The Best Lucid Dreaming Reality Check (for me)

The Best Lucid Dreaming Reality Check (for me)

The reality check I've found that works best for me is the nose-pinch.  If you pinch your nostrils closed and you can still breathe with ease, then you are dreaming.   This is my go-to and it has never failed me.

I used to do the finger through the palm test.  When it worked I never actually saw my finger go through my hand (freaky!).   Instead, my hand just felt kind of rubbery, almost like sticking my finger into Play-doh.   For some reason this reality check doesn't feel like that anymore.   Its failure has never kept me from getting lucid, but I don't know why it doesn't work like it used to.

Another reality check is to look at your hands. Supposedly they may look distorted or you may count extra fingers.  Similarly you could look in a mirror.  Your appearance may look weird.  These reality checks scare me and I don't think I'm interested in trying them.  Seeing 4 thumbs on my hand or a demon as my reflection are things I can pass on.

You could also try to flip on a light switch or anything electronic, really.  In dreams they may not turn on. I've never tried this as a reality check, but in my dreams I've become lucid after attempting and failing to turn on a light.

I have not mastered this yet, but I think that a promising way to get lucid is to question reality every time you are confused.  In many of my dreams, I find myself  frustrated because I'm trying to figure something out.  Or I'm trying to complete a task but something keeps stopping me (I can't write legibly, I can't find something, someone is distracting me, etc....).  I've become lucid twice within a dream by doing this very thing:  Once I couldn't get my car to unlock and another time I was accused of something and was trying to figure out how to get out of the mess.