Dear Adastra and fellow dreamers

Maybe I have been somewhat lucid, after receiving the cue, which I seemingly incorporated as blinking red control lights. High emotions (in this case my subsequent embarrassment) often lead to short lucid phases, in this case to a false awakening, in many other cases to real awakenings.

How many state checks using reading do you perform per day, or have you performed in former days?

It's again and again funny, to read how other dreamers conscience rationalises oddities, in your case firstly amused, then suspicious. What brings us to be suspicious more often? Are you able to get in this suspicious mood, every time, you check reality?

Yours Ralf

this answer is refering to the posts:

By adastra (Xtrope) (bc-van-mut-a53-01-41.look.ca - 216.66.132.41) on Tuesday, May 29, 2001 - 09:24 am:

"Distorted Face, Heavy Body" [lucid] 8:06 a.m., Tues, May 29, 2001

and

By Ralf Penderak (Ralf) (pD9552315.dip.t-dialin.net - 217.85.35.21) on Sunday, June 03, 2001 - 11:18 am:

Hi Ralf

I do the reading constancy test at least a dozen times a day - actually it's become a rather obsessive habit, to read text several times for no particular reason. I also usually state test in Consensus Reality when I notice something odd - like a woman dragging a wooden crocodile on wheels behind her in a park, which I saw today on my walk home. However, I often do the tests rather perfunctorily, and almost never have a strong feeling that it could be a dream. A while back this was particularly true. I did text state tests in some dreams, not necessarily because of the extreme oddities that were present, but more because reading text a few times has become a habit. When the tests failed, I rationalized it away. Upon waking and reviewing this, I found it rather amusing and determined to do better next time. Also, I started analyzing why state tests sometimes seemed to fail in waking reality, and how this differed from how they were failing in my dreams. For example, in walking along (while physically awake) I sometimes look at text that is relatively close to me, and when it gets too close to me it of course starts to distort (at the point where I'm walking right past it). However, in dreams text was tending to change even though I was stationary in relation to it, and I would accept explanations like "Oh, the light glinted off it" or "The water flowing over it is distorting that text."

As for high emotions, that was generally only a problem for me when I first started lucid dreaming, and I would tend to get extremely excited when I realized I was dreaming. Now, though I still enjoy the state immensely, I tend more to take it in stride that I'm dreaming. I've noticed that my lucid dreams - though still not very frequent - tend to last longer.

Dear Adastra,

Thank you for your articulate, detailed account about text reading as an habitual state test. I found it very interesting how you analyzed the different ways in which text failed to be stable depending on the state you were in.

And you are absolutely right that one can get complacent about rationalizing in such situations. Thanks for the next time reminder!

Another state test I've been trying to develop a habit of is asking the question: How did I get here? It's a bit different than asking: Why am I here? (a great one to ask in a lucid dream!)

Sweet dreams to all, Keelin

PS: Adastra, re your teasing comment sometime back about my glass being half full: Well, that would be on a good day! ;->

Hi Keelin

I have also been occasionally doing that "how did I get here?" (or for me usually "what was I doing before this?) test lately. I usually do it if I can't find text in my immediate environment or if there is some other difficulty with text, and I usually go back several links. So far this has not occured in dreamland. By the way, has anyone noticed a distinct lack of text in their dreams? I find text in Consensus Reality to be almost ubiquitous but often completely absent in dreams.

Dear Adastra and Dream Explorers,

I haven't noticed any particular absence of text in dreams, but then again, I've not really made a study of it's appearance in most dreams. In general, text seems to have been present when it should be, that is, if I'm looking at a book or a sign, etc.

There have been occasions when I've suspected I might be dreaming and then had to seek out some form of written word (if I've decided to do a reality check involving re-reading). On some of those occasions, I've had a rather exaggerated reaction if I can't find any immediately -- a ridiculously silly notion that the dream will fade if I don't quickly locate some text to re-read for a reality check! Surely a sign of low level lucidity at that point.

Another sort of panic attack in one dream had to do with finally locating a street sign and then worrying about the fact that it was extremely long and in a foreign language. That would have been a good time to ask how I got there! Instead, I comforted myself by saying: Don't worry, you only have to use part of the sign. Again, not very clear thinking at that point.

And yet another time, I was on a boat gliding by a waterfront area. Plenty of signs on shore, but my line of sight kept getting interrupted. I spent an unfortunate amount of time trying to re-read the signs and managed to succeed only as the dream faded. I have since vowed never to get that hung up on task compulsion again -- especially when there are other, quite obvious signs that I'm indeed in Dreamland!

One more note: I recall Stephen LaBerge once suggesting that you could always use a label on your clothes for a reality check. That is, if you're not having one of those classic dreams of prancing about without. ;->

Let's see... this label says "Dreamwear" :-? Keelin

Dear Keelin and fellow dreamers,

Before I started do RCs a year ago I little recall ever dreaming of writing. After now nearly one year of doing the writing RCs 10 or more times a day, I see writing in my NLDs several times a week. Often it is my dream diary.

Whenever I need writing to do a RC when dreaming there is always some to hand. I just look somewhere and there is a sign or magazine or something. I believe that my brain instantly creates this writing for me. For a number of reasons I have just started to try to ween myself off writing however - to become less reliant on it.

I have a question for dream card users. I always carry a dreamcard but hardly ever use it. However I know exactly what is written on it (Am I dreaming) and where it is - my left hand pocket. To those of you who use dreamcards, when you take it out of your pocket does the writing appear morphed at first glance, or at first glance is the writing normal and only change when you look away and back?

The reason I am interested in this is that I am not happy with my own test where I look at say a sign then away and back. I am suspicious that it is contributing to the destabilisation of my dreams.

However as I know what is written on the card I hope I would only need to look at it once. Really I have been thinking about this only the last week and starting again to use my card regularly. Thanks if you can help.

Best wishes,

Owen

Isn't the absence of writing a dreamsign in itself?

A funny note: I'm still wearing the "reallitty ch3ck" card, I used in Maui. But I have forgotten about it. I dreamed, that someone looked at me like a strange animal and pointed at my card. But I missed that cue. Since then, I do a check, whenever someone says something about this card.

CU in LD

Ralf

Ralf,

I don't understand what you mean re absence of writing. If one were in a desert or in the country there would be no writing to look at.

Your comments about the card are interesting. I had not thought of that before; to wear something that others comment on, and use that as a dreamsign. It might aid and simplify the very difficult and perhaps not very useful task that I abandoned - to test my state whenever I talked with someone.

However if I wore a funny badge folks would mention it the first time then not again perhaps. I could wear my jumper wrong way around, but again folks would stop, then they would think me weird for wearing my jumper always wrong way round. And if I mix things from day to day people are going to begin to think me weird that there is always something wrong with me that they have to comment on.

The most successful stimulus for me so far with inducing lucid or near lucid experiences is finding money on the ground. While awake this might happen 3-4 times a week on average sometimes more often. When I see a coin now on the ground I get excited and really believe I might be dreaming. It is an unambiguous sign not fuzzy, either the money is there or it is not, and there is some intrinsic excitement in finding money.

So going back to the card I would be looking for something to wear which some people sometimes would comment on but not too often. I would use their behaviour as a dreamsign. What could be used.

Owen

Hmmmm....is what I am suggesting above a nice thing to do.....is it not exploiting and manipulating people....I'm not sure.

Dream Buddies:

Just to throw in my two cents... I had a silver I.D. bracelet made, and had it engraved with the phrase "Am I Dreaming?". I find it easier than carrying around a card for "text-based" reality checks. Also, people do occasionally ask about the bracelet (what does it say etc)... this allows me to do RC's when it comes up...

Rick

Hi, Owen

"I don't understand what you mean re absence of writing. If one were in a desert or in the country there would be no writing to look at." It depends on the surroundings, you are used to, whether it may serve as a dreamsign.

"to test my state whenever I talked with someone." I test my state, whenever someone (or myself) is talking about dreams or in any way referring to a state of mind. Don't know, if it works out...

"So going back to the card I would be looking for something to wear which some people sometimes would comment on but not too often. I would use their behaviour as a dreamsign. What could be used." (?)?

Oh, there are a lot of ideas: Wearing unlike socks, (didn't that occur to you?), shoes (not that likely), hands (most of the time)

"Hmmmm....is what I am suggesting above a nice thing to do.....is it not exploiting and manipulating people....I'm not sure." OK, it is playing a game, not asking for consent of all players. Isn't that what we do all the time? I must confess, people seem strangely touched, when confronted unprepared with a reallitty ch3ck. They are not at all likely to do the test, to doubt about their state of mind. Some seem to be frightened. They sooner seem to doubt my state of mind. But I seem to be a missionary in LD and awareness. I like to create a setting at home and at work, that makes it easier to remember dreams, to relate to dreaming experiences and to doubt (and test) the state. I'm already known being a clown (sometimes). In German we say: "Ist der Ruf erst ruiniert, lebt es sich ganz ungeniert." The fun part of state checking is, when my girlfriend points at strange things or shows weird behaviour, just to remind me of doing a state check. Hope this habit will appear in our dreams.

Much fun in state ch3cking

Yours Ralf

(cross posted from Maui 2001)

Greetings, All:

One lasting impression that amazing week in Maui was how Steve checked his watch so frequently, in three quick glances. This did trigger two brief LD's during the 2 weeks s after my return to Cincinnati'.

The "check your pulse idea" posted last week came about as a result of the strap breaking on the cheap digital watch I bought three weeks ago''

To reiterate, why not get in the habit of checking your pulse regularly, instead of relying on an external object for a reality check'A co-worker I knew years back who was a hard-core bicyclist amazed me with Incredibly low standing pulse rate (60 bpm, or so). This made me aware of my own, which is 70-80'.I exercise regularly to lower it, or is it the endorphen rush?'

('..grant me some levity, people please'.. On a side note, did anyone hear Steve mention the word "similitude" in Maui'I have a great story about this in my personal life, if anyone were to ask" "wait, manners aside, I will grant myself some levity, and float up and fly around a bit') ; 0)'.

.I guess I should have got a slightly more expensive watch, than the Casio for $18...It amazes me how these cause and effect things work! '.the watch breaking to ponder the pulse thing, that is'.

Well, last night I tested it'.I don't recall a cognitive urge to do it, but something in my subconscious mind told me to check my pulse, and WHA_LA (is this like Valhalla, yea baby) I was "IN'.

The pulse I felt in my wrist was weird, a long pressure then a short one, I will attempt to time it and expect some "wishful thinking/positive mental attitude/ expectation" result'..

I credit this occurrence partly to my new (air conditioned) place, and also this cheap air mattress I spent an hour blowing up last night!!'.%@O '<<Joseph, in his new Technicolor dream coat hyperventilating)

Like I told you guys in Maui, checking my pulse, or looking at the watch, wasn't/isn't really the trigger for me" The simple notion of wanting/needing to do it reminds me that I sacked out some hours earlier, then I am there'For a long time, I would just jump up'though this can bring about some odd reactions from the putty people who witness this in the waking realm"

(~300 Million beats is all the heart is good for!) z z z z z z Yo-sep

Hey guys, just spent three wild days at a psychedelic music festival a half hour north of here'.I knew there were more deadheads left than those few trippy souls I saw on Little beach in Maui'!....Oh yeah, phish is not touring this summer..... www.campbuzz.com

Hi, Joe

Congratulations to your LD. Why not pulse - checking? Seems that to simply remember this task seems to work for lucidity. But I think, that pulse - checking is no "safe" test for me, because it works in waking and dreaming. I still work on my digital watch, because it is supposed to and it did show for me significant changes in the dreaming state. But I don't remember it to occur in any dreams in the last weeks. I envy some peoples - and your - ability to easily induce LD. But I keep on. In the face of my fuzzy concentration since I stopped smoking I resolved to return to a more systematically way of state checking, the one with explicit targets in the "Course in Lucid Dreaming".

Did you enjoy my little Uriah Heep revival?

May the levity be with you

Meister Bohne

Thanks, Ralf...

please riiterate the uriah heap thing..

After 13 unlucky with a bipolar, I'm ready for some -------Easy Livin'-------- , brother...

hubba, Hubba, HUbba, HUBBa, HUBBa, HUBBA: Im a HAPPY Boy, happy boy, HAPPY BOY, happy boy, aint nobody gona get in my way hey HEY!!! (visualize Joe doing cartwheels on the beach!)

sorry, guyzzz, I guess I had a brain bubble o o o o o O O 00000000 Glub, Glub, Glub

Joseph (and the amazing tecnicolor dream coat of Arms)

Fellow dreamers, I am a newbie at trying to LD. I have the 61 point relaxation technique down but, I have found that I am going into a deeper dream state than previously experienced. Any tips on how to get started in the LD as Dreamsigns are not prompting me to test my state.

Goddess

I guess LD is like any other skill in that it takes perseverance to progress. I have found that the more I involve myself with the information available on this site, thinking about LD, trying to do MILD techniques every day - all of that builds up a potential which makes the breakthrough into LD more likely. So...just keep on keeping on. It's worth it :-)

Best wishes

Alan T

Yesterday I had a funny and silly micro LD: I am driving uphill with a strange bike, that got a motor, too. I'm occupied with finding the right gear for motor and pedals, when I'm overtaken by a pair. Hm. Why am I that slow? But I'm going on. The road gets steeper and steeper. Finally I have to go by feet, then I get down on my knees and crawl. I'm afraid to fall. The pair is now in front of me. Only a few feet until we reach the top. They say, that it is impossible to walk here. I'm somewhat relieved, that this is the case for them, too. But then I think, this is what happened in many dreams before: Climbing a hill, that gets steeper and steeper and being afraid to fall down. I think: OK, lets see, if it is a dream. And I open my eyes: Indeed. I'm lying in my bed. What a surprise! And how silly, that I didn't perform any of my prolonging tasks. What do I learn from this? Don't use opening eyes as a reality - check. ;- < But take care for and get used to your dreamsigns. Knowing them can lead to lucidity. Keeping a dream diary helps a lot!

Ralf

Want to share my experience about RC fail. Actually I'm completely context dreamer (according to the LI classification -- action, form, context and emotions). My dreams are always occurs in the strange places like castles, other planets and so on. I've never been there.

Today early morning I had a dream about my journey back to my city where I was born in the Russia. It happens often, so I decided to use it as a dream sign. I created in my mind some sort of lock: "I can be only in two cities in the world -- Sunnyvale and Walnut Creek with my friends, otherwise I have to check more attentively". Periodically through the day I'm trying to remember what city I'm currently at. Also, I'm beeping by my digital watches and listening to the beeps. So, the story. I was walking on the russian streets and thought: "OK, let's do RC. Where am I ? In Russia." I momentarily recalled how did I fly here, where did I buy ticket and the fact that I have to return in three days. False memories ! Additionally I beep my watches. Don't remember whether they beep or not, but my RC was so mechanical throughout the day, so I decided that it was a usual result I smiled and thought: "Of course it's a waking reality, I have to add to my 'lock list' this city too". I woke up couple minutes later. Daahhh !!!

My idea is that some of our RC's are too mechanical (for the beginners like me). We just check it and don't care about the result -- 99% usually telling us that it's waking reality, so we use it by default. I'm going to use different scheme -- recall the date like: "OK, today is Friday, 26". And check it with my watches. Will keep your posted if it will be successful. By the way -- does anybody know when the LI is going to manufacture the PEST again ?

Dmitri

Dmitri- I wrote you a message already but it didn't post, so I'm writing another - hope it doesn't end up posting twice. Anyway, thanks for sharing your RC experiences. I know what you mean about doing RC's in waking life and already assuming what you'll find. I'm trying to do this with an open mind and it's fun, because I walk around looking at things and half believing it could be a dream - a pleasant sensation. Anway, I'm going to start expecting things to change when doing RC's in waking life. Also, I'm going to use being in my parents' old house as a dream sign cue as you do being in your home town. A recent ld I had began in my parents' old house. I was in my room there and was regretting that so much of my Saturday had gone by and I hadn't used it well. This is a regret I have about how my life has gone, and an outlook I'd like to change. So maybe my wanting to work out a pyschological issue promted the dream. Good luck, Kate

My first failed Reality Check: In a dream, I moved a fairly heavy go cart and it raised doubt, was this a dream? So I jumped up in the air and fell right back down so I decided I wasn't dreaming! I've done mindless RC's in dreams before and failed to recognize the dreamsigns but this seemed so conclusive, until I awoke! Jumping has been so reliable up until now. It troubles me as I've not been fooled like that. I guess I'll have to work on a new RC. Have others had this experience?

Hi, Ted

Just today, I made a similar experience, only that it wasn't a real reality check.

I dreamed being in an unknown city and thought, it would be funny, if in my next dream I would fly again. And as a training, I performed some jumps. Gravity felt perfect real. I didn't only jump, but landed sliding on my chest and belly, like soccer players sometimes do, when they've made a goal. But this didn't appear strange to me. This would be a simple example of how basic assumptions (I'm awake, gravity is normal) influence dream - abilities, if it wasn't for my Astrid to watch my sleep. She guessed correctly from my movements, that I tried to jump and then hugged something (what I actually did after my "flying training"). This makes the subject more complex: The body seemed already to wake up, so that the dreaming mind got an impression / an information of the body being "heavy". Therefor it seems, it weren't only my assumptions, that kept me from leaping into the air, but sensory input, too. But if I take a very close look, the jumping thing wasn't absolutely real. There has been a minimal delay. Next time I will notice it and recognise, I'm dreaming. The thing is, if jumping doesn't work, do a test with watch or writing. But if you really doubt, that your awake, it is 99.9 percent probable, that your dreaming. You may "simply" remember that the next time...

Ralf

Dear Ralf, Thanks. I guess the message for me might be, if I decide to a a reality check - try and assume it is a dream & don't necessarily believe a negative result. I'm sure if I had looked around I would have seen "signs & wonders" and had fun.

Dear Ted

That is what I wanted to say. And more and more it dawns on me, that it is not only a cognitive, purely rational thing, this reality checking, but a mood. For me it seems to work better to get into the mood, into the feeling, that everything around me and me, too, is a dream, while performing daytime reflection / intention exercises. And this feeling isn't woo - woo. It is only the emotional realisation of what neuro - science tells us about the process of construction of perception. And btw it is what some mystical traditions say since thousands of years.

And more and more it dawns on me, that life is similar "morphable" as dreams are. And waking life perceptions are dreamlike. I think it has been a posting of Jason Mathew Bales that especially inspired me to get into this mood. Maybe someday being in this mood makes my more or less systematic RCs unnecessary.

I wish you a lot of fun in your next LD

Yours Ralf

Quote (Jason)

How do I gain lucidity? The first thing I do is to keep in mind the dream-like nature of everyday life. Just think about where everything comes from. This computer--- many minds have literally dreamed it up. The Internet and the words we see on this page--- where are they? Where did they come from? How do you find a meaning in these words? The building you are in--- is it random or did it start somewhere in someone's mind? Every thought and emotion is the stuff of dreams. The dreams we have at night start with the thoughts and experiences of the day. So I just think of every thought and experience as another dream element--- whether I'm awake or asleep. I don't check to see if I am dreaming because I see so many things that are "dreamed-up" during the day. These are the things I think in the day. I also like reading my dream journal and thinking about the dream events and elements.

End Quote

Quote:

Mercy Street

looking down on empty streets, all she can see are the dreams all made solid are the dreams all made real

all of the buildings, all of those cars were once just a dream in somebody's head

she pictures the broken glass, she pictures the steam she pictures a soul with no leak at the seam

lets take the boat out wait until darkness let's take the boat out wait until darkness comes

nowhere in the corridors of pale green and grey nowhere in the suburbs in the cold light of day

there in the midst of it so alive and alone words support like bone

dreaming of mercy st. wear your inside out dreaming of mercy in your daddy's arms again dreaming of mercy st. 'swear they moved that sign dreaming of mercy in your daddy's arms

pulling out the papers from the drawers that slide smooth tugging at the darkness, word upon word

confessing all the secret things in the warm velvet box to the priest-he's the doctor he can handle the shocks

dreaming of the tenderness-the tremble in the hips of kissing Mary's lips

dreaming of mercy st. wear your insides out dreaming of mercy in your daddy's arms again dreaming of mercy st. 'swear they moved that sign looking for mercy in your daddy's arms

mercy, mercy, looking for mercy mercy, mercy, looking for mercy

Anne, with her father is out in the boat riding the water riding the waves on the sea

-Peter Gabriel

Adastra

Thanks for the words of the song. I'm just downloading it.

Ralf

we are here to flow...

Quote:

VARIATION ON HERACLITUS

Even the walls are flowing, even the ceiling, Nor only in terms of physics; the pictures Bob on each picture rail like floats on a line While the books on the shelves keep reeling Their titles out into space and the carpet Keeps flying away to Arabia nor can this be where I stood - Where I shot the rapids I mean - when I signed On a line that rippled away with a pen that melted Nor can this now be the chair - the chairoplane of a chair - That I sat in the day that I thought I had made up my mind And as for that standard lamp it too keeps waltzing away Down an unbridgeable Ganges where nothing is standard And lights are but lit to be drowned in honor and spite of some dark And vanishing goddess. No, whatever you say, Reappearance presumes disappearance, it may not be nice Or proper or easily analysed not to be static But none of your slide snide rules can catch what is sliding so fast And, all you advisers on this by the time it is that, I just do not want your advice Nor need you be troubled to pin me down in my room Since the room and I will escape for I tell you flat: One cannot live in the same room twice.

-Louis Macneice

I agree that the physical reality most of us inhabit these days is very dreamlike in the sense that we are surrounded by artifacts that have been "dreamed up" by human minds and made real; that Consensus Reality is quite morphable and dreamlike; and that the reality we inhabit while physically awake is dreamlike in the sense that our brains construct a model of reality, that model being what we inhabit rather than the "real world." However, I wonder if it goes deeper than that? As David Moser observed, "Quantum particles are the dreams that stuff is made of." When I read descriptions of the strange quantum world that underlies reality, it does sound very dreamlike to me; and I find it especially interesting when physicists talk about how a conscious observer affects events at a subatomic scale. Perhaps the Australian Aboriginal culture is correct in believing that the Dreamtime is the fundamental level of reality.

By the way, I'm not sure I'm fully satisfied with this distinction between a "scientific" approach and a "woo-woo" attitude; the latter seems a bit smugly dimissive. Perhaps we need a third category, maybe a "woo-hoo!" category: a willingness to entertain any idea that entertains us first...that seems only fair, doesn't it? While never taking our own or other's BS - Belief System - too seriously of course. I know a few Seth readers that have some incredibly trippy dreams. I believe this is due to their BS allowing some very far-out possibilities, which they then seem to experience in dreamland. E.G. personally I've never experienced walking into a room and finding dozens of versions of myself from different parallel universes, but I have read accounts by several different Seth-readers who have had such experiences.

Anyway, maybe we should just dissolve all categories and just let it flow...hehehe :p

Adastra

There it is again, this need to say: "Yes, yes, fine, ..."

"Perhaps the Australian Aboriginal culture is correct in believing that the Dreamtime is the fundamental level of reality."

It is the same as the quantum physics said: There has to be a hidden variable... and some speculated, that this "variable" is consciousness.

R.A. Wilson said it, as far as I remember: It is important to learn how to change belief systems. Would be good, if my BS someday turn out to work as tools for special tasks rather than as limits to my experience.

"Anyway, maybe we should just dissolve all categories and just let it flow...hehehe :p "

Yep. But as you might concede, this only really makes sense, once you did go into detail about categories. In my eyes it is absolutely necessary to have an idea of scientific method to get the best of the flow...

In response to Kate's RC method

Right now my realizing I'm lucid is usually a logic thing - if someone has three heads or I just caught a cloud in my hands while indoors, I must be dreaming. But I'm hoping the RC's will start to work for me on a regular basis. Now that I got the idea from Owen of trying to push through solid objects, I do it all the time.

Here is my method: I'm thinking that the quality of RC is more important rather than quantity (I may be wrong), so I decided to allocate significant time frame (at least 15-20 seconds) to perform my RC. I think that beginners luck in LD exist because people realise that it's possible. And this fact is so bright, sharp and important for them, so they have their LD just because it's something new for the brain. Later this idea becoming mechanical and not so shaking for the mind and brain doesn't care about it so much. So I decided to do RC very attentively. First of all I'm trying to look around and tell myself: "This is definitely dream. Looks very real, but it happens many times. Even my previous RC which I did an hour ago may be a false memory". Than I'm trying to remember what date today is. This is bringing the whole bunch of memories about the real world and it may lead to lucidity also. Then I'm comparing the date with my digital watches (they are always with me -- 24 hours a day). And finally I'm trying to morph the time on the LED to 88:88. Even if the brain simulated the date on the watches during the dream to mislead the oneironaut, he will do the same trick with the morphing and you will see 88:88. Once I went through all steps to 88:88. Brain immediately came up with the reason: "Calm down. Watches are damaged". I've tried to show digital star (which impossible to show on my watches in the real world) and succeeded. Boom ! I became lucid.

So, it's look like very long RC, but at least it make the brain working and though I'm not experienced oneironaut, but I had 3 LD using this method.

Dmitri- The beginner's luck idea is interesting, because I think that's exactly what happened to me. I read on the forum for the first time and then had an ld that night. But then I didn't have one again for a while, and was disappointed. Thanks, I will use the idea about telling myself "this is definitely a dream. It looks real, but this happens many times. Even my previous RC could be a false memory." Right now I just think, "this could be a dream." I don't know if the watch thing would work for me, but I may experiment. Kate

A New technique version for WILD and RC. I thought about this technique some time ago and thought of building a device for it but I realized latly that I don't need to build anything. A guy from my lucid dreaming forum that I run wrote (Translated to english and shorten a bit) that he wis tired but wanted to try to get in a dream. He had a digital clock in his sterio system that was infront of his eyes when he is in bed. He looked at the time and did a reality check, trying to change the time, see if it's normal... Then he closed his eyes, tried to relax. Every time he got very relaxed, and was on the edge of falling asleep, he opened his eyes looking at the time doing the reality check I mentioned earlyer. After 10 ~ 15 times he did the reality check, he saw the time was crazy, and he found it was a dream.

I guess this is a kind of wild thou I am not sure because he remembered all the proccess of hypnogogic imagry after he wokeup from the dream, but I just wanted to mention this methode for those he want to know. I didn't have the chance to try this out but it seems like a good methode.

Lucid dreams, Guy. variety@lucid.co.il

Guy

That is a very good idea. Thanks for sharing it.

Here is a reality check exercise that works well for me and some friends who are using it. We watch a movie that we've seen before, but would enjoy watching again. As we watch the movie, if anything strange happens that could be considered a dreamsign, we point it out and classify it according to form, awareness, context and action. Its rather fun and becomes two solid hours of focus on dreamsigns.

The first time we did this, we watched From Dusk Til Dawn. If you can stomache it, its perfect, because it starts out rather normal, though violent, but slowly turns into a full-blown dream world. Before the strangeness of the movie completely unfolds, there are several little oddities that you can pick up on if you are perceptive.

(I don't recommend this movie to anyone who isn't ready for an over-the-top Tarantino horror movie.)

For what its worth...

I see I was the last person to post on this topic and it was nearly a year ago. Not an active topic.

Anyway...

I want to share a reality check method that I'fm using. I'fm taking an approach to it that differs from what is popular right now and it is working for me, but I'fm still waiting to say for sure that it is more effective than the standard approach to reality checks that I was doing. I believe the idea behind it is sound and if anyone likes the idea behind it, you may want to give it a try.

Right now reality checks are normally done in concert with rather semi-directed habit formation and prospective memory tasks. It seems that people are generally creating the habit of doing reality checks throughout the day and setting the intention for reality checks before bed and during periods of waking throughout the night. The description of how I'fm approaching it will explain why I refer to it as semi-directed, but first I'fll explain the idea of automatization, which is important in my method.

Prospective memory tasks are used generally for activities that are not done so regularly that the task and the environment or conditions in which they are performed are automatically associated together. For example, you drive by lots of convenience stores, but only occasionally want to stop in for milk. You set a prospective memory task when you want to stop in for milk. I'fm not convinced that prospective memory is the best approach to preparing for recognizing dreams.

In contrast to prospective memory, there is automatization. A behavior is automatized when it becomes so associated with some condition that it becomes second nature. If stopping at the convenience store for milk were automatized, you'fd have to continually stop yourself from pulling into the convenience store whenever you passed. This is the degree of conditioning that we want with our reality checks, right? In language education, which is my field of study, prospective memory tasks are just a bridge to the final goal, which is automatization--we want to respond immediately and consistently when a language condition appears.

So if we are to create consistent responses to conditions that we are using as cues to perform reality checks, we want to automatized the response. I'fm not suggesting that we stop doing reality checks when we encounter something dream-like or randomly throughout the day. I'fm suggesting that we also begin automatizing reality checks by associating them with things that occur consistently in dreams as well as in waking life.

Here is my method of automatizing reality checks.

1. Get a list of recurring themes in your dreams that also consistently occur in your daily life. For me, the number-one theme of this type is driving. Another one is waking up and getting out of bed. I do these things every day and I also often dream that I am doing them. Dr. Laberge'fs manual that accompanied the nova dreamer describes how compile dream themes and I used the data I collected while using it.
2. Take note of each time that this theme occurs throughout the day and do reality checks whenever the theme occurs. Continue doing this until you do a reality check every time the theme occurs. It took me about a week to automatize reality checks without fail whenever I am driving.
3. Once you'fve automatized one item, continue to add more to your list of automatized reality checks, being sure to work on them until you do reality checks every single time each theme occurs.
4. Then just wait until your theme occurs in the dream and you will do your reality check. The reality checks, I do are exactly as Dr. Laberge describes.

Automatized behavior remains automatized in dreams. Automatized reality checks linked to themes in everyday life seem to be no different and although my informal study is definitely not double-blind, it is working for me.

I'fm not suggesting that this should or could replace the time tested prospective-memory approach to inducing lucid dreams, but I think I'fve found something that supplements it.

Hi Gordon!

Not a bad idea at all. Am surprised that there is not more discussion on this topic, as it's one of the harder parts of inducing lucid dreams, to repeat an action enough times that it starts to happen in the dream state as well.

I also commute, so will give this method a try for a couple of weeks and see what happens. Will let you know if any success comes of it

Regards,

Dean

The technique I've been working with is wearing an outrageous turquoise-colored firey opal silver ring on my right hand. I don't usually wear jewelry, so when I spot this on my hand, it's a reminder for a reality test. I see it quite a bit.

Because it's so gaudy, people remark on it. I tell them it's my "Am-I-dreaming?" ring.

Dean, A main theme in learning language is automatization and most of our time (language education researchers) is spent on figuring out how best to create automatization. It just seems to lend itself so well to remembering to reality check. They are both things that take place behind the scenes of your conscious attention, so it is hard to 'just do it' through willpower.

We make a distinction between learning and acquisition, because you can learn all about grammar and vocabulary, but can't speak a language at all. 'Cause it isn't automatized. In the same way, you can read everything there is avaliable on lucid dreaming, but still can't get yourself to do when you like.

Interestingly, it's during REM sleep that it appears that most higher learning takes place. So people deprived of REM sleep (usually through drugs and waking them up whenever they go into rem sleep) don't seem to learn stuff they've experienced during the day.

Anyway, I think I'm onto something with automatizing my reality checks.

Paul,

I did something similar for a while. (Similary in that people saw it as a but nutty.) I wanted to make a habit of reality checks during the day, so I wore a stopwatch around my neck and had the alarm set to go off each hour. The idea was to remember to do a reality check before it went off and then reset it. The goal was to make it through the day without hearing the alarm.

I eventually had to bag that idea because it embarrassed and annoyed my wife too often. She diplomatically asked if there wasn't something less intrusive that I could do instead. : ) The things she endures for my lucid dreaming research.

Hi Gordon,

Have to agree that this idea of automization definitely has something in it. Was thinking about it on the way home last night, trying to picture various things that we all do that are completely automatic, and apply them to reality checks...

Speaking of such things, are you a NovaDreamer user? I got mine a month ago, and (as I posted elsewhere earlier) I'm thinking of sending it back and just keeping the course. I beginning to feel that attaining lucidity within dreams is much more about mental preperation (such as MILD and new techniques like your automization) than it is about machines with flashing lights.

Thinking about lights all day has caused as many lights in my dreams when not wearing the NovaDreamer as the NovaDreamer has when I am wearing it. Also, various methods such as MILD / daily reality checks seem to have had a far greater effect on the vividness of dreams for me anyway - it's rare for me to see NovaDreamer cues so far. The ironic thing is, to dream you need to sleep, and the NovaDreamer mask does a fabulous job of preventing that!

Shame about the stopwatch Maybe Pauls' idea of a ring would do the trick? Or maybe setting a cell-phone to vibrate on the hour instead of ringing...

Regards,

Dean

This is an update on whats going on with my experiment with automatization of reality checks. Right now I'm using no other method to induce lucid dreams but automatization of reality checks in order to get an idea of how effective it is without influence from other methods.

I've completely automatized doing reality checks while driving, so for a little more than a week, I've done reality checks whenever I drive without forgetting even once.

The interesting thing that has happened is that since I successfully automatized reality checks while driving, I haven't had even one driving dream. This is strange, because driving used to show up in about one out of every five of my dreams. I am remembering between one and three dreams per night, so since I automatized reality checks while driving, I've had about 16 dreams. I should have had three driving dreams in this time, but I haven't even had one. I realize that its too soon to form any conclusions, but it seems something is happening.

It's as if driving has been screened from my dream content. I'm wondering now what devise could be causing this and why.

For now, I'm increasing the number of conditions in which I have automatized reality checks. The one I'm currently working on is moving between being indoors and outdoors. So, when I step in or out of a building, I do a reality check. This is much harder, because I have less time to notice what I'm doing. My success rate now is about 5%--very bad.

If entering and leaving buildings stops happening in my dreams also, that will be very strange.

I figure that if I keep increasing the number of conditions in which I always do reality checks, the sheer quantity will overcome this tendency of automatized conditions to stop appearing in my dreams and I'll begin becoming lucid.

We'll see.

Hey, Gordon

Good luck in your tries!

We played that game: "Doors of Perception" in Maui dreamcamp. Everytime I pass a door, I touch the frame. I played that at work and soon got exhausted. Too many doors to pass as a nurse. But for you it might work.

Keep us updated

Ralf

Gordon:

Thanks for the report. It will be very interesting indeed if, after automatizing (I love that word!) moving from indoors to outdoors, you lose that context from your dreams as well.

Might be some whole unconscious anti-expectation thing going on that your experiment is revealing...

Be sure to let us know,

Peter

Here's a little Reality Test technique that works a treat, Very effective if not a little silly (but we like silly right?)

Meme Activated Reality Test

I came up with this one along time ago but it has helped no end in reminding me to reality test. The idea came to me from my girlfriends love of all things Pop-music, and, the annoying way that these tunes got stuck in my head and just won't go away. I'm sure you've all experienced the situation where you've listened to the radio, heard some catchy tune and had it popping back into your head througout the day. Perhaps you have even noticed, as i had, that these tunes are prone to popping up at times when your mind is still... ie the middle of the night whilst trying to induce a WILD for example. Anyhow you've probably guessed already, we need a tune to get caught in our head that reminds us to reality test.

Here's mine:

(to the tune of yellow submarine by the Beatles)

"We're all going to have a lucid dream Have a lucid dream have a lucid dream We're all going to have a lucid dream Have a lucid dream. Have a lucid dream."

It's a very catchy little tune, if you sing or hum it to yourself now and then, you will be suprised how often it rekindles itself spontaniously throughout the day (and night!) - Reminding you to Reality test, and Have a lucid dream...

Just remember to "Top it up" occasionaly just to keep the Meme alive. Give yourself a little sing song before bed

dum dum dum dum de dum de dum de dum.....

It's silly but give it a try... You'll be suprised.

Daniel.

Ps. Let me know how you get on with it.

I love it!!! Well done, thats a new angle!

Hi all!

This is a method that I've come up with, which is based upon Gordon's automization method, but is perhaps somewhat easier to find one's self doing in a dream. I ws trying to find a practice that we all do during the day, but also all do during a dream. The one thing that I could think of was walking. Now, nobody can do reality checks with every pace that they make, but I've started doing reality checks whenever I see my shoes. When walking sometimes, looking down briefly, when sitting down with my feet up, in the shower etc etc. It takes some sticking with, as it happens often during the day, and to maintain the effort to keep doing reality checks every time is a bit tricky. Now for the good bit It's induced two LD's for me in the last few days (I haven't logged in much whilst trying this new method out - wanted to make sure it worked, for me at least). It's having an effect, and this is after about 5 days of repeated reality checks until it becomes automized. All credit to Gordon for this general idea really, as it's his brainchild! These two LD's make a total of 3 for me at the moment, and because I'm a fairly newcomer to attempting Lucid Dreams this may be beginners' luck, as I've nothing to compare it to. However, I also have little experience with LD'ing, so maybe this method is worth a go for anyone who's interested...

Dean

Dean:

That sounds like an effective exercise; I'm delighted it worked for you!

Thanks for sharing,

Peter

Dean,

Congratulations on your success!

I'm curious about the moment you became lucid in your dreams. Was it directly related to the reality checks with your shoes?

I'm wondering whether looking at your shoes stimulated the lucidity, or whether doing lots of reality checks is responsible. Although both could be influenced by automatization, the difference is important.

Gordon

Hi all!

Gordon; Let me explain exactly how it's been happening. Having decided upon seeing my shoes as the point at which I would do reality checks, I then had a quick think about the checks themselves. It's all very well reading text/checking watches etc, but such things aren't always immediately available in dreams, and personally, my forays into lucidity are not always stable at the moment, perhaps due to lack of experience. Therefore, I decided to modify my reality checks also. Whenever I see my shoes, I now ask myself; "Am I where I should be?" The reason for this is that within LD's that I'd had before using this method (mostly WILD's) I had noticed my inability to analyse events realistically. Strange things would happen, but despite being semi-lucid, I would not be aware enough to seriously contemplate odd events and thus achieve higher states of lucidity. Therefore, asking myself whether I am where I'm supposed to be, I hoped, would help to activate in some way the analytical part of my brain, and thus achieve lucidity. This, it would appear, has worked. As to the exact moment I became lucid - this is due to inadvertently looking at my feet, and remembering my reality check. This happened in both cases. Here's a quick example of one; I'm in a castle tower, with several other men, one of whom is a young King. All are dressed in Mediaeval clothing. The men are asking the King what he intends to do, and I'm watching them all. Suddenly, the young King says - "I will fight, as my father did 200 years ago!" At this point, a light went on in my mind, and I wondered how his father could have been alive 200 years ago. As I do in real life, I looked down as I thought about it - saw my feet, and after a brief sort of vague moment suddenly thought about doing a reality check. I asked myself if I was where I should be, looking up as I did so. The castle around me was gone, I was standing in a field overlooking rolling hills, and I was lucid! When I turned, there was a castle behind me, some distance away. I remained lucid for maybe a minute or so, just wandering around, before losing lucidity. In conclusion, I think that automization caused me to do the reality check, but seeing my shoes was the cue itself. I still had to look down to make it happen, to actually see my shoes. I don't believe I would have achieved lucidity, or rather, had the chance to achieve lucidity, without doing this. Will keep posting as I learn more, or adapt the method successfully for more prolonged lucidity.

Dean

Dean,

That is very cool. It sounds as if you became suspicious, and that suspicion was enough to send you right to your shoes, which you've associated with reality checks.

I'm looking forward to hearing about how it goes in the future.

I plan to start a thread devoted to people who are trying the Automatization Method. I hope that you are interested in adding your experience to that.

Gordon

Hi Gordon,

Suspicion / thought could well indeed have sent me straight to my shoes. Whatever the motivation to do so, they (the shoes) are proving a reliable cue for lucidity - I'm achieving lucidity roughly every other night, but I'm still not able to maintain it for long, and often they are only semi-stable... more like WILD's. Will keep trying.

I would definitely be interested in providing input into your Automization Method thread. From my point of view at least, tne method has proved more successful that both MILD or the NovaDreamer.

Dean