I created an account solely so I could share some underlying lucidity principles that seem to be absent in the popular literature.

Typically prepatory wakeful training to attain lucidity is composed of reality checks, yet these checks are primarily extrinsically oriented. The problem with this is that there are particular fundamental differences in a lucid dream that cannot be noticed simply by becoming aware of your situation or the environment.

Many people, when they become lucid, do the first thing that comes to their mind. That, or they've used the MILD technique and simply carry out the plan they outlined for themselves while awake.

MILD is an important first step, but there is something I've noticed about dreams that can be solved by using the MILD technique in a different way.

In dreams, not only the environment and situation is changed, but YOU are as well. We (or I, at least) have made the mistake of believing my dream personality to be my waking personality upon becoming lucid. In other words, my dream self, with a completely different set of goals, motives, and interests, is the one who becomes lucid. This truly illustrates the fact that the conscious portion of the self is built on constantly remembering who we are.

For example, I may go into a dream with a particular goal. My dream self may remember that goal. Still, though, it is my dream personality that is carrying out that goal. Even when I DO become lucid AND remember the goal I set for myself, that's all I remember. I don't remember what happened the day before I went to sleep. I don't remember all the little nuances that is attached to my waking personality.

This means that although lucidity was attained, completely merging of the dream and waking selves has not occurred within the dream, meaning that the waking self cannot fully navigate the dreamscape. The reason I believe the ability to do this is important is because the waking self, if fully merged, could navigate the dreamscape primarily according to ITS goals rather than being influenced by the dreaming self's goals which will be irrelevant upon waking.

This principle of separation despite attaining lucidity is partially due to the nature of dreams; time does not function the same way, meaning the way the mind navigates and utilizes time will also be different. This makes it nearly impossible to fully merge both personalities, because one personality is the way it is because it remembers the way it does (i.e. the waking self remembers time in a linear fashion, opposed to the very fragmented, present-moment oriented dreaming self).

However, if one considers this concept during waking life reality checks, the reality checks could look something like this:

Become skeptical of the environment and present situation.
Bring all attention to what is occurring within the environment.
Bring attention to the current circumstances and become skeptical of them.
THEN, bring attention to one's own personality (present goals, hobbies, interests, and very importantly, past experiences) -- I say past experiences because memory is so suppressed in dreams that to activate memory is a potential way to access fragments of the waking personality and hopefully the entire integrated personality.
THEN bring one's attention to the sense of self; the sense of me-ness. Become skeptical of even that.
THEN attempt to remember who you are, similar to bringing one's attention to past experiences. Particularly remember waking life goals. In daily life, this would consist of being skeptical of everything you feel that you are, and then attempt to remember past goals.

The primary difference is that this type of examination encompasses the subjective aspect of the observer, the mental-objective aspect of thoughts, identity, goals, etc. and the physical environment-objective aspect of the body and its surroundings. In other words, it is a complete examination, rather than a partial one, which I hypothesize will lead to a fuller lucidity since there are more aspects that are being examined.