general notes on attaining lucidity according to my experience

[sonicknight]

This is going to be a bit random I thought maybe I could get some discussion going... Reality checks, this is a strange one to think about, what is interesting is years and years ago when I first started trying to induce lucid dreams, I did reality checks all day at least every 30 minutes. Yes it came to a point where I tested some of these reality checks in my dream and became lucid from it. Over the years now, It's like I have outgrown the need for reality checks, they don't seem to be a part of my lucid inducing process anymore at all. I now question if reality checks are what is inducing the lucidity from the beginning, or if it was simply my desire to get lucid that resulted in the reality checks as a symbolic ritual which told my subconscious that i wanted it, forcing my brainwave activity to the correct level. This is because sometimes at the beginning I had done reality checks in my dream, but they still failed, in other words I'd do the reality check and pass, and confirm to myself I was awake, when I was dreaming! you see these days when I become lucid, it is quite often straight from sleep paralysis, and that transforms into dreaming. Id say that is 70-90 percent of my lucid induction. Sometimes I become Lucid in the dream, but not usually anymore. Lucid straight in the middle of a dream use to happen to me as a kid. Not now so much. What I noticed is each lucid dream contains a degree of lucidity, which could even be presented on a scale. the more lucid you are the more mathematical you can be and the more you can remember you waking life, but I also realized that a high degree of lucidity can endanger the entire lucid dream by making you wake up due to increased brain activity. I seem to intrinsically sense in the dream, the level I can function at before waking up. When beginners start, I think they go from normal dreaming, straight to high lucidity, which causes them to wake up in only a few moments. After this happens a few times you start to be able to balance it. I believe you can develop over time the ability to be more and more lucid, while remaining in the dream, with practice. The last lucid dream I had, I managed to fly across about 10 kilometers at a reasonably slow pace, and visit someone, and go back, the entire dream maybe lasting 10 minutes. Sometimes I find myself trying to rush in the fear of waking up and the dream ending, as I know I dont have much time in these rare periods. I digress, reality checks I believe are sort of like training wheels, good for beginners and they do the job eventually, but they fast can become something that you don't need after a while, at least that's my experience. I seem to intrinsically know the distinct difference between a dream and waking up in these cases. however in my sleep paralysis when I move off the bed. It can seem insanely real, where I double doubt if I am in sleep paralysis or not have simply got up! This is soon solved by my test of flying. Its weird I seem to suspect its a dream just enough to where I do the superman flying thing, and once I do that I know, of course, its a dream. I never doubt if my waking life is a dream or try the superman thing when I'm awake, so that's the subtle difference. I could go on about this forever, I should probably write a book on it. but not sure anyone would read it!

[FluBB]

I think I have pretty similar views. I don't think the actual reality check itself is as important as asking the question. So yes, in many cases I used a reality check and then BAM I was lucid. But most of the time, I realize it first and then use a reality check to either confirm it, or to increase realism. Getting into the habit of doing reality checks is really more about you literally questioning what reality is. If you are 100% confident at all times that you are in real life, then your dream self has no reason to ever question that this is not real life. Even when faced with ridiculously comical scenarios that would never be possible in waking reality. When your brain shifts to accept the possibility of being in a dream, your dream self can sort of wake up in a way and start to do it on its own.