Hand reality check failed, I'm gonna kick Carlos Castaneda's behind

Well, I'm not really going to kick his behind. First because he is no longer around, and second because his technique has worked many times in the past.

I am a fairly experienced lucid dreamer. I have probably had around a hundred lucid dreams at various levels. I had been going through a dry spell recently, as I was emotionally and physically exhausted. Also, I had been using choline bitartrate for a long time, and wanted to see how well I could lucid dream without it.

So, last night was the first time in perhaps six weeks that I had a lucid dream. I won't relate the dream itself, as it is unimportant in this context (though a very interesting dream) but I will say that I started to feel that things were weird, so I looked at my hands. They were perfectly normal.

I have had this happen before, and was still not sure whether I was dreaming, so I shut my eyes for a few seconds and looked again. This time, I think the left thumb is a little short, but this is not enough to convince me I am dreaming. So I put the two thumbs next to each other to measure them. Sure enough, the left thumb is a little fat and maybe half an inch too short. What would have happened then, I am not sure, as i wake up. I almost forget the lucid dream.

As I said, I'm counting this as lucid, since I had and maintained the level of consciousness necessary to keep questioning whether it was a dream, but I never had a hand reality check fail before. Usually I get long, skinny fingers, or fingers of different lengths or numbers, and sometimes even transparent fingers, but never a situation in which the fingers stayed so stubbornly normal.

One thing is that I have been doing ten hand reality checks a day pretty religiously for almost a year. Is it possible I'm just burned out on this type of reality check? I've seen normal hands in the daylight so often that they are burned into my memory, and will no longer appear strange?

Any other suggestions for daily reality checks? I probably won't try flying off buildings.

My most reliable reality check is pushing my thumbs into walls. It never failed me in the last few years and I'm not exaggerating here. But what's a reality check by the way? When you get to the point of questioning your reality you're already did it. It may be better to focus on the intention that made you to inspect your hands in the first place. The original Castaneda technique uses the hand as a focal point of intention simply because it convenient (always at hand) and facilitates self-reflexive awareness.

I get your point, but there have been times when I did hand reality checks while actually awake, simply because I experienced something strange to determine ifg I am, in fact, dreaming, and discovered that I was not.

I'm not really a fan of reality checks to say the least. It's just too easy too do them wrong. When I get to the point of doing any RCs in a dream I already know I'm dreaming. It's just an act of making it "official."

Your starting point should be that you're dreaming. Then you do the RCs to disprove this assumption. The whole RC or the technique you use is secondary to the active ingredient, your pretended presumption... which should become real for a few minutes by pretending that you forgot that you're pretending. The RC just happens eventually, so you can go on with your waking life. It's like the trance killer in hypnosis.

But your time would be better spent simply pretending, multiple times during the day, that you're dreaming. Or you can choose the even easier way of simply rewriting your memories before falling asleep. This is a form of MILD, which many would agree, is the most potent induction system out there. When applied to the process and sensations of falling asleep (instead of dreaming and its content) the result is WILD. The bottom line is, if I had to start all over I'd focus on MILD and WILD instead of isolated reality checks. Whatever you do, good luck!

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Originally Posted by transflux

But your time would be better spent simply pretending, multiple times during the day, that you're dreaming.

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Hmm. Fascinating idea! I will start this tomorrow, and see how it works.

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Originally Posted by transflux

When I get to the point of doing any RCs in a dream I already know I'm dreaming. It's just an act of making it "official."

Your starting point should be that you're dreaming. ...The whole RC or the technique you use is secondary to the active ingredient, your pretended presumption... which should become real for a few minutes by pretending that you forgot that you're pretending.

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Exactly! RC just confirms. What gives lucidity is the questioning of reality - I could be draming right now and believing in it.

Btw, when I question my reality and believe I'm dreaming, do RC while I believe it will work (thumb will go through, I'm breathing through pinched nose), I never say "I'm not dreaming" when RC tells me I'm awake. I just avoid saying and thinking that. Instead I say mantra "next time I'm dreaming, I realize I'm dreaming". I don't want to condition myself that after I question my reality I'm awake.

Thanks for your help, gents. I am in the process of implementing this, and will report back on how it works.

I recently switched reality checks due to the same thing. I looked the first time, it was perfectly normal, looked again, something was weird, realized I was in a dream. Now I plug my nose and try to breathe, has gotten me one successful LD so far.

*Moved to Attaining Lucidity*

Thanks. I am considering trying a number of these.

Have you tried seein other parts of your body?

I saw my feet and i had 15(!!) fingers on each feet.
I looked also at my belly and it was bigger and distorted.

Nope. But good ideas!