I tried doing my reality checks several different ways so far, and I found one particular way to make a little more sense (though it’s harder to get used to). What I do is I do a reality check every time i change the “setting” i’m in. For instance, if i go to a store to buy something, i do a RC when i enter the car (since i’m in a new environment), when i enter the store, when i enter the car again and when i come back home. The frequency of the RCs is good enough (it’s not like you do them every time you walk in a new room) but it’s hard to get used to doing it automatically, so right now i always have to think about it. Before i used to do my RCs every time my watch beeped (which is a little stupid, because you have something telling you to RC, so it’s not a conscious decision, therefore if you don’t hear a beep in your dream you’d never RC (which is why i’m a bit confused about the PEST device))… and i also did RC’s randomly for a while, but that didn’t work very well.
So when do you perform your RCs and how well does it work for you ?
Usually I just do an RC whenever I think about it, which can be a couple times in an hour to once or twice a day, depending. Normally I just look at my hand to see if anythings different, but lately ive been actually counting fingers and going through the sequence of events that happened before the RC.
Normally they work very well for me. All of my very low level Lucid Dreams have been induced by an in dream reality check.
But I like your idea of doing it every time you enter a new enviroment. As you said, it makes more sense. Has it worked any better for you?
i do a reality check whenever anything happens, i go into a new environment, i walk through a doorway, i need to go to the bathroom (bad experience as a 7 year old child), like a million times before i go to bed…
i don’t know… it’s weird, my dream recall went down to zero lately (not enough sleep, too much work and all the stuff)… all i remember lately is having weird dreams… i don’t know what they were really. for instance, this morning i had a dream about having a weird dream… and i don’t remember any of the details.
i’m trying to get back on track (i stopped LD-in in march or april i think and since then i had no luck at all).
then again, i’m fairly new at this, i got into it last november.
as for the RC, it’s hard to get used to doing it intuitively. I have to think about it every time, and when i don’t i usually do the RC after i’ve spent some good time in the environment. my assumption was that we always change environments in dreams, so i thought it would be a good idea to try and do the RC’s this way.
i really only do them when i remember, which is about 5 times a day. i think i am getting better though, doing them more frequently and more thoroughly. at the moment i’m using the method of examining my hands, counting the fingers on both hands, and also holding my nose and trying to breathe through it. can anybody recommend any variation on those?
I do RC when: 1) I wake up (if I remember to do it); 2) I am in a staircase; 3) I see a fountain; 4) I open a door; 5) I go to the bathroom; 6) I read a poster; 7) whenever I remember to…
But it doesn’t seem to work too well… I have had only one RC-induced lucid dream so far.
The idea of changing environments… It sounds reasonable, but IRL we change environments deliberately and there always is some action causing the change… We know that now we are in the shop, and now we are going to get into the car. But in a dream it can happen so, that the shop will just transform into a car, so the RC may not work this time… I’m not sure though, I think it is still worth trying.
I have had only one RC-induced lucid dream so far.