Quote Originally Posted by arby View Post
Pretty much, I think that the trick to avoid waking up is to have a rational for everything you notice is out of place or simply have nothing out of place. Lets say theres a floating building, you can say thats its magical or has strange new anti-grav technology. If you think "that shouldn't happen" then you're likely to de-stabilize your dream world.

Going with that, its good to think of your dream not as an actual dream but reality with differnt guidelines or flexible guidelines. This should help you convince your brain to stay in the dream longer. =P[/b]
No offense, but I think this is really bad advice. Those kind of rationalizations are exactly what prevent people from becoming lucid. Actively encouraging this style of thinking is about as counter-productive as you can get.

Lucidity is the awareness that you are experiencing a dream. How on earth do you expect to maintain lucidity if you choose to view your dream "not as an actual dream but as reality with different guidelines or flexible guidelines?" Accepting your dream as reality is synonymous with losing lucidity.

Here are my tips for prolonging your lucids.
First of all, focus solely on the dream itself. Pay attention to your dream senses and think about what's currently happening. Stimulate your dream senses. Scan your surroundings. Rub your hands together. Smell the air. Listen to the sounds around you. Hell, eat some grass. The more attention you give to your dream, the more stable the dream will be. This also works in reverse. The quickest way to wake up is to withdraw your focus from the dream world; hence, one of the best methods of waking yourself up is, paradoxically, to go to sleep in your dream. Try not to think about your waking life. For example, if you start to think "I wonder what position I'm sleeping in right now," then you're probably going to find out pretty quick . Dream spinning is a good way of stimulating several of your dream senses at once, and is therefore a good technique to employ if you start to feel the dream slipping away.