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    Verre

    Failed RC

    2 Comments
    by
    Verre
    , 08-08-2014 at 06:03 PM (803 Views)
    I was in a big enclosed public space like a mall and needed to use the restroom. I found the ladies' room, which was a relatively large one with around nine stalls in a single row. I found a stall that was clean and was about to go inside when another woman barged right ahead of me. The next stall I checked had an unflushed toilet, as well as the one after that, and the third one was clean but had no toilet seat. I decided to use it anyway. I stepped into the stall and then remembered, "Wait... aren't dirty public restrooms one of my dream signs? This one isn't particularly dirty but still, I'd better RC." I counted my fingers and saw nothing unusual, then focused on the sensation of gravity and it also felt completely normal.

    I remembered the time that I had failed an RC under similar circumstances and decided I'd better make extra sure. So I focused on levitating, really putting a lot of effort into it, but my feet remained firmly stuck to the ground and even the sensation of gravity or my bodily awareness did not alter or feel any more dream-like. So that was how I knew I was awake... until some time later, when I actually woke up, and wondered how the RC could have failed so completely. The gravity RC is usually very reliable, and even on the rare occasions that I don't levitate promptly, I'll notice that gravity or my body don't "feel" right. On this occasion the illusion was perfect!
    ThreeCat likes this.

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    Categories
    non-lucid , dream fragment

    Comments

    1. ThreeCat's Avatar
      Hi Verre, sorry this didn't work out. I would suggest these three reality checks:
      --pinching your nose and trying to breathe
      --reading some text, looking away, and trying to read again
      --look at a digital clock, look away, look again

      I find that these three are quite reliable, especially when used together. RCs involving your hands have a tendency to fail, and gravity RCs fail for some people as well. I have had good success with the aforementioned checks, though. Good luck in the future
      Verre likes this.
    2. Verre's Avatar
      Haha, actually because of this I'm now trying to remember to pinch my nose every time I'm in a public restroom stall-- since it's a private setting where this bizarre gesture won't be conspicuous.

      I usually try not to rely on the text RC because I don't want to reinforce the expectation that text will be garbeled or unstable, since actually I spend a lot of time in my LDs trying to read books! I've noticed that the "deeper" (and hence more stable) the dream state, the more stable the text -- sometimes I can read it well enough, but memory is a barrier to bringing back more than a sentence or two.

      If there isn't a post somewhere that simply tries to gather all the RCs people can come up with, that would be a valuable resource. You're right that it's a good idea to do more than one at a time, just to be sure. But it can be hard to come up with reliable ones that are subtle enough to be used around other people without looking like a weirdo!