Does anybody else forget how to count in dreams?

[ohbe]

Hello DreamViews! Not sure if this is the right section to be posting this question to but here goes. After waking up today I remembered myself checking my hands in the dream and I mean CHECKING them not quickly glancing at them. What happened was I now remember having 6 fingers but back then I looked at them and after trying to count them thought that it did pretty much look like 5 fingers to me and I just couldnt force myself to actually count. Yet another lucid opportunity wasted. Has anybody else experienced something similar to this? Are there ways around it? Thanks.

[~Dreamer~]

I always do at least 2 reality checks, in case one fails. The two I use are checking my hands, and holding my nose while trying to inhale. Another great one is asking yourself how you got there / what you were doing an hour ago, and analysing whether the scenario makes sense. There are heaps more suggestions for reality checks here: Reality Checks - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views I think it's important to not get stuck on the specifics of the reality check, eg. 'Do I have 5 fingers?' In your case, you found yourself unable to count. Does that ever happen to you in real life? I often find I can't tell the exact number of fingers in dreams - it could be 5, but sometimes I can't focus well enough to be sure. That has never happened to me in real life, so I know it's a dream if my hand isn't clear. Hope that helps!

[paigeyemps]

Another thing you should also practice doing (and it may sound weird) is to reality check on your reality check. Like, question the way you're doing the reality check. After RC'ing, think to yourself "how sure am i that i RC'ed well? What if i'm really dreaming but my RC just fooled me?" That way you can boost your thinking skills when you're doubting yourself, whenever you are in that kind of "aaaalmost lucid but just needs a little push". Many times we experience this—have a feeling we're actually dreaming and when we RC and it says we're not, we just accept it even though we somehow feel something's up.

[Scoutz]

Not really, i mean i had a dream today but didn't do an RC and ended up waking up and saying "F*** ME." Lol.

[ohbe]

@paigeyemps that's exactly that feeling! When I rc and just let it go. I do question from now on whether I am actually seeing five fingers now after reading Dreamer's post. And the second reality check with the noseplug is more to actually clarify further that I'm dreaming after succeeding in the hand check.