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I just woke up from a dream where I saw a dream sign and I looked at my hands. I had like 6 fingers and they were swimming around like silly putty but somehow I justified it to myself and thought oh well, sometimes my hands just look like that I guess. What the hell! Is this just a first step on the way towards getting RCs to work reliably?
Not all RCs work for people reliably, you just have to find one that works best for you from trying them all out. The nose RC has never failed me, for instance, but it doesn't work for everyone.
When doing your reality checks while you are awake, don't just look at your hands. Observe them and think about how they look, and try to be more aware of that. Think about how you would be dreaming if they looked any different. I dunno, I can't really explain it well, but when doing reality checks you probably just glance at your hand and not think about it, right? That's why it wasn't important in the dream. You got to observe your surroundings more and distinguish what everything is supposed to be like, and feel like. Like I sais, I can't explain this well. :P
They are both completely right. Not every RC works for every person. For instance, the clock RCs only work about 50% of the time for me. Also, learning to lucid dream isn't just about doing a little trick and suddenly becoming lucid. It's about increasing your awareness of your body, your conciousness and your surroundings while you're awake and trying to bring that awareness with you into the dream world. Just going through the motions while you're awake isn't enough or you'll just go through the motions while you're asleep as well. One of the reasons the Nose RC is so popular is because the sensation is totally weird. When you're awake. . . it feels normal. When you're asleep, it feels like you're breathing through your skin. It's a really strange physical sensation which always surprises me into a little higher awareness. I would strongly suggest that you start trying that one.
It's weird because when I look at my hands for an RC in RL I actually do spend a good amount of time counting each finger, observing what they look like in detail, feeling how solid and constant they are, etc. And every time I've had an LD (which have always happened spontaneously without me particularly trying for them) I look at my hands after I'm already lucid just to see how weird they look, but I've never had it work that I look at my hands and that's what triggers the lucidity. The nose one sounds like a good idea though maybe I'll try that one more often.
Cool! I've been doing the nose RC a lot more in RL lately and I did it in an LD last night and I got that exact same "breathing through your skin" sensation you described. I think I'll be using this one a lot more often. I also looked at my hands a couple times in the LD and they had the same wavey liquid look to them as I described in the non-LD from before but this time they totally convinced me I was dreaming.
Oh good :) I'm glad it worked for you. It does feel pretty weird huh? :)
You made an excuse, don't do that. I've missed being lucid many times after looking at my hands, especially with false awakenings. "Oh, my vision is blurry because I'm tired."