Gaining lucidity

[fost500]

Guys, i just cant seem to get lucid in my dreams, its so annoying.
I try doing reality checks through the day but they dont seem to work for me. I mean, think about things that we do everyday, eating, going to the toilet ect, then think about how often you actually dream about doing these things. Never!, well in my case at least. So reality checks dont work for me. Iv also tried affirmations prior to sleep but to no avail.
Can anyone suggest anything please.

[shaman]

What I am going to write might not help much, since I have had the same problem. However, there are a few instances when I become lucid in a dream:

-1) when I look into a mirror; then usually I do not even see my reflection and I realised it is all just a dream.

-2) when I look at my hands; and for example I see that I have long finger nails, and I know I just cut them. Then I realise that something is wrong.

-3) when I look at the night sky and see the stars; then I remember that I want to ask the sky about the future (a long story) and I become lucid.  

However, these things do not happen automatically. I am lucid only once every few months! But at the moment I am working on remembering my dreams every single night. I think that is a start. The next step will be to work on lucidity, both with reality checks and autosuggesting myself before going to sleep. It takes about 2 weeks for these things to start working, since it took me about 2 weeks to get to remember my dreams with auto suggestion.

[Selski]

Hi fost500

Reality checks are not about where you are when you do them, but are a means to stopping you in your tracks and really asking yourself if you are awake right now.

For instance, as you read this post, ask yourself "how do I know I am awake?"  Don't just say, "Of course I am, don't be ridiculous" and then carry on reading it.  Actually stop what you are doing.  Look around you.  Is everything where it should be?  There are no purple cats or dead people wandering around?  Can you look at your hands and they don't melt?  You have to absolutely satisfy yourself that you are in physical reality before you carry on reading.

Now, if you do this throughout the day often enough (and make sure it doesn't become automatic), eventually you will ask the question during a dream.  You will remember to stop and look around you and question the logic of the place, is it physical reality?  

Look at your hands - aaaarrrggghhhh, they've started melting - it's a dream!  

Look at the landscape - why is that kangaroo able to communicate with me? - it's a dream!

Look at the people with you - there's Oliver Hardy dressed like the Pope - it's a dream!

The key to these affirmations is to affirm and satisfy yourself 100% before you continue.

I've had many dreams where I've said to myself, "hey, I'm dreaming", and then carried on the dream - therefore I'd become lucid for a nanosecond without realising what that lucidity means - doh!!  

Good luck

Sarah

[Selski]

Sorry I posted twice, due to it being really slow!



Sarah

[fost500]

OK, thanks peeps, i guess il ust keep trying. I find it quite hard though. Example, this morning I dreamt that this massive catapillar thing was trying to attack a baby, and i picked the baby up so it was ok. I mean, why the bloody hell dont I realise it was a draem

[The Night Mist]

I have the same problem, I mean I dream the most ridiculous things and I can't see to get lucid , it really bothers me...I should start doing affirmations too...hmm

[You]

I want to have Kangaroo Kommunications. Let's see... from a book I read it said one of the strongest factors in gaining Lucidity is the desire, so mull it over, try to come up with any possible fears you might have about it, deal with those, and every night before bed say to yourself "I will remember all my dreams, I will be conscious in my dreams, I will be awake in my dreams, I will be able to influence what I do in my dreams, I will be able to control what I do in my dreams." That's the sort of progression I guess, until you don't need to affirm anymore.

[anonymous57]

Keeping a dream journal and reading it just before you go to bed made me LD in a matter of days.

When you realise you're dreaming, I recommend saying "clarity NOW" to make everything clearer, and stop yourself waking up.

[astralpwka]

Reality checks by themselves don't work for me either. As Selski said, you've got to really stop in your tracks and wonder.

My method of making reality checks work is by chanmging my philosophy about reality. I got this method from reading about Tibetian Dream Yoga (do a Google search). Start looking at all of reality as an illusion, and it will carry over into your dreams. This is a big philosophical outlook change, so it's not as easy. If you study zen, it gets easier.