Being Aware.

[Shan-chan]

Hey, I'm new. Don't eat me! I'm pretty sure I can nearly lucid dream. But there's one thing. I'm not sure how to know when I'm sleeping or not. You know, the whole, "green flying elephants" thingy...um...yeah. So the whole RC thing really isn't working for me. Any other tips?

[Jdeadevil]

Don't worry, we wont eat you. We're not like that. Ok, try this. When going to bed, try telling yourself the best you can that you're going to know you're sleeping and dreaming. Your mind is like a computer and you have to get used to that fact. Everyone does. And the software is really easy to program, all you have to do is truly understand the power of your mind. First to experiment, I recommend you to try tell yourself to wake up after five hours of sleep. That's what I did, and it worked perfectly. Welcome to DV.

[Wavefunction]

Don't worry, we wont eat you. We're not like that. Only the members with the green stars eat noobs Have you started a dream journal yet, Shan-chan? Once you've gotten a good number of entries (over a few weeks), you can look over your journal for common dream signs. Once you find yourr dream signs, you can tell yourself (preferably before bed) that you will realize that you are dreaming when you see that sign. If you see the sign in real life, ask yourself if you are in fact dreaming. Also, reading over a journal will generally familiarize yourself with what your dreams are like. Welcome to the forum, and about the people with the green stars, they're the Dream Guides. Their job is to help newbies, so you can PM one if you have any questions.

[Shan-chan]

lol. Thanks for the info. Yeah. I have started a dream journal. It's about a month long. The common dream signs are weird though. Mostly school trips but nothing obvious. There's often a lot of the changing text thing but my brain doesn't realise it.

[Bonsay]

You will always need Reality Checks. You must have a connection between the waking and the dream world. It can be a memory, or one of the "pinch nose and breathe", "push finger through hand" techniques. Without that a normal dreamer doesn't know which reality is "real". So I suggest you keep them, even if they aren't working. Beside that, follow the other posters advice. Welcome to DV!

[Shan-chan]

Yeah, I try them but my brain doesn't do them when I'm sleeping, that's the problem..

[Bonsay]

Neither does mine. But one (dream) day you'll feel the need to do a RC for one reason or another. And then you'll be glad you didn't forget the RCs. It also helps to fortify your lucidity and awareness when in a LD... especially when DCs will be telling you not to be silly and that you are awake. You'll be like: "Lies! "

[Shan-chan]

I see..*thinks* I've been doing them for ages but it seems a little bit silly now because they aren't having an affect. I'll keep doing them.... What about the dream noises? Like the "buzzing" noises that you can play while you try to fall asleep. Can they help?

[Bonsay]

I think you're talking about Brain Wave Entrainment. They basically found out that the brainwaves synchronize with the frequency of sounds you listen to. Every sate you're in is accompanied by different brainwaves (alpha-relaxation, theta-dreams, meditation...). So you can change your brainwaves and thus your "state" using bineural beats (or other things as said in the link). It does have an effect, I believe that has been proven. Maby you should search the forum, since there have been many threads about this. Check under lucid aids in attaining lucidity forum. I have tried it, but I gave up too quickly to give you any valid results. There are many ways of using RCs. One of the ways is making them a habit. It didn't work for me. Now I only do RCs when I feel something is wrong, or see something strange. So I don't do them very often, but just by knowing about RCs I get many unintended LDs.

[Shan-chan]

Thanks for the link. Do the tones need to change when you enter different modes of sleep or do they help you enter that mode?

[Bonsay]

There are different presets ready for download all over the net and there are some programs where you can make them yourself. Some of them are made for meditation, some are made for hypnosis... you'll find all sorts out there. To answer your question, yes, I have seen an "all night" preset, which supposedly changes your brainwaves for every stage of sleep and gently says "you are dreaming" when REM starts. You should ask the experts, I don't know a lot about these things.

[Shan-chan]

Ah, okay. Thank you <3