主题:Scene Change Oddities For AwarenessI just had a n-LD and reflecting on it, there was really nothing too weird about it, at least what I remember of it. There was one strange thing which I questioned within the dream (there was a stream I went to visit with my bro and his wife which he said was awesome, but it had been paved under the water with bricks, bubbles were rising from under the bricks and I wondered how that was happening, but never wondered if I'm dreaming. I realise now I should do that more often in everyday life, instead of thinking of more logical conclusions, my first thought should be "is this a dream" with stuff like that.)
Anyway, the only real obvious dream sign was that the area changed slightly between when we arrived at the place, and when we walked over to the river. Which I should have questioned as well, as I noticed that it changed, or rather *thought* it looked different but wasn't sure if I just didn't notice it before.
**My question is:** Does anyone use these scene changes to recognise that they're dreaming? Briefly thinking back on other dreams, it seems they may be a fairly consistent dream feature. Areas changing slightly or a lot between "scene cuts".
Dreams are filled with oddities, but you won't recognize them because the brain's cognitive and analytical functions are suppressed or disabled during REM sleep. To recognize these oddities you have to activate your brain first. WBTB is how you typically achieve this.
I usually notice oddities, just have trouble concluding that it must be a dream.
It's the same thing, due to lack of cognitive and analytical functions. Under such circumstances we can be easily fooled, sometimes even when we do perform Rc and succeed.
I've been trying SSILD the past few weeks with little result by waking up, checking the time, laying back down without getting out of bed, and then doing SSILD.
Last night, I had to actually get up to go to the bathroom, and then I attempted SSILD and noticed signs of WILD, which I consider partial success.
My question is, is it recommended to wake up more fully and then go back to bed? I thought I would have better success if I laid back down asap and then do SSILD, but I'm beginning to think otherwise.
Or was it just a one-time fluke?
You don't need to wake up fully but you do need to allow sufficient awakening prior to performing SSILD. The degree of awakening though varies from person to person, therefore you should experiment with the timing. It is important to note that it is unnecessary to wake up fully like the typical WBTB routines. For most people a quick bathroom visit is usually enough.
Would it okay to not get out of the bed at all? My reasoning was that not getting up would allow me to fall asleep more quickly, but if the brain has to reach a certain level of awakeness, then idk
It's possible. The reason to get out of bed is to activate some motor functions. You can accomplish the same thing by simply sitting up a little. If you absolutely can't get up, I suggest you mix SSILD with DEILD. Remind yourself to stay still and attempt dream entry when you wake up next time. By doing SSILD in this fashion, you will unlikely achieve DILDs, but frequent subsequent awakenings are guaranteed. Moreover, subsequent awakenings resulted from this will typically be partially in a trance-like state which can be easily utilized to create conscious dream entry. Michale Radguda's Indirect Methods in this case can be extremely effective. In fact, the combination of SSILD and Indirect Methods can result in near 100% success once mastered.