Mastering Lucid Dreaming With Effective Reality Checks

Reality checks (often abbreviated as RCs by oneironauts) are a pivotal technique for aspiring lucid dreamers, offering a straightforward yet powerful approach to achieving consciousness within the dream state.

Essentially, a reality check involves periodically asking yourself, “Am I dreaming?” alongside an action that can reveal the dreamlike nature of your current reality.

Note: If you haven't yet, be sure to start your lucid dreaming journey at the beginning with our first article here: What Is Lucid Dreaming? The Definitive Guide To Learning How To Lucid Dream

Let’s practice this question.

Right now, as you’re reading this, take a moment to pause and seriously question, “Am I dreaming?” Despite any initial skepticism or worrying about how silly this may seem, engage fully with this question.

Look around for anything out of the ordinary, and reflect on the sequence of events that led you to this moment. Embracing this practice with earnestness each time is crucial - otherwise, the habit might not carry over into your dream experiences effectively.

What are some examples of reality checks?

The essence of performing reality checks lies in their ability to seamlessly integrate into your daily routine, becoming second nature and thus spilling over into your dream life. Here are some proven techniques:

• Look down at your hands. Checking the appearance and number of your fingers can often reveal dream-induced anomalies (often in dreams, hands will appear blurry, misshapen, etc.).

• Plug your nose while trying to breathe through it. This action can defy the physical laws of the waking world if you're dreaming. If you can’t breathe through your plugged nose, you’re likely awake. Often in dreams, you’ll be able to continue breathing even while your nose is closed up.

• Jump in the air. The behavior of gravity in dreams can differ significantly from reality, making this a reliable indicator. Often in dreams, you’ll jump abnormally high, float slowly to the ground or even remain in the air when jumping.

• Look at a digital clock, then look away and back at it again. Is the time the same? Often in dreams, the numbers will change when you look at the clock for the second time (this sometimes applies to reading text as well).

How often should I do a reality check?

Incorporating reality checks into your daily life is key to their success in triggering lucidity within dreams. Aim to perform your chosen reality checks multiple times throughout the day, embedding them into your subconscious. This repetition ensures that the practice becomes an ingrained habit, likely to manifest in your dreams and prompt the critical realization that you're dreaming.

As we delve deeper into the mechanics of lucid dreaming, understanding and utilizing reality checks effectively paves the way for exploring more advanced techniques. With each reality check, you're not only questioning your current state of consciousness but also training your mind to recognize the dream world, thereby unlocking the boundless potential of lucid dreaming.

Whatever reality check you choose for yourself, be sure to perform it numerous times throughout the day. The more times, the better, as it will become such a habit that you’ll be more likely to perform the reality check within a dream. And that’s the ultimate goal – to naturally perform a reality check within a dream that then triggers your awareness of the dream.

Next Steps: Dream Induced Lucid Dream (DILD)

Next, we'll begin learning about a few of the most commonly practiced lucid dream induction techniques. Continue reading below:

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