Dream Symbols

10 Simple Reality Checks for Lucid Dreaming

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One of the methods for inducing lucid dreams is to perform simple reality checks both during the day while you are awake and while you are sleeping.

By doing these lucid dream reality checks during the day, it will become a habit that you will often start doing in your dreams as well.

Reality checks are exactly as they sound – they are simple tests for you to perform that will help you tell whether you are awake or asleep and dreaming.

When you are performing reality checks during the day, the most important thing is to be mindful while doing them. Use your 5 senses and imagine you could really do these things if you could.

There are many different opinions on how many reality checks you should do a day, but most lucid dreamer experts will suggest performing 10-15 reality tests a day to help you begin doing these tests while you are dreaming to trigger lucidity.

Here are 10 Simple Reality Checks for Lucid Dreaming You Can Try:

1. Try to push your hand through a wall or door. In reality, you will not be able to do so – but in a dream you very well may be able to! Remember when doing this test in reality to imagine what it would be like to really physically push your hand through the door or wall.

2. Jump up into the air. In reality you will come back down normally – in a dream you may jump very high and float lightly back down.

3. Look at a Clock. Can you tell what time it is? Does the clock appear as it normally does? Wearing a watch during the day can help you get in the habit of doing this simple lucid dreaming reality check.

4. Try to fly. Obviously, in reality, you will not be able to fly – but in a dream you will be able to take off into the air, or at the very least hover a little over the ground. When performing this test try to imagine your feet lifting off the ground and your arms flapping like wings.

5. Read Text. Try reading a sentence twice. In the real world, the words will stay the same when you try to read. In the dreaming life, you may read different words the second time you read the sentence, or the letters and words may become all jumbled together.

6. Ask Yourself: Am I Dreaming? Getting the in the habit of asking yourself whether you are dreaming or not will help you ask this question while you are asleep. To remind yourself to ask the question, you can try leaving post-it notes in various places to remind you to ask yourself this question.

7. Try to Write. When you write in a dream, you may notice your handwriting is illegible, or in a foreign language, or the letters may change and this may be a sign you are dreaming.

8. Look in Mirror. In reality, you know what you look like and what you are wearing. In a dream when you look in a mirror you may see yourself with a different hairstyle or different clothes or even be younger/older than you are now. This will help trigger you to know you are dreaming.

9. Use a Telephone. Does your phone work like it always does? Are the numbers in the right place? When you make a call is the person you expected on the other line? In a dream, this may be all distorted.

10. Look at Your Hands. Do your hands appear normal? In a dream, you may notice extra or missing fingers, seeing things on your hands such as jewelry or gloves, or noticing your hands are different in color or size.

By doing these simple reality checks during the day, you will start to notice yourself doing these things during your dreams, improving your likelihood of becoming lucid during the dream.

Do you have any reality tests you would like to share? Have you used any of these reality tests with success? Share your thoughts and comments in the comments section below!

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5 Comments

  1. Most of my life I’ve only ever had lucid dream, although I didn’t know it. I assumed everyone was aware when they are dreaming and could control what they did in their dreams. I only just found out recently. I have lucid dreams so much to the point where I think I might be dreaming even when I’m awake. I’ll dose off into thought and wonder whether I’m actually awake or if I’m dreaming because they both feel exactly the same to me. Is this normal?

  2. In lucid dreaming I have noticed that the ability to fly is connected to a force I am feeling at my back between scapulae (the spot where we see angels have wings attached to their back). If I don’t feel this sensation at the back it is impossible to fly.
    If I feel it, I know I can fly anyway I want.
    Any thoughts on this? I can’t find a reason for this distinction. Why sometimes I feel it and others not. One thing I noticed also, it is impossible to fly beyond the earth orbit, for example to the moon. Maybe it is energy levels related?

  3. Thank you for this list. There are many interesting ideas on here that I hadn’t ever heard before (especially the idea to call someone and trying to write). Performing reality checks throughout the day and just trying to keep it fresh : )

  4. I had a customer that came into the bar I worked at, faithfully on Friday’s when I worked. A week ago he passed away of a heart attack. Yesterday in the evening I took a late nap. I woke up around 7:30 p.m. with weeping in sadness knowing I got to saw good-bye. Last time I saw him was seven months ago when my sister had passed away also.
    In my dream it was clouded (all four corners was cloudy looking like in the cartoons). I see myself hugging, sorrowfully on his shoulder. I can see the back of this pale light blue t-shirt he always wore. I couldn’t see his face but knew it was him. But I could see myself also and felt the sadness knowing I was saying good-bye to him. He knew himself he had passed on. I couldnt hear him speak but felt that he felt me, the sorrow over his death and he comforted my sorrows as I continued crying into my waking life.
    When I saw myself I knew I was dreaming already and remembered he had passed away.
    I would like some symbolic answers to why I saw my own self and how I knew I was dreaming. In the pass I have always noticed and know When I was dreaming and control my dreams to the ending I wanted it to end in. There has been a few times where I have continued back into a dream when I had woken up from it.

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