I've been converging on a succinct statement of what I believe is at the heart of lucid dreaming practice for a while. A few people have encouraged me to get it into writing in a thread, so here it is...
(I notice in the "similar threads" that Redrivertears focuses on attention as well :P).
This is based on what I've learned from many others and my own experiences, and participating in countless discussion threads. I find myself now giving the same set of advice over and over again to everybody who asks about improving in any aspect of lucid dreaming practice. Without further ado, here it is:
(Note that you can think of these as a "how to" approach to implementing Sageous's :sageous: LD fundamentals: self-awareness and memory)
Attention: we remember that to which we pay attention. Pay attention, on purpose. "Be aware of your awareness" (Marc Vandekeere). This is the key to vivid dreams, "present" dreams, and dream recall in general. Being present in the experience of the dream is required for lucidity (if "you" are not there, you can't get lucid!). Our dreaming selves is basically our waking selves, with a layer of mental dullness & fog overlaid on top and impaired access to memory. So in order to pay attention to our dreams, to be present and have vivid memory of them, we must consistently pay attention in waking life to our experiences.
Reflection: awareness without reflection is simple observation, it does not in itself lead to lucidity. Ask "Is this dream-like?", "How odd is this?" "Why do I think I'm awake?" "Is this a waking location?". Realize the truth that any conscious moment could be in the dream state. Bring your "self" into the questioning. This brings intent into the picture: consider, why are you doing this at all? In order to recognize the dream state and thus become lucid in dreams (and in waking life, of course...lucidity is its own reward!).
Recall: access to memory and self-awareness are interrelated. Practicing recall builds and strengthens neural pathways related to memory. If we could only remember the goal to get lucid in dreams while in the dream state, lucidity would be easy! Opening a crack into the dream state's impairment of access to memory is challenging, but a very powerful way to get lucid a lot more. Once lucid, accessing memory can raise minimal lucidity into maximal lucidity. Additionally, recalling dreams in detail and at length is just fun! Non-lucid recall keeps me going in between the lucids.
Unified: do the same thing during waking and sleeping!
Waking: pay attention to and reflect upon your experiences in the now, and at night before bed, recall and reflect upon them further.
Sleeping/Dreaming: pay attention to and reflect upon your experiences in the now, and in the morning after waking, recall and reflect upon them further.
In particular, think of the night also as a time to pay attention to your experiences, not as a time to black out until morning. Plan for active nights! Restful, but not lax to the point of dullness.
For a while now I've had consistent strong day work, but my night work has been lacking, which is why my lucid results are still not as frequent as I'd like. I believe it's because I haven't been doing the same (at least, not consistently) thing during the night/in dreams. This unity of approach I think is very strong. Treating waking-time and dreaming-time as somehow fundamentally different can stall progress. Treat all conscious experiences as fundamentally the same (something to experience brightly and vividly in the now, and to remember later), and progress should flow and build consistently.
(I notice in the "similar threads" that Redrivertears focuses on attention as well :P).
This is based on what I've learned from many others and my own experiences, and participating in countless discussion threads. I find myself now giving the same set of advice over and over again to everybody who asks about improving in any aspect of lucid dreaming practice. Without further ado, here it is:
- Pay attention to and reflect upon your present experience, with the goal of recognizing your state
- Recall and reflect upon your past experiences
(Note that you can think of these as a "how to" approach to implementing Sageous's :sageous: LD fundamentals: self-awareness and memory)
Attention: we remember that to which we pay attention. Pay attention, on purpose. "Be aware of your awareness" (Marc Vandekeere). This is the key to vivid dreams, "present" dreams, and dream recall in general. Being present in the experience of the dream is required for lucidity (if "you" are not there, you can't get lucid!). Our dreaming selves is basically our waking selves, with a layer of mental dullness & fog overlaid on top and impaired access to memory. So in order to pay attention to our dreams, to be present and have vivid memory of them, we must consistently pay attention in waking life to our experiences.
Reflection: awareness without reflection is simple observation, it does not in itself lead to lucidity. Ask "Is this dream-like?", "How odd is this?" "Why do I think I'm awake?" "Is this a waking location?". Realize the truth that any conscious moment could be in the dream state. Bring your "self" into the questioning. This brings intent into the picture: consider, why are you doing this at all? In order to recognize the dream state and thus become lucid in dreams (and in waking life, of course...lucidity is its own reward!).
Recall: access to memory and self-awareness are interrelated. Practicing recall builds and strengthens neural pathways related to memory. If we could only remember the goal to get lucid in dreams while in the dream state, lucidity would be easy! Opening a crack into the dream state's impairment of access to memory is challenging, but a very powerful way to get lucid a lot more. Once lucid, accessing memory can raise minimal lucidity into maximal lucidity. Additionally, recalling dreams in detail and at length is just fun! Non-lucid recall keeps me going in between the lucids.
Unified: do the same thing during waking and sleeping!
Waking: pay attention to and reflect upon your experiences in the now, and at night before bed, recall and reflect upon them further.
Sleeping/Dreaming: pay attention to and reflect upon your experiences in the now, and in the morning after waking, recall and reflect upon them further.
In particular, think of the night also as a time to pay attention to your experiences, not as a time to black out until morning. Plan for active nights! Restful, but not lax to the point of dullness.
For a while now I've had consistent strong day work, but my night work has been lacking, which is why my lucid results are still not as frequent as I'd like. I believe it's because I haven't been doing the same (at least, not consistently) thing during the night/in dreams. This unity of approach I think is very strong. Treating waking-time and dreaming-time as somehow fundamentally different can stall progress. Treat all conscious experiences as fundamentally the same (something to experience brightly and vividly in the now, and to remember later), and progress should flow and build consistently.
via Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views - Attaining Lucidity http://ift.tt/1M0oaQj
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