Last Updated on November 5, 2024 by Kari
Last night I had a lucid dream. I was dreaming about a cat or a dog wrapped up in a blanket, and then suddenly it disappeared. Sometimes I don’t notice weird things like that in my dreams. Things like dead relatives being alive, living in different time periods, and disappearing animals don’t always cause me to question what is going on. But last night it did. I was about to look away from where the animal disappeared, but, instead, I stared at that spot and thought, ‘Animals don’t just disappear.’ After a few seconds of staring, I quickly used the technique that I learned to help me discover whether I was dreaming or not, and I discovered that I was!
As soon as I realized I was dreaming, I was able to take control of what was happening and I made my chair fly up into the air and headed out into the countryside towards my parents’ house. Usually I just fly, but for some reason I thought it would be better to let my chair fly through the air as I sat in it.
And that’s what lucid dreams are all about. You become aware that you are dreaming, so you are able to manipulate the situation and control what happens and what doesn’t. In other words, you can make some fun and interesting choices during a lucid dream!
Usually I like to fly. Sometimes I like to call on people that have passed on or people from my past to help me work through issues that are stuck in my mind.
For example, once, just after my sweet Border Collie died, I became lucid in my dream and was able to call her name. She came running towards me and I gave her a hug and kiss. She was energetic in that lucid dream, and it helped me move past the last time I saw her where she was unable to walk or even lift her head.
Almost Everyone Has Had A Lucid Dream
Before you go saying that you are unable to have lucid dreams, I want to point out that you probably had lucid dreams when you were a child. According to Charlie Morley, the author of Lucid Dreaming: A Beginner’s Guide To Becoming Conscious In Your Dreams, the majority of children have lucid dreams as a part of their psychological development. So, you’ve probably had them naturally when you were young, but you lost the skill of having them along the way.
Some people think that they don’t dream at all. This has never been proven. It seems much more likely that as humans, we all share the common ability to dream during the night.
Therefore, even if you don’t think that you dream, you probably do but you just don’t remember your dreams. That means that you are capable of having a lucid dream if you can bring about the awareness that you are dreaming.
The Technique I’ve Found Most Valuable For Lucid Dreaming
I read Charlie Morley‘s book that I mentioned above in the beginning of 2017. There was a lot of information in there that can help you to have a lucid dream, including boosting your ability to recall dreams and different techniques to help you become lucid in your dream.
The reality check is what immediately worked best for me and is still working to this day.
A reality check is just that – checking to make sure you are in reality.
For instance, when something weird happens during your day, you may pinch yourself to see if you are dreaming or not. If the pinch hurts, then you are awake. If not, you are dreaming. That’s a reality check.
In order to lucid dream more, the idea is to do reality checks often during your day. The more you do them, the more likely you are to do them while you are dreaming too. I have found this to be true. Any time I stop doing reality checks, I stop having dreams. This is because doing them during the day becomes a habit that your subconscious pulls on while you are sleeping. You habitually look for weird things that happen and then do a reality check to see if you are dreaming or not, even in your dreams.
Charlie describes a few different ways to do a reality check, but looking at your hand works best for me.
When I see something weird while I’m awake, I look at my hand and flip it back and forth. It always looks the same. Nothing changes because it’s my hand and, well, I’m awake.
But, while dreaming, it’s hard to replicate something over and over again perfectly. The details can change slightly or drastically, but they always change when you are dreaming.
For instance, one time I thought that I was dreaming and I looked at my hand and flipped it over and it became an elephant (which was a suggestion I picked up because Charlie described that experience in his book). In any case, it was pretty clear that I was dreaming!
Last night, though, I flipped over my hand a few times and noticed the pinky fingernail looked different each time I turned my hand facing away from me. It was a small warp in reality, but it was enough of a clue that I was dreaming, and I quickly made myself float up in the chair I was sitting in and fly over the countryside.
Make Your Own Reality Check
Charlie Morley recommends a few different reality check ideas in his book, but you could make your own reality check too. Just keep in mind that you want to observe something repeatedly to ensure it stays consistent.
For instance, you could:
- Look at your foot as you move it side to side.
- Check out the crease in your elbow as you bend it back and forth.
- Tap two fingers together over and over again.
- Grab an object nearby and flip it around repeatedly.
The key is to find something that you can easily do in your waking life, and then make it a habit to do the same action in your dreams. This will help train your brain to recognize when you are dreaming.
Another effective method for reality checking, that I’ve used, involves using digital or electronic devices. In a dream, these devices often malfunction or display impossible information. So, try looking at a clock or phone screen multiple times throughout the day and take note of the time or any other details. Then, in your dream, if you check the time or use your phone and see something nonsensical, it can be a clear indication that you are dreaming.
For instance, knowing that I can never use my phone properly in a dream has become a reality check for me. If I can’t use my phone in a dream, I will often say something to the other people in my dream, such as “This only happens to me when I’m dreaming!” and then something will click in my mind and I will do my hand technique just to make sure.
A Few Tips To Make Reality Checks Work For You
1. Do your reality check often. Anytime someone acts weird, a coincidence happens, or something stupid happens, do a reality to check. If you get into the habit of doing it for almost anything out of the ordinary while you are awake, then you are more likely to do it while you are asleep.
2. Talk about doing reality checks to other people. When I first started trying this technique, I explained my desire to lucid dream and the reality check technique to almost everyone I knew. Doing that kept it fresh in my conscious mind and, I believe, helped it sink into my subconscious mind where I was automatically able to do it during my dreams.
3. Think about your reality check before you go to bed. I find that before bed, when I really focus on the desire to have a lucid dream and do the reality check to make it happen, it usually happens. Sometimes I even visualize myself doing the reality check in my dream and becoming lucid.
4. Remind yourself how much you want to lucid dream: There are so many benefits to lucid dreaming. If you make it an important part of your life, then you are more likely to do the reality checks in your waking and dreaming lives and have those lucid dreams you want.
