Thread: Okay.. please help... soo confused

Alright, the reality checks that you are talking about are really a way to remain conscious and focused on yourself and your reality. What you do, is any time something "dreamlike" occurs, you should conduct a reality check. That is, anything that will draw your attention to the fact that you are in a dream.

For me, I like to try to push my finger through my palm, look at the number of fingers on my hands (usually +/-5 in a dream), look at my clothes and try to remember if I put them on or not, try to place where I am in the world (works if you are in an unfamiliar place), etc. Some people like to pinch their nose and breathe, because in RL you wouldn't be able to, but in a dream you can.

Now, you should do a few of these reality checks any time something seems strange, or unusual, or something isn't working the way it should, or you have any sort of deja vu, or any time you can't understand what someone is doing and then suddenly realize it (this happens a lot in my dreams).

Every time that you do a reality check you should pause everything else that you are doing, look around yourself, and try to figure out why it is that you aren't in a dream. Do a few of the reality checks (sometimes they don't work, so always do more than one). Do this as often as those strange circumstances (or whatever serve as a stimulus for a RC) occur. There is no set amount you should do in a day.

Once you get in the habit of doing this, you will start being more and more aware. In dreams, you will be more conscious and question whether or not you are in a dream more often and strongly. Then, you'll think that maybe it is a dream afterall, and you'll do a couple of RCs. If your finger goes right through your hand, or if you are wearing clothes you've never seen before, or whatever, you should realize it is a dream and become fully conscious.

The other thing that you are talking about is either hypnagogic imagery, or the WILD technique. Keep practicing! You'll get better. There are tutorials all over the site!

Hope that helped!

sooo do i actully DO these reality checks?

or do i think about doing them in my head and visualize and feel them happening?

Oh, no. You physically do them every time. Push your finger into your palm until you see an indent after you remove your finger. I like to look at my left palm from the side, so that if the right hand's finger tip was to go through, I'd see it. I also try to imagine it, and when you do that in a dream, you'll actually see the finger tip come out the other side
There are some reality checks that people do that aren't physical, such as trying to levitate themselves or other objects, or trying to change the colors of things. I like the physical ones, though, because if I don't believe I can do something, then it won't happen, even if I'm in a dream. Since I know I can't change the color of a wall just by looking at it, I don't think the color will actually change, so it doesn't (in a dream)

Here's an example that just happened: I was driving with my mom earlier this afternoon, and she said something about how she didn't understand why people don't slow down during rainstorms. She said if you crash your car, then you'll end up paying $3000 (she was just saying a high number) in damages.
Now 10 hours later, I was watching the news and a story came on about a police car that drove into 5 foot deep water during a rainstorm, and it caused $3000 in damages. Just as the story finished being told, my mom walked out of the bathroom and into the room I was in. So I told her the story, while staring at my hands to count the fingers. Then I tried to push my finger through my palm, and then I checked the time on a digital clock. I looked back a minute later to see if the time had changed. Since I had 5 fingers on each hand, I couldn't push my finger through my palm, and the time didn't change, I came to the conclusion that I am in fact awake right this moment.

Hope that helps

My mom also just asked that I include this: she is into LDing too, and I've taught her everything I just wrote about RCs. She wanted me to tell you that she's only been doing RCs for about 6 weeks, and the other night she had a dream where she suddenly realized that what was happening didn't seem real. So she looked at her hands, and there were 6 fingers on her hand. She got really excited, and looked across the road at a truck driver pulling out onto the road. He was really excited and waving his hand back at her. He also had 6 fingers! Then his hand got really huge, big enough to cover his face, and she had a moment of triumph of having used a reality check to affirm the fact that she was in a dream. Four days later and she won't stop talking about it! hahaha
So you can see, it only takes a bit of hard work to make it all pay off! Happy dreaming!

Another good way to do RC's are if you see something you often see in dreams. For example, my GF is in a lot of my dreams. Every time I see her for the first time that day, I will do a few reality checks. You can do this with anything that often pops up in your dreams.

Yup, Allen is absolutely right. Such common elements are referred to as "dream signs". You should also do a RC if you see a dream sign. They may stand out and be obvious, but if not, to find out what your dream signs are keep a dream journal for a while, then read through it and look for common sights, sounds, images, strong emotions, situations, etc. that turn up in your dreams.

Alright!! that helps alot.. cause mostly ive just been THINKING about it.. and not ACTULLY PHSYICALLY doing them...

but um.. tyna think of any more questions..

How would i know when to do one

cause when i go to sleep.. MOST TIMES i sleep normally.. and i wake up and remember things from the dream..

But say i was to do a WBTB... ... wouldnt i still sleep normall after the 30-90 mins UP time?

Originally Posted by Yung_JC

How would i know when to do one

cause when i go to sleep.. MOST TIMES i sleep normally.. and i wake up and remember things from the dream..

But say i was to do a WBTB... ... wouldnt i still sleep normall after the 30-90 mins UP time?

Glad I can help you a bit. Remember what I wrote before: "Now, you should do a few of these reality checks any time something seems strange, or unusual, or something isn't working the way it should, or you have any sort of deja vu, or any time you can't understand what someone is doing and then suddenly realize it (this happens a lot in my dreams)."

Don't worry about doing these in your sleep. It will happen all on it's own, believe it or not. You just have to take care of what you do in the waking world, and it will transfer over to the dream world. It doesn't matter if you do WBTB or any other method, it is about raising your awareness and testing whether or not you are in a dream, so that it becomes such a good habit that you are more aware in dreams. When you become more aware in dreams, you'll notice something seems strange and will either just realize it is a dream, or suspect it is, do a reality check, and find out that you are in a dream.

You should also keep a dream journal, and see what pops up in your dreams a lot. One of my dream signs was that my dog, who died 3 years ago, kept showing up in my dreams. I recognized from my journal that I kept dreaming about her, and so every single time that I thought about her, I would do a reality check. The afternoon I made that connection, she showed up in one of my dreams and I just suddenly became very aware and conscious and knew I was in a dream. Even in circumstances where this doesn't happen, you'll see the dream sign, do a reality check just like you got in the habit of doing, except that this time something impossible will happpen so you realize it is a dream.

OMG DUDE!!! WHY DIDNT I MEET YOU BEFORE LOL

YOUR the MOST help ive EVER had...thanx sooo much lol!!!

and also.. cause im kinda interested in DG.. have you found yours yet?

Haha no problem, glad to help like I said
I haven't found a DG, although I did ask a DC to show up and make me lucid. It was actually 3 of them, we made a deal that I'd answer some questions if they told me I was lucid whenever I was in a dream. One of them showed up right after I became lucid on my own in the dream right after, but they never came back after that
I don't really believe in the "mystical" DGs that some people are always talking about. I have enough trouble LDing as is, I haven't really had the time to search for a DC to make my DG and I'd much rather have fun during my LDs, at least until I end this awful dry spell of mine and get my frequency up to where I'm willing to "waste" lucids. But that's only because I'm so skeptical of the whole DG concept

LOL i dont blame you.

i kno thats all im gunna try to do most of the time is fly around the whole damn universe