Reality Checks and Grounding make me lose lucidity.

**Drax** · 07-25-2011 02:30 PM

Hi guys, one thing that has been notable in my DILD's is that when I perform RC's or Ground myself (become aware of all my senses) it actually causes the dream to collapse or to fracture.

I know the typical reason for this is that beginner LD'ers panic too much or focus on their physical body and this causes the dream to disappear, with me I notice that a dream is vivid and become lucid, I assume that by performing RC'ers and Grounding myself that the dream will enhance and become more vivid, instead I instantly notice the opposite the dream instead becomes destabilized even if I stand still and remain calm. Its gotten to a point where in my last lucid dream I merely decided to not become lucid to prevent the dream from collapsing.

I understand that my own fear that lucidity will destabilize the dream is a huge contributor, but believe my when I say this even when I did not carry this worry it seemed that the dream would almost instantly begin to break apart from the mere process of becoming lucid.

**Avalanche** · 07-25-2011 03:21 PM

Maybe you sleep a little too lightly perhaps? That you are barely asleep and when you become lucid you wake up too much in the dream so you wake up for real? That's my uneducated guess.

Maybe try arranging your room to be darker, quieter, and more comfortable, so maybe your sleep will be deeper, and you will have stronger lucids.

I know that deep sleep doesn't help dreaming, I mean deeper than what you have right now.

**Drax** · 07-25-2011 04:06 PM

Originally Posted by Origami

Maybe you sleep a little too lightly perhaps? That you are barely asleep and when you become lucid you wake up too much in the dream so you wake up for real? That's my uneducated guess.

Maybe try arranging your room to be darker, quieter, and more comfortable, so maybe your sleep will be deeper, and you will have stronger lucids.

I know that deep sleep doesn't help dreaming, I mean deeper than what you have right now.

Thank you that could in fact be it, my brother who has since moved into my room when he lost his apartment snores like crazy and my bedroom has 5 tall windows on the side I sleep on.

Kinda like this but less fancy:

So perhaps it is too much noise and light?

**Avalanche** · 07-25-2011 04:11 PM

Waaaay too much. Get blinds or heavy curtains or something, and kick your brother out onto the street.

Fix'd

**Supernova** · 07-25-2011 04:38 PM

Originally Posted by Origami

Maybe you sleep a little too lightly perhaps? That you are barely asleep and when you become lucid you wake up too much in the dream so you wake up for real? That's my uneducated guess.

Greater awareness of stimuli from the dream would pull his awareness away from real world stimuli.

Let me ask you, what exactly are you doing when you try to stabilize? What are you doing physically, and what's going on mentally i.e. what are you focusing on?

**faceonmars** · 07-25-2011 04:58 PM

Originally Posted by DraxQuin

Hi guys, one thing that has been notable in my DILD's is that when I perform RC's or Ground myself (become aware of all my senses) it actually causes the dream to collapse or to fracture.

Hi, DraxQuin . If you are already lucid don't do reality checks. RC's are a way of becoming lucid... if you already know you are in a dream relax and enjoy it.

**Avalanche** · 07-25-2011 05:58 PM

Originally Posted by Supernova

Greater awareness of stimuli from the dream would pull his awareness away from real world stimuli.

Let me ask you, what exactly are you doing when you try to stabilize? What are you doing physically, and what's going on mentally i.e. what are you focusing on?

I do the simple stuff: Counting fingers, pushing finger through palm, and blocking my nose. I only ever got the chance once so far, and that time I lost it before I could stabilize. I would have just touched stuff and looked around. As I said, that is my uneducated guess. I get the feeling you are trying to prove me wrong or something, when this is an opinion thread.

**Puffin** · 07-25-2011 06:17 PM

Originally Posted by faceonmars

Hi, DraxQuin . If you are already lucid don't do reality checks. RC's are a way of becoming lucid... if you already know you are in a dream relax and enjoy it.

Doing reality checks after becoming lucid has nothing to do with losing lucidity; if anything, they will help keep you lucid. They're used for confirmation that you're dreaming once you become aware.

DraxQuin, your room could definitely be a factor in waking up prematurely from dreams. That's a lot of light to be letting in! Also, have you taken into account when you've become lucid? A handful of the LDs might have been at the end of your REM cycle, in which case there isn't much you can do about it. If you're doing a WBTB, try setting your alarm clock or waking up an hour earlier, or so. It'll allow for more dream time once you fall asleep again.

How are you going about your RCs? If you focus too much on your hands while trying to count your fingers, for instance, you'll no longer be paying any attention to what's around you, thus destabilizing the dream.