Helloes to all, a lousy introduction and some probably stupid questions

First of all, hello everybody!

I am Ham or Turkey?, a member who a few years ago was relatively active here. I attempted lucid dreaming for several months, and had only a few successful lucid dreams, all very short, and all with very low levels of awareness and control.

The reason I stopped trying, was because of other things in my life, that distracted me from the lucid dreaming attempts, and troubled me a lot. But I will not be discussing those events.

My life, right now, is relatively back on track, and has been for quite a while now. Also, recently I've been recalling a lot more dreams, and this way I have realized that I have an awful lot of nightmares, or unpleasant dreams. I want to get rid of these dreams, and today I remembered lucid dreaming, and this excellent forum that I used to visit. I decided to come here and see what's new and I've read through a few stickied guides, realizing that since I last visited, there has been some slight changes to the suggestions and methods. I'm guessing these changes are for the better. Actually there has been a lot of changes to the site itself and I feel overwhelmed and lost by all the new features, functions and fancy stuff.

I have a few questions for you also:
How often should I do reality checks? Is it even humanly possible to keep thinking whether you're in a dream or not the whole day?
Is there any way I could enhance my dream recall? I remember keeping a dream journal, is that good? Are there any other methods?
How do I know when my REM periods start? Should I just guess and make my clock wake me up at a random time at night?

Answer as you wish, link me to a thread discussing my questions or answer directly, but please don't bash me for not looking at some obvious place that I probably missed. I can't claim to be a very observant person, and I'm also quite tired and about to go to sleep right now.

Also, I am not a native English-speaker, so you may realize that my English is pretty crappy.

Thanks in advance, my good people, and good night. Dare I say sweet dreams?

I'm just a beginner but to answer you question about keeping a dream journal, I would say yes. Before keeping a dream journal I remembered maybe 2-3 dreams a week on a good week. Now I have at least one dream per night and sometimes more. Sometimes the dream is very hazy but most of the time its pretty detailed. I have also found that getting more sleep helps me get more dreams and more descriptive dreams. Hope this helps.

By the way your English is better than most native English speakers.

Ah, I see. Of course, I remember now. I will put out a pen and some papers next to my bed. I should actually probably have gone to sleep already, but I'm still having trouble navigating this site, so I kind of got stuck exploring. What are the benefits of keeping a dream journal on this site? All I can think of is that I won't have to save my papers if I ever want to look through my old dreams. But thanks for your reply, The! Also, that is probably the very thing I dislike about my English. It is too good.

Hey Ham or Turkey, i've got a couple responses for you. I'm new to the site and relatively new to lucid dreaming (i've only been at it for about 6 months and have only had a handful of lucid dreams), but i've got some techniques you might be interested in. One thing that has helped me with dream recall and doing a good amount of reality checks is called perspective memory. Write down a list of 10 or 15 things that when you see them, it prompts you to make a reality check. For example, one of my things is a Coca Cola vending machine. Whenever i see a Coke vending machine, i do a reality check. This helps with dream recall because you learn to remember what prompts you to make a reality check. Dont do things you'll see every day, because thats not the point. do things that appear in your dreams often, and you'll learn to do reality checks whenever you see them, even in your dreams! I hope this helps, so keep me posted on this if you find success! I'm not sure how this website works, so if theres any way to send me a message or connect yourself with me somehow, dont hesitate to do so!

Thank you for your contribution, Mr. rkonsella! That is actually a very cool idea, and a great way to use your dream signs! It's an interesting method, and I will definitely attempt it. However, the only dream signs I can think of right now, are things that wouldn't be easy to apply this method on, so I'm afraid I will have to improve my dream recall and find a few dream signs before this will actually be of any significant help to me. However, I'm afraid I don't quite see how this would improve your dream recall, I'm guessing just thinking about that kind of stuff improves your dream recall a bit. However, I should definitely go sleep now, I made a huge mistake when I decided to explore this site right away!

Thanks, though. Good night to you guys.

world-of-lucid-dreaming
.com/videos/lucid-dreaming-subliminal-video.html

you also want to try that link (put it all together before you try going to the site), it has a video on it that youre supposed to watch every night before you go to bed. ive found that there is in fact a direct link between watching that video and my dreaming that night. and with the perspective memory thing, dont just limit it to dream signs! maybe one of the things on your list could be a poster that hangs on the wall in your bedroom opposite your bed so you see it when you wake up and when you fall asleep! maybe a person that is frequently in your dreams, or one thing that you see multiple times a day! As long as everything on your list doesnt all fall into a single one of these catagories, you'll be fine. a mix is nice.

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How often should I do reality checks? Is it even humanly possible to keep thinking whether you're in a dream or not the whole day?

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That depends on your dreams, if you have a very reocurring dream sign, then whenever you see it, otherwise just do them at random and without a fixed number. You can try either outside or inside awareness, which answers your other question, yes it is possible to keep questioning reality the whole day.

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Is there any way I could enhance my dream recall? I remember keeping a dream journal, is that good? Are there any other methods?

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A journal does help, other things, when you wake up, don't get up fast, try to think back about your dreams before getting up, taking notes during the night also helps.

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How do I know when my REM periods start? Should I just guess and make my clock wake me up at a random time at night?

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Yeah, you have to guess. Try first the fixed time, which would be 4 or so hours after going to sleep, if you catch it, then you are lucky! If not, try with +-30mins or stuff like that.

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You can try either outside or inside awareness

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What do you mean by that? What's the difference?

Okay, good morning everyone! Completely failed to recall any dreams this morning, so my journal is still empty!

Anyway, thanks rkonsella. Thanks for clearing that up, I'll start making up the list this evening. I know for sure that kind of thing would help me with one thing I am lousy at, that is making a habit out of reality checks. Also bookmarked that link you posted.

Mr. Hukif, thank you for your reply. I really needed an idea about when my REM periods change, so thanks! I'm afraid I, just like MischiefManaged, was confused by the "outside or inside awareness" sentence, though. Could you please explain, if it's not too much trouble?

Thanks for your replies, people.

Sure sure, most of the time people tell you to be aware of your surroundings, which would be "outside" awareness. Where you pay attention to everything that happens around you. "Inside" awarenes, would be like what I do, where I focus mainly on my body all day long.

Ah, I see now. Thanks for explaining. I have mostly focused on the "outside" awareness, but my definition of awareness would actually be your "inside" and "outside" awareness combined. Thanks.

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"Inside" awarenes, would be like what I do, where I focus mainly on my body all day long.

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I think in theory that should be easier than outside awareness. It's probably not that difficult to pay attention to one object, which is your body, rather than a lot of objects that surround you...
Do you concentrate mainly on your feelings towards whatever is around you or just on feelings themselves? I'm pretty sure that with that type of awareness it's going to be simple to recognize when you're dreaming if in the dream you're floating around with no body or in someone or something else's body :)