Hey I'm new, a few questions

**MonsterMash** · 11-06-2010 10:44 PM

Hey I'm 16 years old and pretty new to this whole lucid dreaming thing. I've had a few kinda lucid dreams where I realise I'm dreaming but don't do anything or simply wake up :/ Anyways I have a few questions:

1. I've been dream journalling for about 2 months now but I'm struggling to find dreamsigns. Most of my recorded dreams seem to be more general storylines of what happened, rather than specifics like i saw a purple cat etc. The only kinda dreamsigns i can find are more general trends in my dreaming like my parents are usually in them. Is this enough or should i be looking for more specific things in my dreams?

2. I'm trying to do reality checks throughout the day but I'm not sure when i should be doing them. I read on a tutorial somewhere on here that you should only do RCs when something weird or unusual happens, but I tend to forget to do them when i try this. Other places say to do them every 10 mins/hour etc but this seems quite difficult and annoying to me, I guess it depends on whether it really helps that much. When/how often should i be aiming to do RCs as a beginner and how can i remember to do them?

3. I guess I've been mostly trying to achieve DILDs so far, but I've have limited success even though I've put in quite a lot of effort. A couple of weeks ago in the school holidays i tried MILD/WBTB in the early mornings and I feel this helped me quite a lot, giving me a couple of lucids and better recall. The problem is, now I'm back at school I can't really do this or I'll probably be really tired. Also I can't really use an alarm to wake me up at night/early morning because I'd wake up my parents. I do have the weekends i suppose but this is only at most 2 days out of 7, and i feel i need to be consistent rather than just trying at weekends. I guess my question is whether there is a method thats better than simply hoping for a lucid dream (and doing RCs in the day), but that won't impact my sleep much?

Thanks alot if you read all that

**LucidInvader** · 11-06-2010 11:00 PM

Have you looked up Wild? I try to do that on my weekends, though I do understand how paranoid people can be.
I would suggest doing a RC everytime you see your parents if they come up in your dreams often while asking yourself am I dreaming. Not everybody has a Dreamsign that reoccurs this isn't a bad thing, when something comes up in your life that's major you mind might make a dreamsign then it's nothing to worry about.
Mine's kittens

I find reading my DJ before I go to bed helps, especially your past lucids.

**Emiko** · 11-07-2010 07:00 AM

Originally Posted by MonsterMash

The only kinda dreamsigns i can find are more general trends in my dreaming like my parents are usually in them. Is this enough or should i be looking for more specific things in my dreams?

My parents are in most of my dreams, too (they and my sister are the reasons why "family" is the biggest tag in my DJ's tag cloud). I think general patterns like that can work as dream signs. One of my main dream signs is also a broad, general pattern: I often have dreams that take place in places where I used to live (if I'm nowhere near where I live now, then I must be dreaming).

**Foul** · 11-07-2010 11:50 AM

MILD shouldn't really impact your sleep at all. It focuses primarily on intentions and only has techniques that are suggested you do in the event of you waking up at night. You do not need to do WBTB along side the MILD technique.

The MILD technique is widely used and sworn by so it's quite successful. That's probably going to be your best bet.

**Snowboy** · 11-07-2010 03:18 PM

1. Not all people have DS. Just quickly check your surroundings for anything unusual when you see your parents. Don't make it obvious, though, like moving your head back and forth. Just check the area around them.

2. Do them when something unusual, weird, or BAD happens. Do them when you remember, you don't have to do them EVERY time. This will eventually carry into your dreams, although not immediately.

3. Meh. I just hope for them and do the RC thing. No big deal if you don't; they'll come eventually. They aren't so easy at first to get, but they will come, don't worry.

Welcome to DV, and I hope I helped!

**MonsterMash** · 11-07-2010 06:03 PM

Wow thanks so much all of you, I wasn't expecting replies so quick lol!

Yeh I'll try to do an RC whenever I see/greet my parents and do MILD as I fall asleep, keeping any WBTB to weekends. I just need to be patient!

**Snowboy** · 11-07-2010 06:13 PM

A personal technique I use: If you wake up in the middle of the dream, it would be a good idea to keep in your mind "I will become lucid in the dream" while you go back to sleep. You should also learn to DEILD.

There's a thanks button, you know!