Thread: Do you need reality checks after 20-30 lucid dreams ?

I am wondering if you are performing them on every lucid dream you have.
I my case it is so that i sometimes just randomly become aware that i am dreaming, out of nothing.
I do not have to do any reality check, i just totally know that i am in a lucid dream, because there is such a subtle kind of knowing or so and i then i jump right down through a window or so, because i just know it. That started to happen after 20 or 30 LDs.

I know what you mean because when I have a DILD, then in most cases I generally have enough awareness anyhow.
I would like to think however that a RC would still be a very useful tool for when you experience a false awakening, because as you may already know once you start acheiving LD's on a regular basis, so to then the FA's increase.
This is something that I'm trying to work on to increase my success rate.

I would think that you would need Reality Checks as long as you plan on Lucid Dreaming. Personally, I wouldn't stop doing them. What happens the first time you think your Dreaming and you do something, but your not really Dreaming? I can't claim to know what you mean about just KNOWING for sure your in a Dream. Every Lucid I've had so far feels strikingly identical to Waking life apart from the things I can do. If it weren't for the oddities within the Dream, it would feel just like my life. That is why I, for one, can't see an end to the usefulness of a RC.

I haven't needed them in a very long time (I keep the toilet one, as a safety precaution.)
But they will always have a positive affect on your lucid dream frequency.

Originally Posted by sloth

I haven't needed them in a very long time (I keep the toilet one, as a safety precaution.)
But they will always have a positive affect on your lucid dream frequency.

What is the toilet one?

It's not really the RC that gets you lucid. It's the awareness question you give yourself before you do RC. The "wow, am I dreaming?" question. And then you RC to confirm.

So when you just realize out of the blue, I bet it's because of your hightend daytime awareness - the looking around you and checking if you are dreaming or not.

I would definitelly continue with awareness+RC.

Originally Posted by gab

It's not really the RC that gets you lucid. It's the awareness question you give yourself before you do RC. The "wow, am I dreaming?" question. And then you RC to confirm.

So when you just realize out of the blue, I bet it's because of your hightend daytime awareness - the looking around you and checking if you are dreaming or not.

I would definitelly continue with awareness+RC.

Yeah, exactly.

I am naturally extremely aware of my surroundings, i guess that helps me to distinguish and to find that subtlety while in a dream.
Occasionally i am still doing reality checks, but only simple things, like watching my hands, i have done it now two times while i am writing this

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, people.

Originally Posted by gab

It's not really the RC that gets you lucid. It's the awareness question you give yourself before you do RC. The "wow, am I dreaming?" question. And then you RC to confirm.

So when you just realize out of the blue, I bet it's because of your hightend daytime awareness - the looking around you and checking if you are dreaming or not.

I would definitelly continue with awareness+RC.

yes the heightened awareness is the key. i used to get it with galantamine, now it has no effect. i rarely experiencing any rational though in dreaming or heightened awareness unless i enter sleep paralysis. i always know whats going on in sp and how to roll out.

If you're using a DILD or awareness based technique your awareness would be pretty good. So you would need to worry as much on reality checks. But if you don't focus on awareness as much you should probably focus more on that before ditching RCs.

I know what you mean by just randomly becoming aware that you are dreaming without any reality checks or such. It happens to me too even though I'm still fairly inexperienced. You build up awareness while dreaming, then start noticing the dream-like elements of the dream and just like that you know you're dreaming. I also agree with Gab, it has much to do with training your awareness during waking life. I recall King Yoshi having a good tutorial about it.

I still do reality checks throughout the day though. A lot of times having become lucid, after a while you seem to start losing control of the dream, so reality checks make you become more aware and help you get more control. That's for me at least.

After 30 years of lucid dreaming I rarely do waking reality checks however, a reality check whilst dreaming still occurs quite often with me.

I have only had a few lucids, and have never really done reality checks. I am able to easily confirm if I am dreaming whenever I ask the question "Am I dreaming?"
A dream can be extremely vivid, perhaps even more vivid than waking life, but for me it just feels different. I do not need reality checks to tell me if I'm dreaming or not. It is like a mental meter that is only there if I think about it that tells me if I am dreaming or not.
I see why even if you are like me and you can just know, reality checks could still be useful though. Some people see lucid dreaming as dangerous because you can lose your sense of reality. You may think you are in a dream when you are actually awake and just leap out of a building or something.

I still think that theory is bs, because if you know you are dreaming, you can pay attention to the strangeness of a dream. There is always signs that you are dreaming. I honestly do not think it is possible to think you are dreaming while you are awake.

As far as reality checking goes, I probably need to get myself to question more often if I am in a dream or not. The physical reality check to me is pointless. It is so easy to overlook the strangeness whilst in a dream.

Any reality check I do these days (after 100's of lucid dreams) would be as simple as jumping to the top of a house to prove to myself I am dreaming. Most times, however, I simply conclude I am dreaming and take things very easy. I have found that simply observing the dreamscape passively lengthens the experience.

It's just when you see some strange things happen.
Today i was walking there on a small road and saw a crazy dog and i waited for him to attack me, and i wanted to run away and then i took a tree branch and fighted him and he dropped into water but he could not get out of the water, he was submerged into the water. So i was speaking with his master and said, that this is not possible, that he can't get out of the water you know, i said him this is a dream and i said him, if you don't believe me, look: I can fly... and from that moment i just became lucid. That's what happens all the time, when something is slightly strange is happening, but that depends on the vividness though.

My opinion is that continuing to do them can't hurt but stopping them might. You may not need them in the dream but maybe the habit of doing them during your day is the helping keep your mind sharp?

Originally Posted by LucidMoon

My opinion is that continuing to do them can't hurt but stopping them might. You may not need them in the dream but maybe the habit of doing them during your day is the helping keep your mind sharp?

Yeah, it is pretty much on autopilot though, for example i am doing one right now, while you mention it.

I never practiced reality checks when I began participating in this forum. During my lucid dreams I've never done them. However, false awakening complicate things because you think you're awake. The last time I experienced a false awakening somehow I thought that I was dreaming and what I did instead of a reality check was going to a window that I had previously opened in the dream to see if it was still open.

The possibilities were 2:

WINDOW OPEN = I was awake
WINDOW CLOSED = I was dreaming

In mi case, that window was closed and I concluded that I was dreaming and that was right.

But if the windows had been closed I would have concluded that I was awake and that was totally wrong.