Thread: Your experience with Reality Checks (especially if you have done them a lot)

Well...Maybe reality checking that much won't help you...Because I do RC's about 2-4 times a day and I will just randomly do one in a dream and boom, i'm lucid.

well i have a small problem with reality checks. i dont do them very often. i need to get in the habit for looking for something odd. everytime i see something odd or strange i do a reality check, which is great because Im getting in the habit for checking. but i only see something odd or dreamy maybe once a week which isnt enough, i need to start looking for them now. the habit is already in for checking if i see something odd so now i need to search. see i only do a RC if i see something odd, im not searching.

I reality check a few times each day but it hasn't filtered into my normal dreams and made me lucid yet.

I do use reality checks when I'm already lucid, just as a means of making sure I'm still dreaming.
I also use them at the start of a WILD to check if I'm dreaming yet.

I use the nose plug method, which always works. I try to float off of the ground or bed. I also bite my finger, no pain = I'm dreaming.

I think it'll pay off eventually, but a few weeks is already a long time!
It's not so much the frequency but the instinctiveness of the dreamsign/RCs that is important.

And doing RCs on people... woah... lots of RCing
But when it becomes instinctive and filters into your dreams, it'll be a great dreamsign

In my case, I find that practicing a dreamsign causes lucid dreams unrelated to the dreamsign. It seems to trigger your lucidity just because you're trying... or something.. ?

Originally Posted by TalkingHead

So I've been practicing doing Reality Checks EVERY time I encounter a person.. whether they approach me or I approach them.. ( and also every time I see a good looking girl because.. well you know)

Anyway, I've been getting better at doing this more often but I can tell its going to take a lot of practice before it becomes a natural response.

I've been doing this rather well for weeks with no LD's.

Do you think it will eventually pay off? What's your experience with R.C's?

Hi there, I would consider the second RC to be more effective. Doing checks whenever U encounter a person is not enough to enter the subconcious because there is no emotion involved. If U use the second check...the emotion involved is love or whatever to make an imprint in the subconcious and it's also less frequent. A good dreamsign/check is one that isn't too frequent, isn't too normal and has to have emotion that will cause an imprint in Ur subconcious like meeting the girl at school U always wanted to go out with but can't in real life.

IMJ

Yes.. I think you're right about emotion RMJ... It's amazing how good my mind is at forgetting though. That's why I write everything I have to do down.. otherwise it all just fades.

I want to try R.C. all people for a little while longer though to see if I can make it instinctive. I'm guarenteed to encounter a person in my dreams.. not always an attractive girl though.

I think I might have to start bridging bridging this into my dreams though. I'm going to do a lot of visualization before going to sleep tongiht... with the same person popping up in front of me again and again to tell me I'm dreaming.

I think there's two ways you can go about RCs. Like Placebo said, it's a good thing to not be robotic in your reality checks but rather by thought or realization of a dream sign or something similar, rather than just "I haven't RCed in a while, so I probably should..."

However, I wouldn't discount the other method either. There was a month or so where I began doing a significant amount of RCs a day (50+?) and although I've stopped doing that many, there was a noticeable increase in number of lucids.

So although the second method isn't necessarily best, it can pay off as well, so it's really up to you.

Originally Posted by TalkingHead

Yes.. I think you're right about emotion RMJ... It's amazing how good my mind is at forgetting though. That's why I write everything I have to do down.. otherwise it all just fades.

I want to try R.C. all people for a little while longer though to see if I can make it instinctive. I'm guarenteed to encounter a person in my dreams.. not always an attractive girl though.

I think I might have to start bridging bridging this into my dreams though. I'm going to do a lot of visualization before going to sleep tongiht... with the same person popping up in front of me again and again to tell me I'm dreaming.

Yeah U should continue with that too since U already started the ball rolling. From experience the subconcious does not like to change it's instructions, it gets confused if U keep changing it.

IMJ

So is the purpose of performing RC's to find something emotional that makes an impression on your subconscious, or to make it habitual so you end up doing it in your sleep, or both?

I've been doing a lot of RC's or just questioning of my awareness (am I dreaming?), but not always on dream signs or things that I'm particularly emotional about. More along the lines of trying to be aware all the time which "reality" I'm in -- not robotic, but also not emotional. Can't say I've had that many DILD's as a result, so far (I've been at it for about 3 weeks). Would you just keep it up, or should I be looking for a better or more emotional approach?

Originally Posted by PaleRider

So is the purpose of performing RC's to find something emotional that makes an impression on your subconscious, or to make it habitual so you end up doing it in your sleep, or both?

I've been doing a lot of RC's or just questioning of my awareness (am I dreaming?), but not always on dream signs or things that I'm particularly emotional about. More along the lines of trying to be aware all the time which "reality" I'm in -- not robotic, but also not emotional. Can't say I've had that many DILD's as a result, so far (I've been at it for about 3 weeks). Would you just keep it up, or should I be looking for a better or more emotional approach?

For me I need emotion to get the RC into the dream so I'd say emotional rather than habitual. I did RCs in the dream that I hardly do in reality and it's always the same RC, provided I'm up to it that night (emotionally charged about the entire thing). Or I could get emotionally charged about doing something I can't in real life and most likely have a lucid dream complete with RCs.... Sounds like what Ur doing does work for U...give me 3 weeks of doing what U do, Nothing! U could try adding new features to Ur exisitng RCs but be careful not to override it entirely or U may have to start from scratch again.

IMJ

I have tried doing RCs routinely for months and never had it appear in my dreams, not even once. Recently I started doing RCs whenever something odd happens, and I am starting to do them in my dreams.

So I guess making it a habit doesn't always work.

You opened web browser to access dreamviews, right. You surfed probably too. Did you consciously realise, there are banners everywhere? NO. Why? becouse you see them very often.

What we do often is considered unatractive and makes us ignore it... but if there is an emotion.... Well somthing better.

This is really a good thread. Especially for those, who are doing everything robotically. The quantity not always pays off in long time.

Thanks for the great advice imj, Remared, and adraw! I'm going to give your advice a try, I'll try to find more meaningful or emotional things for my RC's.

Originally Posted by Remared

I have tried doing RCs routinely for months and never had it appear in my dreams, not even once. Recently I started doing RCs whenever something odd happens, and I am starting to do them in my dreams.

So I guess making it a habit doesn't always work.

That's pretty wierd, because I've had lots of people with the exact opposite problem - trying to RC 'whenever something wierd happens' and never getting lucid.

Why?

Because nothing seems 'wierd' in a dream. Think about it - if flying pink bananas were buzzing around, you'd think it was perfectly normal in a dream.

Originally Posted by Placebo

That's pretty wierd, because I've had lots of people with the exact opposite problem - trying to RC 'whenever something wierd happens' and never getting lucid.

Why?

Because nothing seems 'wierd' in a dream. Think about it - if flying pink bananas were buzzing around, you'd think it was perfectly normal in a dream.

It's because the dreamer did not program his/her mind to do a reality check whenever flying pink bananas were buzzing around..... Same thing with the watch...I could have easily dismissed the watch's time changing as it being faulty and carry on with the dream but I recognize it because it's been programmed as a sign that I'm dreaming.

IMJ

I'm sticking with the people Reality Check for the moment because I still haven't gotten to the point where its automatic in Real Life and I can tell this is going to take awhile.

What I will start doing is try to also think about Lucid Dreaming or get myself excited every time I do one of these R.C.'s and maybe that will help.

Originally Posted by imj

It's because the dreamer did not program his/her mind to do a reality check whenever flying pink bananas were buzzing around..... Same thing with the watch...I could have easily dismissed the watch's time changing as it being faulty and carry on with the dream but I recognize it because it's been programmed as a sign that I'm dreaming.

IMJ

I'm talking about doing reality checks without dreamsigns, or dreamsigns that are vague ('when something wierd happens')

Remared was saying that it worked for him, so I was responding to that.

Obviously if you had a trained dreamsign for flying bananas, then things would have worked out.

Originally Posted by Vex Kitten

I use the nose plug method, which always works.

Me too, but I don't think it's a good idea to do that one every time a good looking girl approaches, TalkingHead.

I do Reality check everytime I go to use the restroom, or when i'm looking in the mirror .

One thing that might be of interest to those struggling to have an LD:

I had a problem with a dripping tap, and had a lot of water dreams. Some of them lucid.

Now consider this: train yourself to have a water dreamsign, and then play a sound of a tap dripping (or make a tap drip)
Make sure your dreamsign is working first, because you might get used to the dripping.

Windows are also a good dreamsign, btw. Just look out the window and question what you see.

I've been doing reality checks for a few weeks now and i haven't had an LD yet because of them :/.

My RC experience was pretty rare I think. I had started my interest in LDing but then gave up because I simply didnt feel like putting so much into it (but now i do) and I only had about 1 dream journal entry and did reality only like twice or 3 times a day and somehow I still managed to have my first lucid dream with one of my fav. RC's which is the hand one where you look to see if you have more or less than 5 fingers. I heard that it does take a while for your brain to be able to RC normally in a dream like IRL.

Be sure not to focus only on RCing because theres more than just that.

i was in a dream and was doing an RC with a DC, and i didn't go lucid. the DC and I just laughed about it. it was funny. i haven't had an LD yet, and I really really want one. i am somewhat jealous of my bf. he can LD like nobody's business. ugh.

Now what about doing a Reality check before every time before speak to a new person.
It would be like a vow of silence until you remember that a simple reality check will allow you to speak.