trying for 4 years now

I have been trying to attain lucidity for about 4 years now and soon it will be 5 years.:( I tried the mild, wild, wbtw, and combinations of those. I also have not done good progress on cat method. Once, when I was using mild tech., I have been getting realty checks in my dreams but never got lucid. I slept at the same time and awakened at the same time. currently I am using an idea of my. But still, I would like some advice. The amount of time has taken the interest out of me. Doubt has come with the time as well. maybe I need to take a break? More effort? The brain gets lethargic after a while of the same thing.

The fact that you were doing RC's in your dream is great progress. My guess is that you built up a good habit, but did it in the worst fashion: it became habitual. Were you doing RC's without really paying attention to them? RC's are powerful tools, but only if you have the mental alertness to back them up. :) The fact that you've been trying for 5 years is worrisome. Normally, most everyone can attain lucidity, and usually within a couple of months, or a year at the very most. I recommend sticking with a method. Have you tried Naiya's Awareness method? Good stuff.

Good luck, man!

Don't give up, and when you do RC, you should become lucid because RC tell you if your dreaming. And yeah try to stay on one method. Easy one.

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Originally Posted by Dragon Wolf

Don't give up, and when you do RC, you should become lucid because RC tell you if your dreaming. And yeah try to stay on one method. Easy one.

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Yes, an RC will tell you if you're dreaming, but only if you actively think about it. Doing them in passing won't do much good at all. :P

I got this bit of info out of Shift's Daily Dream Sign which I use as a means for building my prospective memory and remembering to RC in dreams.

You don't seem to be having that problem, so now it comes down to, how you're reality checking while awake. So, when you RC, perform 3. Do not do them habitually. Think about why you're RC-ing. I do 4.

1. I check my watch and I ask myself if this is a logical time. I work night shifts, and I tend to do a lot of these RC's during my shift at work, so for me to answer this question correctly it means, Where am I? What was I doing before this? When did I start my patrol? Does this make sense?

2. I pinch my nose and try to breathe through it.

3. I try to make my finger go through my palm. While doing it, I truly believe that it will happen.

4. I check my watch again, to make sure that if the time has changed, it was a logical change (meaning, it's 1 minute later).

After this, I always pretend, "This is a dream, I just became lucid." I know it isn't, but this step is important. Because if I was dreaming, the next thing I need to do is stabilize. So for that, I rub my hands together. I've just prevented my dream from fading out. For me, that's not enough to keep the dream clear and bright, so I often have to find something to touch.

Before I started doing things this way, whenever I thought about RC-ing in dreams, I always, always would say, "Nah, I don't need to RC, because of [insert stupid reason here]." When doing a RC, you really do need to be mindful about them, and never disregard them as anything other than one of the most important things you can do in a day.