Thread: Reality Check Did Not Work

This really sucked. Last night, I did the finger through palm thing in my dream, but it didn't go through!!! When I woke up I was pretty mad, considering I've had 3 lucid dreams so far in the past months...

Does anyone know why it didn't work??? or what I could do to improve???

I don't think that would work for me either. Usually when you are awake you push your finger through and it doesn't go through. In a dream, going through objects requires some degree of control over the dream, so with little control your finger might not go through. It is easy to imagine that it won't go through because it never does in real life. I believe you could possibly fix this in the following way...

When doing that reality check, first ask yourself if you are dreaming. Bring up your pointer finger up to your palm. Now, imagine your hand as some sort of plasma/thick liquid. Somewhat gently press your finger against your palm and imagine it going through and feel it "going through." Don't push too hard, because you do not need to.

Try a different reality check such as looking at a digital clock, trying to read somthing, turning light switches on/off , etc..

Ya, sometimes I'll do a combination finger through palm and trying to read the nearest thing. Maybe I'll carry around a slip of paper that says "Are you dreaming?" on it.

If you've never tried the reality check, NEVER EVER use only that one.
In fact, even when you DO have a supposedly foolproof RC, ALWAYS have at least one backup RC.
Do ALL your RC's, not just one. Regardless what the first one tells you.
Assume you're dreaming until you can prove otherwise. Not vice versa.

Other RCs:
- Hold your nose, but continue breathing with your nose
- Count your fingers, one at at time, visually
- Try to remember the last meal you had, and ask if it was normal. If you can't remember, consider that you might be dreaming
- Throw something up in the air and catch it. Anything you can grab nearby.

The RC's that require that you have something nearby are no good, as are the ones that rely on your dream control skills. They're dangerous to rely on, at best.
They include:
- Looking in a mirror and touch your nose (this is interesting if you do find one though)
- Flying
- Summoning
- 'Feeling' the sensation of dreaming
- Flicking a light switch
- Asking a DC if you're dreaming (their response is not the usual 'Don't be stupid'. They tend to explain why not, or just ignore you)

Some of the above ones work better once you have consistent dream control.
I still advise care though.