Thread: Am i doing Reality Checks correctly?

I only do reality checks when i see my dream signs or whenever i wake up. but to be honest i don't
put any feeling on them. What i try to do is doing a reality check each time i see
my dreamsign but as a habit. so everytime i dream and i see
my dream sign i'll remember to make a reality check.

I already got 3 FLDs, so i wonder if i'm doing them on the right way.

You do need to put feelings into them and believe that they actually will work when you do them in waking life, otherwise you might end up doing reality checks in dream and not realizing that you are dreaming.

Originally Posted by Checker666

You do need to put feelings into them and believe that they actually will work when you do them in waking life, otherwise you might end up doing reality checks in dream and not realizing that you are dreaming.

I just can't understand how i will put feelings into them or how to believe they will actually work.

Originally Posted by Slenerim

I just can't understand how i will put feelings into them or how to believe they will actually work.

I know what you mean. I cannot seem to put actual meaning behind my RCs, either. I thought today, "They say I should be 'mindful', but what does that even mean? To be aware? So I'm to be aware of being aware?" Nothing seems to be working for me, not even RCs. I'd kind of given up on trying to LD, even though I've really wanted to learn so I could learn more about myself and feel like I have control in my life, and to experience catharsis of some kind. It doesn't help when I fail at every -ILD out there.

Originally Posted by OneirosOnkelos

I know what you mean. I cannot seem to put actual meaning behind my RCs, either.

Here:

When I started reading about lucid dreaming, my biggest question was: "How in the world am I suppose to realize I'm dreaming?"

Well, for the realization to happen, first you need to teach your brain to ask the question: "Am I dreaming?" while you are in a regular dream. Later on, after you gain more experience, you may notice that even this question is skipped and out of the blue, you just realize you are dreaming.

You teach your brain to ask the question/realize you are dreaming by practicing daytime awareness technique.

AWARENESS +RC TECHNIQUE:

During day, pause what you doing and ask yourself a question "Wow, am I dreaming?" that jolts your attention and makes you stop doing whatever you doing. For a moment, entertain the idea, that you are sure this is a dream or false awakening and feel the excitement in the pit of your stomach. Just pretend, that you have had a lucid dream before that was indistinguishable from waking reality, so this moment could also be a dream and you don't know for sure until you RC. Really consider the answer. Don't just automatically answer "Of course I'm not".

Look around and notice details. Look at your hands and count your fingers. Do you have the right amount? Do they look normal? Do a reality check. Try to gently push your thumb through your palm and expect it to go through. Is it going through? Pinch your nose and expect to be able to breathe. Can you? Can you levitate? If not, tell yourself "Next time I'm dreaming, I look at my hands and realize I'm dreaming". Repeat this mantra a few times while looking at your hands.

Pretty soon, this behavior will start manifesting itself in your dreams and you'll be asking yourself if you dreaming, while in regular dream. That will make you lucid. You will do a couple of RCs to make sure.

Originally Posted by gab

Here:

So i just pretend feeling emotions such as excitement and hapiness.
I can't get emotional so easily lol.

Think to yourself: I believe that this is a dream, since I just saw my dream sign. How would I prove to myself that this is not a dream? Ok, let's look at something written, then look away and while looking away imagine the writing changing, and now look back, and has it changed as expected (you need to expect it to change because in a dream it will if you expect it). Look at a digital watch with seconds if you have one, and expect it to not work right, and then think whether it meets that expectation: do the numbers not make any sense and not appear to be climbing, is the watch different from one you have in real life? Hold your nose closed with your fingers, and expect to be able to breathe through your nose regardless - can you? Think about how you got here, and what happened before that, and what happened before that: can you remember it all and does it make sense. If you do all this for example, and it all seems like waking life, consider the possibility that you are awake, and don't do anything rash such as trying to fly out a window. Of course doing all of this may be a bit of overkill, but overkill is better than just mechanically doing a reality check. That said, I actually once years ago DID become lucid from just mechanically doing a simple RC of just reading something and looking away and rereading it while I was sure I was awake, and it changed! So that's possible too, but it's just less likely to be effective.

Emotions in awareness question and RCs give meaning to RCs, make your brain pay attention and remember better what you doing.

Originally Posted by gab

What really works for me is adding strong emotions when I RC. I ask myself "wow, what if this is a dream, I just didn't notice". I try to recall a happy/startling feeling. You know, like when you wake up in the morning after Christmas and you know something really good happened yesterday, but for a second you don't recall what it was. But you have this happy feeling in pit of your stomach. Then you remember all those toys you got the day before.

Or any other happy/expectation/surprise feeling you can recall from your past. If you had LD before, you can think of that startling/happy feeling as when you first time realized you are dreaming.

Then this jolt/startling feeling transfers into my dreams and I go "wait a minute, am i dreaming?". And byt the end of that question I'm already lucid.

Awareness question +RCs+mantras

Every time you do RC you EXPECT it to work, because you could be in a dream.

Otherwise when you in a dream and do RC and you don't believe it to work because that's what you practiced during day, then it won't work.

The only way for you to suddenly get a feeling in regular dream that you may be dreaming is if you believe you are dreaming during day when you practice.

Ah but I once years ago did an RC fully expecting it not to show a dream and it did, so that's possible too, though granted less likely.

It's not about coming up with a fake emotion and pretending to believe in it. A dream, while in the dream, feels exactly like real life. A lucid dream more so. So how would you know if you are dreaming right now? If you woke up in two seconds and realized that in real life, the sun is green, but right now you are just so sure that the sun appears yellow, you would think, my god, why didn't I catch that. Everyone knows the sun is green. Don't pretend to question the world around you. Question it for real. You have no way of knowing without questioning. Then RC and hope it fails. Someday soon, it will.

I am already trying to put happy emotions in my RC, as gab suggested, imagining I just realize I am dreaming when I RC. I also review DS, when I do my RC. One of my DS is an emotion associated with a particular person.
I was doing one of my RCs today, but was a bit angry about something. And then it hit me:

How about doing an RC every time I get emotional? Or using emotions as DS?

My dreams are loaded with emotions, and when I get emotional irl, I need to keep myself in check, so why not RC?

Now, fingers crossed, I must incorporate this into the RC routine.

Although we are talking about RCs here, it's not really reality check that gets you lucid. It's the question or the nagging feeling or the urge to do RC is what get's you lucid. That feeling that gives you a hint of awareness and gives you enough presence of mind to do RC.

You are very unlikely to do RC in a regular dream without hint of awareness. (It's possible to have a reg. dream about RCing, but those will not get you lucid.)

You have to have that "holy shit" moment. Something to give you a slap in a face to make you stop going about your dream mindlessly and stop for a moment. This will happen, if during day, you suddenly stop for a moment, look around and think "holy shit" this could be a dream and I don't even know it. Then you automatically do RC, but you know you are lucid before you even finish with it. RC doesn't get you lucid, it just comfirms it.

After I got hint of awareness in my regular dream and got an urge to RC, I got a huge surprise when RC confirmed I'm dreaming. You may not expect it to work in a dream, but it will work, because that's how you practice it.

Originally Posted by gab

Although we are talking about RCs here, it's not really reality check that gets you lucid. It's the question or the nagging feeling or the urge to do RC is what get's you lucid. That feeling that gives you a hint of awareness and gives you enough presence of mind to do RC.

You are very unlikely to do RC in a regular dream without hint of awareness. (It's possible to have a reg. dream about RCing, but those will not get you lucid.)

You have to have that "holy shit" moment. Something to give you a slap in a face to make you stop going about your dream mindlessly and stop for a moment. This will happen, if during day, you suddenly stop for a moment, look around and think "holy shit" this could be a dream and I don't even know it. Then you automatically do RC, but you know you are lucid before you even finish with it. RC doesn't get you lucid, it just comfirms it.

After I got hint of awareness in my regular dream and got an urge to RC, I got a huge surprise when RC confirmed I'm dreaming. You may not expect it to work in a dream, but it will work, because that's how you practice it.

I think i got it how it work.
anyway do i need to do RC frequently, or can i do them when i see my dreamsigns?
i only do them when i see my dreamsign.

Originally Posted by Slenerim

...do i need to do RC frequently, or can i do them when i see my dreamsigns?
i only do them when i see my dreamsign.

You don't have to limit yourself when and how and why you do RC. Best is to use all possible reasons to better your chance that some of them will work.

1. Use an activity reminder - something you do often
- walking through doors
- using restroom
- noticing specific color
- get a phone call
- get a drink
- and anything else you can think of

2. Use a physical reminder - audio or visual
- set your watch to beep every hour
- set your timer
- put some sticky notes all over your place, school books, laptop, door frame, wall above you bed, first thing you see in the morning
- put a rubber band or bracelet on your wrist
- and whatever else you can

All these are just to help you get into habit of RCing. Pretty soon you will find, that you will start RCing even without them. And that's the best way to do it. Spontaneously. Whenever the feeling "OMG, what if this is a dream" strikes you.

3. Dream signs - anything, that occurs often in your dreams AND in your waking life.
You RC on these in WL every time you see it. Then, when they show up in your dream, you are likely to RC there as well.

4. When you notice something strange. It can be strange for real or you just pretend it is. Let's face it, our lives are not that strange, so we have to make up some stuff.
- a classmate shows up when you know he is at home sick
- you thought you still had some beer in your fridge but it's all gone
- it's lunch time, you should be hungry, but you not
- boy/girl that has been ignoring you is suddenly talking to you
- you see or hear anything and you think to yourself "that's strange"

5. At random - I believe this is the best way to do it.
-every time you get the sinking/exciting/freeky/exhilarating feeling in your stomach, that what if this was a dream and you didn't notice


Just remember, RC by itself doesn't get you lucid, it only confirms.

Awareness does. The awareness question "what if this is a dream". And being aware of your surroundings, noticing details, changes, patterns, constantly questioning and knowing where you are, how you got there and what you were doing before. Walking through your life as if you were in some video game, where anything can jump out at you at any moment and if you don't notice where you walk, you will miss some cool pickups. Be alert![/QUOTE]

Originally Posted by gab

4. When you notice something strange. It can be strange for real or you just pretend it is. Let's face it, our lives are not that strange, so we have to make up some stuff.

Got to disagree with you there, gab, let's face it, our lives are really strange if you think about it, but usually we don't. For example, let's take my day today: I got woken up around 4am by my husband rummaging around the room trying to get dressed because he had a 7am meeting, which never happens, except today it did. Then my 7 year old came to my bed which is a fairly normal occurrence, and usually I really like it, but today I was annoyed because I had been woken up at an ungodly hour and could not go back to sleep, so I told my son that I was trying to fall asleep and he was bothering me. Then I got up really upset over a meeting at work yesterday (strong emotion) and lack of sleep (not thinking straight kind of in a mental fog there). I decided to stay home and work on my resume just in case (I love my job, what am I doing). Then I decided to come clean to my boss over my writing resume today (usually not something I would do), but with the Sequestration and all the stuff going on, he fully understood and said he too is starting to look just in case! Etc etc. So you see, it could easily be a dream, and I should have been doing RCs constantly, but I RCed maybe once or twice today too immersed in waking life to question the possibility that it might not be real after all.

Well if your finger can go through your palm you know your not in reality

Well, what i do now is. whenever i wake up or see my dream sign i ask mentally "Am i dreaming?" and look around and if
i notice anything strange, i start to get a bit excited and when i do my reality check and excepting to have 7 fingers
or finger through my palm then i confirm they don't work, my excitement feeling starts to disappear.

Hey and while we are on the subject of lucid dreams, I just gotta share one I had recently. All night I kept having those kind of dreams where you think you wake up but then your dream turns into a nightmare and you realise you are still dreaming. Well my last dream I got so exasperated and I went to my husband and asked him if I was still dreaming and he assured me I wasn't. I kept saying to him I know I am dreaming and he kept telling me I was really awake. I was getting really upset and just told him to eat me up and get done with it (so I would finally really wake up). Eventually he did and I woke up, but I was so upset I started crying and when my husband tried to comfort me I just pushed him away because I wasn't convinced I was actually awake! He tried to convince me I was really awake... Sometimes lucidity is not always welcome!

I am a natural lucid dreamer, have been doing it all my life. However I am the kind of person that regularly does a reality check in the real world unintentionally and perhaps this is the key. I sometimes become annoyingly aware of myself and my surroundings when I am in an unfamiliar situation and kind of detach myself from the situation and start analysing it. I can give examples, like having an indepth chat with a stranger, or being driven in a different car to normal. I think those kinds of reality checks encourage lucidness naturally.