Thread: Critical thinking during dreams allows for lucidity.

Originally Posted by FryingMan

Anyway, I have had at least a few LDs via explicit critical thinking in the dream:

Yay had another one last night (critical thinking LD). Short since it was in the late morning dozing period where all dreams are short and transition often. But I was a passenger in a car in a very complicated freeway "pretzel" interchange and we'd taken the wrong turn. We stopped at the peak of one path with a good view and I was looking all around trying to find the right road. I observed the very complex interchange around us in all directions, paths moving above/under other paths. Other cars stopped behind us with the same problem, trying to choose the right road. I was sitting in the car with several other DCs when I realized "This is a dream-like scenario, I should check." I felt a little bit silly because I was so obviously awake. Nose pinch a bit vague at first, then I paid it more attention and decided I was dreaming. Got out of the car trying to decide what to do and decided to jump up into the air and the dream transitioned and I lost lucidity.

Before bed I set very long, very intense intention to remember to recognize the dream state. I tried falling asleep with this intention running in my head but couldn't, I ended up having to take some melatonin since setting very strong intention tends to keep me awake.

I'll take all styles of lucid that I can get, critical thinking LDs are very welcome. Since I have this very strong conviction that I'm awake (or just simply not caring about the dream state) in dreams lately, this very strong intention and emphasis on remembering (PM) to recognize the dream may be my path out of this current rut.

It is a never-ending source of amazement: that total conviction of feeling awake at the moment of lucidity. It's the wrong emphasis of course: it's *consciousness* that I'm feeling. And consciousness does *not* imply the waking state (as I've been saying for some while now). Getting that notion firmly into dreams is also the key.