Thread: Hello

Hey, welcome to the forum, shingles!

You are doing well to improve your dream recall. And noticing more colors than you have before is a good sign of your dream vividness increasing.

Some advice that comes to mind is to get familiar with the fundamentals (if you haven't already) - there is a good thread on that here. Also picking an induction method and sticking with it for a few weeks to develop a good sense with it can be helpful, but is not a hard and fast rule.

Good luck with your LD journey

Thank you, that thread you linked is great.

As to induction techniques, I have had a few bouts of sleep paralysis and thus can never relax enough when attempting a WILD since I get nervous about paralysis. So I guess Im stuck with DILD until I can calm down.

Cheers

Welcome to Dream Views! Certainly read lots of the tutorials and the long conversation that have grown on some of them. Here is my tip for you. Look deeply into the concepts involved with reality checks. How are you doing your RCs?

I reality check by examining my surroundings and questioning whether anything feels off. I then count my fingers on my right hand and affirm to myself, that five fingers mean I am not dreaming. Sometimes I also use the nose pinch method in place of the finger counting.

Does this sound right?

Cheers

Originally Posted by shingles

I reality check by examining my surroundings and questioning whether anything feels off. I then count my fingers on my right hand and affirm to myself, that five fingers mean I am not dreaming. Sometimes I also use the nose pinch method in place of the finger counting.

Does this sound right?

Cheers

More right than many people's. I am all about the first part you said. The things like nose plug are not the best. They train you to do specific activities with the idea that someday you will dream about doing it and become lucid. However, I rarely dream anything about Jiu-Jitsu despite doing it as a sport. A far better routine involves an examination of what feels different between a dream and life. The finger count for instance could come out to 5 in a dream but it will never result in a HD rendering of the hair follicles and fine wrinkles on the hand. Sound is rarely rendered well in a dream. Examine what you can hear and if you can speak. What is the sound like? In life you can normally hear at least 3 things, such as a cricket or cars outside. If you only hear a voice and it sounds like it is distorted you may realize you are dreaming. Signs with words are different in a dream. Look at any signs or clocks and read them, look away, read again. If you are dreaming the signs will be symbols, missing words and will shift when you look away. Get really into this aspect of RCing. You can still try finger count, nose plug and others, but focus on the stuff I mention. You can come up with your own tests to determine subtle clues you are dreaming.

Thank you for this insight Sivason. That makes a lot of sense. In my first week of practicing I was doing reality checks mindlessly. Accordingly, when I did one in a dream, I counted five fingers and did not become lucid. That is why I added the examining of my surroundings part to the RC. I will begin, as you advise, examining how detailed my hands look, since I can tie that into the already established practice of counting my fingers. Ill try to add in the auditory check you suggest also.

Thank you, this is all so new.

Hey! Welcome to the forum! It's a great place to help keep you on track to your first lucid dream. I hope you have many successful attempts in the future and if you have any questions this is the place to ask. BTW I love the color idea I have never heard of that and think I will try it as well!

Good luck!

Welcome to the forum! I'm Lang!! *Waves enthusiastically* Good luck on you're future endeavors!!!

Welcome shingles.

I like what sivason said about noticing the hair follicles and wrinkles of the hand. Work hard on improving your basic clarity and awareness during the day.....try to notice simple things like that that you would normally overlook. If you are diligent about that during your daytime practice you will soon start noticing details in the dream and that can spark lucidity.

Sleep well.....and dream.

Originally Posted by lenscaper

Work hard on improving your basic clarity and awareness during the day.....try to notice simple things like that that you would normally overlook.

I feel like this is something that I need to work on regardless of lucid dreaming as I spend so much of my day anxious and in my head.

Originally Posted by shingles

I feel like this is something that I need to work on regardless of lucid dreaming as I spend so much of my day anxious and in my head.

If you work on that during the daytime it will help you to dream that way.....which will, in turn, help you even more to be that way in the daytime.