Forgive me if this isn’t where it should be. I did browse through the big remembering topic, however it seemed to be geared towards remembering dreams than recognising signs while dreaming.
I have no problem remembering my dreams, and I recently restarted my dream journal. However, I can not seem to recognise any form of signs when dreaming. They become so obvious to me once I wake up that it’s frustrating that I never see them while asleep. Let me give you an example.
In my most recent dream, I was at school in a forest. This was a regular brick school building in a clearing, with ramps at the front of the school which were the only access to the various floors. So far already 2 huge things that I should have picked up right away. Not only do I no longer attend school; it has been many years since I set foot in a proper forest. I mean trees as far as the eye could see, no sign of civilisation outside this one clearing.
Anyway, to make things even more obvious, only 1 person in the entire class had a distinct face, a Nickelodeon actress. Everybody else had blurred faces and it’s needless to say that she was the focus point of this dream.
I don’t recall once seeing a teacher despite us all being sat at desks in a classroom environment. No bell rang but we all knew that it was time to leave the room. After class she suggested we venture to the top floor of the building; which was supposedly not in use. I’m sure I can skip the details from here on but long story short we ended up having sexual intercourse in this abandoned room at the top floor, which has puzzled me since I woke up as I have never thought of this person in any sexual manner whatsoever.
It’s very frustrating for me that I was unable to pick up any of this, as this is by no means my average day (oh if only). I have browsed the dreamsign threads and will continue to do so, but if anyone has any specific tips to get this sorted I’d very much appreciate it.
Exactly the same happens to me – I wake up and recognize all the signs, but I don’t get them in the dream. The advice I’ve gotten around here is to try working on awareness during the day, and also changing my mindset when doing RC’s: not always doing them thinking “but I know I’m awake and it won’t work”, you have to really question yourself when you do them.
Thanks for the advice Fractalica. I do need to work on my RC’s however the only thing I ever seem to recall as a dreamsign after I wake up is either that I was in a physical location that I would never find myself in in day to day life or that I was surrounded by people I have either never met or haven’t seen in years.
Last night for example a childhood friend who passed away several years ago turned up on my doorstep exactly how I imagine he would look today and we went out for a walk. I thought nothing of this and about half a mile from home there was an open (seemingly abandoned) mineshaft. Now unless you live in Romania, randomly finding a mineshaft out in the open shouldn’t be a common occurrence. Yet I still find myself unable to process any of that while I’m still dreaming.
So reality checks when weird stuff happens iwl. Any time you feel weird, reality check.
Every time you reality check, don’t say “am I dreaming?” or “I’m not dreaming” if it fails. This attitude might help problems to seep in. You want to say things like “I am dreaming” regardless of whether you know you are or not.
Adding to what the above posts have said, you can try to question yourself during the day (as another RC, I guess). Things like “where am I, does it make sense for me to be here?”, etc. I also would like to suggest writing down as much as you possibly can from your dreams (I type them out, tires me less). It can be a LOT of fun, actually. Record things like small details, shape, posittion, colors, feelings, etc. (more info here). Basicly, when I was at the top of my game in terms of recording things in my DJ (I used to get up to 7-9 pages on ld4all ), I’d get lucid spontaneously and recognizing weird things in dreams was a lot easier. The more you write details down the more you get to know your dreams, the closer you are to them, so you start getting more aware while in them.
If everything fails, don’t worry. You can get lucid by many other ways. The LD’s in which I’ve gotten lucid through dream signs is a huge minority Good luck!
I’m having the same problem… My mind notices the strangest things and thinks they are abnormal. For instance: My first lucid dream was about me being Bart Simpson and I got bit by a spider and started shooting webs out of my hands. I thought it was impossible to shoot webs out of my hands and this led to lucidity. My brain thought it was completely normal to be Bart Simpson but shooting webs crosses the line! haha
Almost every night, I remember a lot of normal dreams. (For instance 7 different dreams last night [or at least 7 different stories in 7 different places], because I woke up several times trying to use the MILD technique).
I also wake up every night after 6 hours of sleep, even if my alarm clock rings 1 or 2 hours later. At this moment, I write on my DJ the dream I just had, then focus on the MILD technique, trying to go back to my previous dream with lucidity this time.
As Corrupted said, the difficulty is to notice dream signs WHILE dreaming, then RC. And just like him, I notice them after I wake up. In pratically each dream I remembered, my two best friends and my workplace seem to be my dream signs. But never noticed them while sleeping…
Anyway, even if it is hard for the moment to do RC’s during a dream, my big frustration for now 2 weeks is to MILD after a wake up. I can’t be focused all the time, and even if I am, I dream about something else whatsoever…
I read Stephen Laberge’s book. He says that it is perfectly normal for beginners to fail the first times. He recommands to be as focused as possible during a MILD attempt and to really mean what you say when you RC during the day, like : “Am I dreaming ?” -RC- “It seems like I am not, but how it could have been if I was really dreaming ?” And imagine yourself flying if you’re near a window for instance.
If you have any tips other than Dr. Laberge’s, it would be appreciated ! I’m really starting to feel depressed since I only had 1 LD (2 weeks ago). I wrote my first dream a month ago.
Don’t get depressed! It’s very hard at first to get a LD, for many different reasons, and believe me 2 weeks is NOTHING, I had my first LD about 5 months ago and still haven’t achieved my second. Most of that time I was in school so I wouldn’t have time or patience to try that much either, but don’t be depressed or frustrated about it; later on you’ll start noticing you’ve been getting better, you’ll start getting more odd sensations during WILD, etc, so instead of feeling frustrated you should feel better that you’re getting closer and closer to your 2nd LD!
Mattias: I had my first LD with a sort of WBTB/MILD/DILD technique. More precisely, I woke up, then went back to sleep focusing on my previous dream. I didn’t go back to my dream and had another dream instead (that’s why I don’t really know if it’s a real MILD but the intention was there^^) where I noticed and felt weird about a horse jumping with gravity which led to lucidity (during approximatively five real minutes, i flew and teleported myself in egypt).
Fractalica : It’s also kinda hard for me at the moment because of my work etc. I often go to bed at 2:00 am for a week now. I’m tired and always forget my daily RC’s… (maybe 5 in the day instead of 20+). The problem on my RC’s is that I don’t trust myself when I do it. I’m not really meaning it. And even if I try, I’m kind of an atheiste/science person who usually don’t believe all the weird-auto-hypnotic stuff, but I really would like to…
Anyway, I’ll try harder on my holidays (in a week and a half) !
No matter how strange, absurd or bizzare my dreams are i’ll never realise it. I’ve been chased by Zombies, competed in a marathon at the London 2012 Olympics and been in a submarine with Doctor Who… But only when I wake up do I think: That was weird!!! How did I not question it, I seem to accept everything in the dream world. Not once have I questioned it. So i’ll follow some of the suggestions and improve my self awareness, I do plenty of RC’s in the correct manner already.
), I’d get lucid spontaneously and recognizing weird things in dreams was a lot easier. The more you write details down the more you get to know your dreams, the closer you are to them, so you start getting more aware while in them.
Good luck!
Maybe you should try a different aproach? what got you lucid the first time?
