I’m finally getting back into LD’ing (writing in my DJ right now, in fact). What I’ve been noticing lately is that even though I apparently seem to look at text and digital stuff in my dreams, it doesn’t change. I haven’t yet had an LD, so I’ve only experienced this in ND’s. It’s really weird though, since that is apparently a very reliable RC. Am I just not paying attention enough when I do RC’s in real life? Or maybe not watching for long enough?
This is definitely not the first time that this has happened, either; I’ve read billboards before no problem. I can’t remember what the things I read say in the morning, so maybe I only think that I read them.
On another note, I’m already (after two nights) back up to 3-4 dreams a night (not in full detail, but I’m getting better), so I’m hoping to make a good run of it this time.[/i]
Some reality checks simply don’t work for some people, that’s why it’s always a very good idea to do several different RC’s.
Also, when you are in a lucid dream the atmosphere tends to be very different - alien-like, so to speak - so you usually won’t even need to do a reality check to make sure you are in a dream anyway.
One chief point of reality checks is to simply increase awareness - doing them in a lucid dream will make you stop and think, and therefore become more aware of the fact that you are in a dream.
When you have a good handle on a dream, that is, once you have a very high sense of stability in your dream, things seem to flow as they would in RL. Most of the time, this is the cause of “being able to read” in lucid dreams, or so I see it. If you really wanted to stick with this RC, I would say force your intent on the clocks; look away from a clock, imagine a specific time to be displayed on the clock you were looking at, look back at the clock, and if it displays the time you thought of, it could mean your dreaming. I find this to be a good RC to do during the day when you dont want to pinch your nose in a public area (seeing as it might look a bit odd), however it doesn’t seem to have as plentiful results as the nose-pinch RC.
As far as the reading goes, find it a blessing. Find some other RC’s to do, or be more creative with them, and as laurelindo said, with enough practice you’ll be able to tell your in a dream by simply feeling the aura of the environment.
Don’t worry about not noticing one aspect of your dreams. I generally can read in my dreams, so you’re not alone. Try noticing IWL what IS strange in a dream, and remember to do a reliable RC whenever you see it.
Okay, thanks for the tips. I’ll try to change up my RC’s then. I also try to look at my hands, but that hasn’t become enough of a habit to carry over into the dream world yet. Maybe I’ll try the nose pinch RC too.
I just wanted to say that I love the name of this thread and I don’t think there is much you can do in this situation except do a sort of awareness check whenever you read.
Text in books or other places are crystal clear and readable in my dreams (I can’t memorize any of them xD), so they cannot be used as a RC. Nose-pinching is my 1st and most used RC.
How many times do you look at the text, and how much time do you give it? I suppose if you do it quickly, it will more easily stay the same. But looking several times increases the chance of it changing. I usually check my hand for extra fingers by rotating it so that extra fingers will just reveal themselves as the sequence of fingers gets that far, while TRYING to have extra fingers. And I do it several times. Even if I do not find extra fingers, I will most often be concious enough anway.
There is more than one way to do the text test. There is the “just checking” approach, the “intention” approach, and also the “staring” approach, in which you try staring at the text until it changes before your eyes. Laberge suggests doing all of them, and after that to imagine what it would be like if you actually were dreaming, which is perhaps a little overambitious for most of us. Ah, to have dicipline.
That might be the problem. Generally, I only look at the text briefly, so it might not have enough time to change. I’ve been counting my fingers and looking at my hands lately, but I haven’t really been willing them to change. I suppose that’s another thing I should add to my RC checklist.
I’ll keep trying with these suggestions, thanks again for the great tips Now if my DR would come back, I’d be all set…
Now if my DR would come back, I’d be all set…