Thinking About Reality Checks

[slimslowslider]

I am thinking about reality checks, and am trying to understand how a habit can be formed in a dream by doing something in waking life. One angle on this is to consider smoking - some of the addiction is chemical, some is psychological - i.e. its a habit. I have recently given up, but smoked for twenty years and in all that time I don't think I ever smoked a ciggy in my dreams - I have smoked a few spliffs though. So why don't I dream of smoking? With regard to reality checks - I only ever do them after I've begun to think I'm dreaming. I have tried to encourage an RC habit - but it never works this way - i.e. I'm never dreaming and then all of sudden do an RC out of habit and say "Well what a surprise I didn't realise I was dreaming!" I have managed to expand the repertoire of RCs that I do to check if I'm dreaming (having already suspected as much as I mentioned) by doing RCs during the day - but I don't think this has ever had an effect on my LD frequency. I would love to hear other people's experience/ thoughts on this... --

[eNathan]

I smoked for years, but nevertheless, never once dreamed of smoking. I did, however, have quite a few vivid dreams of me smoking while I was trying to quite. I can't say this for certian, but I think RCs have to be more than just a "habbit". I deduced this simply because that which I do in RL (real life) are usually not carried over into the dream world. I.E, I spend 80% of my time 'awake' coding on my computer, and smoking during breaks. Oddly enough, I rarely, if ever, do these things in my dreams. (although I should mention that one of my greatest development projects was a direct result from a dream I had -- but, again, this is extreamly uncommon). My guess would be that RCs must carried out genuienly -- with the right frame of mind, instead of merely a 'thoughtless habbit'.

[Merlock]

Smoking isn't a habit, it's an addiction. A habit is formed not just by repetition but by will and wanting. Doing reality checks and really wanting to figure out whether you're asleep or not during the day will most certainly bring about the same actions during sleep. It's only half a habit and the other half a physical practice of an intention that you have.

[bushi]

I actually had a dream last night about going to the service station and buying a packet of smokes. I am currently trying to quit, and in my dream I asked myself why I bought them when I'm trying to quit. It probably also happened because I read this thread yesterday too, not sure.

[MexicanDreamer]

I have been smoking for about 5 years , but I have never had a cig in a dream aswell . One question , you said you have smoked mj in dreams , did it get you high ? Im thinking getting high is a physical response to an external substance . I dunno tho

[King and God]

I also need to be suspicious first in order to do an RC. The best way to make it a habit would be to do the reality check several times through the day. But do something simple. For example, hitting your hand lightly into something, causing you to feel a very little amount of pain, is a technique I have used. Since it doesn't hurt, you will not fear it, causing you to feel absolutely nothing if in a dream, while you in walking life will feel a light pain.

[Mickeys_Elbow]

The pain RC isn't the most reliable one I've found. I feel pain in dreams and if I hurt myself as a RC I will still feel it if I'm dreaming. The only foolproof one that I've found is plugging my nose. If I'm dreaming I can still breath when all my airholes are covered by dream hands. Another one I've heard people using and being very successful with is looking at their hands. Just simply looking at them makes them lucid. I've never used it before but I hear it works.

[theyearthreethousand]

The pain RC isn't the most reliable one I've found. I feel pain in dreams and if I hurt myself as a RC I will still feel it if I'm dreaming. The only foolproof one that I've found is plugging my nose. If I'm dreaming I can still breath when all my airholes are covered by dream hands. Another one I've heard people using and being very successful with is looking at their hands. Just simply looking at them makes them lucid. I've never used it before but I hear it works. [/b] I feel pain in my dreams aswell.. pain on a level I haven't ever felt before in RL.. which is sad. Even when I tried the hand RC my hands went on fire and I got a extremely bad case of 'pins & needles' which hurt. That was in the early days though. :¬)

[slimslowslider]

Thanks for the thoughts folks (try saying that quickly&#33 - I think its confirming what I suspected... As i mentioned - I'm trying to get my head around the subtleties of this after something that came up in another post The Fatal Flaw With RCs I've also been doing alot of reading on DV (unfortunately the search engine won't let me look for "RC" as its only two letters long). In summary - it seems that there are several things that performing waking life RCs are ideally trying to achieve: 1. To get into the habit of questioning reality. 2. To develop/ fine-tune whatever senses or processes you use to do the RC. 3. To improve your ability to set intentions - "I will question reality regularly, whether awake or asleep." 4. To become more present-centred and aware generally. Note - many people on DV are suggesting that setting a clock to remind you every so often to RC is a good idea. Others thought it was not - because a) there is no intention, b) you would need a clock to beep in the dream to remind you to RC. I.e. its a habit like smoking - not an intention or an increased awareness in the present (and thefore will probably not carry over?) So it is not necessarily the RC per se that will create a DILD - but the habit of questioning reality and the tuning of the senses that will make you suspect that you are dreaming? If necessary the RC may confirm this suspicion and/ or thereby increase lucidity? If you disagree and think your DILDs are RC induced, then can you say what made you think to perform the RC in the dream in the first place? I know Stephen la Berge recommends getting into an RC habit by setting reality checkpoints; like every time a dog barks/ you pass a door frame etc... Does this translate into the dream? I.e. do you hear a dog bark, do an RC then realise you are dreaming? Or is it simply that you are becoming more aware - more present-centred? I would suggest it is entirely the latter - what say ye? I've set up a poll here to try to explore the relationship, if any, between LDing and the dreamer's leraning/thinking mode (visual, auditory, kinesthetic). Part of this is the hypothesis that the most effective RC, (because it is really about tuning your senses in the moment), should be one that plays to the strengths of your dominant learning mode. Still thinking about it... One question , you said you have smoked mj in dreams , did it get you high ? [/b] No I took a magic potion once - some kind of nectar of the gods - and it was VERY psychedelic.

[Dragos Dreamer]

Personally, the ONLY RC I ever use is my digital watch. Nothing sets off my reality checks (completely random...it hits me and I do it), I don't look around and ask myself I'm dreaming, and if my watch displays the same time when I look at it the second time, that's it. This technique has never failed me (that I remember of anyway) when I perform a RC in a dream. Half of my 3 dozen or so lucid dreams were triggered by this RC and the other half were spontaneous awakenings. I have tried to "rationalize" when performing a RC...meaning checking the surroundings, figuring out whether I'm in a dream or not...but I found this method to be too time consuming and drawn-out to be useful to me in any way. Basically, all I can say is find a method that fits into your life and doesn't cause you to hate performing RC's.