RC question

Background: I just found this site yesterday, I read a ton of information on this site...thanks!! I started a dream journal last night and had pretty good success recalling 4 dreams some longer than others and some just quick fragments.

Here is my question for you all pertaining to RCs. I read on the RC tutorial that when you ask yourself during waking life "am I dreaming" not to acknowledge that you are not dreaming. I have been using the two fingers pushed into my hand and just looking at my surroundings and thinking does everything look normal for RCs. But when I ask "am I dreaming" it almost seems instinctive to answer no. Has anybody else had this and can you suggest how to not answer myself.

On the plus side, during one of my fragment dreams, I was trying to put two fingers into my palm. In the dream it was more like I was putting one hand into the other and it was going through the other hand, it was all kind of fuzzy and not clear. However, I did not recognize that it was a dream and the dream collapsed pretty quickly.

I think it takes time to get used to taking RCs seriously. Besides, it is a liiiiittle weird to question if everything around you is real. It's not exactly a natural thing to most of us. All I can tell you is to keep doing this, you'll get used to it and it'll help you someday.

That said, remember to take a few seconds with your RCs. Don't just do it without paying attention to it. All it takes is a couple seconds, so pause everything around you for those few seconds. Dreams have a very distinctive feeling, but you only realise that when you're awake. RCs will help you with that. :)

EDIT: also, you got REALLY close in that dream. Nice job! :D

By doing RCs, you're rehearsing for the dream world. Like any other rehearsal, for maximum effectiveness, you should imagine that it's really happening while you're rehearsing. That way you're more prepared when the time comes.

When doing RCs in waking life, rather than say, “Okay, I'm not dreaming”, I usually tell myself something like “I haven't proven I'm dreaming yet”. Then I try to remember to keep my eyes open for any potential signs that I'm dreaming as I continue my day, just in case.

I also allow myself to do extra RCs if I feel the urge, even if I think I just did one that indicated reality moments ago. I've had dreams where I thought I just did one, but I did it again anyway, and found the second time that I was dreaming after all. Never trust your conscious judgment or memory too much!