Originally Posted by
youssarian
Eh... I'm more of a knowledge guy than an experience guy. Of my lucids (and I clocked in my 35th last night :woohoo:) most of the time it's just a random realization that I'm dreaming. The sensation that accompanies me becoming aware is interesting. I guess I could say it's how it feels when you wake up and consciousness begins. Only three times did I ever do an RC in the dream because I noticed something wasn't right. And I have no stinking clue what my DS's are... yet.
In one of my earliest LD's, I was looking at the sky and saw two crescent moons. I looked to the left and saw a space shuttle with a module for the international space station. Then I look to the right and the moons are replaced by two darkened planets.
I say to myself, "That can't be right!" and try to whistle (one of my preferred forms of RC'ing). For some reason it's almost impossible to whistle in a dream - almost. I am unable to do so and realize that I'm dreaming. Then I tried getting freaky with a lady friend and ruined the dream...
In another one I was walking with a couple kids and said, "Oh by the way, let me do a reality check." When I see my pinky has sprouted a half-finger bud, I become lucid and begin trying to solidify the dream by feeling the environment around me.
Now, will the watch pop up? It may very well do so if you want it to. But my advise is to do more than one type of reality check at once. There are many that I can think of off the top of my head: see if you can read some text, see if a clock looks normal, see if your reflection is normal, count the fingers on your hand, try to whistle, try to put your finger through the palm of your other hand (I did that last night!), try to turn something electronic on, etc.
Oh and, when doing RC's, you should also do them when you enter a new room or environment as when you enter a dream, it's most likely not going to look exactly like your bedroom. Also do them whenever you wake up, so as to catch those pesky false awakenings; when something doesn't work properly, like a light that doesn't turn on when you hit the switch; and of course, when you see a DS.