Well I just read a thread that says you should try to become aware all the time? How do you do that?
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Well I just read a thread that says you should try to become aware all the time? How do you do that?
Learn how to become aware.
Then do it all the time :D
Very funny Dizko but Im asking how???
Oh sorry, try this video, it should help. Heck, watch the whole series.
I think what they mean by that is:
Try to always "question your sorroundings", like, if your in a library, dont just accept that your in a library. Try looking at a book, if it has an understandable title, and try to believe that it wont.
If a wall has a crack in it, try imagining the crack getting larger, and if it does- well your dreaming.
Be aware of anything suspicous, ALL the time.
Here's a thread I started a while back called "What does "becoming more aware of waking life" mean to you?" http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=64144
It got some good responses, so you can see at least what you should be aiming for :) It seems to be, mostly, the consciousness of every decision that you make and every thing that you perceive, and the reasons why.
You see, this is a problem. I live in my head when I'm awake!
i like to do it like this:
become aware of sight: what are you really seeing around you, colours, details, forms etc... then pay attention to the sound, smell, touch and taste.
then try to observe what you are thinking about at that moment.. usually due to observing the material, there isn't too much mental noise.. but when you notice the mental noise, it goes away,.. and if it doesn't it's fine, it doesn't need to.. as long as you notice it.
then become aware of the is a general attitude, or FEELING.. "i'm in a hurry" or "why am i wasting time on this" or "i want to be home", "I am waiting for something" "I am happy".. or something like that.. .as soon as you become aware of that background thought, it dissolves, leaving you at peace and more aware..
then try to become aware of your self. who is this me? i like to take the role of the observer, you let your brain do the task at hand, for example walking, and just keep your attention on non-thought..
this is a kind of meditation for awereness which i do as often as i remember to.. if repeated it becomes easier to do, and quicker.. and perhaps it could become a habit. I need to do it more often.
Yes, that are the basic instructions for dream yoga practitoners. It's more or less the same as doing RCs frequently and making it a habit to question your state. As soon as it becomes a habit, you'll do it in your dreams too and become lucid.
That's not an easy thing to keep up though. Imagine working on something, learning, etc. where you really need to focus and keep up questioning your state. You wouldn't accomplish much. Imagine a surgeon trying to question reality while working on your body. You probably wouldn't want that.
If you want to test your concentration, go out but think about absolutely nothing (suppress thoughts). You'll see how difficult concentrating on one thing for a longer time is.
Notice the world. Notice details, notice the looks on people's faces. Notice your own thought patterns. Become absorbed in the moment at least once a day -- this means to abandon all thought and just BE and FEEL. Notice the light, the way shadows lay.
Took me a while, but I found the original topic talking about the levels of Lucid Dreaming Awareness.
http://www.dreamviews.com/community/showthread.php?t=36173
Very much so worth a read.
Spoiler for Arby's Levels of Lucidity:
The thing to remember about levels of lucidity is that it is a very, very subjective concept. There's no way yet to objectively say "Hey! I was 84.69% lucid last night!" So I think for one's personal dream journal purposes, or to communicate the idea that there is a gradient of lucid awareness and that it's not simply a black and white phenomenon, the concept of levels of lucidity is a good thing. I usually just call it high and low lucidity, because I personally don't need much more out of it. Though arby did a great job, such paradigms are far from an all-encompassing, objective, calibrated measure of one's lucidity.
I'm pretty sure the OP was talking about raising awareness in real life, not lucid awareness although of course the goal is for that awareness to transfer.
Yes you are quite right Shift. However with Arby's levels of lucidity perhaps out of sheer coincidence I had also come up with a similiar scale of the levels or awareness one has during a lucid dream and my chart was strikingly similiar.
However like you said there is a Low, Medium, and High level of awareness I was simply thinking that the link I posted may be a beneficial tool to look over. Ideally however if one was trying to be more aware in waking life it's quite simple.
You would have to pay greater attention to details such as when you are driving pay attention to what you drive by, streets you take, shops you pass, the leaves on the trees, decorations, the grass, objects in yards, the setting sun, etc. If you are paying attention to a larger number of things in your waking life this will inevitably carry over to your dreams as well.
Basically if one was to gain a constant state of paying attention to ones surroundings this would ideally have quite a beneficial effect on your level of awareness in the dream world.
It's also important to pay attention to meaning and reason- WHY are you doing the things you are doing. WHY are people reacting the way that they are? So many of my regular dreams involved stupid adventures or goals. For example, I know someone is going to try to cut my hair if I take off my hat. The wind blows, and I fear the hat falling off. I'm paying attention to the hat, to the scissors, to the wind, but I'm not stopping to go- WAIT, who is it that's going to cut my hair? Why the hell would they care about my hair? Where am I, really? Is this how I would usually react to someone trying to cut my hair?
Exactly! I think getting beyond the task at hand in the dream to question the reasons behind it is so important! I LD all the time and still struggle with this. I may be aware enough to realize that everyone I see is a creation of my mind in my dream, but still be doggedly persuing some nonsensical goal! At times I am able to break free of this dream-goal nonsense, but so often I get sucked back into it, even believing that the goal is important to my waking life and that I chose it with a clear mind!
Indeed, Alice and Looking glass were good books, wonderful for a lucid lover.
On topic, I advise searching dream yoga if you haven't already. BillyBob has a in depth guide on it.