What is considered correct for a reality check?

I always wonder whenever I do reality checks if I am doing my them wrong. I usually count my fingers on one of my hands, then try to breath through my plugged nose. I try to do them slowly, but most of the time I find myself doing it really quick. Am I doing them wrong?

Thanks,

-Lego (Written on November 10, 2017)

As long as you aren’t doing them automatically or expecting them to show that you are awake… those 2 really checks are good. Really consider that it is/could be a dream.

Thank you for the advice! :happy: If anyone else has anymore information on the subjecr, please let me know!

I’ve tried both those RC with little success. how ever I personally use the the phrase “if this a dream what would I do?” Works really well cause it works any scenario awake or dreaming I’ve triggered more LD this way than any other technique.

Finger counting and plugged nose RC both work great for me. How you do it, fast or slow, doesn’t matter as long as you really feel uncertain about your state. You have to question if you are in a dream or not. If you perform a RC and you’re already confident you are awake, it means little. If nothing else, think about lucid dreaming while doing it. The point is to build a critical mindset where you often wonder the realness of your surroundings. Waking life habits bleed into dreams and eventually you have a lucid dream.

My go-to RC has been trying to breathe while holding my nose, since one of my first LDs involved me dreaming about drowning. I find it very effective because it’s a physical sensation, as opposed to me depending on myself to recognize that the world around me is absurd (if I could do that, I wouldn’t really need an RC, now, would I?).

With that said, one issue with it is that if you breathe in so sharply that you’re sniffing, it can start feeling like there’s pressure being applied to your nose even when you’re not holding it. (Try sniffing sharply right now; you’ll find the airflow a little constricted.) So I’d advise against your breaths being too short. Just try to remember that if you’re in doubt, if you can breathe at all through a pinched nose, try to relax and do it again.

As has been suggested, the more you do it in your waking life, the likelier you are to do it in a dream. It takes a while to make it such a habit that you do it in a dream, so keep at it. Good luck!