How to remember to RC?

[dje123]

I of course have normal dreams, and I've only had about 3 LD's in my 15 year old life, each waking soon after realizing I'm attained LD, from recognizing dead family members, or just randomly popping into one. My question is, once you're in a dream, how can you possibly remember to do a RC, or anything else of that sort to attain LD state? Also, this is tough to word. If there a way to recognize that you're dreaming? Not go LD, but to like remember a dream, as you're in it. As you dream every night, you just do not remember them, how do you know if you're dreaming, before you wake up?

[lucidreamsavy]

In order to remember to do RC's in your dreams, you MUST do them often. I once read that you should do it once every 15 minutes in the beginning . I think that you should try to do them every hour, or, maybe at different times during the day, waking up is vital, to get those false awakenings to become lucid. Also, try to RC when you see or think something that would be a dream sign of yours, something that often is in your dreams. If you don't know your dream signs, then start a dream journal if you haven't already, and you will be able to find some dream signs after a few entrys. Hopefully doing these things will help you remember to RC in your dreams, don't give up . A DC is simply a Dream Character.

[dje123]

In order to remember to do RC's in your dreams, you MUST do them often. I once read that you should do it once every 15 minutes in the beginning . I think that you should try to do them every hour, or, maybe at different times during the day, waking up is vital, to get those false awakenings to become lucid. Also, try to RC when you see or think something that would be a dream sign of yours, something that often is in your dreams. If you don't know your dream signs, then start a dream journal if you haven't already, and you will be able to find some dream signs after a few entrys. Hopefully doing these things will help you remember to RC in your dreams, don't give up . A DC is simply a Dream Character. So by doing RC in real life, it will most likely become a habit for dream life?

[lucidreamsavy]

So by doing RC in real life, it will most likely become a habit for dream life? Well, even if you do RC's in real life, you aren't likely to do them often, but you'll be more likely to get them by doing A LOT.

[Jesus of Suburbia]

Write "RC" on your hand. Works for me. It can also work for a dream sign, if it's not there, you're dreaming‼

[jadeddreams]

I find ituseful to also stay quite aware during the day ! This is also a form of RC, but I like to take a moment every one in a while to read a sentence (just on a box or on the T.V. or something) or the digital clock and observe it, and think to myself "does this make sense?" and then look a it once more to make sure it doesn't change. It helped me to become lucid once because I looked at a digital clock and instead of displaying the time it had a picture on it! Good luck! I, like you, have only had 3 LDs to far!

[Maria92]

Getting in the habit is the hardest part, believe me. But, as you go along, you'll find it gets easier to remember to RC, and you start relying less on aids, like post-it notes or writing on your hands. Getting in the habit of RCing without these aids is also a great way to train your prospective memory, which can also be used in becoming lucid. I use three RC's: memory, nose-pinch, and finger-through-palm. The last two are relatively self-explaining, but the first is one of the most surefire ones, in my opinion. Basically, if you're having trouble remembering what you were doing five minutes or so ago, there is an excellent chance that you're dreaming. Awareness is also key. As your dream journal grows and you start identifying dream signs (which don't have to be specific recurring elements, I may add), you'll be able to fine-tune when and where you reality check, and for what reasons. All of this will definitely help you to become lucid. A closing note on the matter: do NOT do RC's absent-mindedly. ALWAYS assume that you're in a dream when you're actually doing them. If you glaze right over them and don't really pay attention/assume you aren't dreaming, then you will be quite unlikely to notice them when you actually ARE dreaming.

[Tiklish]

Yes. That is the idea. If it's a habit awake, your odds are much higher of doing the same thing within a dream. And it does make sense, just like other things that are normal in real life will occur in your dreams. For example, I often dream I'm somewhere trying to call home. When I used to dream this years ago I tried to call from a pay phone. Now I use my cell phone.

[Pizzaul]

Habit, habit, habit. I discovered DV a short time ago. Before that I was investigating lucid dreaming on my own, with little direction - and all I did was ask myself "am I dreaming right now?" when I read some random text (road signs, clocks, directions, etc) or when I looked at my hands (write something? Grab something?) or when I went to a different place (walked room to room? Drove somewhere?) Somewhere it clicked, and I was in a dream, and I asked myself the question "am I dreaming right now?" And I realized I was. Before that I would sometimes realize I was dreaming, but would immediately 'shake' myself out of it. Seems like a halfway there, but for some it is a huge step. I don't have the control to control whether I will stay in a dream as of yet, it's hit or miss.... but I can tell you that from personal experience, recognizing dream signs and doing reality checks is no more than a mental habit - practice never sounds fun, but if this is something you want to do, just work it into your everyday life. It WILL happen. I didn't believe in lucid dreaming, or at least not in a sense with control - it happened. I was lucky enough to stumble upon DV years later. Habit, habit, habit. Train your mind awake, and it will happen while you sleep.

[jarrhead]

Hmm. I rarely reality check in waking life. When I do it's thinking "where have I been today? Last five minutes? Does this make sense?" Yet, on false awakenings and dreams I always reality check or just say "hey! I'm dreaming!" as if I can feel it. I never do reality checks upon awakening.

[KingYoshi]

Writing a letter on your hand is a pretty effective method. I used to do it when I first started. Since RCing can be difficult to keep up with in waking life (for me anyway...I have terrible non-dream related memory ), I perform RCs sparingly in waking life. I RC whenever I see something unusually beatuiful like a very scenic sunset, an unusually attractive female (drop dead gorgeous only), a shooting star, and some other very scenic views/situations. I also RC when I see something crazy/strange like when I saw a guy walking down main street in a clown suite in December or the time I saw a drunk student riding on the bumper of the college transportation vehicle (the bus, lol). Basically anytime I find myself thinking, "Wow that was weird!", "WTF was he thinking?", "You don't see that every day." , "I'll never be able to do that again." , "Whoa! Look at that!" or "Wow, I got lucky on that one." I follow it up with an RC. Many times this has helped me become lucid. I never had much luck with routine RCs or setting up specific RCs. Well anyhow, good luck to you!