8 failed RCs in 1 dream. Any advice?

**Eamo24** · 07-18-2015 12:32 PM

So it was a very vivid dream and here's what happened:

I looked out the window and noticed something strange -- something suddenly disappeared, actually. I then thought “that’s odd, this seems like a good time to RC”. So I walked about the room for what felt like 2 or 3 minutes, doing every RC I could think of at the time:

I first read some text, looked away and looked back -- it was exactly the same the second time and easily readable. I then thought “if this was a dream, surely there would be some kind of dream feeling” so I tried to detect anything of the sort, but nothing -- it felt just like reality (in fact I found myself thinking "I doubt a dream would feel as mundane and as 'real' as this"). So that didn’t work, either. I then tried the nose pinch, but when I pinched my nose, I couldn’t breathe (very odd, that!). I then decided to test how fluid things were as usually in dreams you can walk from one place to another in what feels like an “instant” sometimes. So I walked across the room, but again, it was just as fluid, just as stable as reality, even the sense of gravity in the dream was perfect. If that wasn’t enough, I then decided to look around the room to see if it looked how I remembered it -- it seemed to look exactly the same (of course, with lack of memory in the dream I guess it would’ve!

). At this point I was thinking “Of course this is reality!”. I then remembered reading something about how temperature can often be absent in dreams, so I decided to test that -- but the room felt genuinely cold. Just to be thorough, however, I tried one more (what I thought was a reliable) reality check of looking at something, looking away and checking it again to see if anything had changed. I looked across the room at a stack of books, and even chose a small logo in the corner of one of them -- I looked away, looked back expecting to see a completely different “scene” or whatever, but no -- the book was still in the same place with the logo and everything else completely unchanged (nothing around it seemed to have moved, either!). I thought, “yeah it’s reality alright”. Shortly after that, I woke up. I just couldn’t believe it!

I’ve never experienced reality checks fail so spectacularly, especially with a good level of mindfulness when doing them (and all done so closely together). I felt quite aware and “present” in this dream, as well. It wasn’t a DC me doing the reality checks, it felt like “me”, i.e. I was self-aware enough to do proper reality checks, but as listed above, every one of them failed.

Would you guys have any advice for next time, or recommend anything?

Thanks!

**dolphin** · 07-18-2015 06:07 PM

Find a form of dream control you're best at and use that as a reality check. My favorite realty checks right now are forming/seeing a dream in front of my closed eyelids and trying to float or fly.

**FryingMan** · 07-18-2015 07:43 PM

In a a super present waking-life-like like dream like that where regular RCs fail you, probably your best bet would be seriously examining memory.

I've had gravity and flying fail me once in a super vivid non-lucid. I wasn't aware enough to maintain skepticism and keep trying RCs, but that was one of the only times I can recall where jumping in to the sky to fly in a non-lucid resulted in me plopping right back down on my feet, with complete waking-like gravity.

**Sensei** · 07-18-2015 07:48 PM

A lot of those reality checks are very circumstantial. Some I haven't even heard of (like the air one). The more aware you are of the dream, the more likely those are to fail.

The rule I go by is that if I am not sure if it is a dream, I act like it is a dream. People always act like thinking it is a dream is the worst idea ever, like they are gonna do something that will get them killed. I say just do stuff that you already have the power to do and you will be fine. If you don't know if you can fly or not, then don't jump out a window. Etc.

As dolphin said, it is good to just try some dream control that you are already good at and use that as an RC. I like telekinesis and fire.

**FryingMan** · 07-18-2015 08:11 PM

Good point, Sensei! In fact in my last LD, I did nose pinch and had some air escaping, but it wasn't free flowing air like it sometimes is, and rather than keep trying to re-pinch, I chose just to decide I was dreaming. I did have a brief moment of thinking "boy if these are not DCs and I start messing with them I could really get it" but I decided to go "ahead full" with the "I'm dreaming" idea!

**coolcoolcool** · 07-18-2015 08:43 PM

Try to use technology it will malfunction
look in mirror u will appear weirdly
look away and back again at clock time changes

**Sensei** · 07-18-2015 09:09 PM

Originally Posted by coolcoolcool

Try to use technology it will malfunction
look in mirror u will appear weirdly
look away and back again at clock time changes

I can do all three of those in a dream (especially a vivid one) and have technology work perfectly fine, my mirror image be perfect, and time to stay the same.

**Eamo24** · 07-19-2015 03:33 PM

Ok, thanks for the advice, guys!

Dolphin & Sensei

That does sound like a good idea. I’m not excellent at dream control, but there have been times I’ve successfully managed some very basic things like making certain objects appear etc. by expecting them to be there. It hasn’t always worked but yes I think it would be a good thing to try out as part of RCs.

Also, I never would’ve thought about acting as if it’s a dream. The only thing I’ve done similar to this was asking “if this was a dream what would I do?”, but acting as if it is one sounds like a good idea -- I guess it would also help extend your awareness.

FryingMan

Yes I find everything in my dreams to reflect waking-life, a lot of the traditional RC’s (including gravity) just don’t seem to work for me much. In fact, just this morning, I had another check fail -- it was the one of looking at a group of objects, memorizing the image, looking away and then checking again to see if it had changed. Strangely, it was exactly the same the 2nd time.

But yes I see what you mean about the memory test, the only thing is I have done this sometimes in dreams and it usually leads to my dreaming mind making something up which seems very believable. I’ll keep up the memory check, but I’ll try to be more analytical with it (like trying to remember exactly what happened in the last 5/10 minutes etc.)

**FryingMan** · 07-19-2015 04:46 PM

That's very interesting, Eamo24, and highlights how differently people dream. For me, if I have even the smallest inkling that I may be dreaming, I'm usually instantly and fully lucid right away. But I can go weeks in between such inklings at times. I can have a lot of semi-lucids where I seem to instinctively know that "something is different here", and I behave like it (different from non-lucids where I behave like I do when awake), but just don't make the connection to the subject of dreaming.