What do you think after you do a reality check? Confused...

A few questions on reality checks. What do you think after you do them? I mean, if something unusual happens like a light switch not working, and you think "OH, thats a bit off, reality check time!" and you plug you nose, try to breath, blah, blah, blah, what happens when you've finished it? Do you say, Oh, not dreaming and leave it at that? It seems like that could be problematic in a dream, because what if you do a reality check but just say decide you AREN'T dreaming when you really are?

Also, I've read a thread that is a bit of a different kind of reality check, basically questioning everything you do to make your mind more aware of conscious vs. unconscious or something like that. For example, why am I holding this fork this way? Why did I think that? My question for this is pretty similar to my other question but what do you think when answering the question? "Erm, I'm holding my fork this way so I can get it to my mouth and eat my food?" I'm a bit confused.. Both ideas seem good but I just want to get the specifics correct.

If anyone could shed some insight on these questions, that would be much appreciated. :)

Well for the reality checks, you should always perform a few of them. Since one can fail. But if you're dreaming and one or two works, then you realize you're dreaming and go on from there. The nose plug one is really effective. As for questioning what you're doing, that's a bit harder for me to answer, as I've never been lucid that way. But it works though. You'd just think what you're doing is weird, then perform a RC, or just know you're dreaming. I had a bowl in my hands once, I turned around and there was cereal in it. I didn't even do a RC and just knew I was dreaming.

If your not sure you are dreaming, then do a reality check, but sometimes you just know. One time in a dream I noticed something odd which reminded me of lucid dreaming, I thought, "I know I'm not dreaming, but I should do a reality check anyway." I did the nose plug one and was amazed to find that I could breathe. I tried to remember my dream goals, but couldn't, so just messed around. Doing a reality check is not a way to get lucid, you already have to be conscious enough to realize what the results mean for them to help, in my opinion, it's good to do reality checks so you remember them when you are dreaming, and if you do them when you see a dreamsign, even if you're not dreaming, it will train your brain to think of lucid dreaming when you see that thing in your dream.

In response to your first question: I personally really stop to think about my reality checks after I do one I evaluate does the result of this check make sense? Even if it does make sense I do a different type of reality check (I try to do at least 3 different types) eg: physics related, math or clock test, and some type of reading or word association check. I also try to remember the events throughout the day that lead up to that moment after I do a check and decide that I am not dreaming.
The second: The general idea of this is that lucid living leads to lucid dreaming. The goal in this is to evaluate all the details of things going on around you in your every day life and always ask yourself if these things make sense. Not only does being very aware of your surroundings constantly remind your mind what is "normal" but it should carry over into your dreams allowing you to be more able to recognize a dream sign.

Usually after I do a reality check in a dream (which usually works) a burst of awareness hits me like someone woke me up suddenly. Then I look around and try to think of what to do, or at least that's what I've experienced. The thing is that you have to convince yourself that theres a possibility that your dreaming or else it wont work, and speaking of reality checks. Here's the ones that I like to do that work for me. Oh, one more thing. Do a couple of reality checks every day. I'd say about 15-30 times a day for beginners and 10-15 for lucid dreamers that have been doing reality checks for about a month.

1. Look around and ask myself "have I been here before?" (if you don't know then your dreaming) then if I DO know where I am then I ask myself "how did I get here?" (if you don't know then your dreaming).

2. Then I do a reality check that I kinda made up myself that has worked for me a couple of times. Before I goto bed I make sure that theres a 9 on my hand. Then if there isn't a 9 on my hand when I look then I'm dreaming. I also try to change it by closing my hand and telling it to turn into a 7, 5, 3, etc. If it does work then I'm dreaming, if it doesn't then I'm not.

3. Then I do the hand in hand trick by trying to put one hand through the other, again you can't be expecting it not to work or else it won't. If it does work then your dreaming, if it doesn't your not dreaming.

4. Then I like to count my fingers, if I have more or less than ten in total then I'm dreaming.

5. Then to finish off my reality checks I do the nose plug trick. Plug your nose and try to breathe through it. If you can, your dreaming. If you can't, your not dreaming.

If you have any questions please ask!