This thread is very helpful! I found it because I just had a frustrating yet exciting experience in which I came very close to becoming lucid, yet failed TWO reality checks in the span of about thirty seconds.

I saw a blue cat and decided to do an RC: I tried to push my finger through my hand, but did it fairly half-heartedly as my main focus in the dream was getting to a toilet to pee. So this one failed.

Then, I saw my reflection in a mirror and looked at it closely to see if anything seemed unusual, but it didn't.

But thanks to this thread I am going to approach RCs in a much different way from now on, and use more of my conscious suspension of disbelief.