If you want to learn more about lucid dreaming using reality checking can help to increase your awareness during the day and can help you with your nightly dreams.
If you use this with lucid dreaming exercises, you can overcharge your efforts and get lucid dreams on your own just by having a reality mental habit of testing yourself.
Reality Checks
A reality check is when you can spot the difference between dreaming and being awake. You see that this is real life and when you wake up you know something strange happened.
If you use reality checks while you are awake, you will soon use them in your dreams and your mind will realize you are dreaming
Good Reality Checks
If you are always able to know that things in a dream world are illogical, then you will be doing reality checks. When you are awake you will know it because you can see, feel, be aware of your surroundings and just because you are there.
When you are dreaming, you will not always know this and that is what is keeping you from being lucid. The mind can lack thought when you are dreaming.
If you want to recognize that you are dreaming, you have to test yourself and find out if you can answer simple questions and if you can do actions that are otherwise impossible in dreams.
How to Do Reality Checks
People can do reality checks by putting their fingers into the palm of their other hand and let them pass through it. If this was real life, you would not be able to do it but most of the time in a dream, your fingers can pass through your hand. That is how you know you are dreaming.
When you are in this state, you can change your environment and focus on where you are and what to do next.
Practicing this technique can help you to know if you are dreaming or not. Then, you can check your surroundings and try different things like putting a cup on the desk and then seeing if it disappears when you look away.
You can also look at the air and question your feelings during that moment. Performing these reality checks can leave you memory cues that can allow you to check things every few seconds.
You need to make sure you have an informed decision each time and that you ask questions that you will not forget. Ask questions and remember what you asked and reach a conclusion during your dream.
Soon, you will be able to ask any question that you want when you dream. You will put your mind in critical mode and soon will reach the lucid state.
How to Do Reality Checks for Lucid Dreaming
Breathing can be the first step. Can you breathe while you hold your nose shut and close your mouth?
- Jumping can be another check. Do you float back down?
- Can you read a sentence twice without changing it?
- Can you use your hand to push it through something that is solid?
- What does the time say on your clock or watch?
- If you want to, can you fly off the ground?
- Do your hands look like they are normal when you look at them closely?
- Mirrors can be a reflection, does yours look normal?
- Can you use math to add numbers correctly?
These are different ways that you can check and do reality checks. If one doesn’t work, try other things such as the palm through the hand. Try to put your hand through a solid object such as a desk. When this happens and you can do it, it will feel weird the first few times.
Self-Awareness
Your brain creates learning experiences based on your real life. IF you have experienced gravity for your whole life then you will not question it. You know you cannot fly or float.
Most adults live their life never questioning things in their world and so our mind sometimes forgets that we can ask these questions. This happens in dream world as well.
If you decide to check yourself on a regular basis, you can create an area of self-awareness in the real world and in your dream world. This can pull you into a conscious moment and it can happen even when you are awake.
This is a direct line to having lucid dreams and can improve your self-awareness. This takes time and needs to be worked on. Pay attention to what I around you and study nature. Look at your hands and imagine if you had more fingers. Have fun and visualize things in your mind.
Troubleshooting
If you are worried about reality checks, remember that your mind can trigger you to have more reality checks and you can do this by leaving notes on the bathroom mirror or on books so that you can remember.
Use mental messages to set up trigger points to relate to your day. Do a reality check each time you go downstairs or each time you see a clock. Make sure that you are doing your checks with reason so that you do not get frustrated or so they will work. Make sure you keep a journal about your dreams.
Remember that reality checks can combine with other lucid dreaming techniques to give you an extra edge. Try meditating and other forms of relaxation to help you with this. Be patient and do not get frustrated if things do not work in your dreams immediately.
If you keep on dreaming, it is more than likely that you were not able to do something in your dream and this might be because you are not able to snap back into reality yet. You need to keep working on this and do not be frustrated if you fail. The mind is strange and can-do things and make you think you are awake when you are not called false awakenings.
The best idea is to do a second reality check so you can check to see if you are in a dream state or not. This can give you simple control of your dream and can send you to full lucidity.