09-2016 04:58 AM

You need both internal and external awareness to lucid dream. You should work on whichever one you need to work more on.

**Sageous** · 06-09-2016 05:19 PM

By internal awareness I assume you mean self-awareness, and external means normal awareness? If so, in terms of LD'ing, self-awareness is far more important... though both, as Dolphin noted, do matter.

Self-awareness is, in my mind, essentially the definition of lucidity, so developing it in waking-life should lead to an ability to summon it (and, of course, lucidity) during a dream. Still, normal awareness can help in the initial technical stages of gaining that lucidity during the dream (provided that you do not make normal awareness the priority, as this might cause an obstruction to lucidity).

Here's a thought: if you practice your self-awareness and normal awareness enough -- and well enough, which may take years -- you will find them merging into one "simple" awareness of your presence in the moment. There will be no separation, only facets of the same overall mindfulness. Ultimately, you will be seeing your world in a non-dual way. Non-duality is the perfect perspective for LD'ing: since everything in your dream, including your dreaming self, is You, your dream is literally a non-dual event... see it that way, and the dream is yours, possibly without any real effort or technique.

So: Like Dolphin, I suggest that you practice them both, with an emphasis on self-awareness, but in the end your goal should be one of a non-dual mindfulness of your presence in the moment, of your interaction with reality... when that state of mind is strong, LD'ing will become a fairly simple achievement for you.

**VenusDreamer** · 06-11-2016 08:33 PM

Internal awareness is far more important. I would say that external awareness can be handy-dandy in triggering your knowledge that you are dreaming, but practicing self-awareness is what you probably really need to focus on. However . . . that's not to say that putting an emphasis on your surroundings is a bad thing at all, and there's a chance that it will help you more in the long-run--but if that's the case then it will be a rarity. Most people need to focus on being self-aware instead of aware of their surroundings. ^_^