It occurred to me last night that all three of my lucid dreams have one thing in common-grave danger. It's as if instead of panicking, my brain attempts to rationalise it, and the missing logic kicks in, backtracking to the last place I was-asleep. My dream self thinks of my bed at home, and everything falls into place nicely. There must be a way to harness this to make my LDs more frequent, any ideas?
Another thought...Is there any way inside a dream to just remember you're in bed? I want to be able to remember that the last thing I did was go to bed, would MILD work here?
I think MILD could help. I think you just need more dream signs. It sounds like your brain has made "grave danger" a dream sign??
Wow, it has, I never thought of it like that, thanks. I have loads in my journal. I always seem to just let those pass though.
YEAH, I always go through my dream journal and always find things that always happens in dreams. For me it is hanging out with this old friend of mine, So i write in my dream journal, Dream Sings, and than write that in. Than before going to sleep I repeat "Next time I see X I will do a reality check." For you I would try "when I'm in grave danger I will do a reality check." kinda like a mantra...
Danger is my #1 lucid trigger, also. Probably 85-95% of my DILDs occur because I'm in a very intense situation. I think you got it right, cyanidebaby; your mind tries to rationalize the situation. You're thinking (without thinking) things like "how did this happen? How did I get here? I do I get out?" Things like that, and then your mind deduces that you are dreaming. After having done this for so long, mine has almost seemed to become instinctual. I still have plenty of dreams that can be intense and violent, and I don't become lucid, but so many more of them have started turning into lucids, over the past couple of years that I've been here, than before.
Definitely take it as a dream sign. And if you frequently have chaotic, dangerous, action-packed dreams like I tend to, you could find yourself becoming lucid more and more often. :>
Thanks for all these wonderful replies, the danger thing is already pretty instinctual, I haven't even found the need to reality check because my brain does it automatically...Since this comes easily, is there a way I might force this trigger scenario so that I can work on my lucidity, thus hopefully expanding my range of DILD triggers through experience?
Well, I happen to be an action movie/game/anime junkie, so I can only imagine that that's part of the reason why my mind is always coming up with such violent scenarios. I also have a little martial arts training, so visualizing danger - and possible courses of action - has always been something my mind is busy doing. If danger isn't somehow a part of your everyday thought process, I would suggest getting into more action/suspense entertainment. Books or movies; I would imagine that it doesn't matter which. I would think that, the more related input you give your mind, while awake, the more it may be likely to present it back to you, while dreaming.