Thread: Reality Checks vs Mindfullness

I've noticed that in almost all my lucid dreams I don't do reality checks. It seems as if perhaps I'm so convinced by the quaintness of my dream environment that further checks are unnecessary; I'm certain I'm dreaming.

I find reality checks trite, and not offering much benefits that I might use in an everyday waking state. For example, counting my fingers, and incessantely scrutinizing them.

Maybe the questioning during waking hours itself lends to ld's, but I prefer to replace reality checks with mindfullness, in which I would pick one thing to focus on and tend to it for about 20-30 seconds. At least this would give the benefit of learning a little more about my surroundings.

In Reality Checks, you are supposed to raise your awareness. That is the whole point of doing them, they train you to be more aware of your surroundings as you're dreaming, which in turn helps you notice that you're dreaming.

They're basically a way of training awareness

^^ That is true. I've had thousands of LD's over 30-odd years, and can reasonably confirm that not a one of them is the result of dimg a reality check. And yet to this day I do RC's regularly.

This is because RC's have great value during waking life, even if they seem useless during the dream. As Realdealmagic says, they are indeed meant to train your awareness, to build an innate sense in you that this place you are in could be a dream. That they might help some dreamers confirm their state during a dream is nice, but it's what they do during waking life that matters. Ultimately, RC's are a tool for mindfulness, if done correctly.

Keep in mind also that just doing RC's without attaching any meaning will indeed be a pretty useless endeavor.

I do think the primary goal is just to question if you are dreaming as a daily habit. I never do things like count my fingers,,, in a dream I may have fairly well represented hands when I look at them. My RCs all involve truely questioning how I can be sure I am not dreaming. Simply stop and ask yourself if you have clear memory of the day proceeding (leading up to) the question, such as how did you come to be standing by this tree, and so on.
I have how ever actually had plenty of DILDs work due to this kind of RC. I will stop and try to RC (as above) and realize I have no clue how I got someplace. I also constantly attempt to levitate during the day. There fore I often attempt to randomly levitate in non-lucids. If I do start to float, I become lucid. I have had great success this last year with some very mundane RCs. I constantly tap my finger tips against objects, click my teeeth together and run my tongue slowly over my teeth. I do not do all at the same time. I truely pay attention whenI do it. Now it is an incesent habit, so often in a dream I click my teeth, but hear no sound. I may tap a door frame and realize it feels like cotton, or run my tongue along my teeth and realize it feels like my mouth is numb. Those kind of RCs have been very useful to me.
So, yes RCs are best looked at as the act of questioning, not some silly repeated action. Done correctly some LDs can be gained by the habit of RCing coming up in non-lucids. I am suprised Sageous has had the experience he has with no RC induced LDs. In a way his constant wonder at the world, probably is serving the role of RCs, just not silly things like plugging his nose,,, which is silly, imho.

This might make no sense for you, but I will try to make my point.

In the beginning Reality Checks raise your subconscious awareness and raise your chances to get lucid during dream.
In the end, when you are an advanced Lucid Dreamer, your Lucid Dreams raise your conscious awareness during your waking life.

Originally Posted by flowofmysoul

This might make no sense for you, but I will try to make my point.

In the beginning Reality Checks raise your subconscious awareness and raise your chances to get lucid during dream.
In the end, when you are an advanced Lucid Dreamer, your Lucid Dreams raise your conscious awareness during your waking life.

You have my attention. Can you clarify how this is so, or just give an example?

Originally Posted by sivason

You have my attention. Can you clarify how this is so, or just give an example?

I will do both, clarify and give an example

In waking life, your actions are limited, not only physically but also mentally. For every action there is a reaction and you have the responsibility. Over your life time you learn to think inside the box, you get a habit of doing automated decisions and when you have a question you tend to look for a regular answer. I am not saying that everybody is the same, of course there are exclusions.
When you lucid dream for a long period you learn to think as a creator, as a 3rd party observer, you always strive to find a unique and simple solution to your problem. Sometimes inspiration in your lucid dreams comes by it self, like you always knew what to do.

One of the examples for me is my life, when I started lucid dreaming I was simply enjoying all the fun of lucid dreaming, but later I noticed how lucid dreaming is changing my life and my perception of events that happens in my life. I noticed how often I can find a solution to a problem when others fail to do so. I am always keeping awareness of my surroundings, I unconsciously analyse things that happen around me and I notice how it helps me. I do not focus only on small details, I focus on details, try to see the big picture and connect these two.
Lucid dreaming drastically changed my thinking in extreme situations. If I would face dangerous situation before, I would simply freak out or do something stupid before I understand what to do. In my lucid dreams I experienced a lot of scary situations, in my lucid dreams I experienced the strongest fear in my life again and again. It changed the way i perceive fear in real life too. Now when I face something dangerous I will most probably not do any mistakes, in fact in most cases I will try to understand when I might have that situation and prepare my self.

Sometimes I catch my self on thoughts that are very odd to me, really small details that should not or never bothered me before. For example I will see a cleaner and I will think where did he get those shoes from? he supposed to wear something cheap, then I automatically analyse him in details, his watch, hair cut, company name, even the way he walks. Unintentionally I thought of something that is out of order in his look and then I analyse if everything else is in order for a usual cleaner. And I am doing some business that is not connected to security or something like that. Another example is when I remember a number or a name without a reason, or at that time I did not understand why I remembered it, then, me or people who I work with would look for that number/name and I will already know it. There are hundreds of examples like this, these are the ones that came to my mind now.

I think this is what we call awareness.

my conscious and subconscious awareness were raised because of lucid dreaming.

I find reality checks very useful, a lot of my lucids start with them. I've been doing this since I can remember and been lucid dreaming for plenty of years now. The way i see it is that they are focusing your memory to stay alert, a bit like when you go shopping without a shopping list, there's that bit of your mind that is constantly active waiting to see the thing you need to remember to buy. Mindfulness is handy but unless you're some kind of radioactive zen monk, you're still going to need a few mind tricks to keep your awareness ticking away. I don't think it's and either/or choice anyway, reality checks are more than just mindfulness they are a physical act that snaps you out of the moment and gives you a nice way to check for certain what reality you're in. Plenty of times i've done them and been surprised to find I am dreaming.

Thanks!