Looking for dream signs

[Pacifist]

My mind is keeping me from finding and identifying dream signs, and it is doing so very successfully. Take this morning for example. I tried WBTB combined with MILD, and here is what happened: Every time I would try to become lucid, my mind would put some stressful or difficult task before me to take my attention away from becoming lucid. This happened to me three times this morning. The first time, I was at work and I kept on saying to myself, "there's something I have to do right now, something important." Little did I know that this important thing was to become lucid. But whenever I thought about that, more tickets would come up. More tickets, more orders. So I had to work faster and harder. I got really stressed out because of the workload so I concentrated more on making food and less on becoming lucid. The other thing that happened was my friends were trying to get me to help them steal something. I don't steal in real life, too paranoid, but my friends do. Anyway, I finally agree to drive them away with this stolen item and while we are in the place stealing, I am thinking that thought again. "There's something important I need to do." But then some kind of alarm goes off and we take off with the stolen item. We drive off before the cops show up. That distracted me, and kept me from becoming lucid. But while I'm driving I think about it again. "There's something important I need to do." Then suddenly there's a cop who is a generous distance behind me with his lights and sirens on. He's like 70 yards or so away and I start freaking out, yet another distraction. I get all paranoid, "dude, they're pulling me over, we're busted." And then my friend says, "nah man they're not after us, stop slowing down. That looks suspicious. Just speed back up and keep driving." So I get back up to speed and keep driving normally and it turns out the cop wasn't after me. But by that time I had already forgotten about becoming lucid. I think I'm trying to find a dream sign while at the same time my mind is trying to keep me from looking for dream signs by throwing distractions at me. And my mind is just beating me to the punch, bringing forth distractions faster than I can recognize dream signs and become lucid. I guess my mind is overpowering my desire and skill. It seems I must increase my skill at doing reality checks more regularly and I need to increase my skill at dream sign recognition if I ever wish to defeat the great opponent that is my mind. I would also like to add that although I failed at becoming lucid, my dream recall was great this morning and my dreams were very vivid. Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions?

[Luminous]

Great dream recall and vividness is always good. You say you keep being distracted and being busy in your dreams, so that you don't get the chance to do a RC and/or become lucid. From what I see from other posts, that is quite common. What I would suggest for you (and everyone else with this problem) is to try to gain and maintain awareness and do RCs even when you're busy in your waking life. Easier said than done, I know, but once you can pull it off, you have a great advantage. Think about it (this goes for everyone reading this who use RCs), when do you do RCs during the day? I bet you're doing most of them, if not all of them, when you're in a moment where you're not involved in work, or doing anything in particular. So then, you're dreaming, and your dream throws lots of tasks and distractions at you. So instead of waiting for a dream that is more "calm", it's better to prepare yourself to stop for just a moment, and check if you're dreaming even when you're busy. You might even reduce your general stress level in your waking life by taking some time throughout your busy day to maintain some self awareness. If you sleepwalk through your waking life, you will sleepwalk through your dreams.

[DreamChaser]

One of the main reasons we dream is to process things our minds deem necessary at our subconscious level. Hence we dream of work, things that bother us and stuff that we don't get to off-load in reality. Our mind wants us to deal with these and it wants to keep control of this so you will deal with it. It does not want us snapping into Lucidity and flying around etc. Think of your subconscious as a Big Brother and it has your best intentions, but won't want you messing with it. So be prepared for it to throw hurdles at you to stop you. Once you show it you can overcome them it will start to give in. Is why most people aren't allowed by their mind to Lucid all the time. So IT gets IT'S time to get you to deal with stuff in normal dreams. Only IMO.

[DreamChaser]

That is true but I still believe that it can be done very frequently at will. It's a matter of how to link/liase the dreamsign with lucid dreaming at a subconcious/emotional level. So whenever it 'sees' the dreamsign, the special link/liase will be activated and will lead to reality checking of sorts. IMJ No problem IMJ. I respect all your knowledge. What we must remember what you talk about is very hard to attain for most people here. Very difficult in fact. So if you can do this remember it is you that can do it, and that doesn't mean everyone can. We all fall into that trap.

[Pacifist]

So instead of waiting for a dream that is more "calm", it's better to prepare yourself to stop for just a moment, and check if you're dreaming even when you're busy. If you sleepwalk through your waking life, you will sleepwalk through your dreams. I think I'll try that. It seems like it will work. Makes sense. One of the main reasons we dream is to process things our minds deem necessary at our subconscious level. Hence we dream of work, things that bother us and stuff that we don't get to off-load in reality. Our mind wants us to deal with these and it wants to keep control of this so you will deal with it. It does not want us snapping into Lucidity and flying around etc. Think of your subconscious as a Big Brother and it has your best intentions, but won't want you messing with it. So be prepared for it to throw hurdles at you to stop you. Once you show it you can overcome them it will start to give in. Is why most people aren't allowed by their mind to Lucid all the time. So IT gets IT'S time to get you to deal with stuff in normal dreams. Only IMO. Do you think that's true? That worries me. Is lucid dreaming bad for us and that's why our minds try and keep us away from it? You said it's like a big brother who has our best interests in mind. I hope that is not so, because if it is, then we are acting like the selfish little brother who just wants to do what the fuck he wants and ignore his big brother.

[DreamChaser]

I think I'll try that. It seems like it will work. Makes sense. Do you think that's true? That worries me. Is lucid dreaming bad for us and that's why our minds try and keep us away from it? You said it's like a big brother who has our best interests in mind. I hope that is not so, because if it is, then we are acting like the selfish little brother who just wants to do what the fuck he wants and ignore his big brother. Well, we (conscious) want to do what we want, and "Big Brother" (sub-conscious) wants do do what he/she wants. When Big Brother thinks you need a nightmare to deal with a deep issue or because you are over heated or something, do you curse he/she for it? You trying to break in to what is actually all yours is not selfish. Just be aware of how our minds need to process things. Our minds just try for us not to always control our dreams, so it can do its normal job.

[Pacifist]

Well, we (conscious) want to do what we want, and "Big Brother" (sub-conscious) wants do do what he/she wants. When Big Brother thinks you need a nightmare to deal with a deep issue or because you are over heated or something, do you curse he/she for it? You trying to break in to what is actually all yours is not selfish. Just be aware of how our minds need to process things. Our minds just try for us not to always control our dreams, so it can do its normal job. So our mind is not doing its normal job while we are lucid? Does this mean that excessive lucid dreaming can be detrimental to our mental health? I need to know so that I don't get too good at lucid dreaming to the point where I start to harm myself. Sorry if I'm acting paranoid, but I've been this way ever since a certain event occurred in my life that could have led to my arrest, and I have been super careful about everything ever since.

[Luminous]

So our mind is not doing its normal job while we are lucid? Does this mean that excessive lucid dreaming can be detrimental to our mental health? I need to know so that I don't get too good at lucid dreaming to the point where I start to harm myself. Sorry if I'm acting paranoid, but I've been this way ever since a certain event occurred in my life that could have led to my arrest, and I have been super careful about everything ever since. I don't think there is such a thing as too many lucid dreams. I'm actually mentally benefiting from my excessive lucid dreaming!

[Pacifist]

True. Both times I've had a lucid dream I've woken up feeling refreshed and having lots of energy. The first time I lucid dreamed I had so much energy that I went for a 2.5 mile run without any hesitation.

[ollei]

Think about it (this goes for everyone reading this who use RCs), when do you do RCs during the day? I bet you're doing most of them, if not all of them, when you're in a moment where you're not involved in work, or doing anything in particular. So then, you're dreaming, and your dream throws lots of tasks and distractions at you. So instead of waiting for a dream that is more "calm", it's better to prepare yourself to stop for just a moment, and check if you're dreaming even when you're busy. You might even reduce your general stress level in your waking life by taking some time throughout your busy day to maintain some self awareness. If you sleepwalk through your waking life, you will sleepwalk through your dreams. I agree with this and have experienced the same problems. I don't really have a good solution to the business problem but I set an alarm on regular intervals, makes me remember to do RC's even if I'm really stressed and busy. But then again this makes me dependent on alarm which I won't have access to during my dreams but hopefully this will make me remember to preform RC's in waking life when I'm stressed. Can say that I know if it works but.. hopefully

[Luminous]

I agree with this and have experienced the same problems. I don't really have a good solution to the business problem but I set an alarm on regular intervals, makes me remember to do RC's even if I'm really stressed and busy. But then again this makes me dependent on alarm which I won't have access to during my dreams but hopefully this will make me remember to preform RC's in waking life when I'm stressed. Can say that I know if it works but.. hopefully Oh, please let us know how that goes! I hope it will help you remember RCs when you're busy, and the "distraction" from the stress might decrease your stress level.

[ollei]

let's hope so

[Shift]

Great dream recall and vividness is always good. You say you keep being distracted and being busy in your dreams, so that you don't get the chance to do a RC and/or become lucid. From what I see from other posts, that is quite common. What I would suggest for you (and everyone else with this problem) is to try to gain and maintain awareness and do RCs even when you're busy in your waking life. Easier said than done, I know, but once you can pull it off, you have a great advantage. Think about it (this goes for everyone reading this who use RCs), when do you do RCs during the day? I bet you're doing most of them, if not all of them, when you're in a moment where you're not involved in work, or doing anything in particular. So then, you're dreaming, and your dream throws lots of tasks and distractions at you. So instead of waiting for a dream that is more "calm", it's better to prepare yourself to stop for just a moment, and check if you're dreaming even when you're busy. You might even reduce your general stress level in your waking life by taking some time throughout your busy day to maintain some self awareness. If you sleepwalk through your waking life, you will sleepwalk through your dreams. :bravo: well said! When I do my RCs I stop whatever I am doing and concentrate on them. Unless I am driving, in which case I still pay a bit of attention but do some more hardcore RCs and way more of them