(Maybe this has been done before, in which case sorry, delete if you must)
Post here best you can what exactly goes through your head during a reality check… whether its absolutely nothing or complete focus on a LD… tell us what that means for you, whats most effective, and so on.
Aswell, more knowledgable dreamers leave some tips and experiances for others. This is loose talk about reality checks in general.
… I’m off too sleep now though, I will give some of my thoughts in the morning. Peace
I’ve started taking a new approach to RC’s about a week ago, after reading some very well thought out posts on the forum here by drow and Robert Waggoner.
What I do, several times throughout the day (but at least once an hour) is take just 15 seconds to:
Sometimes, if I see something strange while I do this, I’ll actually perform the action of a RC, like my favorite nose-pinch and trying to breathe in. But I found that I usually become lucid in my dreams without needing to perform the action.
By the time I become more aware of myself, I usually just “decide” that I am dreaming, so that’s how and why I’m doing my reality checks the way I do them. By taking the time to become “aware” of myself in waking life, and making that a quick and easy habit, I aim to have this habit manifest itself in my dreams as well. I only need to stop what I’m doing and become aware of myself. I don’t need the actual reality check, because I’m already lucid before I do it (though I sometimes do it just to check and make sure).
Oh yeah, I say I do them at least once an hour, but I don’t go by any clocks or anything. I used hypnosis to root this firmly into my mind, that I want to do it often. I could have done it without hypnosis, by I like to listen to a hypnosis track before I go to sleep. Very relaxing.
This post is the one that made my decide to change my approach.
hey you seem to have a good grasp on your RCs. mine is similar in ways. its a feeling that comes, and as i observe things almost glow. although i feel when i see things i shoudlt “know” what im looking at, but rather see what im looking at, this sound right?
RC are becoming more and more a habit, they come out of the blue now roughly every hour or so. im wondering… as you become more used to the feeling of lucidity do does the answer to “am i dreaming” become more clear when in WL? seems like it would… like you plant seeds of awareness that can come up in LDs and WL.
ill update more as i find what works and what dosent, and go in more depth as far as i can, thats my goal for myself and others in this thread.
Well, it’s not so much a state of mind that makes me question my reality as it is one that makes me more aware of my existence. I don’t take waking life for granted when that feeling hits me. When I stop taking a dream for granted, I become lucid.
So really, I don’t have to ask myself if it’s a dream. But what I tend to do is that, despite me feeling that it may not be a dream, I force myself to see/think that it could actually be a dream based on my sensory perception.
Although for me that’s easy, since I’ve had plenty of lucid dreams, and I’m good at recalling dreams, so I know what they “look like.” And they just look real.
I will say, though, the amount of LD’s I’ve had recently has gone up tremendously.
On October 8th I had my first LD of the year. And I had seven more after that. This month, in just five days, I’ve had three lucid dreams.
My reality checks in WL just are never solid enough, I truly try to question “am I dreaming?” and I just already know I’m not dreaming. And this is what I think carry’s on into my dreams possibly. Recently thow in my dreams I’m noticing when I wake up and think about the dream I just had that I study my scenery I’m in alot more, which is a reality check but i’m just not noticing my scenery is completely whack. Which is a good sign I’m getting better I guess. 
Just need to have my first LD, then I think it will all become alot easier. My dream recall is getting really good aswell.
I need to really get my lucid mindset on, just asking the questions “Where am I?” “What was I just doing.” I feel these questions will really help with becoming lucid. 
i use state of mind or mindset very loosely because i know how extensive it could be. but you said “one” so in the end maybe it is a state of mind? … just taken back from many of our daily worries and internal dialogue, focusing in on our main senses.
ahh yea, i thought having more LDs helps, i see it does.
wow i hope to have LDs like that at some point
VTD i do know how that feels to just know your not dreaming, but with time and experience with having LDs it should get more plausible that you are dreaming, and the feeling of WL kind of escapes you… thats what im noticing were i am now.
mix in some meditation aswell.
Hi
I have a question for you guys. I have a few idea about RCs and i just wanna know what do you think about them.
I wrote a little (?) Question mark on my hand where i can see it time-to-time. Every single time i see it a do a RC.
Asking myself about what did i do in a last five minutes or what im gonna do in a next five minutes . or my favorit is open up a book and trying to imagine something really weird thing on its pages.
How effective is this ?
Or instead a question mark i wrote a number on my hand today. A number which has a meaning like 666 or my pin code 
D). and when i see this number i cover it with my other hand and trying to change it.
Could it be a good indicator ? or is it untrustable ?
An other thing what i do that every single time before i open a door a try to do the same thing that im trying with those books. im trying imagine something different behind that door. if nothing changed then i know this isn`t a dream but just to make sure i do an other RC.
Is there anything wrong with “my” techniques ?
What do you think ?
Thanks Utah
I myself don’t know enough to really answer that, but they seem like they could work, i guess trial and error can give you results.