When should I do reality checks?

[green_slash]

Does it have to do with my dreams? Like I have been in buildings in my last two dreams like huge ones with lots of people one was my school or it was supposed to be but was way to big and another was somewhere else with like 100 people at least in each dream.
So what the advice on when to do reality checks? I do them everytime I enter and exit a building. Is that right?

[Curios]

Reality checks are different for all people. Do you live in a big city is this normal surroundings for you. For me i noticed a strange place or odd things happening is an obvious dream sign. Just try and be aware of your surrounds all the time and take time out of the day and meditate and just focus your mind more and you will be more aware in your dreams.

[green_slash]

Thanks curios. I live in a small city where the biggest building is 13 floors high. I don't meditate because I don't know how to. How do I become awar of my surroundings?

[hysteria]

just look around, take note of what you see, feel, hear, smell and taste...take it all in...be aware of how you feel at the time too, happy, sad, indifferent...

[green_slash]

Are you say that I should be aware in life or in a dream or both. In a dream I've never had control their just like storys told to me by someone else. When I dream I have no memory that this ever passed. When you lucid dream is it like 'Oh i'm dreaming' then you like wake up in your dream and everything becomes vivid and it's like real life? I've had only one dream where I was complety aware. I got up and went to the washroom and went back to bed.

[wasup]

I'll give you an excerpt from steven Laberge's book on being aware :D :D lol...

1. Look.
Become aware of what you see: notice the richly varied and vivid impressions-shapes, colors, movement, dimensionality, the entire visible world.
2. Listen
Become aware of what you hear: register the various sounds taken in by your ears-a diverse range of intensities, pitches, and tonal qualities, perhaps including the commonplace miracle of speech or the wonder of music.
3. Feel
Becoem aware of what you touch: texture (smooth, rough, dry, sticky, or wet), weight (heavy, light, solid, or empty), pleasaure, pain, heat and cold, and the rest. Also note how your body feels irght now and compare that to the many other ways it feels at other times, tired or energetic, stiff or limber, painful or pleasant, and so on.
4. Taste
Become aware of what it is like to taste: taste a number of different foods and substances, or remember and vividly imagine their taste.
5. Smell
Become aware of what you smell: the odor of warm bodies, earth, incense, smoke, perfume, coffee, onions, alcohol, and the sea. Remember and imagine as many of them as you can.
6. Breathing
Attend to your breathing. A moment ago you probably were not consiously aware of your breathing and inhaled and exhaled fifty times while doing this excersise. Hold your breath for a few seconds. Let it out. Now take a deep breath. Notice that being consious o your breathing allows you to altier it deliberately.
Now I don't want to type the rest such as, "emotions, thoughts, "I", awareness of your awareness"
I hope I was helpful...

[green_slash]

I'm still kind of confused. Like do I just think in my head oh ya I know what that feals like or I hate that smell it reminds me of. Like that?

[hysteria]

When you lucid dream is it like 'Oh i'm dreaming' then you like wake up in your dream and everything becomes vivid and it's like real life?[/b]

yes.

[wasup]

Basically I am saying be aware of your senses. Like I bet you aren't or weren't thinking of the noise of your computor noise or if you have a sibling then the noise of the tv. Become aware of that. Also, think of the taste, the texture in your mouth and if it is cold or hot, think of all that as you are thinking of a food or something.

[green_slash]

Sweet thats awsome.
So what the advice on when to do reality checks? I do them everytime I enter and exit a building. Is that right?

[hysteria]

you can.

think of this: what is something that happens often in your dreams? (dreamsign) do reality checks whenever that happens if possible. if you don't have one, just do them whenever, like as you said when you enter a building, or perhaps set a wrist watch to go off through out the day and do them then.

[Seeker]

What usually works for me is to notice violations of physics.
Things like:
I run my car off a cliff and it falls slowly.
I can jump 30 feet up in the air.
I can run, but my stride is 50 feet long.

[green_slash]

Stuff like that happens but I never realize that. :(

[wasup]

Same here, and you can't do reality checks on that becuase it never happens in "real" life...

[green_slash]

So what should you do?

[wasup]

Check your watch at random intervals... it worked for me for the first week

[green_slash]

So just where a watch and check it like every hour and then recheck? Is that it?

[wasup]

Well... When I was doing it I checked like every 20 minutes maybe. Also, if your playing a video game or something or watchign a movie tlel yourself that every time you see it you will know that you are dreaming and you will do a reality check... that carried over into my dream after doing it once even know I didn't become lucid...

[green_slash]

Every time I see what?
O and over time does it become easier to become lucid?

[Second Attention]

With practice, all things become easier, including lucid dreaming.

[wasup]

Well, for example I was playing Final Fantasy like all day once and I told myself (OUT LOUD, I'm not saying them out loud anymore and that might be a reason for less lucid dreams) every time I see a dude in an giant ice cube in a sky then I will know I'm dreaming and do a reality check... Here's the dream that came with it...

I was in a vast room where there was a shaft of purple light coming from the ceiling. I said out loud, "Every time I see that I will do a reality check and know that I am dreaming." Right when I was about to do my reality check I woke up.

And also to answer your question about more lucid dreams the easier it can be... the answer should be yet from what I know (not experiance) because you know that it can be done and that it is way fun and worth it so you should do it again.

[green_slash]

Ok what I would do I would do a reality test before I went to bed and when I woke so If I woke up in a dream I wold try it.
In that dream did you say that on purpose or was it just random?

[wasup]

I'm not sure... Oh and the final fantasy thing wasn't a dream...

[green_slash]

So how do you do a reality test? Just ask your self "Am I dreaming" and then test it out?

[wasup]

Well for one, don't just think it is for practice to carry on to the dream world and definetly don't do it half ass/think it is bullshit. What you have to do is consider it actually being a dream. Look at your watch and you should ask yourself out loud if you are dreaming. Look at your watch, look away and then look back. If it has changed or even if it hasn't try to stick your finger through your hand. While you are doing the test, the WHOLE time be aware why you are doing the test (to know if you are dreaming), consider what you are in at the time possibley a dream, and beleive that the time will change and your finger will go through your hand...
If you do all this you are probably sure to have a lucid dream soon...

[green_slash]

Ok that sounds good. 8) How many lucid dreams had you had?

[wasup]

3 :( and not much exiting stuff happened in them... here I'll show you...

Prolouge... kind of...
I'm so close to a lucid dream. I've been doing it for a week or so and im pretty close, I think. Every few nights I get a sign that I'm getting closer. The first sign was that when I was practicing for a slam dunk in my dream, I was jumping 1 or 2 feet high. When I went to do the slam dunk I jumped about 8 feet high and I questioned myself because I went so high.
The second time I was in a vast room where there was a shaft of purple light coming from the ceiling. I said out loud, "Every time I see that I will do a reality check and know that I am dreaming." Right when I was about to do my reality check I woke up.
Now this third one was the closest. In my dream someone was aiming a gun at my brother and me when we were on a balcony outside. My brother told me I was dreaming. I believed him but I wasn't consious for some reason. I think I kind of believed I was sucked into a virtual reality. After I tried to fly (I didn't chose to fly, I just did it because I wasn't consious), which I couldn't do, my dream ended.

*My lucid dream training started in August 13, 2003.


LUCID DREAM JOURNAL!!
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Ratings of dreams!!

LUCIDITY: How concious I am (or how "awake" I am in the dream) and how real it feels when I wake up and when I am dreaming. It is also how much I remember it. A normal dream would be a 0/10, if you question something strange, but don't follow up on it, then that would be between 1-3/10. If you do what I did in my prolouge with the "3rd sign" then that would be a 3-6/10.

EXHILERATION: How much I was exhilerated basically. If I fly 200 mph over an awesome landscape and it feels exactly like real life then that would probably be a 10/10.

VIVIDNESS: Kind of ties in with the lucidity. This is how many senses are doing their job. If I can use all my senses just as good as in real life then it would be a 10/10.

ESTIMATED TIME: Well, basically how long it lasted...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
August 22, 2003 - August 23:
This was my first lucid dream ever. It wasn't that good, but practice makes perfect. So here it goes...
I was sitting at a dinner table with me and some other random people. I checked my watch, looked away, then look back and I noticed that the time rewinded 1 minute (during the day before in reality I was wondering if I would notice that in my dream). I checked it a few more times to make sure it wasn't a trick of the light. I shoved my finger through my palm to make sure I was dreaming because I didn't want to jump out the window and hurt myself. After that I leaned over and showed the person across the table. I said, "Hey look, the time changes." The hour was rapidly changing from 5-6-4-5-6 and so on. By now I was shaking violently because I think I was very exited. I ran toward the window and as I ran I saw a couch to my right. I touched it because I've only touched felt one thing in my dream in my life and I wanted to feel in my dream. I was too exited to stabilize the dream (the couch didn't really feel like anything) and when I jumped out the window I woke up. Waking up actually felt quite cool because I could start feeling my eyelids and my body came back slowly.
I rate this dream like this...

LUCIDITY: 6-7/10. I chose to do most things like touch the couch and I knew I was dreaming, but if I was more "awake" then I would try to stabilize the dream.
EXHILERATION: 5/10. It didn't exactly feel like real life, but I was incredibly exited I became (slightly) lucid.
VIVIDNESS: 2/10. Not vivid at all.
ESTIMATED TIME: 30 seconds - 1 minute.
Overall... 13-14/30
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August 28, 2003 - August 29:
This was my second lucid dream ever. I was actaully pretty darn cool. So here it goes...
I was standing to the right of my family watching t.v. by the couch and there was a window behind the couch. Now at this moment I mentally asked myself if I was dreaming. Well, thanks to the dream signs it helped me know to do a reality check. I stuck my finger through my hand. Then I started floating 8 or so feet. Then my dad was mad for some reason and floated up and grabbed me by the arm. I didn't know what to do so I visualized the only place I could think of, which was school, and closed my eyes (actually seening blackness which was cool), but then I woke up, which stunk.

LUCIDITY: 8-9/10. This dream was way cool. I chose to do pretty much everything. The reason's it wasn't 10 is because I couldn't get my Dad to let go of my arm and when I woke up it didn't seem to real.
EXHILERATION: 5/10. It felt a lot like real life in my dream, but when I came out it didn't seem too real.
VIVIDNESS: 5/10. I saw someone's face pretty vivid and there were some details and colors, unlike the other one that was all black and grey.
ESTIMATED TIME: 45 seconds - 1 minute.
OVERALL: ... 18-19/10.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

August 30, 2003 - August 31
This was my third lucid dream. Definetly the best. Here it goes...
I'm not sure how this one started because it kind of came in bits and peices. I might have started by becoming lucid. As I was in my room and found out that I was dreaming (I don't know how that happened) I actually tried to stabilize the dream (and make it last longer). I looked at my clock (which said 2:30) and said "STOP TIME" in order to make the dream last longer, which might have helped). Then I continualy said, "Increase awarness/clarity" and "Increase levels of lucidity" or something like that. Then as I said over and over again until it lost meaning I somehow got warped into my hallway and started walking.
I liked how the clocks change in dreams so I tried doing that. I looked at it once and it was something like 1:50. When I looked at it again it was 2:11. I think I did that another few times and then I went outside (which I have never before done in my lucid dreams). The landscape wasn't that good, though. As I was looking around a few times I saw that the sky was a blueish/gray, and the landscape in the distant isn't that good. After I few more times I saw this amazing colorful mountain where it's color was really rich. I warped over there (I think) and there were a bunch of rocks where I couldn't climb over. I tried floating, which is hard, and it didn't work. I went back to the place where I was before and tried flying. I got a running start and then jumped and I barely flew. It was really hard for some reason. I think if I was more lucid then it would have worked better. So then a kid named Henry came into my dream and I kept on trying to tell him this was a dream. I don't think he beleived me so I tried flying as a demonstration again. I got a running start, then I jumped I was about 2 inches off the ground and I had to keep punching the ground to get back up. Then I tried floating (which I do many times within this dream) I don't think I could do it. I visualized myself coming off the ground and it didn't work.
Then, a kid named Colin came in my dream for some reason. He stood to the right of my basement door outside. I wanted to do the thing were you call someone's name and open the door. I called their name, opened the door and there was just a bunch of crap (not literally). I did it again and the same thing happened. Later in my dream I met with my mom and was thinking of telling her it was a dream then decided not to.

LUCIDITY: 7-8/10: I couldn't do some things, but I was definetly lucid.
EXHILERATION: 6/10. It felt a lot like real life in my dream, and when I came out it still felt pretty real, even know flying sucked.
VIVIDNESS: 7/10: It was pretty vivid except the landscape was kinda weird.
ESTIMATED TIME: It felt like 5 minutes of being lucid, but not being able to do most stuff.
OVERALL: ... 20-21/30




I'm not very experianed, I just kind of know what I'm talking about...
Also, while you are in a lucid dream what you should relize is that everything is your own creation and if you want you can do anything and stuff. For example, if you are scared of falling while falling, then that is a somewhat low lucidity level. What the dude from the matrix said (morpheous) (I watched both movies today and yesterday cause I was bored)
Originally posted by Morpheous in the first movie
Free your mind, let go of all fear, doubt, and disbeleif

That is wayyy too true when it comes to lucid dreaming, if you do all of that and are aware the whole time that you are dreaming (you should also do repeated reality checks through out the dream) then technically you will be a "lucid god" and not a Paperdoll type one but a real one...

[hysteria]

EXHILERATION: How much I was exhilerated basically. If I fly 200 mph over an awesome landscape and it feels exactly like real life then that would probably be a 10/10. *

[/b]

mmm...so how you know what it feels like? mm? you do it everyday? :-P

[wasup]

Originally posted by Paperdoll ep
Quote: *
EXHILERATION: How much I was exhilerated basically. If I fly 200 mph over an awesome landscape and it feels exactly like real life then that would probably be a 10/10. *

*


mmm...so how you know what it feels like? mm? you do it everyday?

[list]Rush of air
things speeding past
smell of the ocean
taste of the salt in the air
rich colors of the landscape
[list]
That's real life... I meant all my senses working in perfect order and everything... also, I bet if you look through these posts and look at excerpts of peoples dreams a few times people say how the dream felt like real life even know they never experianced it though...

It's called imagining things... you don't always have to experiance it to know what it feels like... ;)

[green_slash]

Wow thanks that helped a lot. O btw I voted for you as a mod for your help. :D

[wasup]

AWESOME! hehe lol thanks :D

[azwe_echo]

"Same here, and you can't do reality checks on that becuase it never happens in "real" life..."

Exactly. So far I (meaning my dreams, recall, and everything that goes along with attaining lucidity) have largely been an exception to most of what I’ve read. I’m having a difficult time distinguishing any dreamsigns; none of my dreams share any notable recurrences. The only thing I’ve come up with so far is the usual strange settings, but sometimes-regular happenings (often predictable, longings I have in waking life). And like you said, wasup, I can’t exactly perform reality checks on this either since I never find myself in these outlandish environments while awake. But like Laberge said, I guess I just need to really focus on being aware of my surroundings…but it’d still be nice if there were some clear-cut occurrence that would spark my lucidity.

[icedawg]

Originally posted by azwe_echo
Exactly. So far I (meaning my dreams, recall, and everything that goes along with attaining lucidity) have largely been an exception to most of what I’ve read. I’m having a difficult time distinguishing any dreamsigns; none of my dreams share any notable recurrences. The only thing I’ve come up with so far is the usual strange settings, but sometimes-regular happenings (often predictable, longings I have in waking life). And like you said, wasup, I can’t exactly perform reality checks on this either since I never find myself in these outlandish environments while awake. But like Laberge said, I guess I just need to really focus on being aware of my surroundings…but it’d still be nice if there were some clear-cut occurrence that would spark my lucidity.

As I said in this thread: http://dreamviews.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=354, perform reality checks when anything strange and out of the ordinary happens in your daily life. It doesn't matter if it's not in itself a strange occurrence, but rather, that it just happens infrequently (like the power going out). In your dream you're not looking for that exact occurrence; rather, you just want to train yourself to be on the lookout for anything peculiar.

P.S. don't make fun of wasup's new avatar (he's a little sensitive about it). :movingmrgreen:

[GestaltAlteration]

How exactly DO you preform reality checks? Is it just thinking can this actualy happen? or is there more to it (like poking yourself in the eye or somthing :P)

Also I keep forgetting to do them, especilly when I should do it, If I dont remember here I wont on the other side, Is there a easy way to remember to do it often?

thanks :D

P.s. Wasup, nice mini walking dude ;)

[wasup]

Well for one, don't just think it is for practice to carry on to the dream world and definetly don't do it half ass/think it is bullshit. What you have to do is consider it actually being a dream. Look at your watch and you should ask yourself out loud if you are dreaming. Look at your watch, look away and then look back. If it has changed or even if it hasn't try to stick your finger through your hand. While you are doing the test, the WHOLE time be aware why you are doing the test (to know if you are dreaming), consider what you are in at the time possibley a dream, and beleive that the time will change and your finger will go through your hand... *
If you do all this you are probably sure to have a lucid dream soon...
[/b]

I said that in this thread.... Also, I like the mini dude walking now, unlike the sucky ass one that icedawg made before ... :)

[azwe_echo]

Well, I think I'd be pretty sensitive about not liking my avatar too, if it was like wasup's! j/k :tongue: Actually.... it is better than mine! :disconcerted:

You know, this is my third post and I haven't really "told my story." Though, oddly enough, I've only posted here during school over the last couple days..which is why I've had to keep this to a minumum. So, I'll be sure and properly introduce myself as soon as I get home...possibly tonight.

Also, GestaltAlteration, the way I personally perform reality checks is to simply ask myself "Am I dreaming?" in conjunction with closing my eyes/double checking what I perceive/etc.. I'm sure most have read this somewhere or another.. but I've also personalized it for myself (much like most of my techniques). And the way in which I've personalized it for myself is that I look at my hand and think to myself, "If I snap my fingers three times I will wake up," while I snap three times.
I have a friend who introduced me to this technique which was taught to him by his mom. Beyond being an effective form of reality checking, it's also comforting to know I have a way of escaping a dream if I get scared or feel I'm somehow "trapped."

[Seeker]

Flying or levitating always works for me as a reality check.
If I can fly, I am dreaming. One of my main dream signs it walking down an asphalt road.
In my dreams, it makes a good runway! :)

[Serinanth]

lol heeh running down roads and keeping up with traffic is fun.

Normaly flight is a good sign for me... but that one dream I had where it was just too damned real, being the the timeline was right and there were very few alterations to reality, other than my flight, i didnt pick up on them untill after I woke up really.. That one threw me for a loop and a half hehe

[green_slash]

Has anyone here had a shared dream?
I had one today. I was going from a highschool when I saw my friend coming down the road on his bike with and empty papers bag. I asked him this and he said he was also going to that school in his dreams and was carrying a paper bag and was on his bicycle. It was awsome! We weren't lucid though :? .

[wasup]

"The scientist went out to lunch" - Serinanth Read it !