Thread: Reality Check Moments

I had a weird moment the other day when I was at Walmart. I saw a stand that appeared to be woman's underwear. The stand, was placed in a plastic kids pool. And scattered about the bottom of the pool were frisbees. I was looking at it very confused thinking how strange a display that was and why the heck would they do that. Then thinking that it was was just wacky enough that it might be something I might see if I was in a dream shopping. So decided to do the RC.

It turned out it was supposed to be swim suits. But looking at it again, it still looked more like women's underwear to me than swim suits. And either way, it was an odd display.

So far I only have a very mundane example which happened yesterday. I was folding laundry and realized I was folding a pair of pants I had just seen in the other room. I thought for a moment I might be dreaming so I did a couple of RCs - pinching nose while attempting to breathe through my nostrils and checking my digital watch. It turned out the other pair of pants just looked more similar in design and material than I realized haha.

Originally Posted by zelcrow

So far I only have a very mundane example which happened yesterday. I was folding laundry and realized I was folding a pair of pants I had just seen in the other room. I thought for a moment I might be dreaming so I did a couple of RCs - pinching nose while attempting to breathe through my nostrils and checking my digital watch. It turned out the other pair of pants just looked more similar in design and material than I realized haha.

Funny, I can see something like that happening in a dream too. I've had weird dreams where my dog has been duplicated and I'm freaking out because I can't tell which one is the right one. lol.

I was just making something to eat in my kitchen and saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I looked and saw a frog hopping across my kitchen floor. How the heck did that thing get in my kitchen? I remembered to RC. A couple of times.

I found something to scoop it up and put it outside. I've been trying to remember to RC when I see bugs in the house because they have been showing up in my dreams a lot lately. Even in a nap today. But wasn't thinking about frogs.

Come to think of it, it happened one other time. I had forgotten about that. A long time ago. I was sitting on the floor in the living room watching TV and I saw movement and there was a big frog on the floor right next me. WTF... I had no idea where that one came from either.

So the thread already helped me a little. Here is what happened while working on WILDing last night. This was after enjoying a few other moments of lucid HI. Before falling completely to sleep.


I enter this non lucid dreamlet. I'm on a street looking at something strange. I don't remember what it was exactly. Well I kind of remember it but I don't know how to describe it. It was something that was laying across the street that seemed odd. I was looking at it thinking that it was something to post in the reality check moment thread. When I have that thought I remember that I'm WILDing and in a dream right now. Upon realization I get this awesome expansive feeling. And I begin to float upwards flying up over the scene. And I get a moment of that awesome feeling of flying while lucid before coming out of it.

I decided to take a walk downtown near where I live from my apartment. As I was walking I saw an animal on top of a truck. From afar I wasn't sure what it was. For a moment I thought maybe it was a deer that someone had shot or hit and killed and had then tied it to the top of their vehicle (it wouldn't be the first time I've seen that). As I got closer I realized it was a dog sleeping on top of the cab of a large pickup truck. It fit well with my daily prospective memory training as one of my four targets was to do an RC the next time I see a dog! It did make me pause for a moment and wonder a little more meaningfully whether or not I was dreaming.

That's awesome that this thread has helped you with your lucids already! The floating and expansive feeling sound really neat.

Good thread.

I have to admit that I have not worked very much with RC's. I think it's because I found myself achieving lucidity early on without them so I just never developed the habit.

That said, the other night I got up to use the bathroom and when I reached for the light switch I found myself pushing my finger though my palm instead. Seeing that finger come out the other side really blew me away and started that cascading multiple lucid event that I spoke of in another thread.

Needless to say....i am now working more on RC's during the day.

I like to use chance encounters with people in my office as dream moments. Just a short while ago our CEO stopped in for a casual visit...that does not happen often. I can now confidently tell you that one can press a finger hard into a palm during a casual conversation and have it look pretty natural if done just right.

That's awesome that you had some good lucid time from doing an RC, lenscaper. Starting yesterday I've been trying to incorporate more moments of daytime awareness throughout the day. I have been doing RCs for a good month again now. I feel like they help, but too much of the same thing can start to feel stale. Maybe adding more awareness will help.

I used to feel as Lenscaper, not doing the standard ones much. But I totally recommend training yourself to do them. No doubt you will have more lucid dreams because of doing them. I know I have had many I would not have had without the RC. It's not often that you do them completely randomly in dreams, though it can happen. But there are often times when you decide to do one, convinced that you are not dreaming but doing the RC anyways. And then being completely shocked to find out you are dreaming. And I've had humorous moments not even believing what the RC is telling me but wanting to, doing them over and over and different ones until I finally convince myself it really is a dream.

And I've had that dream more than once where you are in a dream talking about lucid dreaming to someone. And you tell them about reality checks and decide to demonstrate an RC for them. And then totally shocked when the RC tells you that you are dreaming right then... That's awesome I love when that happens.


For myself, I've discovered that the best way to train to remember to do them in a dream, is to make a task of doing the RC in a dream when you are already lucid. So you get used to doing them in a dream, and you become familiar with what happens when you do them in the dream. Makes it easier to remember to use it in a dream when the time comes. I had to retrain my brain to use a different primary RC when the nose pinch started not working for me anymore. And that was pretty tough. Now the nose pinch still will work, but I no longer do it while awake. I use my watch for my primary RC. And the nose pinch as an in dream secondary. And if still not convinced, I can usually remember to push my finger through my hand. Which I always only do in dreams, and really is a lot of fun to play with. And it's very difficult to logically find a reason for being able to do that when awake, as you can with the other ones. Even the watch, sometimes you can think maybe the battery is going dead so the numbers are acting wonky. But I find watch and text RC to be the most reliable in general.


I've read a lot of people not being able to push their finger through their hand in dreams, but it's always worked for me. Maybe because by the time I use it I really want it to be a dream and really push hard, and I'm very familiar with how it feels. Like I'm pushing my finger into soft rubber. The nose pinch, only stopped working for me after a long time of using it while awake, and I was over using it, obsessively. So my brain started simulating the feeling of not being able to breath while pinching it closed in a dream too. But it was fine once I took a break from doing it when awake, but now as mentioned I mostly use my watch when awake. Or look at something written, A sign or something. See if it changes when I look away and look back.

I had a couple of reality check moments at work last night.

Firstly I saw a box floating in mid air! Well, it wasn't really but it appeared to be. There was something holding the box up in a way that you couldn't tell that it was being held up. Much like a magicians illusion. And it totally looked like it was hovering in the air all by itself...

Next we have this equipment that has digital timers. And sometimes the power goes out on the equipment at just the wrong moments and the timers go blank. It's a major reality check moment, because I know if I'm having a work dream this is something that is going to happen to the equipment while I'm dreaming about it. So I make a point to RC every time it happens. And last night during the most inopportune moment I looked at it and it was blank no power. and I was like Gah! immediately did the RC in hopes it was a dream because it screwed me up bad. But it wasn't a dream, shit... But I did manage to save the situation so that part was good at least.

That's very true. The last lucid I had actually happened because of an RC. I was looking at my two cats walking to their water bowl and one of them looked like her hair was wet. I thought it was strange and a suspicion that I was dreaming began to grow. I did the nose plug RC and I was dreaming! It was pretty cool. I then walked up to a painting in my apartment and put my hands and head through.

Anyway, thank you for your input with the RCs. I think the thing I'm facing right now is trying to be resilient to them becoming rote. I want to feel there's meaning behind my RCs so they will be effective within my dreams. I'm not sure how to sustain it over longer periods of time. Hitting the month mark with some consistency, the last couple of days have seemed a little more difficult in general, though I still have good RC moments.

I'd really like to try reading text in dreams. It seems like I've read that is one of the best RCs you can do is read and reread some text.

Ah, the appearance of the floating box would have made me think I was dreaming as well! Too bad it wasn't a dream, but it's great you're on the lookout for those moments.

Originally Posted by zelcrow

That's very true. The last lucid I had actually happened because of an RC. I was looking at my two cats walking to their water bowl and one of them looked like her hair was wet. I thought it was strange and a suspicion that I was dreaming began to grow. I did the nose plug RC and I was dreaming! It was pretty cool. I then walked up to a painting in my apartment and put my hands and head through.

Anyway, thank you for your input with the RCs. I think the thing I'm facing right now is trying to be resilient to them becoming rote. I want to feel there's meaning behind my RCs so they will be effective within my dreams. I'm not sure how to sustain it over longer periods of time. Hitting the month mark with some consistency, the last couple of days have seemed a little more difficult in general, though I still have good RC moments.

I'd really like to try reading text in dreams. It seems like I've read that is one of the best RCs you can do is read and reread some text.

Ah, the appearance of the floating box would have made me think I was dreaming as well! Too bad it wasn't a dream, but it's great you're on the lookout for those moments.

Wow good one. Nice one on noticing that and remembering to RC.

Yeah It's still Important to be doing the awareness work along with the RC's. The text RC is basically the same as the watch RC, because of reading something and looking away from it and looking back. Just handy always having it right there on your wrist. And the ways the numbers change and morph is really fascinating. I always do it a couple of times. Sometimes the time just changes. Sometimes the numbers scramble and look like nonsense squiggly lines. Sometimes will change to a word or letters instead of numbers. You never know what it's going to do. But it pretty much always changes I don't think I've had any instances yet at least where it's stayed the same in dream. After looking away and looking back at it.

I was out biking today for a while and RCing at the beauty of everything. All the beautiful green forest trails just seemed overly stunning. PLus RCing at the tall powerline structures, which I wished I could fly to the top of and perch on to get a wide view of the surrounding landscape.

Thanks, Caradon. I'm a little surprised I remembered to RC in that instance with my wet cat. The other night I had a dream where I was talking to a girl when I looked down at myself. First I noticed I was wearing a zip-up sweater of mine but it was not zipped and I was wearing no undershirt. Looking further down I realized I was wearing strange looking tighter khaki pants and they were fastened completely backward. Finally, I look down at my feet and see I'm wearing one tennis shoe and one high heel! I was mortified during the dream wondering why I'm out in public dressed this way. I woke up and could have slapped myself for not getting lucid from this screaming dream sign haha. I literally LOLd at it.

I like the idea of the digital watch RC. I'm going to start incorporating that one.

And I like those kinds of moments where you're marveling at the beauty of nature. It is a great time to question reality, especially if it is making an impression on you.

I had a dream last night where I was taking a girl to a dance. In the dream, I had purchased a ticket but then lost it. I was fumbling in my pockets to find them when the generic blue perforated ticket with numbers fell onto the ground. Then today while walking down and up a hill for exercise, I noticed a blue perforated ticket on the ground with some numbers across the bottom with the same cutouts at each corner. It was a good RC and gave me a little chill for a moment. Of course, I don't remember the numbers on the ticket from my dream and it was a generic ticket, but it still made an impression and seemed unusual.

Originally Posted by zelcrow

Thanks, Caradon. I'm a little surprised I remembered to RC in that instance with my wet cat. The other night I had a dream where I was talking to a girl when I looked down at myself. First I noticed I was wearing a zip-up sweater of mine but it was not zipped and I was wearing no undershirt. Looking further down I realized I was wearing strange looking tighter khaki pants and they were fastened completely backward. Finally, I look down at my feet and see I'm wearing one tennis shoe and one high heel! I was mortified during the dream wondering why I'm out in public dressed this way. I woke up and could have slapped myself for not getting lucid from this screaming dream sign haha. I literally LOLd at it.

Lol, that's pretty funny. A smack yourself in the head moment. I need to pay attention to what I'm wearing more when I get lucid more often. Will be interesting to take note if it's the usual things I'm always wearing, or something completely different. I don't usually think about it.

I like the idea of the digital watch RC. I'm going to start incorporating that one.

Try making it a task to look at the watch after you get lucid and see what happens with it. I think it's kind of cool my watch not only tells me the time and date, but what reality I'm in as well...

And I like those kinds of moments where you're marveling at the beauty of nature. It is a great time to question reality, especially if it is making an impression on you.

There has been times in dreams when I was looking at some scenery that was so stunningly beautiful that it caused lucidity to wash over me, just too visually intense to be waking life.

I had a dream last night where I was taking a girl to a dance. In the dream, I had purchased a ticket but then lost it. I was fumbling in my pockets to find them when the generic blue perforated ticket with numbers fell onto the ground. Then today while walking down and up a hill for exercise, I noticed a blue perforated ticket on the ground with some numbers across the bottom with the same cutouts at each corner. It was a good RC and gave me a little chill for a moment. Of course, I don't remember the numbers on the ticket from my dream and it was a generic ticket, but it still made an impression and seemed unusual.

That would be surreal.

I've had a couple of weird similar experiences like your ticket in the last week or so. After waking from a dream, then turning on my computer and whoa, something very similar to my dream comes up on the screen.


Like after my shark attack dream, I turned my computer on to write down the dream. The first thing on the screen is a huge great white shark mouth open teeth bared. Had a vivid awful dream about being in the mountains with my dog. It was a beautiful dream until the moment she went off a vertical cliff falling to her death. The cliff being so tall she disappeared from view as she fell. When I turn on my computer the first thing, the log in page are these towering mountains vertical drops. And there was something else too, even more surprising, probably inappropriate to write about here though... But yeah, it's a really weird feeling when that kind of thing happens.

I'm going to give that a try. It seems like a reliable RC what from I'm hearing. I had three LDs in one night the other night, but didn't think to try it! It could have been a fluke as I only recalled two non-LDs this morning. I'm still glad I had them, though.

It sure is strange how things from dreams seem to pop in in life post-dream. I've had it happen two or three times now.

The only decent RC moment I've had within the last day or two was when I was looking at plastic case for a product in my bathroom while washing my face. I misread the first couple of words as Spanish and when I looked again I saw them in English. It was only a two-letter difference, but enough to galvanize an RC!

Originally Posted by zelcrow

I'm going to give that a try. It seems like a reliable RC what from I'm hearing. I had three LDs in one night the other night, but didn't think to try it! It could have been a fluke as I only recalled two non-LDs this morning. I'm still glad I had them, though.

It sure is strange how things from dreams seem to pop in in life post-dream. I've had it happen two or three times now.

The only decent RC moment I've had within the last day or two was when I was looking at plastic case for a product in my bathroom while washing my face. I misread the first couple of words as Spanish and when I looked again I saw them in English. It was only a two-letter difference, but enough to galvanize an RC!

Wow three in one night, awesome! It took me a while to remember to start looking at my watch too. But doing that is what finally got me to remember to look at it when I really needed to for a real RC. Yeah it's very strange how things pop up like that from our dreams. And sometimes you see something that triggers recall of the dream you had forgotten about, until you see something that is similar to what was in the dream.

Recently I had some HI while working on WILDing, of watching a construction worker being hoisted high into the air by a crane. The construction worker was on a beam, attached to long cable and the crane was lifting into the air. Then yesterday driving past a construction site a saw something that reminded me of it. Posting below.


I had a few RC moments yesterday. I saw a crane lifting an outhouse/jimmy's Jonny's on a cable high into the sky at a construction site. It looked pretty odd. I was thinking I can understand why they are using the crane to move it, but what's the purpose of lifting it what looked like hundreds of feet into the air lol. I really would have RC'd had the door opened and someone was in it looking out. A practical joke played on one of their working buddies, LMAO. That would be a good one.

I was out biking and sitting by a tree were two older men. They had a bucket of tools and hoses. I looked closely at what they were doing as I rode by, curious. They had some kind of probe stuck in the base of the tree attached to a hose. I'm like what the WTF are they doing? Looked so weird. Getting sap maybe? Seemed a very strange place to be doing that along a busy road in the middle of town. Don't see that everyday.


At the park I see two adult women walking along in extremely short and loose fitting flimsy skirts that barely cover themselves. Can't help wondering if they are looking for a certain kind of attention.

I'm riding my bike past a picnic area, where a family has set up a picnic. As I ride past I hear a kid exclaim. "Mom! That bike had a dog on it!" I smile and think maybe the kid should do a reality check. I then realize I must be giving a lot of people reality check moments as a dog on a bike is not very common.

Since my recent finger through my palm event I have made daytime RC's a much bigger part of my training. This past weekend I took a walk on the woods paths nearby with the express intent to look for RC moments.......I see now that once we establish a stronger general focused awareness during the day, odd things start to pop up....just as in the dream.

I photographed a few that I stumbled upon on that walk.

Leaf Looking Back



Robin's Egg Insect



And the ever popular......Sunglasses Tree

Nice. I always see odd things hanging off trees along the trail too.


Just a note on the finger through hand. Remember that you can push it through other things too, walls, objects. Kind of fun, start pushing through everything. I was experimenting with that for a while. Suddenly everything in my dream felt like the same soft rubbery material as my hand, lol.

Hm, the crane situation does sound quite bizarre. I wonder why it was lifted so high. Definitely a good time to check on whether or not you're dreaming! The one with two guys and a bucket is odd too. I'm not sure what they'd be up to as I've never heard of or have what you described happening.

I know what you mean, lenscaper. It seems like the more I look for god RC content in waking life the more I find it in strange places. I like the vivid leaf and the insect in the colored egg. I've been enjoying attempting to be more present and focusing more on the raw sensations of whatever I'm experiencing. Taking walks can be a nice experience when you're focusing on and noticing things that have been in your periphery for a long time.

I'm sitting on the balcony and I see a lady I know and used to be neighbors with pull up three or four feet behind a van stopped at a stop sign. After stopping for several seconds she pulls forward and rear ends the van but fairly gently. Blue lights started flashing from within the van, front and back. The van was an undercover police vehicle. I had a moment of wondering on whether or not I was dreaming then as well. It seemed to turn out fine as they both ended up driving away after a short time. It made me wonder for a moment if I was dreaming so I did an RC.

Yeah, poking and pushing things can feel so strange. In one LD I had I decided to press both index fingers into my face on either side of my nose. When my fingers started going inside I felt a strong vibrating and almost electrical buzzing. I've never felt anything like it before.

Originally Posted by Caradon

Just a note on the finger through hand. Remember that you can push it through other things too, walls, objects.

Good note.

That first experience is still very strong in my mind. I pushed hard and it felt exactly like it does during the day.....I could feel the push back from my palm. Then I pushed harder and it popped out the other side. The cool thing is that my finger did not just pass through as if the palm was an ephemeral thing....it actually pushed out flesh with it. It looked a bit like an exit wound.

The next night I was at the bottom of a pool, kind of doing a handstand....looking at the blue painted concrete and breathing in the water. I briefly tried to push through that concrete but was unsuccessful. As with everything....persistence furthers, right?

I just found out last night that a lady I've been working with for a few years now is a paranormal investigator. And she told me the name of her organization. I looked it up and sure as shit, I saw her photo along with the rest of the team she works with. Investigating hauntings locally and all over the world. She told me that she actually knows the guys from the Ghost Hunter show on TV.

I'd post a link to the site but I don't think it's proper to be posting links to her photo on forums with her name and general location without her permission. Even though she has put them up on the internet herself.

I might try to talk her into taking me along on one of these investigations sometime. I'd love to experience something that at least seems legit if it is. She told me they investigated a house in this area that has some really creepy stuff going on.

She ended up telling me because I had made a random joke to her. Totally randomly I said to her. " I know why haunted houses can't be real." "Why?" she asks. I say. "Well, if you were a ghost with no need of food shelter money. Would you just stay in a house forever? Or go exploring the world?" You could go anywhere and see anything, why would you just hang out in the same old house all the time?" She smiled and said she would want to go exploring the world too. But that brought up the subject and we started talking about hauntings and she eventually told me she was an actual paranormal investigator and has a lot of experience with hauntings.

I was just thinking I had better clarify that this thread is not intended to be used as a debate for or against the supernatural by fanatics either for or against. It's fine to comment on a persons reality check experience. But please, if you are thinking about posting here preaching because of my last post please don't, take it to beyond dreaming instead.

One RC I try to do is if I miss dial on my phone more than once. A couple nights ago I misdialed about 10 times, and even thought "this usually happens in a lucid dream". But of course I was "sure" I was awake, and didn't do an RC and missed that I was actually dreaming.

I was walking by a high school earlier today and noticed that eight white cars were all parked together in a single row. They were all different types of cars, but each one was white. No cars of any other color were parked between any of them. What are the odds of that?

The strangest part is I had a long, memorable dream last night about a woman who drove a white Corvette. So when I saw those eight white cars parked in a row, it felt like they had was a strong connection with the dream.

Yesterday while walking into my bathroom, the first light on the ceiling shuts off as I'm walking underneath it. When I make it to the sink the light pops back on. I thought to myself, that's strange. As I'm finishing up a shave I start to walk out of the bathroom. As I begin to move the light shuts off again once I'm close. I did an RC at this as I've become lucid before by noticing the lights in dreams being off from waking life. Nothing too crazy, but it did make me really wonder what state I was in for a moment.