My present theory is that dreaming is an active, tho unconscious, deed. So step 1 is to make the unconscious, conscious. And then step 2 is to stop dreaming.
More mundane examples : Turn off the movie. Quit the game. Close the book. Alarm clock goes off.
But that’s just me. I want to hear your opinions on this subject.
If I become aware I’m in a dream and want it to end, I usually try to focus on the feeling of my body in bed. Once I become conscious of my physical body it’s basically impossible to stay in the dream.
I was into “concentration meditation” at the time. Using “the feeling of breath in the tip of my nose” as my object of concentration.
So I was in a dream (I was in a windowless, slightly cluttered basement, talking to some people, thinking about going upstairs) when it occurred to me to concentrate on my (real physical) nose.
The light started strobing. A slow strobe. Like 0.7 hz. The whole light of the dream. Like somebody was flicking the basement light on and off
Depressing option: try suicide. Works every time for me. The main idea is to put yourself in a scary unusual situation enough to raise your heart rate. Like usually at the end of nightmares there is a ‘boo’ moment that elevates your heart rate enough for you to wake up.
Sometimes a dream takes a dark turn and that’s usually when I realise that it is in fact a dream. I start to look for an exit and awareness shifts to my physical body eyelids opening as the way out.
When mine are nightmarish I walk backwards and slip through the barrier/wall of the dream back into my body. Not sure how I figured that out but it works for me.
One technique to become lucid in dreams is to look at your hands. Hands usually look a bit off - think AI hands. Then you can do whatever you want. In theory if you make it a habit to look at your hands during the day, you’ll do it while dreaming too.
I remember a dream as a kid, I was trying to read a poster on the wall, but the letters were blurry and/or gibberish. I kept trying to get closer to the poster and focus so I could read it, and in all my struggling to see, I opened my eyes for real. Im still pissed I never found out what the poster said.
If you are waking up as soon as you realize it’s a dream, you are missing out! Some of my best dreams are the ones where I realized it was a dream, the story takes a wild turn once I realize I’m a God!
Once, I was dreaming that someone was violently chasing me, but right before he reached me, I realized I was dreaming (and therefore in control of what happened here), he spontaneously caught fire and started screaming. I woke up right after. Fun times.
I make the hand gesture to bring up the status interface and the logout option is there on the right. I know there’s faster ways but i just can’t get the hang of speaking clearly in my dreams 🤷
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