Thread: Reality Check... Which One Works For You?

Hey guys,

So I was dreaming away and I was like, bam, I know I'm in a situation where it was so unlikely to be real that I know I'm dreaming. I got the feeling like sweet, I'm going to have a lucid dream.

I did the nose block plug and I attempted to breath. I felt my chest try to tense up and breath and I couldn't breath in the dream. I tried really hard to do this in the dream.

After I tried that I looked up and my family was like wtf are you doing. Then I thought how vivid the dream was, it was crazy vivid and figured that I must be actually awake... you know when you look in the mirror in the morning when you wake up, wash your hands and you know you're really awake... that's what it felt like after I did the breathing nose plug thing in the dream. Needless to say I missed/screwed up the cue.

I should try looking at my hands next time, I just always seem to default to the breathing, which is not always successful.

In retrospect, I feel that I was so sure I was in a lucid dream I should have just explored in the dream and not be so worried about the reality check which I think held me back. Other times I have become lucid, no RC's are necessary and I just 'flash' into the understanding that I'm dreaming.

Anyway else have problems with this technique? What are you most successful techniques??

Cheers

Sup DjFred. Yeah, when I first started practicing lucid dreaming, I heard about many different RC's. The hands, the nose plug, whatever...but the only one I ever use is the digital watch RC....I mean...it's so easy and practical (i check the time at least a dozen times a day, which means instant reality check).

Not only that, but I have a success rate of 100% so far. Meaning, every time I have performed the digital watch reality check in my dream, I became lucid...hands, nose plug...they work for some people, but not for everyone, and that may be true for the digital watch RC, but I suggest you give it a try.

Peace and good luck.

Well, usually when I become lucid during a dream, the reality check i do is bite my lower lip and see whether i can feel pain - this has always worked for me, but some say that for them it doesn't.

When I VILD (2 times so far, started doing it last week), i go from awake to lucid dream state within a minute or so, effectively rendering the reality check pointless since i know i'm dreaming already . Although the first time I just didn't remember about it and the dream was so vivid, so to prove my lucidity i smothered a candle flame by "blowing" energy out of my finger and i levitated my dad's lighter above my palm - those worked rather well

I agree w/ Dragos about the watch idea , but if you don't wear a watch then you could also look for any writing in sight. Usually you can find it anywhere and perform an RC. Everything that I've read on LDing tells me that dreams are rather unstable so writing may change or become illegible. Good luck w/ your LDs.

i used to do the watch thing (with my cell phone and/or computer monitor) and it worked everytime. then i heard about the nose plug thing, tried that, it worked, and i've done that ever since. it's easier and quicker in my opinion than pulling my cell phone out of my pocket. whatever works for ya, i guess.

Hey guys...

Thanks a lot eh. I will try my cell phone time since I don't carry a watch... What does your watch say when you look at it?? The time is just wrong or messed up? Trying to find something to read sounds interesting too! I'll keep you posted.

Peace

Originally Posted by djfred

Thanks a lot eh. I will try my cell phone time since I don't carry a watch... What does your watch say when you look at it?? The time is just wrong or messed up?
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Well, it varies. I've had my watch display some crazy assortment of numbers (like 8625:213) which is just plain impossible. But most of the time, it will actually show logical time.

For example, my last lucid dream was sparked by my watch RC. The first time i looked at it, it said 12:47, then I moved my eyes away for a split second, moved them back, and looked at the time again. The second time, it said it was 3:47.

I've heard some people say their watch or whatever will have letters or actually spell out a word. This has never happened to me, but maybe it's because they were using their cell phone or something...and cell phones, unlike watches, have many words...I dunno, just a guess....I've never used my cell phone for RC cuz like fleeee1 said, it takes time to pull it out of your pocket or whatever. Plus, in your dream, if you don't have your cell phone on you, you might think "oh, I'm charging it" and lose an opportunity to become lucid. But, I always wear a watch(ALWAYS...24 hours/day....forever...literally) so if I don't have one on in my dream, that in itself should be enough of a reality check lol.

I use the nose-plug reality check. I find that it works (whenever I remember to do it) and become Lucid. Although, its kind of awkward. I don't have a digital watch (those work best in dreams)

I'm a fan of the "looking at your hands" RC. You're not always wearing a watch hehe. Works every time, though oddly enough, only when I check my right hand.

The nose-plug owns, works just about every time!

what is this "look at your hands" stuff i keep hearing about? i hadn't heard of that one. what do your hands look like? meaning, how are they different? i'll have to try that one.

as for the question about time/cell phones... for me, either the time changes like Dragos said, or sometimes it just looks like the battery is crapping out on you. i've made that mistake before, as well. justified it by saying, "oh i haven't charged my cell in days, the numbers look weird for that reason". which is retarded since i charge it right beside my bed every night. that's when i switched to the nose plug thing... and now, the "looking at your hands" thing.

word.

what is this "look at your hands" stuff i keep hearing about? i hadn't heard of that one. what do your hands look like? meaning, how are they different? i'll have to try that one.

as for the question about time/cell phones... for me, either the time changes like Dragos said, or sometimes it just looks like the battery is crapping out on you. i've made that mistake before, as well. justified it by saying, "oh i haven't charged my cell in days, the numbers look weird for that reason". which is retarded since i charge it right beside my bed every night. that's when i switched to the nose plug thing... and now, the "looking at your hands" thing.

word.

Originally Posted by fleeee1

what is this "look at your hands" stuff i keep hearing about? i hadn't heard of that one. what do your hands look like? meaning, how are they different? i'll have to try that one.
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Well, last night I happened to glance at my right foot and found that I had 9 toes... I didn't become Lucid- I assumed that somehow I had mutated.

Dream bodies can be unstable... extra toes/fingers, different colours...

The noseplug- except that when you do it, conciously think if you could be dreaming, don't let it become reflex. Also the clock check i think is second best i almost got lucid once from that but my alrm (IRL) went off before i had a chance

I spent a nice half hour playing with my watch until it rebelled and just went blank. It startled me so much when it 'beeped' back to life an hour later with the right time and everything. I actually thought I might be dreaming at that point so I did a reality check. I wasn't dreaming, my watch was just acting weird. On the plus side, it now chimes every hour, for some reason, so I do that every hour along with the nose-plug and hand check every time I get bored (which is roughly every fifteen minutes).

I had a dream last night where I kept blowing some guy off, scolding him for distracting me from my reality check. He hovered over me for part of the dream as I intently played around with my fingers, listened to the ground and started seriously studying everything that was near me, knocking on it with one hand as I placed my ear up against it, listening for a reaction, like it was a safe I was trying to open. I don't think my dream self has quite gotten it yet. After a while she gave up and accepted that this was reality.

Mmm...

If you're already doubting the reality of the dream, I'd think any reality check could work. The one that's worked for me is checking time on a clock (this was the one RC I had originally mocked in the beginning of my journey, too). But that was only because I happened to look at the clock. The one I usually use is the finger pull.

I instinctively use the finger pull technique to see if it stretches, and it's worked for my only LD.
I tend to do a mix of time check and finger pull depending on where I am. Sometimes a combination of both.

Personally I don't do RC's. It does not matter how many times I practice it during the day, I still do not think to do them in a dream. However, the question is there. The best thing for me is to know my dream signs and really getting familiar with the types of oddities that make me think, "Huh? Am I dreaming?" Then it is like POW; and I just know. I think the only benefit of RC's for me would to do a RC upon wakening. Those darn FA's are sometimes hard to recognize.

I've never had lucid dreams with RC checks either. RCs are for WILDs and FAs. When I awake in a dream, its usually when I change the scene or something, that triggers my 'okay, this is a dream' sense, and then it is indeed like POW.

Nose and clock RCs. Those two always work for me. And sometimes (in dreams) I just run around with my nose plugged because it feels so cool. Of course, if I did that in real life I would end up in an insane asylum.

Originally Posted by Lunalight

And sometimes (in dreams) I just run around with my nose plugged because it feels so cool.
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I did that in a lucid dream once (after losing lucidity though) and I went showing all my friends!

I slap myself on the arm and face. if it doesn't hurt, I'm obviously dreaming...

Last night I remembered to reality check via nose-plug in my dream. I went to plug my nose, but I saw myself in bed, moving my hands, and thinking 'darn. I can't be dreaming because I'm supposed to be paralyzed.' Of course, I didn't recognize the dream sign of seeing myself in third person. Figures. xD

I've have two lucid dreams within two weeks (before I joined this site and began training). My reality check was the same both times: pressing my hand against glass, and my hand going through.

The Reality Checks that I have always used in my Lucid Dreams were Trying to stick my Hand through a wall or Surface. It's my Favorite as it always works. Also Reading something like digital clocks or words, looking away and reading it again to see if it still sais the same has worked quite a couple of times for me.Another one is Testing Gravity and Trying to hover. When in a Dream I suspect that I am dreaming I sometimes also Jump into the air. If I am Dreaming I always seem to have alot more airtime and sort of hoover around a while after having jumped up.

Never used another Reality Check since they never failed me.

Originally Posted by SKA

Also Reading something like digital clocks or words, looking away and reading it again to see if it still sais the same has worked quite a couple of times for me.[/b]

Does the clock RC work if its an analogue? I wear an analogue watch so if it only works for digital I have to do something else. I like the watch because its made to be looked at with ease whenever u want.

I used the hand RC today and saw I had a bunch of fingers that didnt belong. The first time I learned about reality checks I heard about reading text and that worked for me pretty well too. I think to make sure its probably best to do a couple of RCs from time to time in case for some reason you get confused by one or make up some ludicrous excuse for why you look like an alien when you look into a mirror.

Nose pinch works for me, but I have been tricked by it a few times.