Thread: Reality check fail

Last night while I was dreaming I began to suspect that it was a dream so I did the palms reality check. When I examined my hands they looked perfectly normal and I had 5 fingers. I then tried to look at a text to see if it changes. I looked at the text and away 3 times and it didn't change. After that I decided to try one last reality check. I closed my mouth and blocked my nose to see if I can breath and I couldn't. Does anybody know why these reality checks failed and what's the best reality check to try? The text one never failed me a single time before.

Hey there,

Honestly, there's no 100% guaranteed reality check. Sometimes, your dream mind just plays tricks on you. Its the way it is, you have to accept that. If its just a one-off kind of thing, I wouldn't worry too much about it. If a reality check consistently fails, that's when you might need to start changing your approach.

Personally, I find the text check still the most effective reality check.

-Redrivertears-

Thanks for relpying. The palms reality check has failed me several times in the past but this is the first time that the text one failed.

I have read your post,and i think i know what is wrong.
1.reality check,looking at my hands didn't fail for me,and i use it always.maybe
there was something different with your hand,but you didn't know what.
dreams are blured(atleast for me).
2.reality check
i don't find text reality check effective(also,i never used it).
3.reality check.
you need to know that you can breathe through closed mouth and nose(basics of dream control(if you believe it will happen,it will happen))

my point is
text reality check isn't reliable
mouth breathing reality check,you didn't execute it right.

i use 3 reality checks(and they work)
look at your hand reality check
pinch yourself reality check
and push your hand through your other hand.

very simple but effective reality checks

Originally Posted by Mate122

I have read your post,and i think i know what is wrong.
1.reality check,looking at my hands didn't fail for me,and i use it always.maybe
there was something different with your hand,but you didn't know what.
dreams are blured(atleast for me).
2.reality check
i don't find text reality check effective(also,i never used it).
3.reality check.
you need to know that you can breathe through closed mouth and nose(basics of dream control(if you believe it will happen,it will happen))

my point is
text reality check isn't reliable
mouth breathing reality check,you didn't execute it right.

i use 3 reality checks(and they work)
look at your hand reality check
pinch yourself reality check
and push your hand through your other hand.

very simple but effective reality checks

how does the pinch yourself reality chack work? If you don't feel pain then it is a dream? because in a lot of dreams I can feel pain.

It is dream,you can feel pain.but (as i said in my previous reply,think of pinching yourself as painless.if you think it will hurt,it will.and if you think it will hurt,it will hurt.and yes it does work like that,you pinch yourself and if it hurts you are in reality,and vice versa. Hope u understand

Originally Posted by Mate122

It is dream,you can feel pain.but (as i said in my previous reply,think of pinching yourself as painless.if you think it will hurt,it will.and if you think it will hurt,it will hurt.and yes it does work like that,you pinch yourself and if it hurts you are in reality,and vice versa. Hope u understand

Depends on the person. I think everyone has the capacity to feel pain in dreams, but I've personally never experienced pain in a dream. I've had many where I recognized something probably should hurt but felt nothing discomforting at all.

As far as RCs go, they're really just best used as a way for you to become more aware of your surroundings from time to time and to recognize things that make you stop to check in a dream if you're kind of lucky. Really they're like a confirmation test that has a good chance of working, but ultimately you know they're just to make doubly sure you are in fact dreaming once you already suspect you are. If you've stopped to do a reality check, you've already become lucid in your dream. If you let the result determine whether you treat it like a dream or not, you run the risk of going right back to not being lucid. Usually if I've stopped to do a reality check in a dream, it's because I have already realized and know on at least some small level that I'm dreaming. I've learned to recognize that feeling and simply trust that I am in fact dreaming, and if I even continue with the RC, I do it (as I previously mentioned) to possibly make doubly sure that I am dreaming, but don't let it bother me if it fails.

If you learn to recognize that subtle feeling of knowing deep inside you're actually dreaming when deciding to perform an RC, you can learn in not much time at all to just trust that you are and go on having an awesome lucid dream.

Your expectations become reality in the dreamworld. I think on some level you expected them to fail. I would evaluate your mindset when performing waking reality checks.

I've never had a RC fail. I expect my fingers to be weird and writing to be unreadable in dreams so it always is.

Originally Posted by xxPhoebusxx

Your expectations become reality in the dreamworld. I think on some level you expected them to fail. I would evaluate your mindset when performing waking reality checks.

I've never had a RC fail. I expect my fingers to be weird and writing to be unreadable in dreams so it always is.

Looking back at this thread, this is an underrated post. Reality checks succeed and fail the same way specific attempts at controlling aspects of your dream succeed or fail. Your unconscious expectations influence the reality of the dream you are in.

Trying to consciously change your unconscious expectations can be a bit tricky, as most attempts to simply force yourself to expect something both breeds doubt and is about as effective as trying not to think of pink elephants by telling yourself not to think of pink elephants. By telling yourself not to think of pink elephants, you are in fact doing exactly what you are telling yourself not to do, and it's the same deal here. Telling yourself not to expect an RC to fail leads you to expect that your RC will fail.

The trick to overcome this is to rationalize and really believe why something will be the way you think it will be. This ties into dream control, where trying to use brute force to control aspects of your dream usually results in losing control or reducing your level of lucidity. You have to use a more passive approach. Give yourself a reason to believe why something should be so, and convince yourself thoroughly enough to be confident in the fact that it will work. This usually takes some practice to work consistently though, because it's natural to lack confidence in a technique before experiencing its success. You can't let yourself get discouraged if things aren't working perfectly though, you need to believe that you will learn to do this well once your mind unconsciously associates what you feel like when doing this and experiencing the desired outcome. If you continue practicing and not losing faith that things will eventually work and you'll get the hang of things, it will eventually feel like second nature and you will more intuitively be able to consciously direct your unconscious expectations.

Hi Dani23!

Here is a tutorial for RCs http://www.dreamviews.com/induction-...hecks-rcs.html
That will answer every question you have.

The most important part is for you to believe that it will work when you are practicing in waking life. Because what you believe will happen in the dream. Please read the link and ask anything else here or in the tutorial. Happy dreams!

So glad I read this thread it was very helpful, thanks smart people!

I've been having issues with my own tried and true RC, the nose pinch, the last two nights in a row. The first time, it kind of worked but not really (I don't exactly recall, it probably just outright failed). I already noticed a few odd things in the dream beforehand so not being in a dream was probably working as the tipping point. I stopped and focused 100% on the RC and then it worked like it should and enjoyed the most intense realization that I was dreaming I've had in a long time (and also the longest lucid dream I've had all year)!

Last night I had more suspicions in my last dream before waking up. I first tried to do something I normally only do in lucid dreams: run along a wall parkour style (I was walking down a long hallway). Oddly, I don't recall having any real expectations of it failing despite not being lucid. As I stood there wondering why it didn't work, I did the nose pinch RC since it has always worked for me before and it completely failed! I didn't question it after that and remained non-lucid for the rest of the night...

I used to rely on it so much that I usually don't question the results from it, but if that is now starting to show signs of being unreliable maybe I should find another way. I used to do several different RCs at a time when I lucid dreamed before, but then I found the nose pinch worked 100% of the time...that I can remember two instances failing in the last two nights is somewhat telling. Maybe my expectations were just off? I haven't been putting in all that much effort into getting lucid dreams the last couple weeks so these last two nights popped up out of nowhere, resparking my interest!