Do you do mental reality checks?
Is their any point me doing realit checks around people seems as am not around people often?
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Do you do mental reality checks?
Is their any point me doing realit checks around people seems as am not around people often?
I don't care if I'm around people: I do both nose pinch and hand check. Nose pinch you can sort of make look like you're scratching you're nose. I think it's important, in fact, not to be inhibited in the slightest about performing RCs around potential "dream characters." The benefit of crowded urban locations is that there are signs and text and clocks everywhere so you can do constant quick RCs that way.
We've had many discussions about "mental reality checks" on DV -- I think they are more properly termed "critical reflection moments," which are important in themselves, but make an inferior RC. A good RC is fast to do [no searching for any objects like lightswitches], and (as much as possible) unambiguous as possible. Once you get that inlking of "hey, I might be dreaming," you don't want a lot of cognition going on in your RC: otherwise you risk getting lost again in the flow of the dream. The RC should produce a fast, reliable "yes/no" answer to "am I dreaming?"
The RC I use to do was the finger through the hand. I always felt like it was subtle enough that I didn't need to hide too much. And I agree with Fryingman. :)
When I am around people I simply ask myself if I could be dreaming at that moment, and look for any inconsistencies around me;
that works well enough as a Reality Check. :rockon:
The problem is that this usually makes me feel excited about the idea of lucid dreaming in general and probably makes me look like a curious child or something, and this makes a lot of people give me this "huh? wtf are you so excited about?" look. :cheeky:
dat Spelling tho
It is important to do RC's in Situations that are unusual for you.
My Tips would be:
Ask yourself if you know any of the People around you and if it's strange that you (don't) know them.
Ask yourself where you are and if it makes sense.
Try to recall what you were doing.
Check your Watch or phone for the Time.
Just a few days ago, I got a great tip for exactly this from Sivason. You can do a reality check by feeling your teeth (the inner side, of course, or you'd look weird again) with the tongue. If you're dreaming, the sensation will not be there or very "muddy". I do this instead of the finger counting when I'm at work. The "moment of reflection" where I stop hauling stuff around for a few seconds to check clocks and signs still nets me some weird looks, but I'll usually brush them off with a humorous non sequitur that fits my reputation for harmless eccentricity.
Context RC ("Where am I? How did I get here? What did I do before I got here? What would I do if this was a dream?") is always discreet and is always very powerful.
Also helps focusing in the situation if not dreaming.