Thread: Reality checks

Pretty sure this is posted somewhere, but some common one's are.
-Pinch your nose and try and breathe through it, in a dream you should be able to.
-Flip light switches, light levels in dreams are reasonably constant, so they shouldn't work.
-Look at a digital clock than look away and back, if the numbers change or are unreadable, it's a dream.
-Jump in the air, if you float around or anything, you get it.
-Try to read small text, then look away, same deal as the clocks.
-Look at your hands, to see if they look wrong, try sticking your fingers through your palms.
-Mirrors may behave odly and you may be able to walk through them in a dream, so try tapping on them.

Do you have a cellphone? Try dialing a phone #. Usually the numbers will keep changing
and it won't dial correctly in dreams. Thats one of my dream signs I had.

Memory reality checks work best for me. Try and remember how you got to where you are, if you can't then you are asleep. Also try and remember what you've done for the past few hours, if you have gaps in your memory then you are dreaming.

The mobile phone trick is a little out of the question, since it has to be something I can do in almost any situation (the mind will likely shake me off the trail with socially awkward or threatening situations). The memory one is interesting, but it's training yourself throughout the day until the checking becomes a norm of your behaviour. Today at work and yesterday at home I had been trying to push my fingers through my palms, examining my hands closely, pinching my nose to check my breaking and observing digital clocks wherever possible for oddities.

It's going to be the sort of thing that takes a lot of patience, and I'm not sure my sleeping mind is disciplined enough to concentrate on how I got anywhere for any length of time. That said, I could probably also convince myself that pushing my fingers through my hand is normal since that is what I had hoped to (and therefore somewhat expected) to see. It will take a lot of patience if I am ever to get anywhere, but at least I may gain a break in a life where I tend to wonder around in a haze a lot of the time. I wonder if I'm dreaming now.

Last night I tried the sticking my finger through my palm. It was my first time doing that and it worked. Although I did not stay lucid as long as I'd have liked, I still consider that a good step.
I can't recall ever doing an RC until last night, and I've had a number of long lasting lucid dreams over the years.

pinch your nose and blow is by far my favorite method. I tried reading something the other night and looking back to see if it had changed cause this has worked for me before, but instead I noticed no change. I plugged my nose as a second test just be sure and it failed!

Alright. I dont think I have ever entered a lucid by doing a reality check in a dream. So Im assuming a majority of my lucids have been WILD. What I dont understand about reality checks is that, if you have to physically do something in your dream to check yourself, arent you already in control? Or are RCs used after the suspicion that you are dreaming? Thanks.

i think RCs are mainly just to get you to think about lucid dreaming more in general. obviously if you already know you're dreaming then there's no need, but if you keep asking yourself throughout the day if you're dreaming then it's just more likely you'll do the same during a dream.

Originally Posted by alteredstate

Alright. I dont think I have ever entered a lucid by doing a reality check in a dream. So Im assuming a majority of my lucids have been WILD. What I dont understand about reality checks is that, if you have to physically do something in your dream to check yourself, arent you already in control? Or are RCs used after the suspicion that you are dreaming? Thanks.

You can control things in your dream but may never know that your dreaming. You can have dream control and no lucidity, you can also be lucid and not be able to control the dream. Its kinda weird but true.
You may not be sure if your dreaming or not, so if your able to do a reality check, then the outcome of the RC may trigger your lucidity.
I think doing RCs even after your lucid will help you stay that way. I find myself slipping out of lucidity often. Now that I know more about RCs I feel I'll improve my novice skills.

That makes sense. Thanks for explaining that a little better.

I have 5 reminders set on my phone that go off throughout the day that remind me to do reality checks. This is working really well for me because I also would forget to do checks throughout the day. I had only been doing reality checks for about 3 days when I did one in my dream and it failed. The problem was, in my dream I just put the 7 fingers on one hand down to me being really tired so I went back to my dream bed. How annoying, missed out an opportunity to LD!

Working well though. I think at least 5 reality checks a day starts to ingrain the habit pretty well. Now anything that chimes reminds me to do a RC.

Good luck.

Phate

Originally Posted by phate0472

I have 5 reminders set on my phone that go off throughout the day that remind me to do reality checks. This is working really well for me because I also would forget to do checks throughout the day. I had only been doing reality checks for about 3 days when I did one in my dream and it failed. The problem was, in my dream I just put the 7 fingers on one hand down to me being really tired so I went back to my dream bed. How annoying, missed out an opportunity to LD!

Working well though. I think at least 5 reality checks a day starts to ingrain the habit pretty well. Now anything that chimes reminds me to do a RC.

Good luck.

Phate

Thats a damn good tip man.
I always froget to do RCs throughout the day. If I wouldn't have thrown my cell phone into a block wall and busted it into 50 pieces I'd set it to remind me too.

Look in a mirror. If your face is disfigured, your dreaming. If it isn't, your most likely asleep.