Lucid Dreaming: Reality Checks

On  my previous article regarding lucid dreaming and dream recalling I mentioned performing reality checks.

What are reality checks?

Reality checks are “tests” performed inside of a dream. The outcome of such tests may give an indication on whether you are dreaming or not, thus making it the second step into being able to control your dreams. It is, because of it, very important to perform these tests if you think you are dreaming.

When should I perform them?

At any time of the day or night, that you think you are dreaming, and just after waking up.
Sometimes, you may not be able to perform a reality check right away (perhaps you are in public, and you wouldn’t want to look silly jumping through a wall and failing because you are awake, for instance); so it is important that you perform the tests, even if discretely, as soon as you can.

It is very likely that some of your reality checks could fail, even if you are inside a dream. The key to avoiding this is simply to believe they will give a wrong result (something that would never happen in reality).

Next up, I will list as many reality checks as I am familiar with. Chances are you will only use a few of them, but it’s very important that you know them all, as you may encounter one without meaning to perform it, and recognice it as a dream sign.

You should pick a few that you will do regularly.

Lets begin:

Reading: Sometimes, text on a dream will appear garbled, with letters and words that are wrong, that move, that become or are illegible or otherwise obfuscated and impossible to discern, or at least, very hard to read. Look away and look back at the word or sentence. Can you still read it?

Clocks: Clocks may read the wrong time, digital clocks may be impossible to read or have a word instead of numbers, time may go backwards or go by extremely fast.

Breathing: Cover your nose and mouth. Can you still breath?

Look at your hands: This one has worked for me in the past. Look at your hands and count your fingers. Are there more or less than there should be?Count them again. Are they still the same? Can you push your finger through your other hand?