Hey there, just want to share something that's been creeping in the back of my mind for a few weeks and finally revealed itself today.

I've been trying lucid dreaming for about 5 months, and have managed to fail miserably. I have 3-6 lucids a week and this morning I had four. The problem is that I tend to wake up when I nose-pinch(and nose pinch is the only "RC" I tend to do). At first, many months ago that was because the shock of becoming lucid was waking me. But now, it's that I've associated nose-pinch with waking up subconsciously. I realized this morning that almost every single lucid I've had in recent memory, and subsequently woken from, was ended by me doing a nose pinch RC.

I would have seen this sooner if I had also realized that I no longer get the "shock" of becoming lucid. The moment I ask myself "What's going on, is this a dream?" I am lucid. I simply need to stabilize from there, not perform an RC. Asking the question is the RC. I kept doing the nose pinch so steadfastly because it gave me the shock I had come to expect, but that shock was actually the sensation of waking up, not of becoming lucid.

I honestly feel like I am proficient at lucid dreaming and if I stop relying on "reality checks" as a physical action, I will be able to experience lucidity in earnest. I know plenty of people use these types of RC to great effect. But I don't think it's necessary. And for me it doesn't seem to be helpful in achieving my goals.


Little example dream from this morning in case you care to read it:
I am sitting at my computer desk, with my cat on my lap, petting him. I'm talking with my brother, and my cat jumps off my lap. As I look up from my cat to my brother, I see a different, unfamiliar cat on my desk. I start petting him and asking "Who's this guy?" in a voice you would talk to a cat with. I'm sitting there petting this cat trying to figure out who it is, when I calmly and without any sensation, become lucid. (Though I didn't know I was lucid... if you can wrap your head around that.) Thinking that I'm still just on the verge of becoming lucid, I stand up and think "Holy shit I'm dreaming." then perform a nosepinch to confirm it. I wake up.

The dream was completely stable and I didn't feel like I was about to wake up in any way. The instant I performed the nose pinch RC, I was awake. I'm sure all the stuff I'm talking about is basic knowledge for you experienced dreamers, but I'm writing this to provide some small help to anyone with a problem like mine. I wouldn't even be writing this if it wasn't such an odd situation to me. Normally I'm very aware and attempt to see things from every perspective, and every layer of possibility that I know of. I really should have seen the connection between my nose pinch and waking up long ago.

Anyway, enjoy. I'll let you know tomorrow morning or perhaps the next day, whether or not I'm spewing garbage, or my thoughts are actually correct.