Thread: How do I get into the habit of doing reality checks?

I've been doing lucid dreaming on and off for about 5 years now, and I always seem to lose interest when I don't get a lucid dream in a while. I've decided to try really hard this time. Since I find myself opening/walking through a lot of doors in my dreams, I decided to make this into a reality check trigger. Every time I move through a door I will do a RC. The problem I'm having is it's so hard to get into the habit of doing it. Unless I'm actively thinking about lucid dreaming I don't remember to do it. I know I can set up notes on the door to remind me, but I feel like that would ruin it. The doors in my dreams won't have notes, so I want the doors themselves to be the trigger.

Any ideas?

Make reality checks a top priority. Make them really important. The more important something is to you, the easier it is to remember.

Originally Posted by dolphin

Make reality checks a top priority. Make them really important. The more important something is to you, the easier it is to remember.

It's easy to say they're a top priority, but how do I make them top priority in practice?

Set specific goals and constantly keep track of your progress in practice. Challenge yourself! Say to yourself that you're going to do a reality check every time I see a new door for one day. See if you can do it! Give yourself a treat when you achieve your goal for motivation. Refrain from your treat if you fail. Each time you achieve a goal, set harder goals. Go 2 days in a row without missing a reality check, then 3, then 4 and so forth. Do this until it becomes a natural habit. Your dreams will give you an idea of how natural a habit it is subconciously.

Also, keep your habit going while you sleep as well. Before you go to bed, set the intention to do a reality check when you see a door in your dream. Keep track of your progress of your dreams in terms of how often you do a reality check when you see a door.

As dolphin said, it must be important. If it isn't important to you to lucid dream, it won't become something that happens a lot randomly. You need to make it important. I once spent 3 weeks with a 1 minute reality check timer. I wasn't supposed to be RCing every time it went off, but having it on my mind throughout the whole minute. 3 weeks later I had a huuuuuge head ache, but it seemed like it helped me progress to a higher level of thinking about the dream state.
If every time you didn't know what state you were in, a friend or family member died, how would you make it a priority?

Originally Posted by Dark Passenger

I've been doing lucid dreaming on and off for about 5 years now, and I always seem to lose interest when I don't get a lucid dream in a while. I've decided to try really hard this time. Since I find myself opening/walking through a lot of doors in my dreams, I decided to make this into a reality check trigger. Every time I move through a door I will do a RC. The problem I'm having is it's so hard to get into the habit of doing it. Unless I'm actively thinking about lucid dreaming I don't remember to do it. I know I can set up notes on the door to remind me, but I feel like that would ruin it. The doors in my dreams won't have notes, so I want the doors themselves to be the trigger.

Any ideas?

Prospective memory .
What i do is tell to myself wholehearted something like " I will remember to do state checks during the day " a couple of times. Then, everytime i do one i reinforce the aspiration and tell my self that again. I also say to myself" Tonight, when im dreaming i will recognize the dream for what it is" or something like that.

It comes and goes but it is definitly going better with this approach.

I have an app on my phone that 20 times a day will give me a notification and ask me "Are you dreaming?", and I do a reality check

One strategy you could try is to create a little physical ritual that you perform every time you walk through a door, until it becomes a habit, like touching the doorframe or handle or the door itself, or taking care to step all the way over the still (or the floorspace divided by the door) rather than directly on it. Then mentally associate the RC with the physical gesture, so that every time you do the gesture it reminds you to RC, until the two things become an intertwined habit and both start manifesting together in your dreams. Naturally the gesture should be something easy and subtle enough that you can make a point of doing it every time in waking life without it becoming burdensome or drawing weird looks!

Some advice on setting goals and training prospective memory:

In dutch, we use an abbreviation for setting goals: SMART. Each letter represents a requirement for your goal. Translated, your goals should be
Specific
Measurable
Acceptable
Realistic
Time-bound

Specify what exactly you try to achieve with exact numbers; don't say 'I will RC every time I see something strange'. You have to be able to clearly define the criterium for RC'ing, for example use 'I will RC every time I open a door'.

Then, you have to be able to tell whether you succeeded or not. This is closely related to specificity, of course.

Acceptability does not really apply here I think.

Realism of your goal is important. Don't set a goal that you cannot achieve, it will only frustrate you.

Lastly your goals should be time-bound. Otherwise, you'll be able to give yourself too much space. For example, it won't work if you set a goal to have an LD eventually. Set a date or something but keep in mind that is has to be realistic.

All these apply to training prospective memory as well. If you tell yourself to do X everytime Y happens but Y is very vague and subjective, it will not work at all.