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I think the concept of reality checks is that you’re supposed to do them regularly in waking life. So when you’re in a dream (and think you’re awake), you’ll just naturally do them out of habit.

Hello Ninjamanatee200, if you wish to explain better, please do.

I am just being cautious here, because if I got it right, it would seem that you only have some kind of passive dreams that sound like a movie where you can only watch and do nothing. You might wish to confirm.

Actually, I believe it’s the awareness that comes with doing the reality check and that gets carried on to the dream world by force of habit is what achieves lucidity, the RC being then just that, something you can use to make sure it’s a dream. What I’m trying to say is that doing a RC mindlessly would not usually yield results. In my experience, a sudden rise in awareness is what prompts me to RC, not the other way around.

Now, I hit quite a dry spell with lucid dreams lately but here’s kind of been my experience with Reality Checks (RCs) thus far.

You don’t just want to do an RC at random points during the day, you want to do them routinely at things you do every day. My preferred method is the “holding-the nose” technique, and I do it in situations that are often concurrent between my waking life and what I dream about. I’m driving? Do an RC (At a stoplight, of course :content: ). I look in a mirror or I’m getting ready for bed? Do an RC. I’m in a class I dream about often? Do an RC (Though for this one I’ll do the finger through hand method just so I don’t look ridiculous, haha).

Now, the purpose behind RCs is a bit both of what AreYouMe and Alot said. You do them routinely and in situations that are commonly concurrent with your dream life so they are more likely to happen in a non-lucid dream (This is how it happens most for me). I also do RCs in situations that do seem overtly strange for me (Such as a room being extremely quiet or a normally busy part of my campus being dead), because it does encourage a sense of the world around me, however I’ve noticed this is a bit more difficult (At least for me) because often times in my dreams - as it is with most - nothing seems out of place.

To be honest I rarely get LDs from doing RC alone. It is other way around - i do RC do prolong LD. But they are helpful for FA though. In FA nothing seems out of place except I “wake up” at grandma’s home or with my headphones on (in which I never fall asleep with them) or some other ordinary-out-of-place setting. So just do RC plain-minded, don’t expect it will fail because everything seems normal. I get surprised once in a while with that.