Addendum to the RC Tutorial... could you help critique?

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Reading through a lot of the threads, I see the same question showing up again and again so I wrote this to add to the RC tutorial. I'm aware it's long, but I think those who are looking for answers would be reading to skim it, and it's fairly easy to find your technique of choice. So, if you've got a minute and are willing, please skim through and point out anything you think ought to be changed, removed, or emphasized Thanks guys ___________________________________________ LD Techniques and Reality Checking DILD As a Dream-Induced-Lucid-Dream, a DILD simply means that the moment that you realized you were dreaming occurred once the dream had already been in progress- usually described as 'waking up within the dream'. Now, reality checks can help you do this, but it is possible to realize you're dreaming without reality checking. Reality checking for many, though, is a tool to make that waking-up process easier. Awareness Raising your awareness is one way to DILD. By becoming incredibly aware in waking life, you allow yourself to be more in tune with the world around you. This awareness will bleed into your dreams, allowing you to notice things that are strange and dreamlike. Reality checking in the waking world, when you notice strange things or coincidences or other weirdness, will get you into the habit of having that increased attention and then reality checking in the dream world, allowing you to become lucid. Dream Signs By meticulously cataloging your dreams, you will be able to find things that show up in them frequently- your dream signs. Dream signs are indicators that you might be dreaming, and vary by person. Keeping a steady DJ, with a few entries for each day, will let you see what your dreams typically contain and what you should be on the lookout for. Once you have identified your dreamsigns you can begin reality checking whenever you see or think of them during the day. This association should carry on into your dreams, allowing you to become lucid. MILD The MILD technique relies on prospective memory, meaning your ability to remember to remember to do something. Using reality checks to MILD, you should work on building up prospective memory. Whenever you remember to remember something, you should reality check. This will allow you to form a habit of thinking about reality checking as soon as you remember your target. Practice during the day, and this should pay off at night. Whether you tell yourself to remember to reality check to a dreamsign, to the next person you see, to the next time you hear someone speaking, you will catch on to your target and do your reality checks, becoming lucid in the dream. The MILD technique also has the dreamer lay in bed and visualize their last dream, imagining themselves recognizing a dream sign and reality checking. EILD The EILD technique uses an artificial dreamsign to cue the dreamer into reality checking while they are asleep. Devices like the NovaDreamer, REM-Dreamer, music playing in your room, or even someone just whispering into your ear can all serve as the External stimulus that cues you to reality check. To EILD, first establish what your stimulus is going to be. Flashing lights, a beep, a song, a whisper? Once you have your stimulus, begin to use it as a dreamsign, reality checking whenever you see/hear/feel or think about it in waking life so that when it faithfully appears in your dreams, you're ready for it. Habitual Reality Checking Habitually reality checking is a piece of advice often offered to those new to lucid dreaming. One reason is because, if you're uninitiated in the world of lucid dreaming, reality checks may seem like a strange concept. Often, new oneironauts have trouble remembering to reality check, and so doing them at a high frequency helps build this basic DILD foundation. In addition, however, reality checking habitually can lead you to do reality checks in your dreams, likely because it is the focus of so much attention that it causes you to dream about your cues. Habitually RCing when you do things like pass through doorways, every hour by setting your phone/watch to beep, whenever you are greeted or finish a task, etc., may cause you to RC when one of these occurs, or also when, on a whim, you realize you haven't RCed in a while. Randomly Reality Checking Randomly reality checking is kind of like a side-effect of reality checking during waking life. In the same vein as habitually reality checking, randomly reality checking happens when, out of the blue, you decide to reality check. You may not suspect the world around you, you may assume that it is waking life, but something will prompt you to RC anyway. Things like seeing a digital clock or a watch may remind you that you ought to RC when you see these, and so you will. Other times, a dream character may even approach you and tell you to reality check, even though nothing in particular has prompted the urge to RC. False Awakenings False awakenings are those dreams in which you dream that you have woken up, but you are actually still asleep. Oftentimes, people will get up, get out of bed, and begin to prepare for the day before waking up for real. Reality checks serve as a useful tool in this situation. FAs can often resemble waking life down to the smallest details, and my be indiscernible from real life. Because of this, make sure to reality check whenever you wake up! Doing so will allow you make sure that you are in fact awake before getting dressed. This way, you can avoid going through your morning routine multiple times while becoming lucid. WILD The WILD type of lucid dream means that you ended up falling asleep but not losing your rational, normal consciousness. You maintained your awareness and rational thinking long enough, while your body fell asleep, that you were able to enter the dream mentally awake and aware. Reality checking doesn't really serve as a tool for attaining lucidity, but is still important when it comes to the WILD technique. The reality check can serve as a way to help you maintain your understanding that you are in a dream by using it as a tool to verify that you have entered a dream. Just to help yourself understand that you have crossed that lucid dreaming finish line is one use. However, in cases where you believe you have failed to lucid dream, you should always reality check!!! You may have entered a dream that so closely resembles the reality of your sleeping place that you don't even realize you're in a dream. ALWAYS remember to reality check when you give up on a WILD attempt! VILD The VILD technique is a WILD method that requires the dreamer to use their imagination to enter a lucid dream. Not limited to actual sight, the dreamer can imagine any or all of the five senses and use this visualized scenario to enter a dream. It can be helpful, while VILDing, to imagine yourself in a situation ripe with opportunities to reality check- especially those with dreamsigns built in to them. This can keep your mind focused on lucidity while you visualize, making sure that you don't drift off into regular sleep and dreams. At the same time, visualizing a scene full of RC opportunities can also serve as a backup dream incubation, ideally causing you to have a non-lucid dream with your dreamsigns, cuing you to reality check. WBTB The WBTB is a time, in between sleep periods, during which you focus on the concept of lucid dreaming. After waking up, you focus your mind on the concept of lucid dreaming so that when you go back to sleep within a couple of hours you are more inclined to become lucid. During a WBTB, reality checking can help you get into the mindframe that the things around you might be a dream. Reading your dreamjournal and reality checking when you come across dreamsigns may help, and the WBTB is also a time in which you should perform that visualization for the MILD technique. Stabilization Unfortunately, it is far too easy to become caught in a dream to the point where you end up losing lucidity and returning to non-lucid dreaming. When you become lucid, you should always take a moment to stabilize your dream- both to remain in it and to remain lucid in it. To make sure that your dreams are stable, mentally, you should really emphasize the fact that you are in a dream, and that this means that you are in a limitless realm with no rules or limitations. Performing reality checks can really help solidify this idea in your mind, ensuring that you are very positive that you are dreaming and that you do not doubt your lucidity in the slightest. Dream Control As with dream stabilization, I find dream control to mainly be a matter of confidence and understanding. Sure, it's great to know that you're dreaming, but the experience is greatly enhanced when you are able to understand that you're dreaming and what this means. Understanding that dreams are just hallucinations, that the things around you are just figments of your imagination, can help you understand that this means there is no reason for things like gravity or the solidness of objects to keep you from accomplishing your goals in your dreams. In order to really feel confident, though, it can help to do some reality checks. Being able to push your finger through your palm helps you understand that the objects around you are only solid if you want them to be. Jumping up and floating down helps you understand that flying is easy because there is no gravity. In addition to serving as examples like this, the RCs will also help focus your mind and make sure you understand and remind you that you are dreaming and that you are in control of your dreams.