Reality checking not working

**bakbaba** · 10-01-2011 06:25 PM

Last night, I either woke up in the middle of the night, or I had a dream about waking up in the middle of the night. I wish I could recall what it exactly was but I can't. So I thought that this was a nice opportunity to WILD, since I was still pretty close to sleep, going into hypnogogia would be no problem. I layed down and closed my eyes, and started to relax. I felt my body vibrating and moving on its own. After trying to manipulate the position of my body, I gently tried to move my arms and legs. Then, I slowly opened my eyes, but I was disappointed to see that I was still in my room, so I got up in frustration. Everything seemed too vivid to be a dream, so I was sure that it wasn't a false awakening, still, I thought there was no harm in testing. I visualized a gun materializing in my hand and tried to force it into being with all my willpower, believing that it was possible, but still no gun. Everything was very vivid, dream control and RCing had no effect, and on top of that, I was logical and conscious enough to conclude all this, so it must not have been a dream, and so, I went back to sleep.
The next morning, I got up and was brushing my teeth, thinking about last night, when it suddenly hit me that the room I had woken in the night in and the one I had went to sleep in were different. It had been a dream all along!
But then, why didn't anything that I try work? What gives?
I also remember a very similar dream I had, in it, the exact same thing happened. I went to sleep in one room, woke up in another, however, in this case, I concluded that it was in fact a dream. But even so, I could not control it, I tried to make the lights in the room turn on, but instead just got a strange, dim, blue glow from a place I wasn't even focusing on.
Also, my recall has been horrible. I have been having many LDs lately, but I can't recall them! I just randomly remember certain fragments of my LDs throughout the day..
I'd like to hear if you have had any similar experiences related to false awakenings, dream control or recall.
Tips for dream recall and dream control are also welcome, because I have no idea what I am doing wrong...

**Arch** · 10-01-2011 06:44 PM

Well you answered your own question, you already thought that you weren't dreaming and then tried to do something impossible.
Try something alot more simple next time, look at your hands do they look alright.
As you were not concious when you did this, perhaps you need to get into the habit of doing more simple reality checks, so I'll link you to some guides below. Remember only reality check in real life when something odd happens.
Reality Check Tutorial - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views
Sporadic Awareness Technique By Puffin
Hope it helps.

**Choi** · 10-01-2011 09:09 PM

If you suspect that you have a false awakening and think you are dreaming, try the noseplug reality check, never fails me

Plug your nose and breathe through your nose, if you dream you will feel the air go through, if you are awake it will get blocked and your ears might hurt

The things you tried is even hard to do in a lucid dream, maybe not the lamp thing but still.

Good luck!

**AgentSmith** · 10-02-2011 05:19 AM

Not sure if this is helpful or not... but I have a rule:

If you don't instantly know you are not dreaming, you are dreaming. It may not work in situations like this, where its very vivid and you don't see anything immediately wrong... but if you have to give it the slightest second thought, then its a dream.

You don't know how many times I've had a dream where I said "Well it doesn't look like a dream, but I'm not sure..." . I'm dreaming. In real life it goes like this: "I'm not dreaming". This one simple rule helps me save a lot of time..

**eleggua** · 10-02-2011 12:01 PM

Originally Posted by bakbaba

I visualized a gun materializing in my hand and tried to force it into being with all my willpower, believing that it was possible, but still no gun.

Have you ever succeeded in this before?

Originally Posted by bakbaba

Everything was very vivid, dream control and RCing had no effect

What RCs did you use?

Originally Posted by bakbaba

I'd like to hear if you have had any similar experiences related to false awakenings, dream control or recall.

Actually I could never control my dreams by thinking or voice until yesterday. :)) I had lots of them, but every time I tried, I failed. I even started to think it is impossible to me. But it was just because I didn't really believe I can do this, although I thought I believe. One day I just imagined in a LD that my voice has direct connection to some kind of "dream administrative tool" and everything went ok. :))

At the end of my LDs I usually wake up in a real world, so it is easy to remember what has happened. When I don't, it is a bit harder.

**Kona** · 10-02-2011 04:22 PM

The thing with the reality checks is normal. Your mind is so used to reality checks not behaving how they would in dreams in real life so that carries over into your dreams, to solve this it is best to be aware when you do your RCs. When you do them you need to be aware why you are doing them and what will happen if you are in a dream. As far as dream control goes you just need belief, if you don't believe that the gun wont become into your hand then it wont. You don't need to just focus and focus you more need belief that it will come and it will come. You can also try doing Passive Control, that's where you don't totally try and create things rather you get them in a different way. So say you wanted that gun? You could try believing that when you open your dresser there will be a Glock in there when you open it and boom there will be one. You can also have Dream Characters help you out, go walk up to one and say, "Hey where's that M9 you were gonna give me?". Or something like that, and they will probably hand you a gun. So really, dream control is all about belief. Plus if you are a novice then it will take a bit to get used to it. As far as false awakening experiences go I have never really had one to be honest.

As far as dream recall goes, try doing a mantra before bed and really making it your intent that you will remember your dreams when you wake up. A really good thing to is even if you remember a tiny tiny fragment, write it down! Even the smallest fragment can help you remember bigger fragments and even an entire dream!

Hope this helps you out sir!

**Zoth** · 10-02-2011 05:16 PM

Exactly what kona said. Sometimes, just by the fact that you write down "All I can remember is meeting a friend", you can potentially remember bigger fragments. I remembered most of one dream around 8 hours later just due thinking "I've dreamed with a friend....something else?" and writting it in my DJ

About reality checks, it's more the other way around. The more you train your mind to face the possibility that you might be dreaming, the less importance reality checks have. Everyone should still do them, they're really helpful, but in half my lucids reality checks were just a 1% confirmation being myself 99% sure I was dreaming. You just have to think, like kona refered, why you are doing them. At some point, you will do a reality check to confirm that you're dreaming, and won't do a reality check to "see" if you're dreaming or not.

If you read my first DJ entry, you will see that my mind made the RC fail, but I was motivated enough to not let go of my doubts.

Tip: if you think you are dreaming, you probably are

Good luck!