False reality tests

[cainam_nazier]

Have you tried any of the basic reality checks?  And are these things you do when you are awake every so often to re-inforce the idea of doing them?


David Rogalski
cainam_nazier@hotmail.com
I am he who walks in the light but is masked by the shadows.
David127385.freestoreclub.com

[Tom]

Jumping to see if I stay up in the air longer than usual, checking my digital watch and then looking at it again, reading and re-reading printed material, concentrating on being in a different location by visualizing being there, and a few others. When in doubt, I close my eyes and concentrate on my breathing because that always wakes me up in an actual dream. For a while I just told myself that it was a dream and thought about what I would do if it actually were a dream. That seems to have made things worse. Now I do it in a dream. I conclude that I am awake and then think about what I would do if it were a dream. The fact that it works does not bother me.

[k2sixx]

Personally, I forget during the day to keep doing those reality checks used for LD's.  Instead, I used a affirmation that related to "realizing I am dreaming" and repeated it only before I went to sleep and went into sleep (in bed, eyes closed; didn't repeat it during the day etc.).  It worked the first time I tried it.

[Aerotus]

Hi, I'm a newbie to these boards. Just to quickly introduce myself, I have had regular lucid dreams and have bordered on astral projection as well.

The problem you state Tom is one that I have also experienced. When you sleep, your brain functions are cut off and you can no longer judge in dreams whether or not things are "normal". Of course, this is the basis of what dreaming is all about! That totally weird things will appear absolutely normal whilst dreaming.

I do perform reality tests of my own. Although, I have found that it is largely the state of your mind which determines whether you can become lucid or not. The reality tests are a technique which aid becoming lucid. But if you are not in the right frame of mind, it won't work!

I have been through long spells where even though I would perform reality checks in real life everyday constantly, I just couldn't do the same in dreams!
To lucid dream, you must be very enthusiastic about it! You must constantly think about it just before you are about to sleep and repeating affirmations b4 you sleep is a very powerful way of achieving this.

Good luck!

Success - It is not the position you stand, but the direction you look

[Tom]

No matter how weird my dreams get, when I try to decide if it is a dream it never works correctly. I always conclude that I am awake even in dreams involving flying. Nothing seems to be weird enough to convince me I am not awake. It all just seems so ordinary.