Some help with reality checks

Hello,
I have experienced LDs (or semi LDs) and out of body experiences in the past,but all randomly. I cant figure out how I had them.:(

I am trying to learn to have LD's when i want to. The major obstacle I am facing is reality checks,the ones we have to do when awake.
I have read regarding this on several occasions,one cannot do a reality check in dream if one is not in the habit of doing it while awake.So,what kind of reality checks should I be doing while awake? If its been posted before on the forums,please guide me to it. Your personal suggestions and hints are most welcome too.

Thanks

Hold your nose and breath through it.
If you can breath through it whilst holding it, you're dreaming. Make this a habit.
Once it's a habit, you will one day do it in a dream and realise you're dreaming.

:]

The tutorials section is kind of screwed up right now, but still worth checking out.

Doing reality checks is really enhanced by keeping a Dream Journal and learning to recognize dreamsigns - events, people and things that recur in your dreams. Then you do a reality check (like the pinched nose) any time you encounter those things in real life.

Eventually you will start reality-checking when you encounter them in your dreams, too. That's when the fun starts!

thanks for the advice
I checked out the tutorials section,really helpful
One thing i didnt find there was how often do i do them?
I mean one doesnt count their fingers too often to check if they are dreaming or not. IS there some frequency of doing these checks during the day?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by dwingrider

thanks for the advice
I checked out the tutorials section,really helpful
One thing i didnt find there was how often do i do them?
I mean one doesnt count their fingers too often to check if they are dreaming or not. IS there some frequency of doing these checks during the day?

---

There's no pat answer for that. The idea is to routinely remember to do a reality check, but not to make it so routine that you are doing it in an absent-minded manner.

The idea of journaling is to find dream signs that will remind you to RC. My father and shopping malls are two of my dreamsigns - they show up over and over again in my dreams, so any time I encounter either I RC. If you check the time a lot in your dreams, or dream of using the bathroom or anything like that, then you start doing reality checks any timy you do or encounter those things in real life.

School is my main Dreamsign. Sucks because I go to school everyday. Not gonna seem abnormal in a dream..

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Terrorhawker

School is my main Dreamsign. Sucks because I go to school everyday. Not gonna seem abnormal in a dream..

---

actualy id say its good. it'll be easy to be made into a habit.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Terrorhawker

School is my main Dreamsign. Sucks because I go to school everyday. Not gonna seem abnormal in a dream..

---

LOL,I always go to school when i lucid dream.My RC technique is to pinch myself its already a havit lol i always get lucid dreams using that exept from one time that my teeth fell in my dream and i realize i as dreaming i coudn't accept that never lol it had to be a dream and it was but pinching works...

I RC whenever:
1. I wake up
2. I notice something strange
3. I get a feeling of deja vu
4. I notice one of my dream signs.

However, doing an RC rarely leads me into a Lucid Dream. I think they simply help by keeping Lucid Dreaming in my mind throughout the day (which, hopefully, carries over into dreaming).

As for the kind of RC, I recommend looking at your hands. It doesn't look weird if you do it in public (like pinching your nose, or trying to fly), and it's always accessible (unlike reading the same line of text twice).

Hmmm.... A lot of people don't like to RT (reality check) because they're too lazy. They think they have to do this elaborate thing where they look at they're hands, try to summon stuff, ask themeselves if they're dreaming, etc. The easiest way (I think) to check, is simply to pinch yourself. If it doesn't hurt, you're dreaming. It's that simple. Which ever RT you choose to use, just get into a habbit of doing it to the point where you don't even think about it. Remember: the more you do it in waking life, the more likely you will do it in a dream. If you do it in a dream, then you'll realize that you're dreaming, and you're then lucid. Good luck :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Infraredkelp

Hmmm.... A lot of people don't like to RT (reality check) because they're too lazy. They think they have to do this elaborate thing where they look at they're hands, try to summon stuff, ask themeselves if they're dreaming, etc. The easiest way (I think) to check, is simply to pinch yourself. If it doesn't hurt, you're dreaming. It's that simple. Which ever RT you choose to use, just get into a habbit of doing it to the point where you don't even think about it. Remember: the more you do it in waking life, the more likely you will do it in a dream. If you do it in a dream, then you'll realize that you're dreaming, and you're then lucid. Good luck :)

---

I've seen two thoughts on these forums.

A)You should try to create an emotion, feeling, or idea to be associated with the RC's. So that you are consciously questioning reality as well as thinking of what it would be like if you were dreaming.

or....

B) As bolded in this quote, to simply make the RC's habitual, to the point that you simply do them automatically without thinking.

So which is it? Does it even matter? I would think as long as you are doing the RC's regularly, then it doesn't really matter if it "means" something per se. This logic relying on the idea that RC's are only meant to signal or clue you in that you are in fact dreaming.