Heya

[Uppity_Cracker]

Hey there everyone, let me tell you a bit about me before we get into the questions. Some of you may have heard of lvlindless and his friend or "trainee" that he is constantly trying to get to have an LD. Well, lo and behold, it is I. I was always interested in LDing, but I was never really motivated enough. Now, I'm really motivated and am willing to put forth lots of effort to have an LD. However, this has not been an easy journey for me. In any case, I'm not giving up until I have had at least one and can decide what I want to do from there. So here's what I BELIEVE is my problem(s) concerning LDing. My biggest is that it seems that when I'm dreaming, I'm more or less in "view only" mode. Being that I have absoloutely NO control, so much so that I'm kind of just watching myself do things like I'm watching a movie. It's literally like I'm brain dead in a dream. Next, I understand the idea behind RCs, but I guess I don't understand how to do it. I've been told to do it whenever something weird happens in waking life, but nothing really happens in my waking life that I consider "beyond belief" or very odd. So how do I train myself with so few occurances of odd things happening? My dream recall is probably my strong point. If I don't write in my DJ for a while, I can usually get it back to tip-top shape within 3-4 days. I think that's enough to work with for now. Have at me dreamviews!

[Tornado Joe]

Hi Uppity - and Next, I understand the idea behind RCs, but I guess I don't understand how to do it. I've been told to do it whenever something weird happens in waking life, but nothing really happens in my waking life that I consider "beyond belief" or very odd.[/b] Ok, there's your first problem right there. You don't necessarily do the RC when something odd happens in real life. What's the point in that - if it's so odd in real life, what are the chances of it happening in a dream? In a way you have to try and find something that occurs often enough both in waking life and dreams. This is your "connection". For example, if you often find yourself in empty rooms in dreams, find something about rooms that you'd find in waking life - like a door. Walking through a door can be a trigger for performing an RC. If you dream of something that's not quite possible in waking life (like dragons or monsters), then you could try to find something that's similar by association. Like maybe, for dragons, anything having to do with dragons (swords, knives, fire, scales, etc). If you dream of werewholves, maybe do an RC everytime you see a dog - even a freaking POODLE. Just the fact that it's a living creature of some sort might help you next time you see it in a dream.

[Uppity_Cracker]

Hi Uppity - and Ok, there's your first problem right there. You don't necessarily do the RC when something odd happens in real life. What's the point in that - if it's so odd in real life, what are the chances of it happening in a dream? In a way you have to try and find something that occurs often enough both in waking life and dreams. This is your "connection". For example, if you often find yourself in empty rooms in dreams, find something about rooms that you'd find in waking life - like a door. Walking through a door can be a trigger for performing an RC. If you dream of something that's not quite possible in waking life (like dragons or monsters), then you could try to find something that's similar by association. Like maybe, for dragons, anything having to do with dragons (swords, knives, fire, scales, etc). If you dream of werewholves, maybe do an RC everytime you see a dog - even a freaking POODLE. Just the fact that it's a living creature of some sort might help you next time you see it in a dream.[/b] Well yeah I kinda figured that out. I tend to dream of school and lvlindless alot, so I tend to do RC's when I'm at school or I see my friend. I'm still working on trying to remember to RC though, it's tough. My friend says what he does is he aks "How do I know for sure I'm not in my bed?" I've started doing this (along with other RC stuff, text and the nose thing) and I think it has more power when you ask yourself that. Anyway, that's how I've been RCing.

[Placebo]

Welcome! And good answer TJ

[Tornado Joe]

Another thing you might want to try is what I call a post-RC. Once you perform your check and realize you're still awake (which honestly, we all know already when we in fact ARE in waking life), try to imagine what may have happened had you in fact been IN a dream. For instance, you're in school and do a reality check (maybe while you're opening your locker), imagine what may have happened if you had discovered you were in a dream. Maybe a huge blowfish would have come swimming out of your locker once you opened it, proceeded to "float" down the hall and into the cafeteria where the lunch lady puts it in the soup and serves it on a tray (or something stupid). This helps with dream expectations. Next time you're in a dream and do a reality check, if you happen to not believe the outcome or simply brush it off as "normal", your imagination will kick in and your mind will "materialize" this upsurd thought. You'll then get a second chance at becoming lucid if you realize that what just happened could not be possible.

[folded]

Hey Uppity, Keep at it. Get a little obsessed with RCs. Question reality all the time. You'll get there.

[Phydeaux_3]

Heya uppity (love yer nick), leastwise you got good recall... some of us'd kill just for that, in my humble opinion that's the hardest part about LD'ing, "getting it up" so to speak in terms of recall. You could always try the digital watch trick from LD In Seven Days basically you get a digital watch that you can set to "chime" (keyword, wish I'd known that) or beep on the hour every hour, then everytime it goes off you do an RC. Then when you go to dream at night you set the watch near yer ear and the theory is that when you hear tha beep in yer dream you'll do an RC. I'm still trying but for me I don't seem to hear anything in my dreams, no matter how loud. Good luck! Dream on!

[Richter]

Ditto on the bit about recall being tougher for some than actual LDing. In one of the dream recall tutorials, I read something about "olfaction" (Can't believe I've never noticed it&#33 Basically, you get somebody to spray a strong smell near you while you sleep. Then, after waking, you re-smell the scent, and hopefully that will trigger recall, since smell is the sense strongest linked to memory, so they say.