Inner Awareness/Form/Action/Context?

[Eamo24]

Has anyone catalogued their dream signs according to the inner awareness/form/action/context inventory, as described in LaBerge’s EWOLD and ACILD*? It seems like a very important system when it comes to dream sign awareness, yet there doesn’t seem to be a lot of info around on how you go about doing it. A lot of my DS’s don’t fit any of these categories, so it’s proving to be a difficult task. If anyone has categorized their dream signs according to this, would you have any advice about it? Thanks. *A Course in Lucid Dreaming

[13WAR08T]

Yes I have also read EWOLD and I do this in my dream journal. Basically, Inner Awareness = thoughts or feelings that would be strange or unusual in real life given the situation, e.g) having a crush on someone you don't have feelings for in real life, or feeling happy when something upsetting or frightening is happening. It could also include stimuli from no apparent source, for example background music. Form = Anything that looks unusual, could be as subtle as a familar object in the wrong position, or as obvious as the sky being a different colour. Action = Something does not function or behave as it would in real life - eg car brakes don't work, someone says something weird or unusual or behaves strangely. Context = The situation is unusal or impossible, e.g. you are on another planet, or you are somewhere you have never been or rarely go to in real life. Or there are objects around you that don't belong in that place, e.g. a couch in the middle of the road. Wherever these dream signs happen in my dream journal, I write the letters IA, F, A or C in a different colour after the sentence e.g. "I have no eyes or mouth on my face.F" (Form because my face looks different). To start, just characterise your dream signs into the categories you THINK they belong. It will get easier with practice.

[Eamo24]

Thanks, 13WARO8T. Your descriptions were even clearer than in EWOLD! Another thing I found difficult was how to categorize most of them. Most of my DS’s don’t seem to fall into a particular category, or else it’s a combination of many, for example, I had a dream once where there was a large triangle floating in the night sky. The triangle itself is an unusual object (form), but it’s also doing something impossible (action) and it’s also out of place (context). They can be a bit tricky sometimes. Overall though, I think “context” is the most difficult category -- it can be difficult to know how to raise your awareness to these kinds of things because they are indeed so variable. To start, just characterise your dream signs into the categories you THINK they belong. It will get easier with practice. Good advice. I think I was being a bit overly technical with some of them. I mean, I think LaBerge’s aim with this whole thing was to help you learn some key indicators of how your dream world differs from the waking world. So yes it’s probably best to group them however you think -- I don’t think it would be very practical to be in the midst of a dream thinking: “I wonder if this would be form, or maybe context”.

[13WAR08T]

You're welcome, glad I could help Yes, everyone's dreams are different so it's common to have DSs that fall under multiple or all of the categories. Yes, the point is to work out how your dreams personally differ from the waking world. I think LaBerge also said that the most common type of DS that happens in your dreams should be considered in real life when you're practicing awareness / RC's. For example if you mostly have Form dream signs, you should study the way things look in real life. If you have Action dream signs, you should study how things move, behave and interact in real life. If you can't find a main type of DS in your dreams, that means everything about your dreams differs from reality, so I would study everything I guess.