I got amazing feedback on my last post, and will just thank everyone that made that possible! If you haven`t read it, I would recommend reading that one before you read this. In this post, I will mostly focus on how to perform reality checks. If you have any questions, please ask in the comments down below
First of all, what is a reality check? And why do you need them? Many people believe that they know when they are awake, but remember that you usually think that you are awake while you are dreaming. In one of my dreams, I was so convinced that I was awake that I told my brother that I would be really angry at myself if I found out that this was a dream. The moral of the story is that you never really know if you are awake. Maybe I am just dreaming that I am writing this right now? How can I know? Well, this is where a reality check comes handy. While it is impossible to be absolutely certain that you are awake, it is possible to know that you are dreaming. There are hundreds of reality checks, but since this is the internet, I will make a top five list. Some of them will work for you, and other won`t. Every brain is different, so it is probably better to try many different checks until you find your favorites.
So here they come, they are not really in order, all of them will work perfectly fine for some of you.
1. Counting fingers
This is one of my personal favorites, and since I have done it so much,
only thinking about counting my fingers may trigger lucidity. In a dream,
your number of fingers may vary a lot. Normally, they don`t. If you usually have
five fingers on each hand and suddenly have six, you are most likely dreaming.
This is very easy to do, just make sure to really question if you are awake when
you do any reality check. If you dont, it won't work
2. Breathing while you hold your nose
This one is also very easy and is the one that always works for me. If you
hold your nose, and can still breathe through it perfectly fine, you are
definetely dreaming. Another version of this is breathing under water.
3. Pushing your finger through your hand
For me, this is the example that everyone is different. I have been able to fly,
teleport and breathe under water, but I have never been able to push
my finger through my hand. Not that it really matters. I have heard a lot of
people saying that they had big success using this reality check, so I
recommend trying it.
4. Looking in the mirror
Warning, this technique may induce a semi-lucid nightmare. If you struggle
with nightmares, I would recommend trying some other checks
Looking in the mirror in a dream will often be quite different from looking into a
normal mirror. While I personally have mostly good experiences, some of them are
creepy. You may see your self as an old version of yourself. You may see someone
standing behind you. But more often you will just see a distorted image of yourself.
If you see anything like this, you will know that you are dreaming, or fall into a nightmare
However, if you are lucid when you approach the mirror, you can often use it as a portal,
which I will cover in a later post about dream goals.
5. Jumping
This test is very fun to do when you are in a dream, as you will most likely
start to fly. When you jump, feel if you jump higher or lower than usually.
This is another test I personally has had quite a bit of luck with.
6. Looking at the time
Look at a watch. Turn away. Look back. Has anything changed?
Closely examine the clock. Is it distorted? If so you are dreaming.
This works with all sorts of clocks, and digital clocks often give you
times that does not exist in the real world, like 10:83. This is a nice little
check to do if you wake up during the night and are checking the time.
7. Backtracking
This one is the most important of all the reality checks in this list
in my opinion. This is a universal reality check that should work for everyone.
You are basically asking yourself what you did to get her. Why are you her? In a dream,
you will often jump from one location to another on the matter of seconds. By doing this
neat little test, you will not only become lucid if you remember to do it in your dream,
you will also live a much more lucid life, which will increase your amount of lucid dreams even more
8. Reading
You will most likely not be able to read big amounts of text.
And the little you read will probably change.
If you read one sentence, turn around, read it again, and it is a different sentence, you are
most likely dreaming.
9. Turning on or off the light
A few people are able to do this while they dream.
I dont know if they have a better imagination than the
rest of us, but most people can not turn on or of the
light in a room for some reason. So next time the light
doesn`t work, remember that you may be dreaming.
10. Drinking
In dreams, it may be hard to drink all the water in a bottle.
It will probably never be empty. If your bottle never gets empty,
then you are definitely dreaming.
That was all the reality checks I had for today, there are hundreds out there. Did I miss your favorite? please tell me in the comments below. Please leave a like if you liked it and follow for more stuff. A resteem would also be really appreciated
Do you have any questions, feel free to ask! Hope to see you around in my next blog post, where I will talk about dream interpretation.
Image sources:
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https: //aluciddreamerslife.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/fingerthrupalm.jpg
http: //www.luciddreamgirl.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/scary-mirror.jpg
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