Thread: Is it possible for reality checks to be wrong?

well I was wondering how reliable reality checks can be? The story is last...well- this morning I should say, I tried wilding and had vibrations for the second time, I remember the vibrations being pretty intense and going on for a while, to a point where I was starting to ache in my side from it, so I remember thinking I should try moving...so I did. I kind of rolled backward and tried poking my hand to see if my finger goes through and poking a wall to see if my finger goes through that. The wall felt solid, and my hand felt numb as it it were asleep, so at first it seemed like my finger was going through (and I had a moment of excitement) but then I felt this numbing poke, and I was afraid to try harder in case I poked myself bleeding. So I assumed that it didn't work and rolled back to sleep. Sometime later I wake up again, and after thinking about it, I'm not so sure whether or not that was in fact a false awakening, because the second time I woke up I felt completely awake, where the first time felt hazy, and hard to remember when I look back on it.

so my two questions:

how reliable are reality checks? (how reliable were the ones that I tried?)

&

how do you usually feel during false awakenings? (because I felt so blurry headed and tired, that I just assumed I was awake. Are lucid dreams always, always clear?)

if you're dreaming, you'll KNOW you're dreaming

Originally Posted by shotbirds

if you're dreaming, you'll KNOW you're dreaming

huh

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sometimes RCs fail but you might as well try- it's more effective than never RCing. RC isn't just an action- they work by prompting you to question ur environment.

I supose then that I didn't actually have a false awakening?

because I was wondering (for the hand poking reality check) whether or not your finger always goes through your hand?, and if in dreams walls are never solid? because if the answer is yes to both then I didn't have a false awakening...

Originally Posted by Migato

I supose then that I didn't actually have a false awakening?

because I was wondering (for the hand poking reality check) whether or not your finger always goes through your hand?, and if in dreams walls are never solid? because if the answer is yes to both then I didn't have a false awakening...

Yes to both your questions, I don't think you had a false awakening.

you can't really tell if this was a fals awakening b/c you weren't sure if you were asleep or awake. they don't have a distinct feeling. a false awakening is just when think you're awake when you're really not.

your finger doesn't always go through your hand. sometimes it does though, pay attention, see if anything else weird happens too, as in maybe you've grown an extra finger, etc.

My finger has never gone through my hand in all the times I've tried (although they were vague lucids) but yes, reality checks can fail.

hmm...well I was kinda hoping it was false awakening, because that means that I would have succeeded at the wilding. ..well almost.

In a word, yes. I've had them fail a number of times.

If I'm not careful about really thinking about things when I do a reality check, it gets to be just another habit that I'm not paying much attention to. That's when they fail.

**EDIT**

Oh - and as far as false awakenings, I've felt everything from vividly awake to seriously impaired. It varies wildly.

Originally Posted by pj

**EDIT**

Oh - and as far as false awakenings, I've felt everything from vividly awake to seriously impaired. It varies wildly.

AH okay! see that was what I was wondering, because i was feeling seriously impaired, which made me think that I could not be lucid dreaming, otherwise I would have proceeded with other reality checks, turning on the light, checking the time on my cellphone and what not...but since I was feeling so sleepy and out of it, I ruled out the possibility that I was actually dreaming.

It can be a really funny thing... and then just letting yourself get distracted for a moment can put a quick end to your lucidity.

yea, generally if you have to wonder if your dreaming, you very well might be, it is usually a pretty huge difference. That is just the thing. When you do reality checks during the day, if you just blow them off thinking "of course im awake" that could very well carry into your dream. You need to actually think about it durring the day, whether your positive or not. Also i read this thing where it says every once in a while while doing reality checks in a dream you should pretend like it worked.