Lucid Dream, Or "reality"?

I read somewhere that there are ways to tell if you're in a dream. One of them was to look at a clock, look away, and then look back. And if the clock had changed, or if the digits were strange, then you know it's a dream.

Soon after I read that, I had a LD, in which I was floating near the ceiling, and insisting it was reality. It felt absolutely real. I remembered about the clock, so I looked at a clock on the wall, and checked the time. I then looked away, looked back, and it still said twenty to four - the same time - proving this was "reality". "You see! It is real" I declared as I floated across to the other side of the room. And then woke up!

Does anyone else have this confusion? And are there other ways to tell?

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Originally Posted by illusions

I read somewhere that there are ways to tell if you're in a dream. One of them was to look at a clock, look away, and then look back. And if the clock had changed, or if the digits were strange, then you know it's a dream.

Soon after I read that, I had a LD, in which I was floating near the ceiling, and insisting it was reality. It felt absolutely real. I remembered about the clock, so I looked at a clock on the wall, and checked the time. I then looked away, looked back, and it still said twenty to four - the same time - proving this was "reality". "You see! It is real" I declared as I floated across to the other side of the room. And then woke up!

Does anyone else have this confusion? And are there other ways to tell?[/b]

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That's quite annoying, isn't it? Maybe try more than one thing--look at your hands (checking the number of fingers), hold your nose and try to breathe, etc. Nothing's foolproof.

Did you look at a digital or analog (mechanical) clock? I don't think I've ever done the clock RC (in a dream; I do it all the time in real life) but, I love to look at multi-digit numbers and text in dreams and that seems to be sufficient for me - as long as I'm looking with the intention of RC, as opposed to just seeing writing in a dream.

My advice to make this particular RC work is: really try to change the time. If you look at the clock, then look again expecting it to be the same time, it will be. I also suggect the nose RC. Those two work for me.

some particular RCs will not work on some people. I have one or two that don't work with me either. Try a different one. Most of the time I will pinch the crap outta myself and when I feel nothing I'll definetely know, but there are other things such as jumping up to see if you just float back down, trying to see your nose with one eye while closing the other (I always see my nose so it doesn't work on me). Then another is holding your nose and if you can still breathe then you know. There are more you can do. You can even customize your RCs if you'd like.

I've never come up with a reliable reality check. Often I think within the dream that I'm dreaming (I usually don't know why) and about half the time will try to prove it by doing something impossible. That's not the best idea because it often wakes me up and because I often try dangerous things and get afraid that I'm not really dreaming and will get messed up.

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Originally Posted by drb0505

I've never come up with a reliable reality check. Often I think within the dream that I'm dreaming (I usually don't know why) and about half the time will try to prove it by doing something impossible. That's not the best idea because it often wakes me up and because I often try dangerous things and get afraid that I'm not really dreaming and will get messed up.[/b]

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First and most important rule of reality checks:

Don't do anything dangerous.

Don't do anything dangerous is right. Actually, I almost never do, (I should have said above that I think to do something dangerous) but there's part of me that is scared I will do it and it sometimes wakes me.

There's a related thread where a member named Netzilla (?) proposes an elegantly simple test: if you think you might actually be dreaming, you are. Contrary to popular convention (you know, those bits of movie dialogue where someone says "pinch me, I must be dreaming"), I have never in my life actually wondered if I was dreaming while I was awake. I have been through a lot of experiences - trauma, torture, halucinogens, emotional shock - and never thought for a moment I was dreaming.

So once again, the very thought that I might be dreaming is a valid reality check for me.

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Originally Posted by drb0505

There's a related thread where a member named Netzilla (?) proposes an elegantly simple test: if you think you might actually be dreaming, you are. Contrary to popular convention (you know, those bits of movie dialogue where someone says "pinch me, I must be dreaming"), I have never in my life actually wondered if I was dreaming while I was awake. I have been through a lot of experiences - trauma, torture, halucinogens, emotional shock - and never thought for a moment I was dreaming.

So once again, the very thought that I might be dreaming is a valid reality check for me.[/b]

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While that's true, it kind of misses the mark on what reality checks are all about. If you think you're dreaming then you almost certainly are. However, RCs aren't just about determining whether or not you are dreaming; they are equally about setting up a pattern and mindset of critical thinking and observation of the world around you. If you are in a habit of doing so in waking life then you will be more prone to - and prepared for - recognizing a dream for what it is, rather than rotely accepting it to be a continuum of external reality.

That's the real power of the RC.

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Originally Posted by Oneironaught

While that's true, it kind of misses the mark on what reality checks are all about. If you think you're dreaming then you almost certainly are. However, RCs aren't just about determining whether or not you are dreaming; they are equally about setting up a pattern and mindset of critical thinking and observation of the world around you. If you are in a habit of doing so in waking life then you will be more prone to - and prepared for - recognizing a dream for what it is, rather than rotely accepting it to be a continuum of external reality.

That's the real power of the RC.[/b]

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That's called "Hutton's Paradox." He theorized that if one asked oneself if one was dreaming, that it would almost certainly prove that one is, because one would never ask that question in waking life. Here's the site if you want to read more (sorry, I think you have to copy and paste): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_argument

Trying to breath while you hold your nose usually works for me. Just dont hold your breath to.

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Originally Posted by Lunalight

That's called "Hutton's Paradox." He theorized that if one asked oneself if one was dreaming, that it would almost certainly prove that one is, because one would never ask that question in waking life. Here's the site if you want to read more (sorry, I think you have to copy and paste): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_argument[/b]

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True, but that doesn't ensure lucidity. I can speak from personal experience that it's completely possible to suspect you're dreaming but never become lucid because of weak - or no - reality testing. It's happened to me three times in the past couple of months.

My point is that suspicion alone doesn't always get the dreamer to his ultimate goal, that of becoming lucid. Hence, the inherent value of RCs even when the suspicion is already present.

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Originally Posted by Oneironaught

My point is that suspicion alone doesn't always get the dreamer to his ultimate goal, that of becoming lucid. Hence, the inherent value of RCs even when the suspicion is already present.[/b]

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I disagree, at least for me personally suspicion = instant 100% lucidity for the rest of that dream. That doesn't mean I believe reality checks are pointless at all, but I don't need to actually look at a clock or count my fingers anymore. I just need to stop and ask myself: "Could I be dreaming?" and the answer is always: "Of course I am, that explains a lot of things!"

I only have one to two lucid dreams per night though, perhaps if I got used to doing reality checks regularly or whenever certain things happens, I would get more lucid dreams. I have tried in the past, but I always got sloppy and lost heart when I did reality checks all day and then forgot to do them in my dreams. Perhaps if I had kept doing them so much it had become a true part of me, I would do them in every dream, but for now I'll have to settle for one (or two if I'm lucky) lucid dreams per night, which always happens after I wake up, then go to bed and try to WILD.

I've never yet managed to pull a WILD off all the way, but it still works for me, because in the first dream after I do it, I always realize at some point that: "Hey, these things are no longer just something I'm thinking about while waiting to fall asleep, they've transformed into actual dreams and I can move around now." Sometimes it takes me a while, last night I would estimate at least 5 minutes passed in my non-lucid dream before I realized I was beyond the "thinking about things in bed" point.

It's like a sliding scale, it's funny how I know when I'm lying in my bed and letting my mind wander while trying to fall asleep and I know when I'm dreaming and I'm actually in the dream and can do what I want without waking up, but in between those two there's a lot of time where I'm neither 100% awake or 100% dreaming and when it finally occurs to me that I'm really dreaming now, I often remember quite a lot of time passing in the non-lucid dream I had right after falling asleep.

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Originally Posted by Nutzilla

I just need to stop and ask myself: "Could I be dreaming?" and the answer is always: "Of course I am, that explains a lot of things!"[/b]

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That's kind of my point. I've had times where I thought I must be dreaming but then have just left it at that rather than extending it to it's logical conclusion: "Of course I am, that explains a lot of things." I have never thought I was dreaming but wasn't, in fact, dreaming. But the thought can get lost in translation and find itself in gridlock.

Those rare times when I actually think I might be dreaming but fail to become lucid would result in lucidity if I had done "fact finding". Though, I must say that if I were to get in my head that if I think I am then I must be, I'd be better off. I did, however (almost a week ago), have one experience where I did many RCs because a real-life situation was very dream-like in nature.

I'm not sure what you're meaning by "I only have one to two lucid dreams per night though" but, it almost sounds as though you're saying that you have LDs on a very regular basis (as in, almost every night). If that's the case then you are especially gifted it the art and your 100% lucidity as result of suspicion alone doesn't speak for the average LDer.

I almost never do RCs throughout the day just because I have never gotten into the habit of doing it. One thing I have realized is that I almost never do in dreams what I compulsively do during the day. I constantly check what time it is throughout the day usually by looking at my watch but have only actually looked at my watch once in a dream (in a lucid dream last night actually). I already had realized I was dreaming and thought about checking my digital watch to see if the display changed like I had always read that it would. I looked at it three times in a row and the minutes changed from 38 to 39 to 40 so I knew that it was a dream for sure.

I also tried the breathing while plugging nose technique but it didn't work maybe because I didn't think it would (I couldn't breathe) . I also tried to fly by just floating from standing still and that didn't work either even though I told myself that gravity didn't exist so I should be able to.

For me I just kinda realize that its a dream without RCing or asking myself, just by knowing that it must be.

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Originally Posted by Oneironaught

I'm not sure what you're meaning by "I only have one to two lucid dreams per night though" but, it almost sounds as though you're saying that you have LDs on a very regular basis (as in, almost every night). If that's the case then you are especially gifted it the art and your 100% lucidity as result of suspicion alone doesn't speak for the average LDer.[/b]

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No, it's not a gift, it's hard work and dedication and really wanting to have lucid dreams. I'm not special in that way, I believe anyone can learn to become lucid at least once per night if they really want to. So if I'm not speaking for the average LD'er, then perhaps a lot of people just have real life issues distracting them, while I don't have a life, which lets me focus more on my dreaming? :)

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Originally Posted by Nutzilla

No, it's not a gift, it's hard work and dedication and really wanting to have lucid dreams. I'm not special in that way, I believe anyone can learn to become lucid at least once per night if they really want to. So if I'm not speaking for the average LD'er, then perhaps a lot of people just have real life issues distracting them, while I don't have a life, which lets me focus more on my dreaming? :)[/b]

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Then we'll say you're very talented in that way. :bigteeth: I generally have an average of one a week-10 days. I'd love to have a much higher frequency of LDs but haven't been able to reach that point... yet.

Clocks can confuse me too. Last night I had a dream in which I looked at a clock on a computer, it said 10:20 then looked at a clock on the wall, it said 12:80 <-I didn&#39;t find the 80 weird at all. Then back at the computer and it still said 10:20. I figured that I must be awake because while the clocks said different times, they were both consistant. I should have picked up on the fact that I&#39;m a brown haired man, in the dream I was a blond woman.

Next time for a reality check just think to yourself that if you put your hand on your face and push that your hand will go through your head. If it does.. then you know.