i remember everyone of my dreams (3 or 4 a night) in complete detail at this point, and spend most of my waking day thinking about them…
in about one of my dreams per night, i ll be doing something that i know only happens to me in a dream (ie. loosing teeth, finding money, fighting in the second world war, seeing people i shouldn t see) and i will reemmeber saying out loud, ‘oh man i m dreaming’ but then immediatly afterwards i say "wait nevermind this is real’
it s crazy! i ve spent a year and more trying to lucid dream, not particularly hard, though i remember all of my dreams, and i don t mind that i haven t lucid dreamed, i figure i ll get there in good time, but it s ridicolous that i convince myself that i m not dreaming! i actually have the conversation with myself WHILE i m dmreaing!
anyone have similiar experiences? i don t get it…
i ve stopped doing reality checks in my ‘real’ life because i think i m dreaming all the time…
There should me numerous RC s you can perform that help you decide if you are truly awake or not.
Have you tried the “hold your nose” RC?
Or perhaps you can try wearing a RC braclet or similar, and look at it several times a day.
I think you need to find a fail safe RC and try using that several times a day.
One thing I like to do … I guess it’s a type of RC … but I’ll look around real life and “pretend” that I’m dreaming and become lucid. I look at the scene and people around me and “take it all in” and think of how “real this dream looks” … and I basically emulate the feeling of becoming lucid.
I have had dreams that are so vivid feeling and real, that I think its not a dream, even though the thought crosses my mind. It seems like you are realizing that you are dreaming, which was hardest for me. Next time you think you might be dreaming, don’t give up on the thought. Think of a reason that it should be a dream. Just don’t give up!
but my problem with RC’s are that i cannot tell distinguish between reality and dreaming, in EITHER world. in my dreams i ll often kiiinda get the feelings i m dreaming so i ll do stuff like jump real high or jump off stuff i would be afraid to otherwise, but in the real world, when i think i m dreaming, i ll do the same thing! i jumped off a balcony a few days ago cause i thought i was dreaming, and fell three stories onto a side walk and got a concussion…
what is a good (preferably safe) thing i should think myself to do while i m in a dream?
I have a feeling you are NOT serious.
If unfortuanately you are serious … I’m not qualified to give you further advice. I think you should seek psychological assistance. Healthy and stable people are able to easily distinquish if dreaming in the waking world.
If you’re serious, lucid dreaming is really not good for you at this moment… it can be very dangerous…
It’s probably not a question of RC’s, but of your complete recall - your dreams seem too real to you. Try taking a break from LD’ing and anything related to dreams for some time.
Not wishing to scare you, but you might want to examine this list of symptoms of dissociation. I haven’t written it myself. If you want to reach the person who did write it, post in the newsgroup alt.dreams.lucid. (You can post using Google groups.)
Waw ! Interesting and accurate ! I haven’t seen this list !
By chance, I have only this one : “Probably the most common form of dissociation involves having problems distinguishing your waking memories from dream memories.”
Perhaps could AlreadyDead give us his mysterious secret to drive oneself mad without getting any LD…
Hmmm… More seriously, if AlreadyDead is not exagerating a little bit, I would like to know what practices gave him such symptoms… It could be an useful information for all of us, as the result seems to be a decrease of lucidity IRL, instead of an increase in dreams. And please could you tell us too, AlreadyDead, if you take drugs (or pills) ?
no i don t take pills i m probably healthier than most of you, i m vegan i run in marathons and i m a veterinary technician at a hospital. the night i jumped off the balocony i was WONDERING if i was dreaming, and i ve always wanted to jump off that balcony anyways so i just said whatever and tried to fly. it didn t work. also, i had recently imbibed about 14 shots of rum and tequila and i wiegh 135 pounds. hahaha.
so thanks for your concern but i m just fine. anways yes i really really have trouble distinguishing between my memories in dreams and in real life, like i will be doing something in the course of my day and a thought will pop up in my head and sometimes i simply just cant remember where it happened or if it was real. however this probably stems from my own conviction that my waking life is just a dream within a dream and that i could wake up from it if i tried hard enough (lends itself to tibetan yoga beliefs and other tribal thoughtlines).
and i can t take a break from lucid dreaming, i never have had a lucid dream, and i dont consciously try to, i just have vivid dreams every night and i remember them well.
anyways it s nice to see such concern in an online community! but i m not on drugs, my head is okay (little lump), and i understand my own inabilities to distinguish the occasional memmories as being totally understandable considering my state. also, could anyone answer my originial question?>?
Hi AlreadyDead !
Happy to see you didn’t try to jump from another balcony !
Your first question was : did someone else convince himself that he was not dreaming ?
I remember it recently happend to me once. In a dream, I was joking with a friend :“You know, we could be in a dream !” I said. But I was sure it was reality. And I practised the nose RC. The RC worked : I could breath through my nose. But I convinced myself my nose was not sufficiently held and that I wasn’t dreaming.
Dream recall is generally not sufficient to induce lucid dream. To trigger lucidity, you have to practice another technique. It’s very strange that RC’s doesn’t work with you. Try a less offensive RC technique, like drawing a red circle with you finger on the dream landscape, or looking at your hands until they change shape.
(If you tell me these RC’s works during reality, I won’t believe that you’re healthier than me )
If you already tried these techniques without success, as you have a good dream recall, and as you said you remember lots of situations where you could have became lucid, the Laberge’s MILD technique seems to be made just for you.
Good luck and I hope you’ll soon tell us your 1st LD !
Well I’m glad you’re not on drugs. Also, I’ve considered becoming a vegan. But this is not what this forum is all about, so on the earlier note, I have had instances where certain experiences in my dday lead me to remember my dreams from the previous night. Never have I had the difficulty of not being able to distinguish between reality and fantasy. To be on the safe side though, I would read more about dissociation.
I just checked out that list and I have to say I am a little concerned about it. I have not had any experiences which would indicate that lucid dreaming alone would cause any of those problems. Now, someone who suffers from some sort of illness prior to practicing lucid dreaming may encounter problems. However, in that situation those people would have the above mentioned symptoms weather they practice lucid dreaming or not.
).
It could be an useful information for all of us, as the result seems to be a decrease of lucidity IRL, instead of an increase in dreams. And please could you tell us too, AlreadyDead, if you take drugs (or pills) ?
