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I was reading through the homepage overview again. It said that RCs were more of a technique than something fundamental to every technique which is what I had figured when I first read it. I don't dislike reality checks, I still do them but I've been having a hard time doing them for some reason lately. Not that I wish to be lazy but I'm wondering if it is absolutely crucial to do them.
I've been using MILD+WBTB lately, no lucids yet, but I've had incredibly vivid and sometimes very long dreams, a lot of the time lucid dreaming will come up, like last night in two instances, I was telling friends about a lucid dream I had dreamed while dreaming(if that makes sense...) and one where I was at school and there was a class on lucid dreaming, where the classroom was full of beds.
I'm not sure why I don't have lucids. I mean I should've taken the hint when talking with the two nosed elephant last night. My friends have gone lucid from me talking about it all the time. I'm beginning to think it must be the reality checks. I know I need them to test my reality, but when I forget to do them there's nothing I can do when I'm talking myself to sleep. Is there something I should try with my current method that would improve my chances of getting lucid? It feels like I'm standing on the brink, I just need to take that last baby step, it's like I can't cross the threshold, and it's getting annoying. I will persist, even though I haven't got lucid yet. I've had a lot of fun with my great dream recall. Lucidity is just one of those goals I want to get to. Any suggestions? I would love some help.
one thing that came to me though is maybe I can do one kind of RC predominately? I am buried in text day in and day out, from looking back at all my previous dreams I always had trouble reading stuff in dreams, could that be my big reality check? And if I have trouble reading I can do other checks? I'm not too sure...
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I'm going to go ahead and say yes, they are necessary. As for tips on getting over that last little hurdle, I can only really recomend patience. It takes some poeple months to have their first LD, so you're doing well. I guess by using your new found dream recall you could figure out some dreamsigns to help you reality check more effectively maybe?
Also, using one RC predominately isn't a bad idea. I personally count my fingers, as my hands are a stong dream sign of mine, so I'll notice if there's anything odd. Reading may just be good for you, but like you said, you can sumpliment it with other reality checks.
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So as far as reading reality checks go...since I read all the time, every day, would that kind of be my reality checking constantly? Even when I wake up at night I either always or if I don't easily could do a text check. I know I've had several instances where I've gotten on the internet, or tried to read signs in my dreams only to be frustrated by them not making any sense. should I ask myself some kind of question when I read, like periodically go back and re-read a sentence or something? So that I'll be more likely to question funny text in a dream?
About RC technique...There's the double take method, but that can get annoying turning your head back and forth to check something while walking down the hallway in your school. Should I close my eyes and then open them again and try to read the same words? How many other people out there use a similar check? Are there a multitude of different ways to keep things interesting and help me remember to check when dreaming?
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reality checks are far from 100% neccesary.. I've never Evern done an RC to become lucid. And i've had about.. 8 maybe, 1 WILD tho.
most of my lucids i've just realized for no reason that I'm dreaming, probably because i get the Dejá Vu feeling a lot, I think that's my dreamsign.
But as I said, RC's are NOT a vital thing to practice during the days, nor in dreams, at least not for me..
//wuollet
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The whole point of RCs is not necessarily to inspire you to go, "Oh, maybe I should double-check this text" or something of that nature. It's more about training your mind to watch for things that could be out of the ordinary, to watch for things that would cause you to think that you are dreaming. I don't encourage people to time their RCs (ie. once every hour or so), but rather to find something a bit more specific to focus on.
Sometimes practicing timed RCs may cause you to do one randomly in a dream and you can become lucid from that, but to be honest, in the LDs I've had, in just about every one I'm already fairly certain that I'm dreaming before I even do an RC. I just do the RC to make sure that I am dreaming so I don't do something dangerous or stupid (like jump off of a building). That could be bad. :P
When you're dealing with "double take" RCs (as you put them) you can do them with a number of things. You can do it with a paper with any writing on it, with people (to see if they're still there or have changed), and it's also easy to do with a watch.
I think that the key with D-T RCs (ha, new acronym) is to find something that appears often enough in your dreams to inspire you to do an RC. Practicing with a watch IRL won't do a whole lot of good if you never look at your watch in your dreams. That doens't mean you can't develop a habit of it, but it may take more time. If you're often looking at text in your dreams, then go with that.
Long explination of my point of view, but I hope it helped.
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Oh, it's very understandable. That sort of reflects my thinking on RC's, more as something to test your reality than make you question whether or not the reality is "real". The latter being more or less spontaneous now.
So I guess I shouldn't get on to myself for not doing over 20 RCs a day. Thanks for the insight!
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A lot of people have different points of view about reality checks. Like Amethyst Star pointed out, you can use reality checks to confirm that you're dreaming when you see a dreamsign, or just something odd. I've tried it that way, but it wasn't for me.
Personally, I just use my watch. Whenever the thought to do a RC enters my mind, I take two quick glances to see if I'm dreaming. Plus, when someone asks me the time, or if I'm just wondering what time it is...then, boom...instant reality check. It takes all of a couple seconds, then I can go back to doin whatever it was that I was doin. I do this 30 times a day, and with good results.
Roughly half of my 3 dozen or so lucid dreams were triggered with this method....the other half were spontaneous awakenings. There are just too many times during the day when I think about doing a RC where I can't spend the time or concentration on a drawn-out RC.
It really doesn't matter what kind of RC you do, just make sure that it won't fail in a dream, and that you don't start to hate doing them in real life. If you can find one that meets those two criteria, then I say go with it.
