The 'Lets Practice Waking Lucidity' Thread

[juroara]

In the spirit of dream yoga,I'm sure most of us can use a little help in practicing lucidity in the waking. I know I can! Take a few moments to recall your day as you would a dream. How well can you recall everything? Is your waking memory just as foggy as a dream? Can you remember any specific car you saw on the street today, or are cars in your memory just generic? Can you remember any of the faces of strangers you saw? Random things they said? How foggy or clear is your waking recall? Were you as aware as you could have been? Can you remember any moments today that you could have done a reality check, but didn't? Or, did you do a good job reality checking today, and when and where did you? There's quite a few times I could have done a reality check today that I missed. I went to the park today and I saw a really strange bug. It was bright vermilion. Big and fat. It had long dangling legs, and hovered perfectly. I couldn't even see it's wings, only hear a hum. It was alien looking!! And scary, I don't even know what kind of bug it is. Wasp family? Beetle? But I was already imagining the worst, that this thing, what ever it is, has a really big stinger!! It faces me for a few seconds before disappearing in the leaves. This was a good moment too reality check because I didn't know what this was. Imaginary stinging bugs have showed up in my dreams before! When I recall this waking moment, it follows just like a dream. Another great moment I missed a reality check was a sign we saw halfway through the park. First off, there wasn't any sign like this early on in the park. But halfway through there's this sign that basically says WARNING DANGEROUS WILD ANIMALS! Then it lists all sorts of wild animals that might jump out of a bush and eat me, including mountain lions. I just wanted to burst out laughing. Mountain lions? Here, you gotta be kidding me. I mean, I wasn't even that far out into the wild, I could still here the traffic on the other side of those trees! The sign also said to mind your surroundings. Which was even funnier when you take into account that right next to the sign was a BBQ area complete with a roof and rows of wooden tables. Yes. What better way to mind your surroundings and look out for man eating mountain lions then to be fully focused on your food and whether or not you've burned it I should have reality checked! Another time I should have reality checked was when on one specific path I became obsessed with moving. As in, I was too afraid to stay still because the ground was crawling the biggest and reddest ants I've seen in years! With really really fat heads. The fear of staying still, the fear of something biting me, that might as well have been a dream. I think I should reality check every time I'm scared something is going to bite me. Next time!

[beachgirl]

great post! today i awoke to learn that my partner's co-worker died suddenly, and it really changed the course of our day (and week) considerably. at one point i thought, this feels so surreal... but i didn't think to RC.

[Dannon Oneironaut]

I think I should reality check every time I'm scared something is going to bite me. Good idea! Seems like a dream sign for waking life! I love being lucid while awake! It is just as fun as being lucid while dreaming. The same bright colors, the surreal things happening. The same feelings in the body. If you pay attention, there are lots of wierd little dreamsigns everywhere. I find it easiest when I am walking for some reason. that is when I can really be present with the actual moment of life I am living now and can consciously respond to every perception. I open up my vision so that I am aware of all my peripheral vision and I kind of focus on the whole field of vision as one thing. Then I do the same with my mind. I feel it empty but with one focus and that is on the moment, but very relaxed like. And then I am lucid, I am lucid awake. And then the really interesting things happen. As long as I can remain lucid there are dreamsigns and coincidences. For example, when I was driving back from Atlanta yesterday I was practicing my lucid driving and lucid listening to the radio. I turn on the radio and the song is "Dream On" by Aerosmith and it is that one part where he says "Dream on! Dream on! Dream until your dream comes true!" It makes me even more lucid so I lucidly press seek and "Dreams" is on the next station by Fleetwood Mac. I kept doing this and every song I heard for 6-7 songs mentioned dreams. I past a real estate company with a banner out front that said "Find your dream house" but the word house was blocked by a tree at first. It was like being in a lucid dream. I think that we can be lucid 24/7! But I think it takes a lot of vigilance but the funny thing is: When you are lucid, everything is so effortless.

[bushi]

I'm the same. I can pay attention to everything when I'm walking, and try to notice where every little sound has come from and what new sounds are happening. Just so easy to do.

[louie54]

Nice thread Yeah today, we had a big earth quake (I couldn't feel it... I was driving) and when I got to my aunt's for easter dinner, everyone was all like "hey did you feel the earth quake"? The situation was kind of distracting and I forgot to reality check. What's even more frustrating is that ironically, I had a dream about earthquakes last night (I think it was from watching a Bones episode were they briefly mentioned earthquakes in California). I will remember to reality check more though. I really have been lacking lately, and I will also be sure to practice more wakefulness during the day which I do remember to do every now and then.

[Bobblehat]

I would think when you recall an event where you should have RCed you should do an actual physical reality check there and then?

[The Dreaming Zombie]

Thanks, this is something I have to improve on. It's really rewarding when you get into it. Good idea! Seems like a dream sign for waking life! I love being lucid while awake! It is just as fun as being lucid while dreaming. The same bright colors, the surreal things happening. The same feelings in the body. If you pay attention, there are lots of wierd little dreamsigns everywhere. I find it easiest when I am walking for some reason. that is when I can really be present with the actual moment of life I am living now and can consciously respond to every perception. I open up my vision so that I am aware of all my peripheral vision and I kind of focus on the whole field of vision as one thing. Then I do the same with my mind. I feel it empty but with one focus and that is on the moment, but very relaxed like. And then I am lucid, I am lucid awake. And then the really interesting things happen. As long as I can remain lucid there are dreamsigns and coincidences. For example, when I was driving back from Atlanta yesterday I was practicing my lucid driving and lucid listening to the radio. I turn on the radio and the song is "Dream On" by Aerosmith and it is that one part where he says "Dream on! Dream on! Dream until your dream comes true!" It makes me even more lucid so I lucidly press seek and "Dreams" is on the next station by Fleetwood Mac. I kept doing this and every song I heard for 6-7 songs mentioned dreams. I past a real estate company with a banner out front that said "Find your dream house" but the word house was blocked by a tree at first. It was like being in a lucid dream. I think that we can be lucid 24/7! But I think it takes a lot of vigilance but the funny thing is: When you are lucid, everything is so effortless. I really enjoyed reading that...and coincidentally, a minute later I just realised that the song playing on my shuffled iTunes as I was reading your post was one called Shattered Dreams.

[Man of Shred]

Very interesting article. this really demands awareness doesn't it?

[skepticsnake]

This practice is similar to that of 'mindfulness' endorsed in particular by Zen Buddhism. I have seen somewhere on the tutorials secion that minfulness can help attain lucidity, simply by being more aware of you surroundings, smells, noises, feelings, tension in muscles or whatever it may be, when dreaming this awareness should transfer over, therefore making it more likely that you will realise you are dreaming. Mindfulness is just focussing on what is happening in the current moment and how it feels both physically and mentaly. You would probably find a better description of mindfulness than I can offer by doing a google search. Skepticsnake

[Mancon]

I would rate my recall of today a 7/10. I definitely could have done more reality checks. I remember some cars and strangers.

[juroara]

So anyone else been noticing really weird things lately in the supposed waking state? Yesterday I saw a green fire extinguisher taped to a tree. I have no idea. It was hard to reality check since I was in the car. The most I can do is just make sure I actually have feet on an actual pedal. 7/10! That's great, I'd give myself a 6/10 It's hard to remember work, I don't pay attention to costumers at all. But I've slowly been noticing more things in my environment that makes me say "How long has that been there?" First I noticed the power lines. Seriously! You live with them day in and day out. We know they are there but how often do you actually look at them? Its so easy to stare at a pretty patch of trees and completely ignore the power lines sitting on their leaves. After noticing power lines in a way I haven't before, I then saw these MEGA power line things. I don't even know what they are are. I can see why I've never really noticed them before, THEY'RE HUGE. And I'm so short, I have a tendency to not notice things after a certain height. They're lining up around my entire neighborhood towering everything. I don't remember actually, maybe two to three times taller than the rest of the power lines? They have huge bases bigger than all the trees around here. How could I not have noticed them before The only reason why I finally noticed them was because of the workers who had to climb all the way up there! So what surreal things in your own neighborhood have you taken for granted? No? Nothing? Look again.

[Puffin]

Sometimes my dreams are more vivid than reality for me. I practice awareness in both states.

[Dogod]

So what surreal things in your own neighborhood have you taken for granted? No? Nothing? Look again. I notice something new about a few times a week. Today, for whatever reason, I've been obsessed with RCing. Much more than normal. I think I've done 25-30 today - not mindless RCs, but just a huge number of actual RCs. Hopefully, it'll translate into an LD for me tonight. (I haven't had one yet - I've done an RC in a dream, but I was violently awaken before it fully dawned on me that I was in a dream.)

[Dannon Oneironaut]

Today after I was at the book signing I was in a very dreamy mood. It was dusk out and the weather was balmy outsied the bookstore. There were two musicians hanging out talking. One was an older beatnik looking guy with a guitar and a bald head with some hair over his ears. He kind of looked like a clown. The guy talking to him was a young guy in his early twenties sitting on the curb of the sculpture on the sidewalk, he had a guitar also. The older man was telling him a story about when he was in california while he was tuning his guitar to his harmonica. It was a very relaxed feeling. The guy was talking slow with spaces in the story to blow his harmonica. The younger guy was listening very patiently and I think we were all in some timeless space. It became EXACTLY like a scene from Waking Life. I swear it was taken right from the movie!!! The way the people looked and everything. A homeless guy walked up and said "Can I hang out with y'all?" "Sure" was the answer and the homeless guy took out all these sculptures he made with shells and set them on the sidewalk. Whenever someone would walk by he said "pick one out." Most people looked at him and didn't see the shells and thought he was crazy. The older guy played some very very beautiful songs with a lot of heart. I was in the lucid feeling so I looked at my surroundings exactly like I do when I'm lucid dreaming. I noticed that someone spraypainted POTS on the back of a stop sign. I also noticed the birds on the power lines and the clouds in the sky and the neon light from a restaurant sign called "Zambas" a Tapas restaurant. I walked very slowly and leisurely down the sidewalk noticing every detail. I WAS LUCID! I was aware of things as they were about to happen. People would hurry past me as they were late to a dinner reservation of getting ready to go out to the bars. Most people looked at me kind of weird because I look like I am lucid dreaming with my green silk Afghan robe jacket. But one woman looked at me curiously, not weirdly, and she smiled as if she understood that I'm not weird, just happy. I stayed like that until I got in my car and started driving. That is when I lose it, almost always! It is hard not to go into trance when driving.

[Darkmatters]

Hah!! Power lines... I noticed them a while back, and discovered they're often astonishingly beautiful, but nobody ever notices!!! Here are a couple of pics I took of them... I did a whole series I call Power/Lines: Click on a pic to see them on Flickr. Once there you can click All Sizes over any pic to see it bigger. People would really give me funny looks when I was taking the pics... they couldn't IMAGINE why I was aiming the camera up in the air. I've actually had people try to guess what I was taking pictures of - they thought it must be a bird, because they couldn't understand why on earth I would shoot the power lines!!

[Dannon Oneironaut]

Nice pictures. I especially like the last one. maybe because it is the only one in color, but also because it implies perspective.

[louie54]

Anyway, I guess there hasn't really been anything for me to reality check on lately. Hmm... Maybe the fact that I haven't seen my fish very much lately (I know he still alive, I check on him) but I already had a dream about him recently. Maybe next time I feed them, I'll reality check (and probably check on them ).

[Darkmatters]

Nice pictures. I especially like the last one. maybe because it is the only one in color, but also because it implies perspective Thanks! Yeah, that's one of my favorites... I think because of the way the telephone pole is nestled right into the tree.. half hidden. On the others, I find taking black and white pictures helps to turn it into a slightly abstract composition... when you look at them big you notice the shadows of power lines wrapped around the telephone poles (this was with actual black and white FILM... anybody remember film? ).

[bushi]

Dude you should go and look at the powerlines in Japan.. You'd splooge your pants!

[juroara]

I was fooled again!! I was so sure I was awake!! Last night before going to sleep I wrote down different dream signs to look out for. I know that when ever I do this, my dream gives me my dream signs twice fold. My dream had a little of everything, a bug attacking me, my pants were missing, I was late for school, school? I don't even go to school! At one point while getting ready for my new college class I seriously considered that this was all a dream. I even consciously reminded myself that the only times I get ready for school these days is in a dream. I tried to recall the day but I had false dream memories of signing up for a new college course. If only I had recalled even further, and remembered falling asleep. I fooled myself into thinking that this had to be reality and I'm only wishing it was a dream! A moment later I instantly wake up. I was startled actually. Because I really thought I was awake, and then to actually wake up, messes with my head! Me need more waking lucidity! Maybe instead of trying to prove myself that the dream is reality, I should instead try to prove to myself that reality is a dream

[kulananda]

Cool thread, inded a practice of dream yoga. I don't do this enough, I'm to busy dreaming while I'm awake, or sleeping while I'm awake.

[kulananda]

[QUOTE=Darkmatters;1431399]Hah!! Power lines... I noticed them a while back, and discovered they're often astonishingly beautiful, but nobody ever notices!!! Here are a couple of pics I took of them... I did a whole series I call Power/Lines: The only time i'm looking at power lines is when i'm flying. I like to avoid them.

[Serenity]

Hmm... I guess my recall today is a 5/10. I didn't much pay attention to strangers at all. The only thing that was really abnormal (that I noticed) was when I was on the train, coming in to work. It's fairly normal to see a person nodding off, but it's less normal to see 5 people nodding off... at 4:00 in the afternoon! Everyone nodding off were slouching with their heads laid back, noses in the air. I thought about dreaming, and how weird it was, but didn't reality check. I guess if I were dreaming, this would have been close to pre-lucidity today Story of my life

[Dannon Oneironaut]

Maybe instead of trying to prove myself that the dream is reality, I should instead try to prove to myself that reality is a dream That is my method of waking lucidity, and reality check! Hmm... I guess my recall today is a 5/10. I didn't much pay attention to strangers at all. That is a very interesting thing about dreaming awake, or lucid waking, is that random people that you pass throughout the day that you don't really pay much attention to are in fact like random dream characters. It can be very surreal and fascinating to look at these people as dream characters, and use them to become lucid during the day. To pay close attention to them and try to notice the details about them. I believe this helps during the dream also to notice your dream characters. my pants were missing, I was late for school, school? I don't even go to school! Whenever that happens to me I think that I am either dreaming or I am drunk. Just kidding.

[Serenity]

That's very, very good advice Alright, so today, while on the train, we did a very weird stop approaching one of the platforms. It wasn't really abrupt, but there were loud clunking noises. Usually at times like these in a dream, I think something, which influences the plot of the dream, so I did that. Nothing happened. I engaged all of my senses and went through some checklist of where they came from (ex. "I have an after taste in my mouth from the hotdog I ate before getting on the train." "I have my backpack and my mp3 player with me. I can feel my uniform, on my skin, which I remember washing earlier today, before my shift." Etc) I forgot to RC at seeing the 3 cops in the parking lot while walking from the train to my site. Granted, they were in their own lot (there's a police station next door to me), but regardless, it's abnormal to see 3 of them standing out there. I remember thinking, "Huh, that's weird," and just walking on by, which is the story of my life when it comes to missing lucid opportunities Also missed RC-ing at the new TV screen on the wall at work. Although it plays commericials of previous ad campaigns, so it does make logical sense. But that is another problem of mine. I dream about work a lot and I never reality check when somethig is new or out of place. 4/10 today