Quote Originally Posted by antoia View Post
I feel like I haven't been doing WBTB the correct way. Normally people set alarms at some time before their REM cycle, get out of bed and stay up for some time, and then go back to sleep, right? Whenever I tried WBTB, I ended up not getting out of bed at all (though insomnia is a big factor... right now it's summer vacation so it doesn't matter as much, but when school rolls around, I don't want to wake up at 4 in the morning and end up lying in bed for two hours...). I'm probably going to experiment with that over the summer.
Yes, a normal WBTB involves getting up and activating the mind a little which can be carried into the subsequent dream(s). Most people recommend reading or thinking about lucid dreaming (going on DV for example), reviewing their DJ or incubating a dream that they would like to have come up. In general you don't want to think about waking life concerns that may get your mind wandering or worrying which could keep you awake. However, if something with a strong emotional tie-in comes up anyway, it wouldn't be unusual to dream about it or a similar theme that very night. I could see using those situations to remind yourself to keep an eye out for a related dream sign that night. One personal example: I was checking out a social app during WBTB and saw that I missed a friend's baby's first birthday! I felt so bad during the WBTB that I missed it! I had a dream later that night that I was with that friend and explaining how bad I felt that I missed it. If I set that as a dream sign I would have been more likely to recognize that I was dreaming in that situation. Of course, if it seems like you are usually someone else you may have to look out for things more general but you have a good start for a dream sign list going. The more you recall and the more you review your journal, the more common signs will stand out. I have experimented with going through my whole list of dream signs during WBTB, but it seems too taxing. Sometimes the same dream sign will show up several nights during the same week or even several nights in a row. If I notice something come up 2 nights close together then that is likely a dream sign I will remind myself to look for over the next few nights. Basically, I usually choose a limited number of dream signs to remind myself about using a brief mantra. Remembering to RC when you see "X" during the day is not something that I have really worked on but a number of people feel that it is productive. You will likely find your own ways of doing things and that seems to be an important part of getting good at lucid dreaming.

I think for me, context and action are probably the most important, because I'm usually in some imaginary location in some other person's body. And I'm often flying or doing something strange like climbing through tunnels or throwing out dead babies. (Seriously, today I finally remembered a full dream in detail (due to mantras, maybe), and it had to be about a dead baby. It was gross and the me in the dream was mentally scarred for life.)
Although I have no experience with the way you are approaching it, I would encourage you to experiment with it to see if you find something workable that is not overly complicated. As for more the more common dream sign approach, do you remember dreaming about babies other times recently...or death? Some people say babies can signify something "new" in your life or experiences.

I wish I had more FAs. They don't pop up that often (at least, I don't think so, though how would I know for sure?), maybe because I usually don't wake up that often over the night. Since I seem to be doing that more often lately, I'll keep an eye out, though.
I think that they happen more often than we realize and perhaps we forget that the dream started with a false awakening since the experience of waking up/getting up is so mundane. Sometimes the earliest part of a dream I remember involves a bed or pillows but I don't remember waking up in that space. Just a theory.

Thanks for all the comments! I think I'll go through my dream journal and pick out some dream signs or themes and post them here when I'm done. Some signs I've noticed so far:

1. Friends/classmates/teachers (pop up most often over the school year, even people I don't really know)
2. Family (doing the strangest things, too, like climbing out tunnels or getting pregnant whyyyy)
3. Fictional characters (like Sherlock or the Doctor or occasionally Harry Potter, though I haven't seen them lately)
To a lesser extent:
- flying (I used to fly a lot in dreams so I guess that's why flying in LDs is pretty easy for me)
- subways/trains (even in dreams, the NYC subway system sucks)
Yes, definitely keep adding to the list. This is a good start!

I'm not sure how to use these dream signs though. I could RC whenever I talk to a friend, but it's summer and I rarely see anyone because we're all busy. Same for family, I guess. Haven't seen fictional characters in a while, maybe I should look around and ask myself "is anyone here a fictional character?*narrows eyes*" And RC whenever I see a train or get onto the platform etc. I feel like that hasn't been working lately, though... hmm.
For dream signs that you are not likely to come across during the day, you could just focus on those in a mantra or mantras right before bed and/or during WBTB. You can also work on prospective memory for items that aren't dream signs just to exercise the prospective memory muscle.

Also, I've decided to try DEILDing if this frequent awakenings thing keeps up. The hard part is getting myself to stay still and keep my eyes closed...
Definitely a good tool to have in your arsenal. It can also be a pre-emptive strike to a potential false awakening. I only recently realized that a good number of my short lucids were not really over but I was going into a false awakening. If you immediately try to re-enter a dream at every awakening, you could actually still be dreaming and that would make the transition into the next dream lucidly all the easier. I am of the belief that many situations in which we think we have DEILD'ed are ones where we never actually woke up. Usually when we actually wake it will be at the end of a REM cycle, so not the ideal situation to quickly re-enter a dream as the next REM cycle may be a little wait or a long wait depending on how far into you night you are. But what if many of the little awakenings are FAs?..then you can "DEILD" a lot! So, I say try to go back in every time. If nothing happens, you can do a motionless RC and if you are awake you can decide then if you want to get up for a WBTB.

Edit: I think I've been doing SSILD wrong... maybe I'm focusing too much on, well, focusing. I'll try concentrating less tonight and see what happens.
Practice each cycle during the day when you can think clearer to get a better feel for doing it. It takes time to get into a rhythm and then you can do it more passively. I personally do it a little differently combining the 3 elements in concert with my breathing.

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