Importance of dream signs vs habitual reality checks

[Woop]

So far my experiences of lucid dreaming comes mostly from WILDs and therefor don't involve too much focus on my typical dream content. I haven't actually found any specific dream signs to use for recognition of the dream state (yet), and I guess that becomes less important when you're focusing on falling asleep consciously. But I want to improve my ability to launch MILDs so my question is: how effective is habitual reality checking (making it a routine to perform reality checks in waking life without any prior sensory experience, just by remembering to do so) compared to actually finding experiences that are common in the personal dream state and having that experience making you do your reality check? It feels like habitual reality checks is like a quick route to lucidity, lucidity for dummies if you will, and if it isn't an effective way of sparking lucid dreams I'd like to know so that I can stop doing it. You look kind of silly when carefully (manically) counting your fingers at random moments during your waking life.

[Ev]

Well, you are supposed to perform habitual reality check over a *long* period of time. Nobody cares to specify *how long*. For example I've been doing RCs every time something goes wrong or I'm confused, etc for over a year and a half now. Yet I dont see myself performing RCs any time often in a dream. Sure, if something is absolutely out of the ordinary, or I've prepared myself to expect it, I might do a RC, but otherwise I dont. I guess dream signs work differently for different people. I have quite a lot of actions, objects, and places as my dreamsigns, yet I manage to realize just one of them quite often... I've spent quite over a month before I've developed that dreamsign into something I can recognize. I might infere that if one spends similar amount of effort, he might achieve similar success.

[nina]

Yep I agree. I was just doing WILDs for several months before I ever recognized a dream sign in my dream. I don't do reality checks, unless something in real life seems really really off and then I might just stop and think whoa am I dreaming. But even then I don't perform any real sort of gesture. Once I was able to recognize my dream sign I was able to have a few DILDs from it...but only a few. I've had alot more DILDs though since then just because I think I have learned to be a bit more aware when something is really not right in my dream. Regardless any method for attaining lucidity will take some time to get right.