Reality Checks: Do they actually work?

Hav u any idea roughly how long it would take if you did 20-30 a day before they start crossing over into your dreams?

Not sure, you will know when, because you will start doing them habitually without thinking.

For me, it worked the within a couple days and I had an LD, though… it was very brief. The point is it can work quickly. I wasn’t even doing it 20-30 times a day… I was doing more like 5 (hehehe, not as effective).

I hate RC´s! I had a LD after doing 100 RC one day… But It´s different for everyone. I doesn´t work on me though.

gabbe, it’s probably better in general to focus on LDing during the time when you’re about to sleep… what’s the point thinking about it in the morning then going through an entired day where all your worries and things that are going on just wipe that clean. Last night I did about 2 RC’s… one just before I went to sleep, just by looking at my hand and trying to get my intent right (that I would know i’m dreaming) and it worked! In my dream I looked at my hand and wallah!

But yea… you’re right everyone’s different.

I only do RC s when I think it might be a dream or when someting strage happens*.
It have helped me having maney of my lucids.

*) (Once I was going to take the subway trought the city, but the station did not look like I rememberd.
So I did 4 RC s before I thought abute the posebilety of me going ito the wrong door.)

I have had 4-5LD’s, but not one came from doing a RC, I just ‘know’ in a dream that I am dreaming. I have stopped doing RC’s after my first LD. And i still have them from time to time.

The ting about RC’s is that you question your reality, and if that fails you know you are lucid. Say you do a RC every hour, your mind will automatically do them every hour for you. Of course if you continue doing them. And if you are dreaming, your mind will post a RC in the dream, if its in the cycle, one time in my dream some DC’s started shouting “RCRCRC!!” But that didn’t help me very much… So RC’s doesn’t work that well for me :smile:

RC’s are great way to check that it’s dream or not. In dream there is sometimes a trought “I could be dreaming !” Then, its a good way to get fully lucid.

And RCs irl ? It makes, that we’re thinking “Am i dreaming?” or something like that. It causes DILDs, because there is more of troughts like “Am i Dreaming” in dream. That’s way RCs seems to work on me.

And that’s the point of that discussion.

Yeah i find RCs are good for improving lucidity once i’ve already worked out its a dream but like i said i never become lucid from doing one i just randomly think ‘oh i’m dreaming’ but i’ve been doing a loada RCs today so i’ll see if it does anything.

I think the main point of RCs is to train your awareness and critical faculty during waking time. That’s why it’s important to not simply look at your hands mechanichally and then forget about it. You have to really question the world around you.

RCs may only be a sort of training wheels until you learn to be aware of your surroundings all the time. Which is a great advantage all by itself, and can help maintain lucidity in dreams.

I can tell you from my own experience that RCs can be very effective! :grin: In fact, just earlier this afternoon I had my first lucid dream in over a month, and it was during this dream that I relied heavily on them. However, I don’t do them all throughout the day, only on a few occasions.

This looks like a good point; increasing your awareness is key to becoming lucid. In fact, that may be one of the reasons as to why meditation has been linked to lucidity. It increases the chances that you’ll stop and think, just what if—what if this were a dream?

/me agrees 100% with Orange Element.

reality checks ARE training wheels to ultimately put you in the state of mind to always be aware and never let your guard down. Once you reach that state of mind, you will become able to LD pretty much every time you go to sleep.

I was wondering, maybe ask yourself throughout the day ‘when was i sleeping last’ and take your mind back through the day until its going to bed yesterday. Maybe if you ask yourself this in a dream you’ll just be left at a blank at some stage or you’ll realise oh actually im sleeping now and become lucid??

Yeah that’s actually one of the most effective RCs, and nobody sees you doing anything weird in public. I would still do an action RC (like plugging your nose) on top of this just to make sure you are in fact dreaming though…

I am a complete beginner just like you and I was asking exactly the same question like you. I too was little doubtful about their efficiency, since my dream self carried on blissfully unaware through my dreams, never bothering to do a RC. And then, one morning after a rather lengthy normal dream something changed, and guess what – I did a reality check. The really funny thing is, that my RC passed (ie. result was everything is normal = not in dream) several times and I just kept on repeating before it finally failed and I became lucid (for the first time, that is).

The morale is, that yes, RC’s might at first seem somewhat awkward, but they do work. That said, I must emphasize, that the key is not to just mechanically do your RC of choice, but really ponder whether you are in dream or not. Yeah, I know precisely how puzzled you probably are now that I write this, but give it some time and you’ll get it right.

As for my routine, I use “looking at hand” RC as my baseline, with reading text, mirrors and nose blowing RC’s as options. I don’t really overdo it, just about 20 RC’s a day.

Good luck and persist.

–NL

im also a little doubtful regarding RCs, but id still suggest doing them. i mean, im sure they help.

Well i was doing them quite a lot yesterday but nothing happened, but i don’t expect it to work in one day of course and i’ve done more today aswell so i’ll see what hapepens, thanx for your help everyone.

Well, still hasn’t worked but i stay trying.

After just 2 days of reality checking i’ve had my first LD since joining lD4all so to anyone else wondering about it: they DO work if you do them properly and frequently.

I think this point has been made but I’ll reiterate. If you make a point of actual questoning the world around you with the RC’s like really asking if it is a dream as opposed to goinf through the motions you will be signigicantly more succesful.

Asking about it seriously will carry over into dreams when it becomes habit and if you ask seriously in dreams you will likely reach the logical conjecture that you are dreaming. Preforming RC’s absentmindedly won’t be as effective because you will simply go through the motions in your dream and if the RC fails you won’t really question reality.