Resistance to Reality-Checking

Hi friends!

Is it just me or sometimes, when we remember to reality check, there´s some kind of mindset like « Oh, i will do it later, i am too busy now! » specially if your RC routine involves aditional steps like planning and visualizing future goals, visualizing everything as a dream, and so on...

This seems like a barrier to overcome, specially for me, to understand that « No, now it's time to RC, i must honor it, let's do my best!»

Don´t let yourself be dragged by lazziness - instead use it as a way to remember to overcome nonlucid habits

Just a random thought !

hi!
you could have various RC for every situations. for example, the ability to blink is also a very fast RC (i know sometimes in dreams we blink too but that's better than nothing)and it is a good solution for when you are very very busy and the CPU of you mind is highly active.

so you don't have to do the same long rich RC for every time you should RC.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by yaya

hi!
you could have various RC for every situations. for example, the ability to blink is also a very fast RC (i know sometimes in dreams we blink too but that's better than nothing)and it is a good solution for when you are very very busy and the CPU of you mind is highly active.

so you don't have to do the same long rich RC for every time you should RC.

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Sure, it's better to just do one step than nothing at all - and blinking is one of my favorite, it´s so simple and natural. And much of the time, while working at the computer, i really need to blink to relax my eyes - so win-win situation !

But you know, a RC should take some reflection in order to be effective, and in order to manifest in the dream as a truly reflective moment.
But yeah, good tip :)

Many of my RCs are just a moment in which I analyse how realistic the world seems. I may simply look at the surface in front of me for 30 seconds and then tap on it one time with one finger. In dreams my finger sort of feels like everything is made of Styrofoam instead of totally solid, and the surface will sort of shift or flex. RCs can be very quick, simple, and still effective.

My kind of resistance is more that I feel so sure that I am awake that it feels pointless to perform a RC at that point.
I know that this is a common mistake, but sometimes you really feel super-awake and there is no doubt, but I am trying to remember that I sometimes think similar thoughts during dreams as well.

Hm, better do a RC right now, I guess. :cheeky:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Yuusha

My kind of resistance is more that I feel so sure that I am awake that it feels pointless to perform a RC at that point.
I know that this is a common mistake, but sometimes you really feel super-awake and there is no doubt, but I am trying to remember that I sometimes think similar thoughts during dreams as well.

Hm, better do a RC right now, I guess. :cheeky:

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Good point Yuusha ! Some part of our mind thinks « Why bother RCing ? Look, this is real !», so RCs can feel pointless, at least for me too. So there must be a conscious effort to overcome this. I like to follow some aditional steps as i mentioned

There's also an often forgotten benefit about RCing: they raise dream vividness and recall - and this increases our motivation to keep working towards lucidity.

Don't forget that the trick is to develop such a regular ingrained habit of questioning reality that you will have a dream in which you do that. In this way it is like how a kid who takes a bus to school every day, may likely have a dream about taking a bus, or a piano player may likely dream about playing one. A lucid dreamer always questions reality, so the are very likely to have a dream in which they question reality.

The point is not to use the RC to tell if you are awake at the moment, but to make this a thing you do so often that you will dream about doing it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sivason

Do n't forget that the trick is to develop such a regular ingrained habit of questioning reality that you will have a dream in which you do that. In this way it is like a kid who takes a bus to school every day, may likely have a dream about taking a bus, or a piano player may likely dream about playing one. A lucid dreamer always questions reality, so the are very likely to have a dream in which they question reality.

The point is not to use the RC to tell if you are awake at the moment, but to make this a thing you do so often that you will dream about doing it.

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Yes, that's true, although it is important to take a Reality Check seriously so that you don't end up doing it out of pure habit "just to get it done" during an actual dream.
Dreams have an annoying tendency to always make you invent "explanations" for everything, so if you aren't suspicious enough then you might start thinking "eleven fingers, well I probably just miscounted them!" (just like that without giving it a second though or anything, lol) or even invent false memories like "I just jumped 100 feet, oh that's right, I am on another planet with weaker gravity and I travelled here on humanity's very first interstellar spacecraft!" or some other stupid far-fetched thing.

I guess the best way to think of it is to always have the mindset "alright, I am probably awake right now, but let me check it anyway, just to make sure...!".

I think the issue is that you have a lot more additional steps for your reality checks (like planning and visualizing future goals, etc.). This additional work probably makes you want to procrastinate.

I'd say keep it simple. Just build the habit of doing simple, consistent reality checks for now. Once you're able to do that regularly then you should add those additional steps.

I like this blinking - doesn't come any easier and less conspicuous - great tip Yaya!

Edit: Well - I need to try it in an LD, see if I really note the difference, but I believe I will.

I use teeth clicking. I gently click my front teeth together as a reality check habit. The way it feels and the odd quality of sound it makes because you hear it both through the air and your skull, just can not be reproduced well in a dream. It is very easy and not usually noticed. Of course my wife sometimes gets irritated (You are awake, damn it!)

I like the blinking too, but how does it work as a RC?
Have ppl attained lucidity with this?
I would like more information about it, couldn't find anything.

I have never tried blinking before as a RC, but I have found ever since I was a child that blinking too hard in dream can cause me to wake up.
Anyway, my issue with reality checks is that they don't appear in my dreams any more. Not done a RC in a dream since I first started years ago, even though I have practised them on and off throughout that time, but now I don't bother because even after months they still don't make it through. Has anyone else ever experienced this too, or know why this may happen?
To make things worse, I am continually missing regular occurring dream signs as well. Things are frustrating right now, but I am trying to turn it around and really get back into attaining frequent lucidity. I'll try and revisit this forum more often, that may help.

sorry for replying late! i didn't checked this thread and i didn't know that you asked about that blinking RC.

well, i never tried it but the idea of using blinking as RC is from this post:


Omnilucidity: Constant RC Tech, Lucid 100% of the Time?

you may find more information about it there.