Thread: Ack! Annoying reality check issue

Last night I was dreaming, and in the middle of my dream I said to myself, "this must be a dream", and did the nose RC. It DIDN'T WORK, and I indeed COULD NOT breathe through my nose. I think this is because I have a stuffy nose like 24/7 so this carried into my dream world.

Either way, this was a real piss-off because I lost a perfect opportunity to have an LD.

Anyone have any other types of RCs I could use? I've heard of the lightswitch one but heard it was unreliable. What do you folks use mainly?

I've also had the nose one not work once. I rarely use it anyway. I've done it a few times but it's usually after I already know I'm dreaming. I just thought it was cool to do. But, like I said, once when I did it I could not breathe. I was already lucid by then but I definitely recognized the failure for what it was.

I usually pause and really examine my surroundings for anomalies in-congruent elements. I also like to look at text and signs multiple times and try to notice things that change. I look at digital clocks or digital tuner displays multiple times. The classic double-take, only slower. Anything with a digital segment display serves the purpose.

A few times a day I will look at my hand. I try to remember to look in mirrors as a reality check but only remember to do so when I'm in my bathroom at home, taking a p!ss.

The other RCs (finger thru palm, telekinesis, changing colors of things, etc...) are things I save for when I'm already there. I just like to play.

You could practice using dream signs if RCs don't work. For instance before bed you could say to yourself something along the lines of, "Next time I dream about someone famous I will know it's a dream." Maybe go through your dream journal and see if you find any patterns that you could use as dream signs.

Originally Posted by Mes Tarrant

You could practice using dream signs if RCs don't work. For instance before bed you could say to yourself something along the lines of, "Next time I dream about someone famous I will know it's a dream." Maybe go through your dream journal and see if you find any patterns that you could use as dream signs.

Aye, that's exactly the practice of using dream signs. It's why recall is important - you recall and record dreams, then go through them and find dream signs - things that appear in your dreams periodically. Then, it's a matter of linking reality checking to those things all the time, while awake and then hopefully while asleep.

Exactly. Can take practice though. When I first started to LD, my dream journal was filled with dreams about school and me writing in the margins "come on, LD!!".

Same thing happened to me last night, except with different check. I used the clock one, it failed but I didn't become lucid haha.