Thread: Reality Checks dont' work for me? what's the dealio?

hey all, so i'm sorta new to the whole Lucid dreaming thing.. i haven't actually had one yet, lol.. i've been trying moderately for about 2 weeks now.. (well. including time to build up my dream recall) last night, though, i finally got really close. I've been doing regular reality checks (every time i see a clock i look twice, Also i do the hand-distortion one sometimes). Now. in the dream, someone actually directly asked me what the time was. I looked over at the microwave (it said 1:40), and i did the RC, and looked over again. it still said 1:40. so i'm like shit. not dreaming. anyway.. earlier in the dream i had found a CO2 tank (like for paintball guns) and was carrying it around. after i told them the time the person was like why are you carrying around a CO2 tank. I looked down at the bottle, and i'm like.. umm.. i thought it'd be useful.. while i was looking at my hands i'm like.. well.. perfect time to try out another RC.. so i looked at my hands, and moved them close, and away.. and they were rock-solid. so again i'm like crap, not dreaming.. and anyway.. then after this i glanced at the clock again, to see what time it was and the clock said 1:43. you know.. normal time progression.. none of this clock jumping thing..

you guys have any idea why this would be?? i'm thinking that RCs not working is gonna make it hard to get lucid.

thanks for your help.
pyrhho

The images and illusions created by the subconscious mind can sometimes be so real that even reality tests don't work on them. I was in a dream last night where I was having such a difficult time finding out where I was so I suddenly thought to my self that I must be dreaming. So I told myself several times that I was dreaming, and even pinched myself, and it hurt, which caused me then to think that I must not be dreaming, since it hurt when I pinched myself. Then I happened to see someone I knew so ask them where I was at. It was only after the next person that walked by looked identical to this person that I realized that I was dreaming, only to awaken, instead of being able to continue the dream. At least the nightmare ended, although I missed a golden opportunity to be lucid by waking up. Good luck in your endevours to become lucid.

Hmmm...this sounds like what I put in my post! ( I feel so ignored... ) look on the newbie board for mine.

Hello iadr!
If you have any reaccurances in your dreams -people, places or things, you can incorporate those into your reality checks.
For example. If you never dream about paintball games chances are a reality check of that sort will be useless. So if for say you have a person that you regularly have in your dreams then every time you see them then do a RC. In turn when you are dreaming and this person shows up in your dream and you do a RC then whala....hopefully. The same would go for the places or objects.
And the most important thing about reality checks is to do it with conviction. Don't just go through the motions. Prove to yourself you are not dreaming and why.
I catch myself all the time saying oh. I am not dreaming. Then I stop & say wait a minute. Am I or not? What proves to me that I am not, other than the clock not changing.
Good luck!

Excellent suggestion Howetzer,

Conviction must be the key. I was so sure during my dream that I wasn't dreaming because everything seemed so real that I was just went thru the motions of doing a half ass reality check, sort of like the ones I do during the day, which of course don't work.

Do not stare yourself blind on reality checks. They do not work for everybody. They hardly do for me, I can read and look on clocks and so on and so forth. So yeah..they do not work for everybody

hmm weird.. i wonder why they would work for some people but not others?? maybe a more (what's the word???) firm/controlling/robust imagination?

but thanks.. heh.. it's good to know other people have the same problem.

Lucius: What do you do instead of RCs then, to get lucids? just do WILDS?

it's good to know other people have the same problem.
[/b]

Its not a problem, really =D (not to me it is)

i wonder why they would work for some people but not others??[/b]

Either if you believe in an astral plane, sometimes you might be there instead of your own mind and things dont work the same over there. And #2, when you are in your own mind. we might have better short term memory

Lucius: What do you do instead of RCs then, to get lucids? just do WILDS?[/b]

I'm a natural LDer.Plus I do my own version of wild sometimes aswell, yeah.

you'll find a way that works for you, there is one for everybody

I say the same thing as Howetzer, you got to convince yourself that you are not dreaming! To check the clock two times is great, but when you do it, also think for yourself "Am I dreaming? What day is it? How did I get here? Where am I and what am I doing here?" Stuff like that. It can feel a bit stupid to do it when awake, but try to get in the habit!

thanks guys! i'll keep trying.

Two days ago I started recording my dreams, and doing reality checks every day (at least 20 a day).

I found two good ways to do reality checks:

Close your mouth and hold your nose, and if you can still breathe, you will be dreaming. Try really hard to breathe. Most likely in a dream you will actually breathe while holding your nose. I once had a dream where I could breathe underwater (it wasn't a lucid dream either).

Another reality check: peeing. If your bladder is kind of full, go to the bathroom and empty your bladder. If you feel relief, you are not dreaming. (hopefully you won't pee in bed).

These aren't guaranteed to work though.

I'm another natural LDer, and reality checks don't work for me either. Anyone know if there's any correlation between the two?

this is a different kind of reality
IT MEANS YOUR STONNED!









lol, j/k, but thats wierd, i remember that once the clock RC didnt work for me. i missed that LD

i am not in the habit of doing RCs b/c I find them non-functional. This morning, approaching the end of my dream, I wondered 'What time is it' and, by habit, I moved my mouse cursor down to the bottom right of my screen to get the windows bar to pop up... i failed to notice that a second ago, and a second after, there was no computer in my presence.

I choose not to do RCs b/c i feel that they are not a good thing to do. I do not want to have doubt in my reality. Having explored my mind with all sorts of existentialist rhetoric, hallucinogenic drugs, thought experiments and contemplations on the nature of the universe/spiritual truth, I have begun to feel that all reality is transient.

The last thing I want to do right now is to cast doubt into the reality I am experiencing at this moment by performing an RC. No, I do not feel that they serve to reaffirm your belief in reality; by asking the question, you are subconsciously admitting that there is some doubt. I do not doubt reality. When I am dreaming, I treat as reality as much as my mind is capable of (it's not the same, b/c altered states all feel differently imho).

Dream signs I prefer, because then it is an internal realization that triggers the consciousness in the dream. To this I am sure is linked the conviction above-mentioned (which is an excellent view point). However, as oft stated, everyone works differently.

your effective reality check may be something out of the ordinary.. i find blinking to be my reality check, because for some reason its foolproof.. just do not blink to hard or you will wake up.

RC's never worked for me either, I guess maybe it's not the right technique for you. I tried RC's for about 6 damn mounths, and nadda!

What kind of reality checks can be used? The clocks one sounds like the most common (I thought the idea behind it was to try and change the time the clock displays, not check twice for inconsistencies). But are there any others that people commonly use, and/or have been found to work for some?

Originally posted by Ivegottheskill
What kind of reality checks can be used? The clocks one sounds like the most common (I thought the idea behind it was to try and change the time the clock displays, not check twice for inconsistencies). But are there any others that people commonly use, and/or have been found to work for some?

When I do a RC, I close one eye and look at my nose. If i can see my nose, it's reality, if I can't, I'm dreaming. It works out for me atleast.

Originally posted by Jork+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jork)</div>

<!--QuoteBegin-Ivegottheskill

What kind of reality checks can be used? The clocks one sounds like the most common (I thought the idea behind it was to try and change the time the clock displays, not check twice for inconsistencies). But are there any others that people commonly use, and/or have been found to work for some?

When I do a RC, I close one eye and look at my nose. If i can see my nose, it's reality, if I can't, I'm dreaming. It works out for me atleast.[/b]

Haven't heard of that one before. The clock one inadvertently worked for me once a while ago. I had a false awakening, and got out of bed to get ready for school. I checked what subjects I had for the day in my diary and saw "Spanish". Suddenly, I realised I might have slept in. I went to the clock to see what time it was, and it said "Spanish".

So I was like "wtf?" and became lucid, but unfortunately woke soon afterwards