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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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Lucid Tasks: 14
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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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 |
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Lucid Tasks: 14
Trying to breath while you hold your nose usually works for me. Just dont hold your breath to. |
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Great quest: 4-dimensional dream
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. |
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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!" |
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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. |
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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. |
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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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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'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'm a brown haired man, in the dream I was a blond woman. |
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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. |
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