06 Reality Checks

[Amethyst Star]

My favorite is breathing while pinching your nose closed. 

That's the one I go to first when I think I'm dreaming.  I've also been trying to get in the habit of asking myself "How did I get here?" trying to trace what led up to where I currently am.  I haven't had a chance to try this question out in a dream, but an insufficient answer would key me in that I am not awake.  Most of my dreams move around a lot, so I assume that I would recognize that the progression of events is not logical.

I also don't usually become lucid as a result of RCing.  From my recollection, I always have some sneaking suspicion that I might be dreaming, but performing an RC confirms those suspicions and I can feel free to do as I please.

[Sara]

I go with the majority: pinch my nose and breath.

Works as a 'stabiliser' for my lucids as well. When I find out I'm lucid, lying in my bed, I keep my nose plugged to remind myself I'm still dreaming.

When first reading about this RC, I thought 'yeah right, that's a stupid one', but after 1 experience of a random RC in a dream, I'm a big fan of this one

[Hiros]

I prefer the nose check.
However, I have occasionally explained it away in a dream as not having a good enough grip on my nose...
So I now compliment it with a finger through hand check. So far it's worked well, but I am not in a good enough habit to get lucid from it that often.

Also, the nose check just feels so awesomely weird when it works

[Emerald Wolf]

Whenever I do stop to do a RC I usually pinch myself to see if hurts then check my watch and try to change the time before looking at it again and finally do the breath-through-nose check. Of course I don't RC all that much and am guilty of going through a good potion of the day in zombie-autopilot mode. Its unsettling to realize you have no recollection of what you were doing in the last couple of seconds and yet being able to affirm you are awake. Personally I blame the mindless state of mind on having too much tension during the day.

[thisismylogin]

I use a mix of them depending on what seems the best at the time.
Most commonly I look at my hands and make sure they are normal. I Like it because it discreet. I also like to look and around the room and ask myself where am I how did I get here and is this what it always looks like. text and clock check I usually use thoes before i go to sleep because my clock is right there.
If i am alone i will plug my nose and flicker with the light to make sure it works.
I try to avoid the finger through hand check becuse it grosses me out. Lately I have been sucking it up and using it because the only RC I have ever done in my dream has been the finger through hand check... but it failed. I guess i could change it to the hand through wall check and then it wouldn't be so gross.

I RC as often as I think of RCing sometimes that once in a day and other time it's every hour... I find more I keep LDing on my mind the more chances I have of LDing the LDs I have had are LDs on days I have RC'ed every hour!

[AspirationRealized]

Hello everyone. This will be my first contribution to these community posts, since I am late to the workbook.

My favorite is the finger through palm, and I thank you Seeker for expanding on it... I'll be checking to see if I can feel my nail, the warmth, if my skin is going white, etc.

However, once I've become more accustomed to Lucid dreaming I am going to try to create my own personal reality checks. I believe that literally anything can be considered an RC if the user's belief and confidence is strong enough.

I had two specific self made RC in mind, and both involve a bracelet I'm always wearing. It was made by my dad a few years ago, and consists entirely of wire simillar to barb wire (obviously without the barbs). It was a custom to make bracelets of this style out of elephant hair (my dad and I are taxidermists, so we know all kinds of weird stuff about safari animals), but mine is the only one in the world that I know of that is made of metal. Although it is all one piece, it has little tabs at the top that when put together widen the bracelet's circumfrence, and when pulled apart tighten it.

Since this bracelet is very intimate to me, and I wear it all the time, even in sleep (only take it off for showers) these RCs should be effective for me. One of them was to look at my bracelet and make it glow. This is good because I can do it anytime during the day, no matter what I'm doing, and obviously if I can't make it glow I'm not dreaming. Another was just a personalized version of the finger through palm tech, in which I try to pull the bracelet off through my wrist.

I have decided to wait until I actually have LDs, using conventional RCs, before experimenting with creating RCs. But I do believe that they are not only possible, but more helpful than general techs that are applied to everyone.

[Burned up]

I have never really got to grips with the RC so my input here is worthless, really.  I prod my hand whenever I think of a train (for which I blame MB!) but then, dope that I am, go on a train ride and forget to RC at all 

Only once has a RC actually worked in a dream - out of sheer panic as I wanted to prove I was lucid - I put my finger in my mouth and bit it.  No pain.   .  But it's not a RC I used before then nor since.

[Oneironaught]

I don't have much faith in the 'pinching oneself' RC because you can just as well feel the pain in dreams just as in waking life. Though, if you don't feel it... So it doesn't seem like it would be all that reliable. But I do subscribe the to nose RC and simply asking myself if I'm dreaming and taking a moment to really examine my surroundings and metal state. I also check my digital clocks at home and I often compare more than one with the clock on my laptop.

And I try to take note of any out of place object or activity and environmental anomaly.

[StephenT]

I've hacked my iPhone, and I changed the "AT&T" next to the battery to "Lucid".  Now I RC every time I look at my phone, which also helps me do random RCs and situation induced RCs more often.

You could also make a banner on your homepage to do the same thing.  It works great since I look at my phone so much.

[chris31]

I've hacked my iPhone, and I changed the "AT&T" next to the battery to "Lucid".  Now I RC every time I look at my phone, which also helps me do random RCs and situation induced RCs more often.

You could also make a banner on your homepage to do the same thing.  It works great since I look at my phone so much.

I was thinking the same thing about the banner on the homepage.  I bet many people have dreams coming onto this site, and when its not there or different they will hopefully recognise it as a dream.

My main RC is the nose one.  Usually after that i look at my hands and around me.

[Vex]

I started out using the nose plug check, which works well for me.

The one I use most though is a RC I picked up in a lucid dream. I bit my finger out of curiosity once to see if it would hurt. My teeth closed down on nothing, like biting thin air. In later dreams I started doing this more often, sometimes it hurts but my teeth still sink through flesh and bone easily. If my teeth sink with miminal effort through my flesh (with pain or without) I know i'm dreaming. I think it's similar to the finger through the palm check.

[PeteB]

I tend to do a pinched nose RC, and then finger through hands,  before studying them intently.

Although i've never been any real good at RC's, i'm hoping that this course can seriously improve the way I do them. I usually do them for a few days, and then keep forgetting about doing one, before it fades away into non-existance again

[unseen wombat]

I like the finger through palm technique. I also look at my hands, but that one often fails in my dreams. I also often know already that I'm dreaming before I do the RC, but the few times I don't, it verifies that I'm dreaming.

[yoast]

My favorite is the hand RC, easy and discrete, works every time. I do it with a slight variation.  I look at my hand while holding my hand in the 'vulcan greet' way.

(index and middle finger together and ringfinger and pink together, with a space between thumb and indexfinger and a space between middle finger and ring finger, all fingers extended, for those not familiair with the Vulcan greet)

I do it like this because sometimes when i just look at my hand i'm not instantly sure if i count 5 or 6 fingers (usually that means i'm dreaming, but it takes a while to figure that out). If i hold it in the above position, it's instantly clear.

btw, i tried the nose pinch rc and the finger through hand rc in a LD once, the outcome of both was 'not dreaming', while i was. Jumping in the air and checking if gravity has the usual effect on you always works great.

[Toast]

I just carefully observe what's going on and check whether it makes sense to me. I also sometimes think about what has been happening earlier in the day. Sometimes I try to breathe while holding my nose or do the finger-through-palm RC as well.