Thread: I always forget to do RCs during the day

I’ll chime in as I’m actually trying out something similar, of trying to develop a habit of RCing to everyday cues that have a good chance of also being present in a dream (like indoor/outdoor transitions). I’ve been doing it for a long time and it’s quite difficult, but I’m determined to stick with it.

The way I see it, I need a reminder to check if I’m dreaming, because even though I may have the self-awareness level to potentially know it is a dream, I most likely won’t be interested in checking or realizing it, if I’m caught up in the dream narrative.

^ This is the main reason I’m doing this.

If this was a sure-fire technique, my advice would be to just keep it up. Habit formation takes quite a while (I’ve been doing this for 4 months and still nowhere close) and it will eventually sink in if you keep it up long enough. However a big part of this working, I guess, is the awareness you put into the reality checks and their quality. However I have been concerned about reality checks being used "responsively" with something like this, as opposed to making them significant...

Therefore, Sageous, whilst you’re here (and having read your post earlier), I wonder if I could offer you an opinon...

Originally Posted by Sageous

A couple of less important notes: First, habits are not always good things. If doing RC's becomes a habit for you, then you risk allowing them to be a function that you do by rote (like brushing your teeth), and you will give them very little thought as you're doing them. I think it is much better to have each RC be important to you as you do it, and to avoid letting them become a habit. Also, if anecdotally, I have had thousands of DILDs over the years, and I'm pretty sure I have never become lucid by doing a RC. Try to keep your RC's sincere and fresh, and they will be a much better tool for you than simply doing them habitually.

On the note of RCs becoming “habitual”: I did worry about the idea of RCs being too habitual with reacting to cues or reminders, but I think that RCs themselves would not become habitual or mindless unless the dreamer chose to do them like that. I think what you CAN make habitual is the “prompting” to do one, much like when you get to a junction or a roundabout when driving, and you instinctively think to use your indicator, or adjust light brightness for oncoming traffic. I think a prompting can also leave room for conscious thought (e.g. “is this a time I should indicate?”). That prompting came out of nowhere from years of habit building, and even encouraged them to make a conscious decision depending on the context, and often perhaps from the midst of random thought or distraction. That was just an example, but with the prompting to do a RC from a cue, I assume then you could still consciously do one properly, as long as you were interested (which would be clear from your intention to lucid dream in the first place). I’m no expert but this is just my thinking on the matter.

Originally Posted by Eamo24

Therefore, Sageous, whilst you’re here (and having read your post earlier), I wonder if I could offer you an opinon...

On the note of RCs becoming “habitual”: I did worry about the idea of RCs being too habitual with reacting to cues or reminders, but I think that RCs themselves would not become habitual or mindless unless the dreamer chose to do them like that. I think what you CAN make habitual is the “prompting” to do one, much like when you get to a junction or a roundabout when driving, and you instinctively think to use your indicator, or adjust light brightness for oncoming traffic. I think a prompting can also leave room for conscious thought (e.g. “is this a time I should indicate?”). That prompting came out of nowhere from years of habit building, and even encouraged them to make a conscious decision depending on the context, and often perhaps from the midst of random thought or distraction. That was just an example, but with the prompting to do a RC from a cue, I assume then you could still consciously do one properly, as long as you were interested (which would be clear from your intention to lucid dream in the first place). I’m no expert but this is just my thinking on the matter.

Yes, if you can develop a habit of remembering to RC, and still are able to do sincere RC's after you remember to do them (as you describe), then sure, you're doing a good thing. I would, and have, certainly recommend that process.

That said, I still believe that a habit to remember to RC, followed by a sincere RC, might not be the path normally followed by many dreamers. Instead, they simply get in the habit of, say, poking their palm, until they reach a point where every now and then they are simply poking their palm without giving it much thought at all, much less sincerely asking if they are in a dream. That kind of habit is not a good thing, because it will do nothing to help get your head in the right place for LD'ing...and that's what I was talking about.

I think my problem with habits is that habitual processes exist in the realm of autopilot, consciously speaking, and on autopilot is not where you want to be when you do a RC, because autopilot is a non-lucid state of mind. A habit of doing RC's (as opposed to a habit of remembering to RC, of course!) will only produce a bunch of mindless actions, and sure, these actions will likely appear as day residue in a dream, but they will just as likely not make you lucid. Again, a RC done in a NLD without any self-awareness present (or without the dreamer already having a suspicion he is dreaming) will very likely fail, thus convincing your dreaming self that you are awake; that, or it will work, and you might then non-lucidly dream that you are lucid, just like you wanted to be... but I won't go back into that!