Funny since they ban all the time <| sep |> And the velcro lining buddy <| sep |> My friend told me that before she sleeps she tells herself if i see a red balloon I will know that I ' m asleep and this work for her apparently . I understand the concept because for me lucid dreaming is just a sudden realization while dreaming that your actually dreaming . When the realization hits me ill do a reality check for me its flying super fun way to check reality and if i pass the test then i know for sure . Its ridiculous actually ill do a running jump and flap my arms like a weirdo . Thankfully I ' ve never felt the need to perform this test while awake . So you just need to train yourself to trigger that altered state of awareness while dreaming . It doesn ' t happen for me all the time and I have no idea what my trigger is , I dont have a red balloon .