DILD experiences? Also, lucidty advice would be appreciated

[DarkestDarkness]

So, pretty much since the first time I started to properly learn about lucid dreaming, I started to do reality checks every so often; I do reality checks a few times a day, how many just depends from day to day. But I do reality checks pretty much every day. A few things that struck me recently however; 1) is that while I'm doing my reality checks, in waking life, I am often also doing other things, like walking, looking at objects, etc. Sometimes even talking to someone or cooking at the same time. And I'm doing so in a way that isn't related to my reality checking but is related to what I was actually doing before starting my checks, it's just that I start checking while allowing everything else to run on auto. I wondered if other people have any experience with this, and whether they found it to be either detrimental or insignificant. I don't think it's being detrimental for me, but I realised that it's often the case when I'm doing a reality check, so I wondered what other people thought or have found regarding this, at least for themselves. 2) is that when I find it's time to do a reality check, I never actually ask myself "Am I dreaming?"; I just carry out my reality checks and assess the overall consistency of reality. I don't actually believe that I have to say something to realise I'm dreaming, because all the times I've ever become lucid, I didn't have to ask a question like that. Even so, I realised perhaps the fact I don't ask myself vocally (even in my mind) if I'm dreaming could be part of my issue with DILD, but again, I'd like to hear other peoples' thoughts on this. The other thing is, from all my previous lucid dreaming experiences, the problem isn't usually the checking, because I do usually realise that I'm dreaming when I do check. It's more often the problem that I have to remember to check at all, which for some reason just doesn't happen in dreams. For me, remembering to reality check in a dream that wasn't a WILD or WBTB is almost impossible for some reason. I know WBTB works well for me if I dedicate myself to it, but I find it too tiring to do and with limited energy and an already unusual sleep pattern, I can't really do WBTB. I'd love to do WILD, as it's quite reliable for me in terms of actually becoming lucid, but I take unusually long to fall asleep even under normal circumstances, primarily because of how my condition affects my sleep, I believe. When my sleeping conditions are better, my rate for lucidity and dream recall seem to be much better overall anyway, which I suppose should be expected... In summary, the advice I want is one about direction, I think. It seems that no matter what I try, none of the methods for becoming lucid seem suitable for me, for one reason or another.

[Hilary]

I would definitely stop what I'm doing when doing a reality check. This is because you want to give it your focused attention, and really question yourself about whether or not you're dreaming. If you don't, your RCs may become mindless, which pretty much defeats their purpose. You want to build that critical reflective attitude. I never say anything when I RC. I just look at my hands and count my fingers :shrug: Another alternative to WBTB is to keep very still when you naturally wake up in the morning after a dream. Do not open your eyes. It takes practice. If you hold perfectly still like that with eyes closed, it's not unusual to slip into a lucid dream.

[Caradon]

Well every time you become lucid can be different depending on the situation in the dream, and your frame of mind. Sometimes it doesn't take much thought at all to realize it, sometimes it takes more. It is of course good to question your settings and the events taking place. But I'd say if you're thinking about doing a reality check just do it, even if it ends up being a quicky because you never know. I've had a lot of situations in dreams where I thought maybe I should RC but I was into what I was doing in the dream and thought I'll RC in just a second after this, but then totally forget about it... Then wake up going grrr. lol Something I like to say to myself is where am I and what am I doing? Because usually in my dreams I'm in an abnormal place involved in an abnormal activity. And even if in the dream it feels like a familiar place it's usually not right, work setting home setting almost always different or blended together with other places. So I try to stay aware if anything is weird or abnormal about where I'm at or what I'm doing. I try to to keep the thought, awareness, and question on the mind as much as possible to get myself to think about it in dreams then throw the standard RC's in there too whenever I can, or if something seems weird. I always recommend practicing your favorite RC in dream even after becoming lucid so you get used to doing them in the dream and are familiar with how they work and feel in your dreams. Today in a nap I recognized a talking wolf as a dreamsign (the fact a wolf was talking) But woke up in the middle of trying to reality check to find out if I was really dreaming. But I felt pretty aware, I was like OMG that wolf is talking obvious dreamsign reality check lol. But as mentioned woke up trying to RC too bad.

[DarkestDarkness]

Another alternative to WBTB is to keep very still when you naturally wake up in the morning after a dream. Do not open your eyes. It takes practice. If you hold perfectly still like that with eyes closed, it's not unusual to slip into a lucid dream. I have been thinking about this. This is something I used to be able to do a bit of when I lived alone, but since I began living with my partner years ago, a lot of stuff like this has been felt very difficult to do and almost always ends up defaulting to getting intimate/cuddly, mostly because of the immediate physical contact upon waking up, I think. It's something that I haven't been able to adjust to within the context of practising dreaming techniques and it also interferes with my dream journaling at times because typically I end up staying in bed longer than I would have done otherwise... -- Anyway, a small update on the topic from my part. I recently had what was the closest thing to a lucid moment that has happened to me for a while. I saw my artificial dream sign and recognised it instantly as my dream sign; it appeared in a way completely unrelated to the rest of the dream itself and caught my attention very quickly and I decided to check reality. However, I was far too distracted by the dream's plot and a dream character was coercing me to travel with them, so when I performed my (weak) reality check, I did not question reality further because I felt rushed somehow, despite not having made any conclusion about the dream's reality. I think that moment sort of demonstrates the type of priority I am willing to give to others at times, even when something is really important to myself. This is a very automatic thing for me, which is obviously problematic in the dreaming context. Though, as MoonageDaydream has suggested, lately when I have been doing RCs during waking reality, I have been making a much bigger effort to prevent myself from doing other things at the same time or by becoming distracted. And if I do become distracted, I now tend to make a conscious note of it more often, making me return to at least passively observing my surroundings for inconsistencies in reality.

[CloudOFmichael]

The best way I’ve found to focus on my waking reality checks is to combine a physical check with a mental one. For instance, my most common RC is clenching my nose closed and trying to breathe through it. Well right before I actually test it, I look at my surroundings and really analyze if anything out of the ordinary is happening. It also helps to do multiple RC’s to really pull your focus away from whatever you were doing.

[Ant101]

I agree with cloudofMichael that doing a few really helps, I usually do 3 physical checks only after asking where am I? What am I doing? And How did I get here? Then what was I doing before this? By this time it’s usually very obvious that I’m dreaming and in my last lucid the dream became more and more lucid as i reflected on these questions Which then revealed more and more dream signs By which point I Was 99% sure I was dreaming and the physical checks i did just as practice to see how they would look in a dream as I’ve reality checked Only once before in a mostly non lucid frame of mind and that was reading a label.

[DarkestDarkness]

Thank you both for your input. Since I made this thread I have actually gotten my RCs quite regular again and I usually go through mental checks too and in fact I've got my RCing to my artificial dream sign to be spot on now. Well, except in a single, very specific context. But I think it just took some dedication/sticking to it, really. Something that's always a bit difficult to appreciate during the process of "getting there". However, the main reason I wanted to return to this thread was because of what was discussed previously about WBTB and how for example one can drink water before sleep to wake up during the night. So, this is maybe more for the "Sleep & Health" part of the forum, but I've found that when I try that specific approach, most of the time just end up sweating it out, rather than actually needing to go to the bathroom. It may seem a bit contradictory but since my sleep improved (by means of medication, etc.) this seems to just be what happens anyway if I'm having especially vivid dreams. I should note that I do not feel unwell or particularly hot or cold when this happens, and unlike regular sweating, there's no smell, and it just happens all over my body, which for me is unusual in itself. I was mostly just curious if anyone else had a similar experience with the sweating/vivid dreams thing.

[FryingMan]

The important part about "doing an RC" is not the act of the state test itself, but the reflection and awareness and precede performing the state test and which continue throughout doing it. So, performing a state test mindlessly or without your full active attention and reflection involved is not going to be particularly productive. You can learn to notice wakings by setting intention to do so at bedtime and during the wakings, ala LaBerge. I use, "I notice every waking, remain still, and recall my dreams." I do not like to use LaBerge's phrasing of "I wake up after every dream" because I do not want to promote unconscious premature waking from dreams.