Reality checks

[elenka]

Hi everybody,

Are you doing reality checks? Are they any success? And what exactly you do?

I had a funny experience in my dreams that told me to rethink and change my reality check :)

I work on the computer most of the day and I just set up a reminder to do Reality check every 30 minutes. I think at the very beginning it included more things to check, but after a while it just became "Check you surroundings, ask yourself where are you, ask if everything looks normal and ask yourself if you're dreaming". Finally the reality check worked. I remember asking myself in the dream where I am (I don't remember the answer). Then I remember asking is everything looks normal. The answer was "Yes, everything looks normal". And then asking if I'm dreaming... Well, the answer was "No, I'm not dreaming."

It made me chuckle in the morning. I guess I conditioned myself not just ask if I'm dreaming, but also answer "No" :) Now I make sure that I look at my hands for a while during "reality check".

Good thing is that reality check really works, and it doesn't take long to see the results, it only took my few days. But it's important to do it right to get useful results.

But it was very funny! :)


Regards,
Elena

[Matthew]

Hmmm... the computer. Good thinking, elenka!
I set the hourly chime on my watch during the day (and turn it off at night to avoid it waking me up). When I do the reality check, I not only look at my hands- I recreate the feeling of "lucidity." You know, when you realize it's a dream, it feels like you are in a heightened awareness. So, when I ask myself if it is a dream, I also try to turn off my internal dialogue and recreate the feeling I get in a lucid dream. When my mind starts to wander, I tell myself "that would be the end of the lucid dream...stay focused."
Anyway, it has helped me....
-Matthew

[Matt]

Try making yourself find a digital readout in a dream, they almost always appear extremely hard to read in OBEs. If they can be read at all it usually takes a few moments for them to stabilize.

That's the reality check I use when I'm in an OBE that's so realistic that I'm really not sure if I'm actually physical. I look at a digital cooking timer I have and if it looks complex like a jet cockpit I know I'm nonphysical

[Astralonaut]

As far as digital readouts go, I almost became lucid once, when I looked at my alarm clock during a false awakening type dream. The time just did not make sense. I looked again, and the time was completely different. This was about the only time I consciously did a reality check during a dream. I really thought to myself: "Hey, what's going on? Is this a dream?" Unfortunately I came to the conclusion that it wasn't a dream. Only after awakening for real I noticed that it indeed had been one.

[Tom]

Digital clocks, watches, computer screens ... everything works for me in dreams. I can read a page from a book, look away, and then re-read it. No problem. Jumping up to try to fly, I pause and then drop again like being awake. My reality checks never work and I conclude I'm awake.

[reality.failure]

:shock:

that's what i need to know!

i may have skipped over this part in the intro section but when do we start the RC's? i looked in the index and the first instance i see in the book is for week 2.

so we don't have to begin RCing until then?

[Matt]

Digital clocks, watches, computer screens ... everything works for me in dreams. I can read a page from a book, look away, and then re-read it. No problem. Jumping up to try to fly, I pause and then drop again like being awake. My reality checks never work and I conclude I'm awake.

There was one time that my computer screen was readable and didn't look too complicated, but it still looked very different from the physical version. The time appeared on the lower left corner rather than the right and said something like 39:71. It was stable but it didn't make any sense.

Are you actually able to operate a computer in your LDs or OBEs and do everything like use the internet and so forth?

If you're getting that level of stability, have you tried using OBEs to remote view objects in jars?

[Beekeeper]

Matt, you're my hero at the moment so just ignore this bit because I've told you enough about my failures to get lucid.

I once did a reality check on my hand in a dream. The fingers were all mixed up (wrong order) but I just accepted it. I don't think I do reality checks in the physical with enough frequency or conviction.

[Matthew]

Don't be too hard on yourself, Beekeeper. That's a really good sign!
It seems that lucid dreams come in cycles. When I am at the beginning of a cycle, I start to have dreams where I perform the right actions but don't become lucid. Examples would be looking at my hands and not becoming lucid or seeing a dog with a huge stomach floating through the air and thinking "This must be a dream" and still not becoming lucid. However, when these "failures" start happening, I know that I will be having lucid dreams in the next few days as my dream cycle progresses. (I'll then have lucid dreams for a few days in a row.)
So, stick it out! It really is a good sign.
-Matthew

[Tom]

Frequently I dream of talking with people on the internet, and the computer works perfectly. The monitor looks a little closer to my face than usual, but that is not a big enough detail to trigger lucidity. It is more a matter of how I focus in on the screen. It really does seem to work in the same way as remote viewing as it feels like a way of getting actual new information. The problem is that without lucidity it doesn't really carry over very well into daily life and it isn't really possible to actively guide the experience to get specific information. Being aware of the problem and wanting to change it seems to be gradually making it better.

[Matt]

Frequently I dream of talking with people on the internet, and the computer works perfectly. The monitor looks a little closer to my face than usual, but that is not a big enough detail to trigger lucidity. It is more a matter of how I focus in on the screen. It really does seem to work in the same way as remote viewing as it feels like a way of getting actual new information. The problem is that without lucidity it doesn't really carry over very well into daily life and it isn't really possible to actively guide the experience to get specific information. Being aware of the problem and wanting to change it seems to be gradually making it better.

I've had dreams where I was using computers which made sense. However I've never had an RTZ projection where digital interfaces could really be used. Maybe it's a case that the computer systems in dream planes have an actual function to them whereas the RTZ computers are just conceptual representations

[Beekeeper]

Thanks again, Matt. I hope things do start happening soon.

Keep waking up around three and practising visualisations and affirmations until I nod off again. Felt those invisible hands again last night. This time on my shoulder, which, remarkably, wasn't sore this morning (though it is now after several hours of senior English marking!) Got a whole left arm flutter during my practice today.

I've been learning a lot on your site. Have been reading about phasing most recently. Haven't posted yet.

Cheers

[casp911]

Frequently I dream of talking with people on the internet, and the computer works perfectly.


I've had dreams where I was using computers which made sense. However I've never had an RTZ projection where digital interfaces could really be used. Maybe it's a case that the computer systems in dream planes have an actual function to them whereas the RTZ computers are just conceptual representations

I tried typing "casp was here" on a computer in a dream or AP, I was suprised I could focus enough to type on the keyboard. I was able to write it, but I was interrupted by a physical being and it ended up being something like "casp asjkfl;dsajfkla;jfkd;las" on the screen. For me, it seemed like the letters were blurring. Perhaps I did write askl;jfdsakljfsa lol. :wink:

I tried typing "casp was here" on a computer in a dream or AP, I was suprised I could focus enough to type on the keyboard. I was able to write it, but I was interrupted by a physical being and it ended up being something like "casp asjkfl;dsajfkla;jfkd;las" on the screen. For me, it seemed like the letters were blurring. Perhaps I did write askl;jfdsakljfsa lol. :wink:
From what I understand reading in a dream is generally impossible -- the words one is looking at change from one moment to the next. I suspect the same problem might come up in writing or using a computer.

[escargot]

I had two lucid-dream type experiences a month or so ago. At the time, I knew nothing about lucid dreaming, or OBEs or anything like that -- following up on these experiences is actually what got me interested in the topic, and it's why I'm working on the MAP program now. The two dreams happened on consecutive nights.

In the first dream, I was sitting on a bus, going somewhere. I bent down to grab at my backpack, but instead of my usual backpack, there was a large military-type duffel bag. I looked up for a bit, wondering what had happened to my backpack. When I looked down again, the duffel bag was gone and had been replaced by my usual pack. I remember thinking "something isn't right here...". I looked up and down again, and the duffel was back. I was shocked and frightened, because I realized that this couldn't happen in the real world, then I heard a loud buzzing noise and was violently yanked awake.

The next night, I had a false awakening. It felt like I had woken up in the middle of the night, and I really wanted to know what time it was. I walked from my bedroom to my computer to check the time, but the computer screen had a big rotating analog clock on it that for some reason I couldn't make sense of. Not a problem, I thought, my VCR has a clock on it too. I turned around to look at the VCR, and the clock readout on it was a bright yellow, and the characters on it looked like Klingon or some such, they weren't numbers at all! I realized that the LEDs on the VCR aren't even capable of displaying such characters, and again got frightened because this couldn't possibly be happening. Almost instantly, the loud buzzing noise came again, and I woke up. Needless to say, I practically ran over to the VCR to check that it was normal.

I don't usually remember many dreams, but since I started keeping a journal (and using affirmations) a few days ago as part of the MAP program, I'm remembering more and more. Still, no matter what crazy things happen to me in dreams (just last night I got into a fight with the mistress of a medieval brothel because she was cheating at roulette), I don't question them. Hopefully now that I know more about lucid dreaming, I can avoid the buzz next time and actually take control.

I had two lucid-dream type experiences a month or so ago. At the time, I knew nothing about lucid dreaming, or OBEs or anything like that -- following up on these experiences is actually what got me interested in the topic, and it's why I'm working on the MAP program now. The two dreams happened on consecutive nights.

In the first dream, I was sitting on a bus, going somewhere. I bent down to grab at my backpack, but instead of my usual backpack, there was a large military-type duffel bag. I looked up for a bit, wondering what had happened to my backpack. When I looked down again, the duffel bag was gone and had been replaced by my usual pack. I remember thinking "something isn't right here...". I looked up and down again, and the duffel was back. I was shocked and frightened, because I realized that this couldn't happen in the real world, then I heard a loud buzzing noise and was violently yanked awake.

The next night, I had a false awakening. It felt like I had woken up in the middle of the night, and I really wanted to know what time it was. I walked from my bedroom to my computer to check the time, but the computer screen had a big rotating analog clock on it that for some reason I couldn't make sense of. Not a problem, I thought, my VCR has a clock on it too. I turned around to look at the VCR, and the clock readout on it was a bright yellow, and the characters on it looked like Klingon or some such, they weren't numbers at all! I realized that the LEDs on the VCR aren't even capable of displaying such characters, and again got frightened because this couldn't possibly be happening. Almost instantly, the loud buzzing noise came again, and I woke up. Needless to say, I practically ran over to the VCR to check that it was normal.

I don't usually remember many dreams, but since I started keeping a journal (and using affirmations) a few days ago as part of the MAP program, I'm remembering more and more. Still, no matter what crazy things happen to me in dreams (just last night I got into a fight with the mistress of a medieval brothel because she was cheating at roulette), I don't question them. Hopefully now that I know more about lucid dreaming, I can avoid the buzz next time and actually take control.
The buzz might actually be a sign that you are on the edge of an OBE. So don't fight it. Just let it be and go with it...