Hands don't fail me now!

[Musicman51]

I was having a very vivid dream that involved being the father of an infant, giving the child prescribed drugs, having my dead father telling me how much trouble I was in with the FDA who had confiscated prescribed drugs, being surrounded by lawyers and being told that I was in real trouble and would wind up in prison. OK..IWL I am 63, have no kids, made sure that wouldn't happen 15 years ago, and of course, my dead father being involved. Everything in my dream set off alarms.....at two points in the dream I said to myself.."look at your hands, this has got to be a dream." Both times I checked my hands as I have done in the past but both times they appeared normal. This is the first time that has happened..usually they will be deformed and I know that I'm lucid. What happened this time? Not once but twice! I have since switched to the breathing through the nose RC...no LD's with that RC, yet, so looking forward to that experience. Any thoughts on this? Thanks!

[mimihigurashi]

There are many Reality Checks, none of them are foolproof, and some are less efficient and reliable than others. Hands included here. They can appear strange or deformed for some people, but for others they can appear perfectly normal. Myself included, that's why I've never used that RC, and the nose RC too, it began failing me too many times. Some more reliable RCs are checking the time or reading a word, turning away, then looking back to see if the time/text changed, another would be trying to manipulate objects with your mind, make something float or move or change color, this one is especially good in public because it doesn't require any physical action.

[Musicman51]

Thanks, mimihigurashi...Good advice. I guess rotating a large arsenal of reality checks would tend to make any certain one ineffective. I'll have to work on that. Since I'm somewhat new to this, I started with the first thing I read about.....the more I read, the more I learn. Thanks, ZacNabz...and here I thought I was performing RC's with more effort and thought and less frequently than before! Maybe it is the expectation part of it that is throwing me off because I know I'm awake when I do it. I'll work on that. As far as "ask yourself where was I 10 minutes ago? how did I get here?"....I find myself asking those questions as I'm staring into the refrigerator. Hitokage...thanks...yes, I guess we don't hit home runs every time at bat.

[Hitokage]

Yea it's normal that RC fails once in a while.

[ZacNabz]

Now, I had the same thing happen to me before. Basically what I think it may be, during the day you are performing RC's but without really much effort or without actually debating whether you are dreaming or not, you just do it as it is a habit. You expect your hands to be perfectly fine and as we all know dreams are greatly influenced by expectation. I suggest maybe taking a bit more time in performing your RC's and at least believing in the possibility of it being a dream, ask yourself where was I 10 minutes ago? how did I get here? etc.

[Mr0Blonde]

Yeah I've had the hand RC fail a few times, only just a couple of nights ago actually but I was already pretty sure I was Dreaming. If I need one, the nose pinch is my main go to RC, hasn't failed me yet!

[Gyalogos]

I always use my hands. 1-2 times it failed. There was a guy saying, that it can be about the details. There is a very low chance that your hands are the same like in "reality". Maybee it is good to look for the details. Hair,wrinkles, mole, nails. I always make a double check. I try to push my finger acros my palm. It is somehow compatible with the hand check. This two, and the details...never fails (for me). Wow! Almost forget: Very very good trick. Rotate your hand, up and down. You rotate 180 degree (fast) and then look for a second, if nothing, then rotate back. After 2-3 turns there are happening bizarre things (many finger, no finger, longer-shorter fingers...and so on.). Again: for me.