Reality checks - only when it's "too late"?

Apologies for the vague topic, I found it hard to put in words what I meant!

Essentially, I don't do RCs a lot. Heck, I barely do them in my waking life anymore, due to a massive dry spell where I haven't even thought about lucid dreams. Which isn't great, because obviously this is one of the key factors of becoming lucid.

But my question is - are conscious reality checks really any better than just being aware? It sounds odd....but for someone who has very little experience in lucid dreaming, I have a weird trend when it comes to performing reality checks. I only seem to perform them retrospectively - I'm always 100% aware of what the outcome will be after doing a reality check whether in the waking world or in a dream. For example, I feel silly doing them in real life because "this is obviously not a dream", but when I'm dreaming often something just clicks in my brain and, rather than performing the reality check to determine if I'm dreaming, it's more of a "awesome this must be a dream, my next reality check will prove it" moment.

It makes me wonder - if I never did any reality checks at all would I still be able to become lucid? Am I doing something inherently wrong by deciding the outcome before the test is done? It feels like less of a lucid trigger and more of a test to ensure I won't make a mistake in my reasoning and end off trying to fly off a bridge in waking life cause I think it's a dream :lol:

Any thoughts? Anyone else have this?

My understanding is it's not a trigger for lucidity, but a confirmation you're lucid in a dream. I had my first LD Thursday and prior to checking my hands I possessed some level of waking awareness and that I was in a dream. The RC only confirmed what I already suspected.

So working on awareness in waking life allowed some level of waking awareness to arise in my dream, and that waking awareness knew it was time to do a RC for confirmation of my state.

As JustASimpleGuy said, the purpose of reality checks in dreams is for confirmation. But I think in waking life, they serve a different purpose: we don't do reality checks IWL for the check itself, but for the awareness that comes with it. So by that logic, RCs are not really any better/worse than just practicing awareness. I tend to think of spontaneous RCs as 'moments of micro-awareness.'

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Originally Posted by azrafox

Am I doing something inherently wrong by deciding the outcome before the test is done?

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When you are in a dream it's fine, but IWL I think you have to gather at least a little doubt before performing the RC. If, for example, you're expecting that your fingers will not pass through your palm because you "know" that it's all real, then that same mindset might carry over to your dreams, and your RC in-dream might falsely indicate that you're awake!

Reality checks serve multiple purposes. They raise your awareness of your state. get you into the habit of questioning your reality, and confirm whether you're dreaming or not. All essential for lucid dreaming.
You may think you know you're awake, but the truth is you can never know 100%. You'd be amazed how convincing dreams can be, I've had dreams which were identical to waking life, I could've sworn I was awake, but I was not. So you can never be sure you're awake. You'll see that for yourself some day if you have an extremely convincing dream.

Thanks for the replies guys! In response to the comment above - I can't say I've ever had a dream that was as real or more convincing than real life, but then again my dreams have always been a bit fragile and fuzzy. Hopefully that will change with practice.

I don't think RCs raise awareness. Rather, you do an RC as a consequence of an already raised awareness. In a dream, the RC can help to cement and solidify your tentative, fledgling lucidity. I've had any number of LDs where I never do a single RC, though -- the awareness is the key.

The value of frequent RCs at moments of raised awareness is that it becomes a sort of reflex, and it can help pull up your pearl of lucidity and bring it to the front of your mind, instead of quickly getting distracted ("oooo, shiny!") and falling back into-non-lucidity. Having the RC ingrained as something you do at the onset of lucidity really helps avoid "uh, this feels like a dream…uh, what should I do?" moments where you risk losing it.

So, they're *both* important (awareness and RCs) and work hand-in-hand to help you get lucid.

So in daytime, really work on raising awareness, *and* periodically do RCs. Pay attention to yourself all day long if you can (mindfulness), it has great benefits both for waking life and dreaming life!

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Originally Posted by FryingMan

I don't think RCs raise awareness. Rather, you do an RC as a consequence of an already raised awareness.

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Well, when I remember to do an RC, I also check my surroundings and what I'm doing and think if it makes sense. That's raising awareness.