I just know that im dreaming

i had been going through my dream journal and realized that most if not all of my lucid dreams began with me just realizing that im dreaming, without questioning it or doing an RC. It would just hit me that im dreaming and i would exclaim "Im dreaming!". i would then do RC's just to increase awareness of the dream.
its quite strange cause i do reality checks many times throughout the day and ask myself if im dreaming but it never seems that thats the way i become lucid.

Any of you guys get lucid this way?

Always. I don't do RCs anymore (haven't for years), and I've never become lucid from performing an RC in a non-lucid dream. However I still think it is very good practice to do RCs throughout the day because it makes you more aware during your waking hours, which then transfers over to the sleep state. When you are like a zombie just going through your day without thinking or questioning whether you are dreaming or not, you will probably be less likely to get lucid as often in your dreams because your overall sense of awareness is lowered.

Though, I have become lucid several times from recognizing dream signs (like driving my car off the road, tornados, etc.) ...so I also highly recommend that people raise their awareness in regards to their personal dream signs and learn to recognize them while dreaming, it definitely pays off. :)

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Originally Posted by Aquanina

However I still think it is very good practice to do RCs throughout the day because it makes you more aware during your waking hours, which then transfers over to the sleep state.

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thats exactly what i was thinking

Yeah definitely. I don't really RC very often at all anymore. My lucid dreams almost always come about as a sudden recognition that hey, I'm dreaming! I think RCs are very helpful for beginners but once you reach a certain level of advancement It's much better to train yourself to just recognize the dream state of consciousness.

yup sometimes

it's the same way with me JamesLD. It will just feel different, and I'll become lucid.

sometimes I'll become lucid without even noticing that I became lucid, if you will (just one moment youre non lucid and the next lucid), this is very nice as it takes the stress from the realization part and is awesome if you LD regularly