Ridiculously Vague Dreamsign

[Ethereal]

My dreamsign is water. At least, that's what I've noticed. Almost all of my dreams involve water; oceans, rain, swimming in the water...etc. The problem is, how the heck am I supposed to RC whenever I see water? I'm not very adept at sticking to routines, and when I spill water on the floor or am in the shower, noticing water (and RCing) is the last thing on my mind. I've tried to narrow down the dreamsign, but at best it is simply 'bodies of water'. Of course, this could not be a dreamsign at all, but just a regular occurrence because I live beside the water. What do you suggest? Ditch it entirely and try to find a better dreamsign? The only real things that stand out in my dreams are water and anxiety. The thing is, who doesn't have either of those in their everyday lives? Most likely, I'm not going to stop for a reality check when I'm hurrying to catch the bus to school or rush to class. Eh, I haven't had much luck overall with lucid dreams, despite being at it for almost a year. My dreams just seem to revolve around whatever I did that day and a few odd things, and despite how bizarre they become, I never seem to question them.

[TheWeirdnessSymposium]

I know what you mean by the anxiety. I intially chose that as a possible dream sign. I've made it more specific though and narrowed it down to: finding it very difficult to do a simple task (for example, the other night I dreamed I was trying to climb the stairs but every time I took a step, the carpet moved and moved me back a step.) I've got a bit of a theory that the times when we're most unlikely to RC (such as when we're stressed, or involved in an enjoyable task) could actually be the best times to RC because there is emotional involvement there. The only difficult thing is finding a way to remind yourself to RC in the middle of a task (Alarm clocks can be good, as is a rubber band on your arm.)

[Ethereal]

Heh, I remember glancing at my hand while running a fitness test at school (awfully, drop-dead tiring), then thinking, "screw it, if this is a dream, just make it stop".

[Elucive]

The problem is, how the heck am I supposed to RC whenever I see water? See, this is where most people get confused. You don't have to combine your dream signs with reality checks. It's just an option. The best thing (In my opinion) is to just be AWARE of your dream sign. I don't know how to fully explain it. Just know in your mind what a dream sign is, become familiar with yours. Eventually, that mental association will kick in. From what I've read from Laberge, Reality checks are for habits that you do while you're awake, then carry over into your dreams. Therefore, reality checking everytime you see or think of water would just be kind of weird. Reality checking (IMO) is more directed for other situations, like habits that you ALREADY have. Like if you find yourself always dreaming that you're walking into a bathroom, then it's great because in real life you already walk into a bathroom plenty of times a day, and don't have to worry about making that a habit. Only thing you have to worry about is remembering to reality check. So do you see what I mean by it being weird to reality check whenever you see water? Cuz come on, how many times are you gonna be succesful at remembering that? Chances are, not a lot. That's just MY view on reality checking. The whole point is to try everything out, so I hope I've cleared up a little bit for you, Good luck!

[Kordan]

You could move to the desert where there is little rain, no oceans, and the chance to go swimming would be an unlikely event...or you could just stick to the other advice. RC's are good (do a reality check), but some of the best LD's come from just becoming AWARE that you're dreaming (like Elucive said). If you really think that you need an RC, the rubber band one is easy, as well as variants of it. I just recently started to wear a bracelet that I use for RC's (which I've never been good at ) and I'm actually being consistant with RC's. I check the number of beads, and the pattern of the beads (three beads, each with the number three associated with it somehow- is this good?) Those rubber bracelets with little messages on them (like the LiveStrong bands) could be good, because you have the band AND text to read = Double RC!

[Ethereal]

Eh, well, to be honest, that doesn't make a lot of sense . If you don't question reality whenever you see your dreamsign, how do you become lucid? Do you mean that you don't have to do the physical reality checks? I'm leaning towards the dreamsign of always being late or rushing for or from school. Also, annoyingly, I told myself last night that I would dream of Warcraft (a game I had been playing for the last 4 hours before going to bed, and which I almost always dream of after playing it) and that I would do a reality check. Sure enough, I did dream of it, but despite the autosuggestion, blindly accepted it.