Thread: new and need help

hey everyone,
So I'm new to this and I needed some help. I can easily recall a dream (I have used the Dream Journal), and I often do the reality check. The problem is that when I dream, I never seem to be able to tell myself "this is a dream". I have used some other techniques from other sites like telling yourself you are going to have a lucid dream, but this doesn't seem to work (and honestly, I don't really believe in it either). Does anyone have a few tips or something? For the moment Im mostly concentrating on becoming aware that I am dreaming, im leaving the controlling part for a bit later.
Thank you

Welcome!
It seems to me that you would benefit from reading the tutorials here and more specifically the ones on DILD, MILD, and WILD. Here is a basic summary of what the techniques are:

DILD and MILD are both methods by which you try to get yourself to realize you are dreaming within a dream while in a WILD you go from the waking state to the dreaming state without losing your awareness (you are lucid from the very start of the dream). MILD could be considered to be a form of DILD but instead of just reality checks it also utililzes mantras (the repetition of some phrase) before bed and sometimes during the day to become lucid. It actually does work for a large number of people and is one of the more time tested methods for lucid dream induction. These methods can all be made significantly more effective with WBTB. WBTB stands for wake back to bed and is where you wake up during the night (either naturally or with some electronic device), stay up for any period of time (optimal time varies for each person), then go back to sleep. What you do during that time depends on the method you are using.

Overall with some refinement of your technique you should be well on your way to having some lucid dreams. Have patients (its worth it) and Good luck. Do you remember ever having a lucid dream before or are you going for your first?

Originally Posted by cammyve

hey everyone,
So I'm new to this and I needed some help. I can easily recall a dream (I have used the Dream Journal), and I often do the reality check. The problem is that when I dream, I never seem to be able to tell myself "this is a dream". I have used some other techniques from other sites like telling yourself you are going to have a lucid dream, but this doesn't seem to work (and honestly, I don't really believe in it either). Does anyone have a few tips or something? For the moment Im mostly concentrating on becoming aware that I am dreaming, im leaving the controlling part for a bit later.
Thank you

Trust me, telling yourself that you are having to have a lucid dream ( or WBTD) works for lots of people, but apparently not for you. Like AscendedSleeper said you should try a wild or mild. They are pretty hard but I'm sure If you practice a little bit and read some tutorials you can do them. The plus side about WILDs are that they are very vivid, more vivid than normal lucid dreams.
Reality checks have have never really worked for me, either, to tell the truth. Another technique you might want to learn, since you have good dream recall is the DEILD ( Dream End Initiated Lucid Dream) technique. Just look up the tutorial for that one, It's too long to explain

Controlling is relatively easy if you know how to do it. What I do to root myself into my dream is stare at my hands in the lucid dream whenever I feel I am going to wake up. This seems to work well. Happy Dreaming!