Do you have a step-by-step instruction guide on how to lucid dream? Sorry if I asked this question before or if someone else did.
It's okay! No worries.
1. Dream journal. Work on remembering at least one dream every night. I have an app called *Dreams* on my phone. It lets you customize and record dream signs. I would purchase Stephen Laberges book: Exploring the world of Lucid dreaming. It's super informative and it breaks down how to categorize dream signs! Dream signs are important for the next step.
2. Reality checking. This is something that lots of Lucid dreamers take for granted -- myself included. When you do a reality check, it should be very mindful. We shouldn't check and assume that we are awake; we will do the exact same thing in our dreams. We should stop what we're doing, look around and then do a RC. Next, what kind of reality check should we do? My favorite is trying to push my index finger through my palm. Some people hold their noses and try to breathe, whatever RC works for you is what you should use. Try them all out. Lastly, you want to do reality checks in accordance with your dream signs! Dream signs vary, they can be recurring situations, emotions and even characters. But, you should be able to spot a pattern in your Dreams after several months of journaling. When you see a dream sign or something that resembles or reminds you of your dream sign, you should do a RC! That's the most effective way to hack your lucid dreams.
3. Induction techniques. My favorite, and probably the most reliable technique, is MILD -- Mnemonic Induced Lucid Dreaming. You will need to build up your prospective memory, which isn't that difficult (check out Stephen Laberges method on building prospective memory). You should mix this with reality checks and dream signs, to make it more effective. For example, if you constantly see animals in your dreams, you will stop and try to put your finger through your hand every time you see an animal in waking life. And you should constantly build upon how many dreams signs you can remember at a time -- this is how you work on your prospective memory. So, you see animals and always seem to be in a parking lot in your dreams, that's two dream signs; that's two reality checks that you will need to remember to do if you see these triggers in your waking life -- try to get up to 5! While falling asleep you should remind yourself: if I see an animal or a parking lot OR an animal in a parking lot, I will recognize that I'm dreaming. You can repeat this to yourself while falling asleep in the beginning of your night or after waking up and returning to sleep.
The other part of MILD is done upon waking or while falling asleep or both; you'll repeat to yourself, "The next time I'm dreaming, I will realize that I'm dreaming." You can even repeat this throughout your day. What I meant by "upon waking" is to wake up earlier than you normally would (5.5 hours give or take -- 4.5 would be more in the realm of WILD) and then while returning to sleep you remind yourself that you will be dreaming soon. Technically this is called the Wake Back to Bed (WBTB) method but.. yeah lol
Hopefully I didn't miss anything! This short tutorial should help you get started. Also, it takes practice and patience. It took me around 3 months to have a 10 second long lucid dream, don't beat yourself up if it doesn't work within that time span. Also, having one lucid dream a month is considered to be a lot! If you manage to pull it off but then can't do it for a while -- this is normal. Just go with the flow ❤️
Lucid
(Oh yeah! This process is customizable! Feel free to tweak any part.)