Thread: Getting over belief problems

Learning that lucidity isn't possible doesn't bode well for lucidity. The more you expect a learned inability to become lucid during a dream, the more likely you will reject evidence to the contrary during a dream. I think you've fallen into this trap and need to get out.

In order to lucid dream, you have to identify the dream as such while its happening. You can do this.

You can identify dreams as such. You do this after you wake up.

You can also do this while dreaming because during a dream you still have the sensory awareness and access to conscious knowledge (memory) you need to do so. If you didn't have sensory awareness you would be able to recall any dreams. If you didn't have memory you wouldn't be able to correctly identify anything during the dream. Because of this, lucidity is always a possibility, no matter how hopeless it may seem.

Speaking of knowledge, you should be trying to learn how dreams are different from waking life so that you can tell the difference between the two. For example, you have learned that when a reality check fails during a dream you are dreaming. But you should be learning a lot more ways dreams are different from waking life so you have more chances for success. You could learn from dreams you already have. For example, if you wake up from a non-lucid dream about a DC telling you you're dreaming, tell yourself "When a DC tells me I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming. Next time this happens I'll become lucid." Learn that certain things only happen during dreams, that way when those things happen again, you will expect to be dreaming because you always expect what you've learned to be true.