When do YOU do reality checks?

How often and when exactly do you do reality checks?

I was told it was better to try to make it a habit, so instead of just randomly doing it, I've started doing it whenever I meet up with a person I know. So if I run into someone randomly, I intentionally meet them. And especially when I shake hands.

I've done this because I've found there's a lot of meetings in my dreams, and so far it's been working well.

I also tried the timed thing, where I do a reality check ever hour or 2 hours based on when an alarm I set goes off, but that didn't work too well for me.

I'd like to hear though, what's your RC routine?

I really don't do timed RCs. I just tend to do it randomly, when I'm taking a bath or eating or writing stuff, etc.

I usually do a RC every hour. I sometimes write RC on my hand to remind myself. Sometimes I do one everytime I go to the bathroom or walk through a doorway.

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Originally Posted by Mancon

I usually do a RC every hour. I sometimes write RC on my hand to remind myself. Sometimes I do one everytime I go to the bathroom or walk through a doorway.

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I heard about writing RC. I've heard of people who always have it written on their hand, so if they look down and it isn't there, they know they're in a dream.

I do a RC everytime i walk in to a new room or go somwhere new

I don't do my RCs as a habit; I always just do them whenever I remember to do so, which is randomly throughout the day. None of my lucids come from "cues" (you can have a billion cues but if you're not aware or mindful enough to notice them, there's no point in cues), so emulating the randomness of lucidity in my dreams is very helpful.

I usually use the finger-count and then the nose-plug, just in case the first one failed (which it did in an LD last night).

I have noticed that I will RC a lot when looking at road signs. Just a quick snapping of my eyes away and then back on the sign to see if the words/symbols change.

I do my RCs when I randomly think about them or when something happens that is out of the ordinary.

I just do reality checks randomly, and when odd things happen.
I am not keen on doing them often anymore though, i don't really need to xD

I never do reality checks :S

Anytime I walk into a new room. I do a mental reality check where I look around and they to see anything is out of place. Sometimes if I think I'm dreaming I will do the nose plug.

I check anything with writing on it as my primary RC, then close my eyes and check if I can still see, then either touch/look at my hands or throw an object and watch the way it falls. I usually add a random one on the end, such as trying to push through a wall/window - anything to spice up the routine.

I do these randomly throughout the day whenever I remember, but I also use them in conjunction with my journal. I found it incredibly useful to highlight situations I found myself in during a dream, then make an index at the back (such as "time travel", "someone trying to kill me", "running from police", etc). After a week or so of good recall, I could start adding page numbers next to these situations (corresponding to the dreams in which they occurred) and from there, see their frequency. When used properly, this means I RC when I am in any of the frequent situations (er, which won't be good if someone is actually trying to kill me). One of the usual dead give-aways is how often I dream I can't find a toilet/there's no door on the toilet/people keep barging in when I'm trying to go to the toilet (don't judge me, people). Since this never happens in reality in any sustained manner like in my dreams, I know to RC as soon as it happens and I become lucid every time.

Methods such as checking in new rooms don't work for me as I never get that first cue, since you just appear, and my dreams are always so open plan that I can almost never distinguish one room from the other ... it's a gradual change.

Well, I just reached a dream goal of RC'ing near violence, so I'm golden now!

Most of my dreams involve violence of an extreme degree, so it's hard to form an RC habit out of that. Luckily, somebody was trying to snipe me, and accidentally hit a DC! I laughed at the fact that the idiot hit a mere DC, then teleported behind him, snapped his neck, got in a fight with a fat guy, flew, woke up.

I do so love it when your goals prevail. =D

What Erii said, whenever something unusual happens or at any random time I think of it.