Reality Checks
Using reality checks is an exellent way to start getting into lucid dreaming and many expert lucid dreamers still gain ludicity from reality checks.
So what is a reality check?
It is testing the environment to verify whether you are awake or asleep. It is a test that will give a diffinitive answer to whether youare dreaming or not. For example, try to put your hand through the wall (i dont mean by seeing if you can punch hole through it) but just see if it will pass through... Now in real life your hand will just stop at the wall and any more pressure added will just push you back and not the wall, but in a dream your hand will pass through the wall.
So by doing this test you will get your answer:
Did my hand pass though the wall? Yes, i am dreaming.. i
have control
No, i am awake.. maybe next time
By failing the test you will realise that you are in a dream and you will become aware that you are lucid
How does it work?
The logical part of your brain is little active whilst you are dreaming, so there are inconsistency between the real and dream world. Logically if you try to put your hand through a wall you wont be able to becuase of the laws of physics, but because the laws of physics don't apply in a dream. If you believe that putting your hand though a wall in a dream can happen, when you try it will.
If though subconsciencely you don't believe that you will ever do the reality test in the dream world and you are firm on the belief that if you try to put your hand through a wall it wont work, when it comes round to it in the dream you will do the reality test, but it may fail and you will assume that you muct be awake, and carry on with the dream reacting to it as though it was real.
Reality checks are all about questioning, you want to trigger yourself to question your environment in a dream... Then start doing so in real life, every now and again think to yourself... how did i get here, look around - does everything seem normal, do a reality check and imagine it failing.
Examples of Reality checks you can use
Trying to put your hand through a solid object/wall
Counting your fingers, looking away and they counting them again
flicking on a light switch (electricity has a tendency not to work right in dreams)
Holing you nose and trying to breath (if you are dreaming you will be able to)
Looking at text and taking a second look (words will distort and change in a dream)
These reality check all give diffinitive answers to whether you are dreaming and for a reality check to work it has to simply answer the question 'Am I Dreaming?' You can use any reality check you want, make one up to suit you. but make sure it have a yes or no answer to this question.
When should i perform reality checks?
you should perform these reality checks as often as you like during the course of the waking day, the more the better. It will get you into a routine of performing them, so there may be a chance you perform a reality check in the dream and it will fail. To try and improve the likely hood of you performing a reality check in a dream. you can use Recurring dreamsigns together with reality checks. For example, if you reguly have a dream about walking up a flight of stairs, in real life everytime you climb stairs, perform a reality check. Eventually it will be embedded into your subconcious and when you walk up stairs in your dream you will automatically peform the reality check, and it will fail
Don't do just one reality check, do several of them, and if you are having no success after a few weeks, try some different ones. You will have more success with some than other, experiment and take a note of how many times you become lucid off each method to see which ones are best for you.
What happens now?
Well, there are several things that can happen now:
Your reality check will pass, you are awake....please try again later.
your reality check will fail and you will become aware of the fact that you are dreaming... this is it. You are Lucid
My reality check fails and i become lucid, what do i do now?
Anything you want. This is your dream. It is a good idea to look in the section for dream control/maintainance, for how to help stabalize a dream and help prevent loss of ludicity by losing your awareness or by waking up.
False awakenings Sometime when you wake up, you may still be dreaming and be fooled into thinking you are awake when you are still dreaming! This happens to some people quite often, and others just dont remember. So everytime you wake up peform a reality check... if you are having a false awakening it will fail and you will become lucid.
Do reality checks always work?
Unfortunatly no, if you perform a reality check and dont believe that it could fail. Then it may pass while you are actually dreaming, and you will continue dreaming unaware of that fact. If a reality check doesn't work for you...... change it! It may be that the reality check is not suited for you.
