Question: is there any sense that doesn't "work" in your dreams or is different from real life? Taste, hearing, smell, touch?
After a dream last night, featuring a Johnny Depp who had the most unfortunate body odor, I thought about how senses work in dreams. Going over my most recent dreams, I get the feeling that my sense of taste is pretty much non-existant in my dreams while my sense of smell is overexaggerated. Hearing and touch seem pretty realistic.
I'm thinking of doing reality checks tailored to that. Smell is going to be easy – I can plant someting in every room of the house that I can easily grab at any time to smell and ask myself: does this smell as it's supposed to? Coffee beans, my bottle of rosemary oil etc.
Taste is going to be more tricky, because I don't want to actually have to eat something every time I do a reality check! Maybe I'll just use a drop of vinegar or something else that has a strong taste.
What do you think? Do you have a sense that might work as a litmus test for the question: Am I DREAMING?
I do use smell as a reality check, but I take more of a passive approach with this. Whenever I smell something strong during the day, I take notice of it and make sure it matches the environment I'm in. This helps me practice a type of "All day awareness." I think we should try to be extra aware of all our senses throughout the day. Hopefully this transfers into the dream world!