Thread: awareness

Originally Posted by ollei

I keep hering how important it is to achive a kind of awareness in order to recognize the dream world from waking life, but I really never know what people mean by this.

Should I just focus on my waking enviroment, notice what is going on? For example if i'm taking a walk should i think to myself "to the left in the tree a bird is singing, a biker is coming towards me etc. etc." Should I just register every little think that happens?

I'm a little bit confused so any help will do lots

thanks!

I too am confused by this. What I've been doing so far is observing the world like it's a dream, so that I'd maintain the same kind of awareness during sleep.

Originally Posted by ollei

I keep hering how important it is to achive a kind of awareness in order to recognize the dream world from waking life, but I really never know what people mean by this.

Should I just focus on my waking enviroment, notice what is going on? For example if i'm taking a walk should i think to myself "to the left in the tree a bird is singing, a biker is coming towards me etc. etc." Should I just register every little think that happens?

I'm a little bit confused so any help will do lots

thanks!

Personally, I try and focus on the detail. Is this too detailed to be a dream? Are the sensations very vivid and constant? Is my vision wide, instead of very focused? And is my thought process coherent. That's pretty much what goes through my head during an RC. Just try and focus on the things that are different between dreams and waking.

Originally Posted by alfa

I too am confused by this. What I've been doing so far is observing the world like it's a dream, so that I'd maintain the same kind of awareness during sleep.

How do you mean? How is the world a dream?

Originally Posted by Pensive Patrick

Personally, I try and focus on the detail. Is this too detailed to be a dream? Are the sensations very vivid and constant? Is my vision wide, instead of very focused? And is my thought process coherent. That's pretty much what goes through my head during an RC. Just try and focus on the things that are different between dreams and waking.

Ok that seems logical, so you only do this while realty checking?

Originally Posted by ollei

Ok that seems logical, so you only do this while realty checking?

Yeah, mostly. I also do it if something weird/exciting happens.

I try to be aware of everything, though obviously that is difficult. You could try to focus on the larger dynamics (who people are, how they are interacting, and where they came from) but at the same time it is often small details, like the time on a clock, that cue me in to lucidity. I guess it's just finding the right balance. Something important to note is that things aren't going to exist in dreams unless they are something on your mind/being given SOME attention anyway. So I sometimes like to think of it as being aware of your own thoughts, emotions, attention, and hopes/fears. The tiny little nuances.
Something I've been trying to do recently is notice whenever I respond to something, and to take charge and try to be aware of how I respond and what I am responding to. Though of course that's very broad.

http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=64144 is the only other thing I can contribute. I wish it hadn't died out so very fast.

It is hard to define awareness. I'll try to think on this today and come up with something more coherent

Originally Posted by Shift

I try to be aware of everything, though obviously that is difficult. You could try to focus on the larger dynamics (who people are, how they are interacting, and where they came from) but at the same time it is often small details, like the time on a clock, that cue me in to lucidity. I guess it's just finding the right balance. Something important to note is that things aren't going to exist in dreams unless they are something on your mind/being given SOME attention anyway. So I sometimes like to think of it as being aware of your own thoughts, emotions, attention, and hopes/fears. The tiny little nuances.
Something I've been trying to do recently is notice whenever I respond to something, and to take charge and try to be aware of how I respond and what I am responding to. Though of course that's very broad.

http://www.dreamviews.com/community/...ad.php?t=64144 is the only other thing I can contribute. I wish it hadn't died out so very fast.

It is hard to define awareness. I'll try to think on this today and come up with something more coherent

Thanks shift! this really helped me get an idea of what awareness means, or at least I hope i'm right. I guess i'm supposed to recognize my own thoughts and actions and know why i'm doing them. I should also be giving more attention to whats going on around me in order to see that everything is nice and logical.

am I right?

Originally Posted by ollei

Thanks shift! this really helped me get an idea of what awareness means, or at least I hope i'm right. I guess i'm supposed to recognize my own thoughts and actions and know why i'm doing them. I should also be giving more attention to whats going on around me in order to see that everything is nice and logical.

am I right?

I am not sure that there is an exact definition, or if there is that we have everything covered. But in terms of lucid dreaming, I personally think that awareness couldn't be better defined than that!

Originally Posted by Shift

I am not sure that there is an exact definition, or if there is that we have everything covered. But in terms of lucid dreaming, I personally think that awareness couldn't be better defined than that!

Ok! thats great now I just got to start working on this. Thanks!

Originally Posted by alfa

What I've been doing so far is observing the world like it's a dream, so that I'd maintain the same kind of awareness during sleep.

I think that's exactly the underlying principle of dream yoga. Have you been successful with it?

Originally Posted by Thor

I think that's exactly the underlying principle of dream yoga. Have you been successful with it?

Not exactly. I'd appreciate some ideas and tips on this, though. A few times, I was able to do some OBE and LD, but it isn't consistent in the sense that I am not able to do it whenever I wish. Besides, it's so hard to have the 'dream consciousness' in the waking state, when things appear so real.

Originally Posted by alfa

Not exactly. I'd appreciate some ideas and tips on this, though. A few times, I was able to do some OBE and LD, but it isn't consistent in the sense that I am not able to do it whenever I wish. Besides, it's so hard to have the 'dream consciousness' in the waking state, when things appear so real.

Yeah, I've tried and it's not easy. For me the problem is just that it's extremely hard to keep the dream consciousness in mind when all kinds of other things demand constant attention. Maybe it's possible with lots of practice.

what exactly counts as "dream consciousness "?

I'm not sure there's an exact definition, and I'd say that it is more like a spectrum or gradient than an absolute. To me, complete dream awareness is realizing that I am conscious in my dream, not conscious in my normal waking reality, that everything around me is based upon the firings of neurons in my brain in the absence of actual stimulants, that the people around me, as realistic as they may seem, have no personality unless I want them to and are actually a figment of my imagination. Knowledge that my body is currently asleep in my bed, that there are no rules or laws, nothing to hinder me, and that anything I wish to happen will simply because I have the power to make it so. That nothing is solid or finite, and that the only true rule is that at some point I will likely be awakening, and that I am 100% positive and confident in all of these convictions.

In lower levels of awareness I'd say that that degree of confidence and surety is not quite so high, but that it is still present.

Originally Posted by ollei

Should I just focus on my waking enviroment, notice what is going on? For example if i'm taking a walk should i think to myself "to the left in the tree a bird is singing, a biker is coming towards me etc. etc." Should I just register every little think that happens?

I think this is a very important part of it, but that you should go farther. What you have described is, to me, sort of the first half. The second half is to critically consider everything around you.

For example: A biker is coming towards me. Is there anything unusual about him/her? Is it normal for someone to be riding a bike at this time and place, or is he/she out of place? Is this one of my dream signs?

I think that this second part, this critical frame of mind, is a crucial part of the awareness we are trying to cultivate. For example, most of the times that I miss a dream sign or otherwise fail to get lucid, it isn't because I failed to notice the dream sign, but rather that I failed to critically consider the dream sign.

It is natural for beginners to assume that simply noticing some outrageous dream sign such as a flying dog or whatever will automatically lead to critically considering it, but anyone who has kept a dream journal for a length of time will know that too often this is not the case.

Originally Posted by DuB

I think this is a very important part of it, but that you should go farther. What you have described is, to me, sort of the first half. The second half is to critically consider everything around you.

For example: A biker is coming towards me. Is there anything unusual about him/her? Is it normal for someone to be riding a bike at this time and place, or is he/she out of place? Is this one of my dream signs?

I think that this second part, this critical frame of mind, is a crucial part of the awareness we are trying to cultivate. For example, most of the times that I miss a dream sign or otherwise fail to get lucid, it isn't because I failed to notice the dream sign, but rather that I failed to critically consider the dream sign.

It is natural for beginners to assume that simply noticing some outrageous dream sign such as a flying dog or whatever will automatically lead to critically considering it, but anyone who has kept a dream journal for a length of time will know that too often this is not the case.

Thanks for the advice this actually makes very much sense to me after reading about "the critical faculty" in LaBerge's "exploring the world of lucid dreaming" .

A real easy way to put it is like this:

Try to be 100% of everything you do, all of your senses.

Smell
Touch
Hearing
Sight
Taste

Smell everything recongnize every smell, take your time.

Whe touching something actually focus on the touch, learn how each texture feels. Each crack, dent, everything.

Hear everything! Close your eyes, you'll find theres layers of sounds going on, people walking, birds singing, cars motors, lawn motors, breathing, heart pulse, t.v. music, the beats in the music.

Looks at everything and it's detail, combine with the sense of touch, have be 100% aware of what you are doing, looks at everything and it's details

When eating or drinking, actually taste your drink don't just gulp it down. Be aware of it's taste, of it flavor, if it taste like something else you know

100% aware.