Question on reality checks.

I understand the point of a reality check; similar to a mantra but an action to test if you are dreaming or not, so when you dream your mind creates that action from you doing it so many times, and you realize that you are dreaming once you see yourself doing that action (correct me if I am wrong.) But I don't really understand what to do, and I find it hard to remember to do a reality check. Lately, I've been trying to push my fingers through my hand every time I walk through a door and then I keep going on. What I'm not sure about is, do I need to do anything else except that action? Do I need to repeat a mantra? I want to lucid dream as quickly as I can, I've been trying for eight months.

Basically an RC is to test if you are awake or dreaming. Whenever you do a RC that is the question you should be asking yourself. If the RC works (in that case your finger goes through your hand) than you are obviously dreaming and you are lucid. If the RC doesn't than you are awake.

I hope that this clears some things up for you ;)

RC is not really similar to a mantra. It is checking reality, as it is said. You need to really ask yourself if you are dreaming. as MarineRecon said^^

You are not really trying to randomly do it when you are in a dream, you are trying to question your reality more.

Awareness is key. You should sign up for classes on here and get some one on one help from some people, that way you can find out if you are doing things wrong easier. :)

Good luck on LDs, if you have questions PM me, or of course the dream guides are here for you as well. They have 3 stars above their name.

DV Academy

I also dito what Brandon said. The DV Academy is a great tool that really teaches people the basic-advanced knowledge they need to know about lucid dreaming. ;)

I copied this from this thread. You may wanna check the whole thread out.

"When you do any RC during day, you expect it to work, because you expect to be in a dream, unless proven othervise.

RC should start with an awareness question, something like "wow, am I dreaming?" and you believe you are. Examine your surroundings and try to find differences between waking life environment and the one you are in at that moment.

Then you RC and you fully expect it to work. Then you say your mantra about next time when you come to question your reality, you realize you are dreaming.

So it's not really the RC that will get you lucid. It's the question you ask yourself. It's the "wow" moment, that makes you stop anything you doing and become aware of where you are. And then this behaviour will start happening in your dreams. You will start questioning your reality in your dreams. Later on, you may even skip the question (automatically, not you will decide) and realize you are in a dream just out of the blue. You still may do RC to confirm (also automatically)."

The full version of my awareness+RC is here: Collection of techniques for DILD.

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Originally Posted by gab

I copied this from this thread. You may wanna check the whole thread out.

"When you do any RC during day, you expect it to work, because you expect to be in a dream, unless proven othervise.

RC should start with an awareness question, something like "wow, am I dreaming?" and you believe you are. Examine your surroundings and try to find differences between waking life environment and the one you are in at that moment.

Then you RC and you fully expect it to work. Then you say your mantra about next time when you come to question your reality, you realize you are dreaming.

So it's not really the RC that will get you lucid. It's the question you ask yourself. It's the "wow" moment, that makes you stop anything you doing and become aware of where you are. And then this behaviour will start happening in your dreams. You will start questioning your reality in your dreams. Later on, you may even skip the question (automatically, not you will decide) and realize you are in a dream just out of the blue. You still may do RC to confirm (also automatically)."

The full version of my awareness+RC is here: Collection of techniques for DILD.

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Alright, thanks everyone! Especially Gab for the information, you've always been a great help to my threads. But another question has been on my mind also, about mantras. I have always heard that mantras should be in present tense, but what if they are in future tense, BUT they also specify the time? For example, "Next time I dream, I will realize I'm dreaming and remember the dream."

I just use present tense because I am trying to get in a state of mind "I am dreaming." I am not trying to get in the state of mind "I will be dreaming." That might just cause a layer zero dream.

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Originally Posted by TofuBitz

Alright, thanks everyone! Especially Gab for the information, you've always been a great help to my threads. But another question has been on my mind also, about mantras. I have always heard that mantras should be in present tense, but what if they are in future tense, BUT they also specify the time? For example, "Next time I dream, I will realize I'm dreaming and remember the dream."

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You are welcome:alien:

That's why if you notice, I omit word "will" from my mantra. "Next time I'm dreaming, I realize I'm dreaming". It may not be gramatically correct, but if it makes sense to you, it will work.

You can change it to "in my dream I realize I'm dreaming" or anything that sounds and feels good to you, you remember it easily and you can say it easily.

But more important thing is that you use emotions with your RCs and awareness.

That's the thing, I'm actually kind of bad with using emotion and visualizing, also with awareness. I don't know what to really do mentally. Also, should I not add "and I remember the dream" at the end of that mantra? I'm trying to find a good mantra that will induce lucid dreaming, but also help me remember my dreams.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TofuBitz

I don't know what to really do mentally.

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When I repeat my mantra before I go to bed I personally try to do nothing with my mind except focus on each and every word of the mantra. That is why I recommend to make the mantra as short as possible because it is easier for your brain to remember your mantra and take it into effect.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TofuBitz

That's the thing, I'm actually kind of bad with using emotion and visualizing, also with awareness. I don't know what to really do mentally. Also, should I not add "and I remember the dream" at the end of that mantra? I'm trying to find a good mantra that will induce lucid dreaming, but also help me remember my dreams.

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Your dream recall should be taken care of by you writing in a dream journal. Doesn't really make sense to have a LD, if you don't recall your dreams. You might forget you had one same way you forget a regular non-lucid.

Until your dream recall is up, write in DJ, drink water before bed and each time you wake up (it will likely wake you up after your dream so you can write it down) and use mantras like "I wake up after every dream and remember it"
"I remember my dreams"

If you aleady remember at least 2 dreams a night, you can use your mantras to induce LD. By themself, they are just MILD. If you add RCs and awareness, you got yourself a DILD, which is more potent than MILD.

Not sure if you read this article about mantras, RCs, awareness for DILDs. Collection of techniques for DILD. Check it out and ask anything. Happy dreams:alien: