Your best and worst reality checks

I thought it would be cool to hear other people's experiences with specific reality checks and how reliable they are.

Which reality check has been the most reliable for you?
The least reliable?
Which has given you an incorrect reading at least once?

For me:

Which reality check has been the most reliable for you? Digital watch checking. Nose plugging has been perfect too but I haven't tried it as much.
The least reliable? Looking at my hands. They look perfectly normal whenever I try.
Which has given you an incorrect reading at least once? Looking at my hands, and attempting to read.

You don't have to use this format by the way.

The only checks that I've ever thought to do are nose plugging and it has worked without fail every time.

Nose plugging I's my most reliable. Although it has failed a few times.

Least reliable I's pinching. It always feels like a real pinch.

Funny story: once in a dream (before I knew about reality checks.) I thought I was in a dream so I took a knife and stabbed my wrist. Luckily it went through and felt like card bored.

Could you imagine if it was real life??

nose plug works the best
testing gravity fails
hands and watch have given incorrect readings as well

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dakotahnok

Nose plugging I's my most reliable. Although it has failed a few times.

Least reliable I's pinching. It always feels like a real pinch.

Funny story: once in a dream (before I knew about reality checks.) I thought I was in a dream so I took a knife and stabbed my wrist. Luckily it went through and felt like card bored.

Could you imagine if it was real life??

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Haha, oh wow. I saw someone else post on this forum that he jumps out of windows as his reality check. Can't say I would ever do that sort of thing. :makeitstop:

The only reality check i've been able to do is to look at my hands. When i did this, my hands were blurry and i could see double of them as though i was tipsy or drunk. However, when i saw this i got excited that i was dreaming and woke up :(. Another reality check i had been successful with was pushing my hand through a wall! it went straight through! Though, again the excitement woke me up lol. I think i'll have to change the type of R.C i do.

My best is pushing my hand through a mirror, which usually results in my pushing all the way into the mirror. It always seems to work, even on glass stuff like tv's, computers or windows. If you walk through a mirror, there is no doubt you are dreaming. It is usually kind of fun too, so I actually remember to try it. In fact it is a reality check I never do in real life, and even though I never do it and I am not in the habit of doing it, for some reason I do it in dreams any way. Usually in the type of dreams where you say to yourself, "I must be dreaming" but part of you still needs to do a reality check or otherwise you ignore it and go back to whatever you are doing.

My worst was trying to push my finger through my hand. It doesn't work to well for me. I think because it feels kind of silly, and because some times dreams are not that vivid and I can't even tell if it worked or not.

Best for me is nose pinch. Works first time... every time :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AustralianFire

nose plug works the best
testing gravity fails
hands and watch have given incorrect readings as well

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You're saying a watch reality checked failed for you!? So did it like stay consistent? Or did it change and you just weren't thinking enough in the dream to realize it?

For me, wristwatch check never fails.

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Originally Posted by Rybread34

You're saying a watch reality checked failed for you!? So did it like stay consistent? Or did it change and you just weren't thinking enough in the dream to realize it?

For me, wristwatch check never fails.

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I've checked my analog watch, then been certain i was in reality looked away, and then expected it to be the same, so it was.

Most reliable: I don't have much experience as I haven't had enough LDs yet, but when I used to, just realizing I was dreaming by looking around me very rarely failed.

Least reliable/incorrect reading: I failed to realize I was dreaming because I tried to open my closet with my mind and failed, then tried to look under my bed and see if anyone was under there. Because these things didn't work, I falsely concluded I wasn't dreaming. I don't know what I was thinking in the dream. That isn't a RC I've even considered doing in real life.

This is my RC method: Jump! If you start to fly the fun begins. I've jumped over houses, onto telephone poles and over ponds. Like Van Halen says JUMP!
:shadewink:

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Originally Posted by faceonmars

This is my RC method: Jump! If you start to fly the fun begins. I've jumped over houses, onto telephone poles and over ponds. Like Van Halen says JUMP!
:shadewink:

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A few years ago when I was LDing often, I was in my old house and realized I was dreaming. I got excited and for some reason wanted to set fire to the house. I set fire to a few random objects in different rooms, and it spread slowly. I went in the backyard and decided to fly. I jumped, but didn't fly and went back to the ground. I tried a couple more times and couldn't fly. So, I concluded I had been mistaken and wasn't dreaming. I then freaked out when I remembered I had set fire to the house and tried to extinguish it all. It continued as a non-lucid dream. So I suppose that's another RC which has failed me.

Also, that doesn't seem a good RC method to use regularly in public unless you're one of those people who really doesn't care what people think of them.

Most reliable for me: (1) Crazy distorted reflection in mirror. (2) Push a finger, or walk through a mirror. (3) Light switch.
I always look into a mirror or any reflective object whenever I see one. If nobody is around, I push it gently with my finger to see if it's solid or not. The light switch has been a very reliable one for me.

Least reliable or erroneous for me: (1) Finger counting. (2) Reading, then re-reading text.
If I'm already lucid, my finger count will most likely fail. I have a very good memory, so text usually stays the same, if I can read it at all.

shoot yourself like eminem said "blow your brain out im blowin mine out fuck it you only live once you might as well die now not really dont do that you dumb bitch but a good one is nose plugging and another one is closing one eye and looking at your nose. dont try to put your finger through your hand it has never worked for me but some how i always know im in a dream its really weird but then i become lucid.

ps another one is try to remember when you went to sleep or what you did earlier it might be a false awakening so that might not work but your whole life could have been a dream so if it was a false awekening just do the other ones

Best: Looking at this rectangle flat metal that had words on it I looked at it *can't remember what it said* looked again & it was different it said something like concerend flower concerend *blah concerend *blah kept going for 10 more lines or so

Worst: Not doing one but still having a ld :D

most reliable - nose pinch, digital clocks (but they only appear when I'm trying to find last proof that I'm dreaming)
least reliable - hands check (for now worked only once - my hands looked like jelly) and reading/text

in terms of getting a lucid mindset then i find the best ones are just asking yourself occasionally what have i just been doing, how did i get here, or even what is my everyday life like these days? this is really helping lately to get more lucid moments and many more opportunities. all of the ones i have used to check to see if i am dreaming are liable to fail in a dream, however just asking this is enough most of the time. the best ways to confirm it are to do something impossible like flying, although that can even fail if your unsure

Most reliable: hand check works fine for me due to a small tattoo I have there, it doesn't look like it is. And most of the times it's not there.

Least reliable: I don't know why I started to RC by levitating just inside my dreams a time ago. I had to stop it due to the painful fallings.

Incorrect reading at least once: Every RC I tried failed at least once.

Most reliable for me is counting my fingers or just looking at my hand. It is always blurry in a dream. Simple and effective. I'm surprised that this RC isn't working right for a lot of people here.
I have no least reliable RC, because I use only one RC.

My most reliable is gravity RC, the least is... well all of the common could be put in there. I once thought it was a dream because of weird circumstances and gravity and air RC failing me in waking...

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Originally Posted by GuyCecil

Haha, oh wow. I saw someone else post on this forum that he jumps out of windows as his reality check. Can't say I would ever do that sort of thing. :makeitstop:

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Nose plugging has worked for me almost every time except once. That one time I was REALLY suspicious of the fail. I felt incredibly groggy and tired and had yet to do and sort of dream stabilization. I was running to jump out through my third story window and fly. But then I thought, what if I am really just overtired and sleepy and this is waking life! So I didn't do the jump while I tried to figure out an alternative to the nose plug. Before I could do that, I woke up. :shock:

The only RC I ever do is pinch myself really hard on my arm. Works every time :D

I always use the fingers through palm method because it looks so cool when it works, though sometimes I have to push really hard to get it to work! Since I don't really use others that is my answer! -Chase

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Originally Posted by Alric

My best is pushing my hand through a mirror, which usually results in my pushing all the way into the mirror. It always seems to work, even on glass stuff like tv's, computers or windows. If you walk through a mirror, there is no doubt you are dreaming. It is usually kind of fun too, so I actually remember to try it. In fact it is a reality check I never do in real life, and even though I never do it and I am not in the habit of doing it, for some reason I do it in dreams any way. Usually in the type of dreams where you say to yourself, "I must be dreaming" but part of you still needs to do a reality check or otherwise you ignore it and go back to whatever you are doing.

My worst was trying to push my finger through my hand. It doesn't work to well for me. I think because it feels kind of silly, and because some times dreams are not that vivid and I can't even tell if it worked or not.

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I've had varied success with pushing my body through glass. It's about 50/50. Nose plugging has never failed (well, never failed to give an accurate reading, but failed to actually get me lucid).

Most reliable for me is looking at my hands, usually have somewhere between two and ten fingers on each hand or they're extremely distorted or just don't appear. Lightswitch works well too.

Least reliable is pinching.

I used to look at my hands as an RC, which always worked really well. The longer I looked, the weirder my hands got. Like, I suddenly had 20 fingers or something. I've switched to the nose plug method in real life but I never seem to use it in dreams, when I LD I just suddenly know I'm dreaming and don't bother to check (even though I should to prevent lots of pain and/or death if it's real life after all, but I forget every time).