Thread: Inception totem

Originally Posted by jasonresno

It works in the film because they are entering other peoples dreams. And other people won't understand how other totems work. It's a cool idea but I don't think it'd apply in real life. Because your subconscious would understand how your totem work and that would render it unreliable.

Even so, many totems could work. Even the top. It seems many people fail to remember that in dreams everything is not put together perfectly. A top could definitely keep on spinning. Especially if you expect it to keep on spinning.

The biggest problem with the totem is getting them into the dream. It would almost have to hold some importance to you just to make transition into the dream easier.

I dont think a totem like the top would work. Maybe if each time you spun it you convinced yourself you really expected it to spin forever it might.

A totem could be quite useful for getting you to remember to do RCs. Say you spun the top or rolled the die every so often and did an RC whilst doing it then it could be useful. Sort of like the A on your palm

Originally Posted by Puffin

Yes, but you won't always have the totem on you; it's just the nature of dreams. As you wear different clothes in dreams and end up in different locations, you won't always have the same items on you. You'd have to summon it like a DC or pull it from a pocket, which can be difficult for beginners at dream control. A simple nose-plug or finger-count reality check is twice as effective.

I agree. But, something like watches work well because people always wear them. Also the left-brain is not fully awake, so numbers are going to look weird in dreams.

If you use another type of object, I suggest something with writing or number on it.

I think the totem (and reality checking) is just a tool to get you questioning your reality. For example, in a dream I become lucid immediately when I question whether or not I am in a dream. The reality check is only for solidifying the lucidity in my opinion.

In my experience, I have never thought I should do a reality check without actually truly knowing before the reality check is complete whether or not I'm in a dream. I believe that the act of wondering if you are in a dream or not turns on the logic switch in your brain, and the actual reality check is not needed to become lucid. This is because you should already be lucid once you initially had the thought to do the reality check.

Is it the same for most of you that you know you are in a dream before the result of your reality check? If so, one could use almost anything for as a totem for reality checking, because as long as your critical thinking and logic switch turn on you should know that your in a dream.

because as long as your critical thinking and logic switch turn on you should know that your in a dream.

- couldn't agree more

I think the totem would only work if it had properties the subconscious couldn't simulate that often, like a written word or something like that. An aspect that when double checked would confirm or refute the idea that I am dreaming. I can only remember the reading/clock option... anymore you can suggest?

Originally Posted by Cosmix

I really like Ariadne's totem - the chess piece. I'd probably use a chess piece as well only it would be the Knight. I'd have it heavily weighted in the front so it would tip over when placed down, so in someone else's dream it would not.

I didnt understand the chess piece. How did it behave differently to let her know its a dream?

A RC could be seeing if you could make a top spin indefinitely. Or seeing if you could simply pull a top out of your pocket if you dont carry one with you.

Originally Posted by BrandonTyberius

I didnt understand the chess piece. How did it behave differently to let her know its a dream?

I have no idea either All it showed was her knocking it over.

Originally Posted by The Subatomic Level

I think the totem (and reality checking) is just a tool to get you questioning your reality. For example, in a dream I become lucid immediately when I question whether or not I am in a dream. The reality check is only for solidifying the lucidity in my opinion.

In my experience, I have never thought I should do a reality check without actually truly knowing before the reality check is complete whether or not I'm in a dream. I believe that the act of wondering if you are in a dream or not turns on the logic switch in your brain, and the actual reality check is not needed to become lucid. This is because you should already be lucid once you initially had the thought to do the reality check.

Is it the same for most of you that you know you are in a dream before the result of your reality check? If so, one could use almost anything for as a totem for reality checking, because as long as your critical thinking and logic switch turn on you should know that your in a dream.

I used to think that merely questioning whether I was dreaming or not was clearly evidence I was dreaming. That was until I started doing regular reality checks. Now I have had the experience where I did my usual RC (nose pinch) even though I "knew" I was awake, only to find that I could still breathe through my nose! I've had this experience quite a few times now, which makes me realize how hard it is to realize you are dreaming sometimes. Even when I can still breathe with my nose plugged, I still sometimes come up with an excuse for why that is and continue the dream non-lucid.

Reality checks can be tricky. One has to keep in mind that the dreaming mind seems to really want to believe dreams are reality. I'm all for keeping reality checks as simple and obvious as possible.

After reading everyone's opinions I believe that totems are possible to have, even if that means switching out your totem from time to time. Yes, if someone carried the same item around with them forever eventually it would seep into their dreams flawlessly and they would never know they were dreaming. But if they changed the item for a different one every now and then it should work the same way. As for the item having to have significant to you, just look at that item as your only means of obtaining lucidity, even though it's not true. Or maybe even find a way to only see the item in your dreams, if you can somehow managae that then it might become a sleep habit and every time you dream, if you see it it'll make you lucid.
Now I'm gonna shut my newbie mouth up before someone makes me eat my own words

I think I have a pretty good idea for a totem though. You could use those wristbands that have words or sayings on them. it's something that you can constantly keep on you and it's not that strange to have, and you can use the reading trick and even better, if you have any of the places that can imprint words onto blank ones near you, you can put the question "Are you awake?" onto it . I have a red wristband that's been on my right wrist for about 4 years, I haven't taken it off since I put it on, but it's blank. If I were to write a word on the inside of the band in permanent marker or burn it in or something, then for an RC I could just flip it inside out and see if the word is the same.....or would that only work like the around the corner trick? O: would the word appear because I expect it to be there when I flip the band around?

Or you could find a necklace or bracelet with an A on it.
Or train yourself to do a reality check whenever you hear or say a certain word.

Totems could also be items that you see everyday, and no matter where you go. You could try to control things around you like point at a stop light and will the light to turn a color that it shouldn't change to or will something white to turn blue whenever you see a certain object.

Originally Posted by Perlinfalcon

Even when I can still breathe with my nose plugged, I still sometimes come up with an excuse for why that is and continue the dream non-lucid.

Hahaha that's brilliant!

what about this a totem..

I'm pretty good at solving a rubik's cube so maybe in the dream i cant solve it but in reality i can..... or do u think because i have done solved it many times my conscious would expect me to solve it.....but to solve a rubik's cube you have to know these algorithms and different methods to solve it.... if i was dreaming would i remember solving it and dong every single twist and turn and would it magically just be solved.. as in reality i would have to remember every twist and turn to solve it.....

just a thought as my totem.... also the rubik's cube that i solve has custom stickers so it is different then all other rubik's cubes....

Originally Posted by Lshem16

It's these buzzing magnet things that are basically two pill-like metal ovals with magnets inside that always line up the same way no matter how you try to spin or position them, and when they meet while you are holding them they make a very distinct sound but when they meet on a surface without being held they make a completely different but very distinct sound.

I have a set of these and a couple nights ago I was in a dream and saw these on a table. It was like a gift from my subconscious, I remembered this thread and immediately became lucid.

I know thats not how totems work and I'm not going to use them as a totem but it was still great becoming lucid and it shows that just browsing DV helps

Originally Posted by Darkmark2400

what about this a totem..

I'm pretty good at solving a rubik's cube so maybe in the dream i cant solve it but in reality i can..... or do u think because i have done solved it many times my conscious would expect me to solve it.....but to solve a rubik's cube you have to know these algorithms and different methods to solve it.... if i was dreaming would i remember solving it and dong every single twist and turn and would it magically just be solved.. as in reality i would have to remember every twist and turn to solve it.....

just a thought as my totem.... also the rubik's cube that i solve has custom stickers so it is different then all other rubik's cubes....

I think that you would "magically" be able to solve it in your dream and it wouldn't seem odd at all to you that you did so without the fancy algorithms. Like Perlinfalcon said, your subconscious can even trick you into thinking that breathing through your plugged nose is normal. I don't think it would have any trouble fooling you into solving a Rubik's cube. I think examining the stickers would be a more effective RC than trying to solve the cube.

I'm not entirely sure that this would work for everyone but this is what I suggest.
Find or buy yourself something like a necklace or a bracelet or something you can put on yourself - but it has to have detail on it. Study this object, put it on, but only for a while. Make sure you take it with you everywhere and get accustomed to seeing it but do not put it on for more then a few hours. When you get quite attached to this "totem" you should start noticing that in your dreams it appears to be ON you rather than in your bag, desk or wherever you keep it. This is why its important to have it always with you but only wear it for a short while. If you wear it for long lengths of time it becomes redundant. If you don't want to wear it on you I guess the same logic could be applied for a something small like a rock or a matchbox if in the dream you find it in your pocket rather than wherever you usually keep it. The whole concept is that you become so dependant on this object that you start to see it as a part of you and while your clothes may change in the dream this should always be on you. Again I can't guarantee this would for everyone but so far for me it's been working brilliantly. Hope this was helpful!

I have always had trouble with lucid dreaming, so bad it was need the edge of hallucinations. I would have entire memories that didn't exist. My grandmother actually gave me the idea of a totem when I was about 9 years old only she called it a charm. She came up with the idea because of her night terrors.

My totem is a rosary, but a very specific one my grandmother helped me make. It has distinctly scented rose beads and a sterling silver dove for the hail holy queen bead. The dove is connected the the chain with gold coloured chain links while all the other links are silver. All the beads are perfectly smooth, but every third bead if the decade has a small hole drilled in it. On the crucifix (which is pewter so it doesnt match the dove) INRI is inscribed upside down and the forth decade only has 9 beads rather than the usual 10.

I keep it in my bra everywhere I go because, as a girl, no matter how much I'm changing clothes that's typically something that is NOT going to change... If I ever have de ja vu, or i'm caught staring off into space and I can't look away, or I encounter a scent that brings up vivid scenery in my mind I pull it out and smell it and count the beads while I pray. If there are only nine, I close my eyes and let my dream dissolve around me.

As you can see VERY VERY specific and nearly impossible to be recreated even by my own mind. The best part is the rose scent; I'm very sensitive to smell and my mind can never get it perfect.

This has always worked very well for me in the past.

I had 2 other ones that I used temporarily when I was in public school because any religious affects I would have been caught with would have been confiscated and I'd have gotten a detention... The first was a 1976 matchbox metal canary yellow jeep wrangler car that sat on it's axel wrong so it wobbled and drifted to a certain side when you pushed it. Only I knew the specifics of how if wobbled and to what side it drifted... It had an angel wings decal on the hood.

The second was a weighted pewter turtle with a jade shell that had a small heart etched into the bottom. Only I knew how it was weighted and about the little heart on it's underside...

Just some thoughts for those of you thinking about creating your own "totems" I think that vision is easily deceived and that it's harder for the mind to conjure up more realistic feelings for some of the more complex senses such as smell or taste... Another thought is keeping spearmints in a peppermint box, or vice versa: Your dreaming mind will expect to find peppermint but it won't be, hopefully you will notice the incorrectness. Maybe a marble with a small bit of flat surface: hard to see at first glance, but when rolled gently it will rest on it's own. Or keeping a magnet with an object that's not so obviously magnetic (i.e. rather than a paperclip, use a hair pin, etc) The laws of physics may be bent in your dream world, so it may not stick. Maybe a spoon even: if you look at your reflection in the concave end and it's right side up, that could be your RC...

My fiancé has a black diamond, in her first LD, it was bright red. So, it works in theory.

I have been using my digital watch as a RC tool for the past month or so. The watch beeps hourly which allows me to RC using the time.
This RC hasn't really worked for me. So I am considering making a totem instead.

I have a joker card that I carry around with me that I reality check with (among others) pretty much every hour. It has 'Tiger brand playing cards' on it as well as 'JOKER' down the sides so hopefully those words along with the picture of a tiger will make an efficient RC in my dreams. U just need to get your brain so used to carrying around your totem that you also do in your dreams. Whether this is possible or not worth the effort I'm yet to discover.

I have a small pocket watch that i guess is kind of a totem. I carry it with me and check it constantly. I think a wartch works better because generally in a dream the time will change or be mutilated or something, but the spinning top in the dream it might just fall down anyway, so i think the type of totem is important.

Originally Posted by Puffin

Yes, but you won't always have the totem on you; it's just the nature of dreams. As you wear different clothes in dreams and end up in different locations, you won't always have the same items on you. You'd have to summon it like a DC or pull it from a pocket, which can be difficult for beginners at dream control. A simple nose-plug or finger-count reality check is twice as effective.

I have to agree with Puffin. You always have your hands with you(lmao) but your totem might not be in your dreams that often.

I actually have a replica of Cobb's top that I carry around with me all the time. I don't expect it to work like in the movie, but I like what it represents and it reminds me to question reality often.

I think that a cell phone would work because most of us carry them around with us everywhere, plus they tell the time and have tons of writing in them.

I guess if you can call it a totem mine would be a metal die. I actually have 2 dice, one chrome and one gold in colour, eg:


I tend to carry one in my pocket nearly all of the time, its a small token i can carry around that reminds me of dreaming and lucidity. I also use it to reality check with by randomly taking it out and counting the spots on whatever side is initially facing me, i then add that number to the spots on the reverse to make sure they add up to 7. While doing this I study the face to make sure the dots look even and non....dreamlike . It only takes a few seconds and nobody ever notices me doing it which means i can perform a lot more RC's.