I feel that All Day Awareness demands my full concentration and distracts me from everything else

I have always found the All Day Awareness technique very interesting, and it definitely seems logical that a consistent questioning attitude to waking life would cause lucid dreams quite naturally.
However, my problem is that I feel that I cannot really focus on anything else when I practise this technique.
I typically only practise this level of awareness when I take long walks in some relatively peaceful environment, because that's when I feel that I can really focus on having a questioning attitude to things around me.
However, I also happen to be occupied with some pretty demanding studies (Engineering Physics) and I feel that I cannot really maintain this "All Day Awareness" mindset when I have to study (which tends to be quite often, easily like 4-5 hours per "workday" on average).
Maybe I am I trying too hard too early?
How would you recommend that I start out with this?

Maybe you're going too hard on it. "All Day Awareness" doesn't require you to be constantly on the edge to be aware of everything and doing reality checks after reality checks. The most important thing is that you integrate that into your daily life in a way that it doesn't become a burden. Take it as a meditation, those walks you mention are perfect for this exercise. Doing some reality checks or just taking a minute or two to be aware of your surroundings, in between the studies, is also an idea. It seems you're doing everything just fine, just dial it down a bit if you see it's affecting your routines :)

It's been quite a a while since I last read it, but I believe Puffin's DILD Guide goes over the concept of Sporadic Awareness. I think it'll help you out. In fact, I'll have a re-read of it myself. ^^

I think perhaps you're encountering an issue that naturally comes with the territory of trying to become more aware. Awareness is a bit of an elusive concept and requires some heavy thinking to understand its nature and to put that knowledge into application.

Now what you have to ask yourself here is, if practicing ADA is actually a distraction to you, are you actually practicing full awareness? If being aware of needing to be aware is preventing you from being fully aware then it stands to reason that what's at fault here isn't the technique but rather your execution. What needs to happen is really just a shift in perspective, to update your working definition of awareness, so-to-speak. Practicing being aware all day really can't be distracting (by definition) unless you happen to be mistaken about what that awareness should entail.

Sorry if that came out condescending or rude or anything, I'm just trying to help and don't know another way to state things.

Thanks for your answers. :)

I remember that Robert Waggoner has mentioned a woman in several of his videos who apparently had a habit of regularly asking herself what she was doing a moment ago.
That sounds like a pretty straightforward form of ADA, so I think I will try out that "method".

That's a nice exercise. One that occasionally I practice while awake is to quickly sum up the chain of events that lead to my present moment (retracing my steps from location to location or scene to scene for example) to see if it all adds up rationally, since usually in the dreamworld the opposite happens.

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Originally Posted by pontozero

That's a nice exercise. One that occasionally I practice while awake is to quickly sum up the chain of events that lead to my present moment (retracing my steps from location to location or scene to scene for example) to see if it all adds up rationally, since usually in the dreamworld the opposite happens.

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Haha yes, in dreams things tend to get really weird, and sometimes different scenarios will even blend together in funny ways.
Like, you might dream about flying in an airplane high up in the sky towards a certain destination, and then just a few seconds later you aren't in a plane anymore but drive a car instead or something, and you just kind of accept that of course you can instantly switch between modes of transport like that. :cheeky:

Laurelindo,

Here are a couple suggestions that may help increase the efficacy of your practice or even increase the impact of your practice.

When approaching ADA, the most common mistake I have seen is overexertion. There is a tendency to assume the awareness should be constant throughout the day while simultaneously maintaining perfect quality of awareness in order to gain maximum effect.

The truth about this technique is that it operates on the basis of a cumulative effect. That is to say that it builds upon itself much like any habit or practice. Eventually, after practicing for some time, you will be able to reach clearer levels of awareness quicker. That in turn will remove those negative elements of the practice such as fatigue and confusion.

So how do you go about getting to that level?

Our awareness is based on our ability to observe both inner and outer stimuli. When just beginning to cultivate awareness, it can be helpful to focus on a single point of awareness like a particular sense or a unique emotion. Within that vein, some have suggested cycling through the senses giving each sense a short time in which you focus on the incoming stimuli for a set period of time, say thirty seconds.

Along those same lines, something I like to do is integrate the practice into things I already do. So if you are doing a lot of things with your hands, a good practice would be to focus your awareness into your hands and the tactile stimuli from that experience. If you spend a lot of time looking at things, practice bringing your awareness fully into your vision from time to time.

The point here I think, is to develop a skill with which you are able to cut through all that stimuli to find the awareness beneath. Once you become familiar with your sense of pure awareness, it becomes a whole different ballgame, although I personally think utilizing stimuli to strengthen ones awareness is always a useful practice.

Basically what I mean to say is find ways to incorporate the practice of awareness into your day. Make it low effort yet with pointed focus. Do it for however long it is comfortable or convenient, than repeat that throughout the day. I know how exhausting ada can be if you attempt to maintain it all day. Just try starting slow and see where that gets you.

cheers. :)

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Originally Posted by Zarathos

Laurelindo,
I know how exhausting ada can be if you attempt to maintain it all day. Just try starting slow and see where that gets you.

cheers. :)

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Ha there you go. Don't exhaust yourself to the point where you end up having a super deep sleep. I haven't heard of this ADA as I'm just getting back into this forum after many years. I'll have to check into this.
Consider that I personally didn't use this to get better at going lucid (everyone's different/try all kinds of techniques) and still after all these years I still find a nap after being awake for a while still gives me the best results.

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I know how exhausting ada can be if you attempt to maintain it all day. Just try starting slow and see where that gets you.

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Agreed. Stressing yourself out over any of this will not help. Just like maintaining the lucid state in the dream, you have to stay level headed.