an idea for reality testing...

[lucy]

I think I understand the whole concept of reality testing, seems to make sense to me. My problem is not remembering to do it but finding something that will work in a dream. The two usual suggestions of either reading some text or looking at a watch wouldn't really work for me (cause I don't wear a watch and rarely encounter text in my dreams). However... I'm very short-sighted and wear strong glasses... so I thought maybe taking my glasses off might work! I've never had a dream where I've had problems seeing things, so the theory is that in a dream I would take off my glasses and still be able to see things... anyone else tried this? : )

[wombing]

hmm, i've never tried the glasses thing, but it sounds like a good idea. a favourite RC i use is to plug my nose tightly and try to breath through it (with my mouth closed of course). if you can take three or four deep breaths you can be positive you're dreaming...and it sure is cool when you actually do it in a dream

[Asclepius]

Originally posted by lucy However... I'm very short-sighted and wear strong glasses... so I thought maybe taking my glasses off might work! I've never had a dream where I've had problems seeing things, so the theory is that in a dream I would take off my glasses and still be able to see things... anyone else tried this? : ) Lucy, I noticed that in dreams I don't even wear my glasses which I need in waking life. I've been trying for about 3 weeks to do RCs during the day - am I wearing glasses? If yes, can I see clearly if I remove them. So far I haven't had chance to use this in dream yet. 8) Let me know if you get it to work in a dream. edit: April 13 - I'm now losing faith in this RC, although I've done it for weeks IRL, never think to do it in dreams/LDs. Also a number of LDs have had visual distortions, so not sure that it would be reliable. Best RC for me has been looking at digital clock.

[Dreamy Pyro]

Nice idea, I just do the old hurt myself see if it hurts trick, I don't practice that in reality though.

[cybereality]

Originally posted by Dreamy Pyro Nice idea, I just do the old hurt myself see if it hurts trick, I don't practice that in reality though. If that works for you then great, but its really not the best reality check to do. First off, you *can* feel pain in dreams (well, at least I can). I have tried pinching myself in dreams and been thrown off because it feels like it hurts. Also, reality checks must be done in waking reality on a regular basis to be useful. You can't just do reality checks when you are dreaming. That doesn't make any sense. The whole point is to train your mind to recognize the dream world vs. the real world. It only works well if you do it in both worlds. // cybereality

[Dreamy Pyro]

Originally posted by cybereality If that works for you then great, but its really not the best reality check to do. First off, you *can* feel pain in dreams (well, at least I can). I have tried pinching myself in dreams and been thrown off because it feels like it hurts. Also, reality checks must be done in waking reality on a regular basis to be useful. You can't just do reality checks when you are dreaming. That doesn't make any sense. The whole point is to train your mind to recognize the dream world vs. the real world. It only works well if you do it in both worlds. // cybereality I don't know if thats a good thing if you can feel pain or not in dreams? I can tell from a dream and reality by not even doing anything, I'll normaly pinch myself in a dream just to influence my thoughts that it's a dream. You then probably ask do I not feel the good things in a dream, I suppose I can say i choose to what i want to feel, if I want to feel cold refreshing water I can, if I want to walk through fire without burning I can. I just need to build my recall up and my lucid dream consitancy.