Question

**TDPUK** · 02-08-2012 06:25 AM

So i had a dream last night and here's what happened.

I was on holiday in cyprus with a girl who used to go my school called lucy (She was my gf in the dream) and her sister and boyfriend. We was at the hotel and i left the hotel to go and meet my family as they was on holiday too. As i walked out of the hotel i thought to myself in the dream "what if this is all i a dream, i hope it's not" and i did the hand RC. My finger's didn't go through my hand and my hand looked fine, so i didn't become lucid. Very annoyed right now as i was so close to realizing i was dreaming! But i obviously wasn't conscious so the RC failed.

Now the thing i want to know is, why when i did a RC in my dream ( The hand one ) did my finger's not go through? was this because i try this everyday and the same thing always happens? IE my fingers not going through.

Note: I wasn't conscious in the dream. I must have just RC'd because i do it a lot in the daytime. This just show's it's starting to have an impact though

.

**TDPUK** · 02-09-2012 07:50 AM

Damn no reply yet! Anyone

?

**onironot** · 02-09-2012 09:21 AM

I would try to make it a habit to do a few reality checks. That's what I do. Hope that helped.

**dreamcontrol** · 02-09-2012 10:03 AM

My hands look normal in dreams too but when I have turned them to look at them sideways my fingers looked curled like in one of those fun house mirrors. I think my hands look normal because I play guitar and work on cars so I am familiar with my hands but not from the side. You could try looking at them that way.

I have not had any success with DILDS. I never have done reality checks in non lucid dreams but I have talked about lucid dreams with people in dreams, though that didnt work. I have found DEILDs work really well for me because I wake up many times while sleeping. Basically what I do when I wake up is not move a muscle and focus on staying awake and looking at whatever I may see behind my eyelids. That seems to work really well for me, but I have to make sure I focus on staying awake. My body still falls asleep, but I think when I focus on staying awake I am mainly just maintaining my awareness not so much "staying wake".

So I would suggest try to do reality checks with your hands by looking at them sideways or trying the DEILDs. Good luck.

**ShadowOfSelf** · 02-09-2012 05:18 PM

i thought to myself in the dream "what if this is all i a dream, i hope it's not" and i did the hand RC

Be carefull what you wish for, or in this case, hoped for.

Dreams unfold from your expectations, sub consciously and consciously.

**Desert Claw** · 02-09-2012 05:50 PM

Because you did it too many times while you were awake! This is what is happening when you dream about it:
-you remember what it looks like (eg your finger slightly depresses the palm of your other hand, your finger bends a little)
-you remember the feeling (the slightly rough feeling of your palm with your finger)
Its basically become second nature, your dream self expects it and knows exactly what is going to happen.

My opinion, try:
Taking advantage of dream's instability when looking at details (eg reading text, looking at yourself in the mirror)
Try turning a light switch off or on (the brain wont bother increasing/decreasing light drastically)
Blocking your nose (you wont stop breathing)

Hope this helps!

**Fuzzman** · 02-09-2012 06:21 PM

Ok so I've been lurking the forums for a few weeks while I'm working on my recall and attaining lucidity, but I just signed up because I really wanted to help you out with this as it was a problem in my early stages of learning to lucid dream.

From my understanding of reality checks, they're more for confirmation that you're lucid dreaming. Before you even do one you should have already asked yourself "is this a dream?" and then go about doing the check. To get the most out of it, when you're doing reality checks while awake, you need to really question your reality, observe your surroundings, and think about what if it is a dream for a little bit before you do your reality check. That way you have already questioned and observed that it may be a dream and you can use the reality check to confirm it. When you do the check, believe that it will work and show that you're in a dream. If you just blindly go about performing the check each time you remember that you should do it, then you're just setting up a habit and not actually questioning your reality. Reality checks are most effective when you observe something that doesn't seem to make sense (this may be hard in waking life but just try to find simple things to use that may be out of place) and you actually question where you are and how you got there, etc. when you do them.

I've also found that when you're questioning your reality, couple your reality checks with a few other ones (I think someone already posted a link to the page with a list of them) because sometimes they won't always work. Luckily in my first lucid I did the finger through palm technique and it worked (weirdest sensation ever) so I didn't have to do any others because it was already confirmed. Granted, I woke up a second later cause I'm still a noob

Also, as Shadow said, if you have negative thoughts about becoming lucid it can greatly impact your expectations, which may have been the case here when your check failed.

Check out Puffin's Sporadic Awareness Technique for good information about reality checking and awareness. (still new so I can't link yet, but shouldn't be hard to find)

Hope this helps! I'm still new but understanding this has greatly helped me achieve lucidity. I'm more aware of what's around me in my waking life from questioning my surroundings and it leads to an easier chance of becoming lucid in a dream.

**Desert Claw** · 02-10-2012 02:36 AM

Oh yes also, whenever you question if its a dream or not, take note of it.
In your case it could of been walking through a door - you could try doing rcs when you walk through a door while you are awake

Or maybe the sudden girlfriend made you question if you were dreaming. If this happens a lot you may be able to use it as a reality check.

**angie746** · 02-10-2012 03:42 AM

You have to believe that it will go through and it will, I had the same problem with that RC a few months ago but now when I try I tell myself that it can go through and it does

)