Reality Checks..what a joke!

[Syruplord]

Okay so I just have a question for you guys. How many of you really need RCs to become lucid? I don't think I've ever had a LD when I needed to RC. I have recently just become lucid seemingly from the start (from what I remember at least. Maybe there's intro parts that I can't really remember). I also have about one lucid per week. What method do people use that get them more often than that?

[DarkLucideity]

Okay so I just have a question for you guys. How many of you really need RCs to become lucid? I don't think I've ever had a LD when I needed to RC. I have recently just become lucid seemingly from the start (from what I remember at least. Maybe there's intro parts that I can't really remember). Congratulations - you're a natural. Not everyone is. I also have about one lucid per week. What method do people use that get them more often than that? Reality Checking.

[CLG]

What method do people use that get them more often than that? That joke you call reality checks.

[Syruplord]

Haha I didn't really mean they were a joke. It's just I never really had the commitment to do it every day during waking life. I actually do remember using a few RCs in dreams but it was kind of after I became lucid. I was a werewolf in my dream and I thought it was weird, so I tried pushing my fingers through each other and I tried making a ring appear in my pocket. They failed though Maybe I will start doing RCs again during waking life if that's what it takes to do them daily

[XeL]

The main idea of RCs is to improve your prospective memory so you will actually remember to ask yourself if you are dreaming. I bet even you do it subconsciously before you become lucid. That shit about counting fingers or looking at your hands rarely works for me. RCing and keeping a DJ are the only things that increase my lucid ratio, they are most definitely not a joke.

[Acala]

I have had five lucids (including one in which I woke up instantly) since finding this site. The first one just happened spontaneously. In the second one I suspected a dream because my body was moving oddly as I walked, did an RC (looked at my hand) and bang! In the third one I noticed that my friend had huge elf ears and I instantly realized it was a dream. In the fourth I saw a tornado and recognized it as a dream sign because I had been doing a mantra about it, but still wasn't sure I was dreaming so I did an RC and bang! In the fifth I was in a tornado but didn't recognize it as a dream sign. But I noticed an oddity in the physics as my house was spinning in the air and bang! So now I do mantras and other prep work with the following dream signs: Tornadoes Friends with altered appearances Odd sensations or attributes of my own body Being in school (happens all the time in my dreams but I have yet to catch on in the dream state) I could probably also use "naked in public". And I could even practice it by going out naked in public in waking life while doing reality checks!! "Don't worry, officer, I am just practicing my reality checks. Am I dreaming?" I can tell you that in one of those dreams, even after I suspected I was in a dream I could NOT tell for sure because of the amazing vividness. Until I did the RC. So RCs are becoming very important. I practice RCs multiple times a day with sincerity. And I am able to get pretty sincere about it because I clearly remember NOT being able to distinguish the dream state without an RC. So as I sit here, I very well COULD be in a dream. RCs are my one thin tie to reality.

[Citrusponge]

When I do a reality check in waking life, I know with certainty that I'm awake. When I'm actively concentrating my attention on the question of 'is this a dream', the answer is just obvious. So I do it just for practice, so I have the feeling of the motions in my memory. When I do one in a dream, I'm on the cusp of lucidity, I already have a hunch of the dreamness of the situation. The value of reality checks, for me, isn't that they let me discover something I don't already know. Instead, they are a reminder, a big fat obvious one, which is useful to a sleepy mind. That is, memory- and logically-impaired mind.

[Jules2007]

I hardly ever use reality checking-not in real life anyway. The two that I like and use are the "nose plug" one and the "finger through hand" one-which I use the most. I only use these in dreams when I've already come to the conclusion that I'm most probably dreaming-just to make sure. I performed RCs in real life for a couple of years and they didn't help me at all. What I get lucids from now at about a rate of 3-4 a week is just auto-suggestion really, and affirmations-I haven't been able to WILD successfully yet. A WBTB followed by "I will realise I'm dreaming!" affirmations usually does the trick. That and DEILD is good.

[lakeoffire]

It's never worked for me either, but I've only had one. I'm not doing too good this time round.

[EspadaInMyCloset]

The only RC I ever use is nose-pinch, because all the others fail me :/. My hands are always normal in dreams, when I read something, it's perfectly clear, even checking a digital watch. I probably don't have an imagination, I'm usually pretty sure I'm in a dream before RCs, sometimes it just come out of nowhere, but I RC to 'check' and make sure.

[Hukif]

Most of my lucids come from RC, though I can only use 2 as the rest fail terribly, so RC is absolutely necessary <.<

[Shift]

The purpose of a reality check is to test whether or not you're in a dream. If something impossible works, you can deduce that it's a dream. If it doesn't, you can deduce that your RC has failed, and try a few more before deciding you might be awake. RCs are not for the development of prospective memory. Awareness and memory exercises serve that function. Prospective memory is used (in lucid dreaming & RCing) to remind yourself to merely question or to reality check to dreamsigns and other unusual things. Lots of people don't require a 'physical' reality check- they can review their memory and realize that the timeline of recent events makes no sense, that the location isn't real, that the people aren't real or shouldn't be alive, etc. If you don't need to RC, if it just happens very often that you know you are dreaming, then congrats- you're a natural.

[Syruplord]

congrats- you're a natural. The strange thing is that I never had a lucid dream until after I found this website, started RCing and dream journaling for a while, and began having lucids after maybe a year of practice. I guess those techniques are good for training your brain and being "natural" is just like learning to do it on your own after that. Like a child having a few music lessons then realizing he can make all sorts of awesome music without thinking too much. ? dreamjournaling is still very valuable. I've found that I lose a level of clarity and detail in my dreams if I don't DJ for a while.

[Lucky27]

I agree with Shift. "The purpose of a reality check is to test whether or not you're in a dream." A reality check is not necessarily a tool which one uses to become lucid. It's more of tool to confirm or test whether a certain event was what we call: real or imagined. Some people are more aware of their surroundings than others, as Shift states "Lots of people don't require a 'physical' reality check- they can review their memory and realize that the timeline of recent events makes no sense..." A common example, mentioned by Acala, is being naked in public. At first glance everything seems normal. People are stopped at street corners--maybe people you've seen somewhere else,--cars are passing by, you're late for work, or school and you need to hand in an important paper. It's a normal day, just like any other hurried and emotionally oppressed day. You need to be somewhere quick, there's no time to stop and take a breather. You rush out the door to the bus and notice something strange. [The bus is more crowded than usual and many peers are staring at me, oh well, they all have projects to turn in as well, I'm--I'm forgetting something...oh, my coat, and my shoes!? I can't be late, no one is going to notice anyways.] RC As several thoughts and emotions are firing in your brain, relaying possible actions and outcomes of this single event, you forget that you saw mail car was delivering mail at 6:30 in the morning. You forget that the brand of dedorant you used this morning was not 'Old Spice' but 'ol'Sport'. You missed the yellow robin outside the kitchen window. You didn't notice how clean your room was, or that your furniture had been re-arranged. You don't realize that the music you hear on the bus is the same from the music in your MP3. No, instead you need to make it to school on time to impress your friends, teachers and family with a half-assed term paper. And then the alarm goes off. wtf Nix the dream journal. I need to snooze this one... If I go back sleep I know I can go lucid, I was soo close. All this only to be distracted by another dream(s) and a fast-fading recollection of what was once such a vivid dream with many opportunities. Take a step back. Look around you. Make it a habit of continually asking yourself questions...perhaps you'll find some answers. Talk to all entities and be interested in what they have to say, you never know when information they teach may come in handy.

[Shift]

You lost me after 'common example', but... yea. Just a test. Hence the test/check part of the name. It's a simple concept.

[edge0125]

Like shift said. Reality checks are used to test whether or not you're in a dream. And i think that every experienced lucid dreamer uses them.

[XeL]

The purpose of a reality check is to test whether or not you're in a dream. If something impossible works, you can deduce that it's a dream. If it doesn't, you can deduce that your RC has failed, and try a few more before deciding you might be awake. RCs are not for the development of prospective memory. Awareness and memory exercises serve that function. Prospective memory is used (in lucid dreaming & RCing) to remind yourself to merely question or to reality check to dreamsigns and other unusual things. Lots of people don't require a 'physical' reality check- they can review their memory and realize that the timeline of recent events makes no sense, that the location isn't real, that the people aren't real or shouldn't be alive, etc. If you don't need to RC, if it just happens very often that you know you are dreaming, then congrats- you're a natural. I use RCs to train my prospective memory, then again, my reality checks aren't like normal reality checks.