Lucid Dreaming/Reality Checks/Time

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[edit] Presentation

With the "time" reality check, you see if clocks work.

Other than checking to see if clocks report a logical time, you can try blinking to change the time. Some have more success with a digital than an analog watch, for some it's the other way around.

[edit] Examples of this reality check working

• I looked at the clock. I looked away, then back again. It had jumped forward five minutes. I did it again, just to make sure. It had jumped forward another five minutes. Alright, time to have fun...
• I looked at my digital watch, and read the time. I looked away and back again, and the numbers had changed to symbols. I realized I must be dreaming.
• I woke up from a dream (for real). I looked at my digital alarm clock and noticed that it was 7.10am. Since it was weekend, I didn't feel like getting out of my bed, so I decided to go back to sleep. I fell asleep and I dreamed that I was in my own bedroom. I looked at my alarm clock and noticed the time: 1.30am. I thought: "Wait a minute, just a few minutes ago it was 7.10am, I must be dreaming!"
• I suspected that I was dreaming, so I looked at my watch. It said 6:58. I looked back a second later, and it said 4:48.

[edit] Examples of this reality check failing

• I looked at the clock, looked away and back again. I couldn't tell if it had changed. My vision was fuzzy, and the digital reading seemed to keep on jumping. I gave up and continued nonlucidly.
• I was already lucid when this started. My mum (or rather a dream character playing her part) came into my room and told me I wasn't dreaming. I decided I'd better double-check and so used my favourite clock reality check. I looked at the clock and away. I looked back again - and the time hadn't changed. I lost lucidity.
• During a false awakening, I looked at my alarm clock (in fact, an old one I threw away some years ago), and it showed something like 1:20am, though I was sure I already woke up at 4am that night. I was starting to think I was dreaming, but I wanted to check the time again. However, I couldn't figure it out, as the hour and minute hands of the clock were of the same length. I thought it was pretty inconvenient, but didn't get lucid. Then, as I was staring at the clock, the hands started spinning faster, like an hour in a few seconds. Still, I didn't get lucid, as I was really trying to read the time, and was too focused on this goal.
• I read a digital clock which said "96:00". Obviously it can't be 96'o'clock, but I didn't register this because I wasn't logically thinking about the time itself, I was focusing on looking away and looking at it again and seeing if it changed, which it did not.