How to Attain Waking Life Consciousness in a Lucid Dream?

With practice, I have managed to get a few lucid dreams. The problem is that my lucid dreams never feel real. I am never 100% conscious and in full control of my thoughts. For example, in my lucid dreams sometimes I forget certain things (like stabilization techniques) that I would not forget if I was awake. I can never think clearly in my lucid dreams.

After doing some looking around, I have found that some people are able to have waking life consciousness while in their lucid dreams. That means that for those people, their lucid dreams are as real as when they are awake. So far, I have been doing reality checks while awake and stabilization techniques in my lucid dreams but I have never once had that waking life consciousness in my lucid dreams.

If I continue doing these reality checks and stabilization techniques, will I eventually attain that waking life consciousness in my lucid dreams? Or are there other techniques that I'm supposed to do in order to attain that waking life consciousness when lucid?

That happened to me when I started. My first 4 lucid dreams where disappointing to me because they felt like distant memories. I almost felt like I dreamt of a lucid dream

Don't worry though, because when you have a fully lucid dream, you'll know it. I've now had 2 fully lucid ones along with the other 4 ones that were okay. The first time was shocking, and I literally couldn't believe I was dreaming. It was extremely lifelike, and if it weren't for my reality checks and my messed up clock, I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. I also was thinking straight in it because I remembered what to do and what I wanted to do. It gave me a new motivation to lucid dream because I had assumed all lucid dreams were underhwelming like my other ones before this.

I'm not an expert by any means, in fact I still consider myself a beginner, just to put it in perspective. I just continued what I was doing and eventually, got a life-like lucid dream. Don't get discouraged! Keep trying, eventually you will have a vivid lucid dream!

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Originally Posted by Tmako

That happened to me when I started. My first 4 lucid dreams where disappointing to me because they felt like distant memories. I almost felt like I dreamt of a lucid dream

Don't worry though, because when you have a fully lucid dream, you'll know it. I've now had 2 fully lucid ones along with the other 4 ones that were okay. The first time was shocking, and I literally couldn't believe I was dreaming. It was extremely lifelike, and if it weren't for my reality checks and my messed up clock, I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. I also was thinking straight in it because I remembered what to do and what I wanted to do. It gave me a new motivation to lucid dream because I had assumed all lucid dreams were underhwelming like my other ones before this.

I'm not an expert by any means, in fact I still consider myself a beginner, just to put it in perspective. I just continued what I was doing and eventually, got a life-like lucid dream. Don't get discouraged! Keep trying, eventually you will have a vivid lucid dream!

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When you had your 100% conscious lucid dreams, did you become 100% conscious at the very beginning of the lucid dream or did you start off partly conscious and then became fully 100% conscious later in the lucid dream?

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Originally Posted by neowisdom

When you had your 100% conscious lucid dreams, did you become 100% conscious at the very beginning of the lucid dream or did you start off partly conscious and then became fully 100% conscious later in the lucid dream?

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Well my 1st really vivid one was super vivid from the start because it was a false awakening (and I normally do RCs when I wake up) and I became lucid right at the beginning. I still did some stuff like yell "clarity" and rub my hands, touch stuff, etc, which helps stabilize the dream.

The second one I had was spontaneous lucidity and it was fuzzy, like you described, so I had to do some stuff. Exactly what I did was some reality checks (even though I already knew I was dreaming), I yelled "clarity" multiple times, rubbed my hands together, clapped, and touched some stuff around me. This increased the vividness pretty well for me, so I would recommend it. I also kept telling myself "I am dreaming, I am dreaming" as this helps me focus if I feel distracted. So it became really vivid.

I recommend getting into the habit of RCing everytime you wake up no matter what, because then you might become lucid in a FA. My FAs are really vivid so if I become lucid in them the dream is automatically vivid and lifelike. If you don't have many FAs then just try more stabilization techniques like the ones I mentioned, or try to do mental math, it helps.

Also, one last thing to keep in mind is sleep cycles. I've heard that if you lucid dream in earlier cycles, the dreams are shorter/less vivid and that it is very very difficult to get these to feel life like. That's just what I've read. But that may be the case with you, so just keep trying! Good luck!

Hmmm... Different levels of awareness normally come from recall and dream awareness. If you are not actually present in dreams (like really there, even if not lucid) then when you become lucid you will be trying to catch your consciousness, which is possible, but hard. I would recommend working on recall. Sleep more, pay more attention to your dreams, wbtbs, micro WBTBs, these things should help.

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Originally Posted by Tmako

Well my 1st really vivid one was super vivid from the start because it was a false awakening (and I normally do RCs when I wake up) and I became lucid right at the beginning. I still did some stuff like yell "clarity" and rub my hands, touch stuff, etc, which helps stabilize the dream.

The second one I had was spontaneous lucidity and it was fuzzy, like you described, so I had to do some stuff. Exactly what I did was some reality checks (even though I already knew I was dreaming), I yelled "clarity" multiple times, rubbed my hands together, clapped, and touched some stuff around me. This increased the vividness pretty well for me, so I would recommend it. I also kept telling myself "I am dreaming, I am dreaming" as this helps me focus if I feel distracted. So it became really vivid.

I recommend getting into the habit of RCing everytime you wake up no matter what, because then you might become lucid in a FA. My FAs are really vivid so if I become lucid in them the dream is automatically vivid and lifelike. If you don't have many FAs then just try more stabilization techniques like the ones I mentioned, or try to do mental math, it helps.

Also, one last thing to keep in mind is sleep cycles. I've heard that if you lucid dream in earlier cycles, the dreams are shorter/less vivid and that it is very very difficult to get these to feel life like. That's just what I've read. But that may be the case with you, so just keep trying! Good luck!

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How long did your 100% conscious lucid dreams last?

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Originally Posted by neowisdom

How long did your 100% conscious lucid dreams last?

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First one was about 5 minutes because I lost focus and it became a non lucid dream.

My second was better (around 15 minutes) because I periodically reminded myself I was dreaming and did reality checks, plus I had more goals to do that I had set while I was awake.

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Originally Posted by Tmako

Well my 1st really vivid one was super vivid from the start because it was a false awakening (and I normally do RCs when I wake up) and I became lucid right at the beginning. I still did some stuff like yell "clarity" and rub my hands, touch stuff, etc, which helps stabilize the dream.

The second one I had was spontaneous lucidity and it was fuzzy, like you described, so I had to do some stuff. Exactly what I did was some reality checks (even though I already knew I was dreaming), I yelled "clarity" multiple times, rubbed my hands together, clapped, and touched some stuff around me. This increased the vividness pretty well for me, so I would recommend it. I also kept telling myself "I am dreaming, I am dreaming" as this helps me focus if I feel distracted. So it became really vivid.

I recommend getting into the habit of RCing everytime you wake up no matter what, because then you might become lucid in a FA. My FAs are really vivid so if I become lucid in them the dream is automatically vivid and lifelike. If you don't have many FAs then just try more stabilization techniques like the ones I mentioned, or try to do mental math, it helps.

Also, one last thing to keep in mind is sleep cycles. I've heard that if you lucid dream in earlier cycles, the dreams are shorter/less vivid and that it is very very difficult to get these to feel life like. That's just what I've read. But that may be the case with you, so just keep trying! Good luck!

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What kind of techniques do you do when you're awake during the day in order to have lucid dreams later?

Reality checks are a transitional habit from waking life to your dream in the hopes that it will cause you to become lucid. So the more you do it, the more likely it will occur. But people always stress that you have to perform the checks sincerely, as if you honestly wonder if you're dreaming.

I usually recommend using induction videos when having trouble getting a lucid dream. These videos increase your chances and they certainly can't hurt, so why not try them?

For people who've used MILD successfully, that's a sign they're very suggestible, and in their cases, hypnosis can be a reliable means of increasing their chances at lucidity.

So as for what you can do during the day, you can do the old "Every time I see X, I'll check if I'm dreaming." You can do affirmations, or hypnosis. But what's most important is finding an induction method you're most comfortable with. I believe the more uncomfortable attempting a lucid dream is, the less likely you'll have one.

For me, meditation and specific dream yoga awareness exercises are what bring the real-ness and clarity of thought/being.

As Sensei and Tofur already suggested, it might be time to move beyond just RC's and stabilization techniques, Neowisdom, and work to develop your sense of self-awareness and memory.

There are lots of daytime things you can do for this (many of which you're likely familiar). Since I don't have time to offer anything up just now, I suggest that you check out my Lucid Dreaming Fundamentals thread, which I feel is essentially my long answer to your question anyway.

Good Luck!