How do you know when you are dreaming ?

Do any of you ever experience something while dreaming that indicates to you that you are dreaming ?

Lately I have been having dreams that for what ever reason I find myself pulling out my iphone and I will try to open the GPS map app (in my dream ) . When doing so the app never seems to open no matter how many times I try . When this happens I then become lucid to the fact that I am actually in a dream .

Do any of you out there share a similar experience of some reoccurring dream experience that will tip you off to the fact that you are actually dreaming ?

I don't want to tell you anything you don't already know, but technically you dream every night. There is something called REM Sleep (Wikipedia) in which your most interesting dreams that you can most often recall, occur in. It's nearly impossible to remember dreams during other stages of sleep, as you can only remember most dreams if you are woken up in the middle of them during the night, and will most often forget it by morning.

So yea, you dream every night. Once I learned that, I found that I remembered my dreams more often. Probably just a placebo though.

reply to post by For(Home)Country


Yes you are correct , but the question was , how do you tell when you are dreaming ? There is a very big difference between dreaming and having a lucid dream .

Yes you are correct lucid or not.

What you have found is a trigger point to alert you when your dream, thus allowing you to take control of your dream.

The most widely used amongst lucid dreamers. that practice frequently, is to look for words, text, numbers, billboards with text, then stare at it for awhile and the letters/numbers/symbols will change before you eyes.

For some unknown reason in dreams symbols, letters, numbers, text can not stay as it was originally seen or written.

For example if you were reading this post the text would morph before your eyes into other words, symbols, or things.

This is a 100% effective method I use and many others it has never failed and please don't ask me why it works, but it does.

Try it and see.

Originally posted by Max_TO
reply to post by For(Home)Country

 

Yes you are correct , but the question was , how do you tell when you are dreaming ? There is a very big difference between dreaming and having a lucid dream .

[edit on 3-12-2009 by Realtruth]

[edit on 3-12-2009 by Realtruth]

The only thing that really triggers me into lucidity is lights. I have a tendency to dream of being inside buildings and I've noticed that the lights in a dream don't "turn on" like they do in reality. They've been my trigger mechanism for a number of years now.

For myself it's flying. As soon as I fly I know I'm lucid and can take control of the dream.

I quite often know i'm dreaming and kinda direct/control what happens from then on, especially happens on dreams i'm enjoying, no idea what triggers it though? I tend to look at my hands alot when this happens, if that could be a trigger?

Love it when it happens, till I wake up anyway

reply to post by valiant


Actually looking at your hands CAN be a trigger. A common "reality check" as we call it, is to look at one's hands and often times they will seem as though they have less than five fingers or sometimes more. I don't know why some of these trigger mechanisms work the way they do, but they most certainly work! Another one I like is sticking a finger through your own palm.

reply to post by Agree2Disagree



Ahhh their is my trigger then, i'll probably be thinking about it the next time it happens now

Never put much thought into this, quite an interesting topic.

reply to post by Max_TO


How do you know you aren't dreaming right now? How does anyone know if when they "dream" they are in fact in the REAL world, and we are "awake" we are in fact dreaming?

Is there anything to truly tell me I'm not dreaming right now as I write this?

Perhaps I should go test it out.....


[edit on 4-12-2009 by Nomad451]

reply to post by Nomad451


Try plugging your nose and breathing with your mouth closed. Then try it in your other "dream" or "reality" whichever you want to call "it". Then make up your mind which one is more REAL based on scientific facts about the human respiratory system.

Originally posted by Max_TO
Do any of you ever experience something while dreaming that indicates to you that you are dreaming ?

Lately I have been having dreams that for what ever reason I find myself pulling out my iphone and I will try to open the GPS map app (in my dream ) . When doing so the app never seems to open no matter how many times I try . When this happens I then become lucid to the fact that I am actually in a dream .

Actually, in a sense, you have answered your own question. Your brain refuses to allow you to open your GPS as it would be unable to process a dream for such an event.

The reason is this...

IN dreams, the brain still works as if we still lived in a cave and hunted mammoth. In dream, your brain is unable to do some things that only come with civilization:-

1. You can never change the lighting in your dreams. LIght switches will never work although some objects can be of different shades and colours, but changing the light yourself is not possible. This is the first reason why your GPS might not work as it might be fitted with a light in side it.

2. The mind is very unlikely to be able to process numbers and digits. Your brain will not allow you to open your GPS as it will not allow you to see the numbers on it. This is the same with most of humanity, Although I am an extreme rarity in that I have personally experienced seeing numbers in my dreams. In some people's dreams, their brain will allow them to see digital clocks etc, but all it will show is scrambled characters.

3. Only some of humanity dream in colour all the time. Some dream in colour some of the time, but 30% dream in black and white all the time.

A sign for me is when I know something is going to happen before it does. That's when I know it only happened because I thought it would happen because it's a simulation. At that point I take control and do whatever I want.
It's sick when I realize I'm dreaming.

For me its letters words and numbers that become more illegible as i try to read them. One way to train yourself to know if you are dreaming and wake up is get into the of asking yourself if you are dreaming during the day everytime you look at your watch, maybe analyse the numbers on the dial for a few moments to see if they scramble. Getting into this habit during the day will ensure at some point when you are dreaming you will do this, the number will scramble and you will become lucid. This worked for me. Smokers might want to try reading the writing on the cig packet when they light up.

I have heard about the light switches in the film 'waking life' but lights do work for me and complex machinery. I can also drive. however i have read (in Robert Monroe - Out of body experiences) that to dream of sliding out of a car whilst in motion without opening the door is the brains way of rationalising you leaving your body. This happens to me often along with crashing and being thrown from the car but passing through it as if its made of nothing. Another sign for me is when i dream of being in a battle or war situation and my guns jam or everyone else is 'tooled up' and i can only seem to find toy guns swords etc..

Thats very interesting what some of you have said about the hands as a trigger . I can't remember anything different about my hands while dreaming but you can bet I will be paying extra attention the next time .

Also very interesting is the mention of words and symbols as I can't remember ever seeing either words or symbols in my dreams .

One thing I can say on my experience with lucid dreaming is that I found it much much easier as a child to have a lucid dream then I now experience as an adult , until discovering this trigger via my iphone .

reply to post by Agree2Disagree


LOL

Funny you mention that , it makes me think of an experience that I encounter from time to time just before I drift off , the feeling of being able to breath while under water .

Another common experience that have before falling asleep is the sense of being able to see while my eye lids are shut .

Actually.... Along the lines of symbols I have just remembered a dream I once had where I was doing a Tarot card reading and was flipping over the cards one by one using a 5 card spread but for whatever reason I woke up before flipping the last card .



[edit on 4-12-2009 by Max_TO]

I always used to lucid when I was younger.
Just bit my tounge and if I didn't feel pain I was dreaming felt pressure though.
Now Im tryna get it to work again.

I tend to fall under two categories: A) lucid dreaming as an observer. Akin to watching a movie with full awareness, senses, etc... B) lucid dreaming as having some/complete control over what's going on. I have more "A" lucid dreams than "B". My trigger would have to be normal events happening not quite like they should. Rather, let's say I was driving to work and all of a sudden my car turned in to an elephant. Weird out of the ordinary stuff like walking around the mall only to have the entire downtown area turn in to a war zone. I honestly don't remember having any control over what was going on, but I can say for certain my mind picked it up and swung in to full gear!

I find it odd because I dream in perfect color every single night, with senses probably half of the time. Smells, temperature, taste, etc... It's quite freaky! There have been some bad dreams I've "watched" where I was all "WAKE UP NOW!" over and over until I came to rolling around in a cold sweat! One dream I recall getting blasted in the face by a friend and seriously tasting blood before waking up. I'm not sure how common experiencing senses are in dreaming but I've always heard it's quite rare.

There are two lucid dreams that jolted me to awareness inside of my dreams. The first I can't remember much but I know I was in a store, sort of like Walmart, and turned around to see a forest of pink flowered trees and a bridge going deeper in. That was more of a WTF moment, but it was odd because there were boots and dog tags thrown up in the trees and I'm a little scarred by how emotional I became. I woke up in the same state of sobbing and just utter heartbreak from the situation. The second I was in your typical "zombie slasher" dream and slammed through a door and locked it shut, turned around and dropped to the ground (exhaustion). Out of nowhere it became "real", everything was very clear, I could smell the death on the air, etc. It was a long hallway with a lot of discarded junk strewn about (chairs, desks, paper, clothes) and a door on the other end. Right when I "came to" a girl ran through the other door, slammed it shut, turned around and saw me. Looked around for a second and asked, "Who are you? Where am I?!" And I woke up >.>!

So, I'm not sure I have a trigger to really create or mess with my own dreams. I do however have heightened awareness about myself and maybe it's just second nature to what's going on? I can say I've never once had a boring dream

Originally posted by Max_TO
...
Lately I have been having dreams that for what ever reason I find myself pulling out my iphone ....

Next time, call yourself.
The conversations can be hilarious. But don't take yourself too seriously, after all, it;s just a dream.

enjoy