Lucid dream test did not work

I just woke up from a dream. I was in a hallway and I realized, in my dream, that things were going weird. So I took my left hand fingertips and put them to the palm of my right hand. The hand touched and did not go through. So I carried on in the dream thinking it must be real.

I had read online that a lucid dream test is seeing if one hand goes through the other. Why didn't the test work? It is worth noting that I thought the way the hands touched felt weird and I actually paused to think about it. Is there a better test I can do in the future?

This is the first time I did the testing in a dream.

No reality check is 100% reliable, and there are several ways you can fail a reality check. The finger-through palm reality check, which is less reliable than the nose pinch and digital clock reality checks because of the logic involved. Most people see their hands a lot every day and often experience the solidity of their bodies.

So, in a dream, expecting your hands to be permeable just because of belief, and not accounting for actual dream logic, like that you can breathe while closing your mouth and nose, etc, is unlikely to be effective most of the time. In short, pick a more reliable reality check to work- eg. nose pinch- and don’t expect RCs to be 100% reliable (this is why it’s good to do more than one). I hope this answers your question.

Yeah, this can be quite common and no reality test is 100% reliable as Humbledreamer has said. Finger through the palm has never been a reliable one for me either.

I highly recommend the digital clock or the text change reality test which is essentially the same. This involves looking at a digital clock/ watch or a line of text (could be a book or a sign) then look away and when you look back see if it has changed. Usually the numbers or letters will have turned to complete gibberish! This I’ve found is my most reliable check though it doesn’t work every time either.

I’m not sure if you’re new to this but If a test fails don’t worry about it. It can be frustrating to miss an opportunity but arguably the hardest part is to question reality in the first place so the fact that you did that is great progress! Keep at it and experiment with different reality tests and see what works best for you. Just remember to give them your full attention when you do them.

Here is a great guide on reality tests which may give you some more insight -

https://www.dreamviews.com/induction...hecks-rcs.html

Next time, if your reality check fails, don’t immediately assume your awake. Ask yourself: “Why would I NOT be dreaming right now?”

A very common mistake I see amongst beginners is the ineffective habitualization of RCs. If you just mindlessly shove your finger through your palm once in a while, don’t be expecting consistent lucid dreams. You have to have reason behind it, you have to really test your reality; and if the check still fails, don’t end it there. Ask yourself why you’re awake, and use your awareness of the world to answer that. If you can’t answer it, take a look at your experience itself— Are you dreaming, or awake? Which type of experience is the one you’re having?

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Originally Posted by LostSelf

I just woke up from a dream. I was in a hallway and I realized, in my dream, that things were going weird. So I took my left hand fingertips and put them to the palm of my right hand. The hand touched and did not go through. So I carried on in the dream thinking it must be real.

I had read online that a lucid dream test is seeing if one hand goes through the other. Why didn't the test work? It is worth noting that I thought the way the hands touched felt weird and I actually paused to think about it. Is there a better test I can do in the future?

This is the first time I did the testing in a dream.

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awesome! take that as progress! the fact that you realized it was a dream and did the test, is a sign that your subconscious is taking some info that you're reprogramming your mind with. In my case I only was able to do the one finger through my hand once and gave me lucidity, but many others failed and gave me false awakenings. Observing my hands and reading signs that change is one of the main triggers to lucidity, also electronics devices not working. I have to agree that RCs are still not 100% reliable.

Note: mantras can be also powerful if you do them mindfully, several times during the day and before sleep.

The finger through palm has never failed for me. But it's also my last resort RC, and I never do it while awake only in dreams. Usually by the time I resort to finger through palm, I'm mostly convinced anyways, but not for complete certainty. And I really want it to be a dream, so I push very hard into my palm, even twisting if need be until I begin to feel my finger sinking in. And I'm very familiar with how it feels when in starts to sink in. (Feeling like my flesh is soft rubber I'm pushing through. I'm familiar with the the feeling because of practicing it just for fun many times after I'm already fully lucid. Which I would always recommend doing with RC's so you know how they work and what to expect from them in your dream.

I find the watch RC to be very reliable, but the most difficult to remember to use for some reason. Watches do all kinds of bizarre and fascinating things in a dream. But that too, sometimes you can just tell yourself the watch is acting wonky because the battery is dying and shrug it off. The nose pinch is wonderful and I used it quite often for a long time, until I started doing it so obsessively while awake that my brain started simulating the feeling of not being able to breath through a pinched nose in my dreams too. So had to retrain to use my watch as my primary, nose pinch as secondary (No longer doing nose pinches while awake) And finger through hand as third last resort.

Or, you can just try to do something like try to jump really far and keep yourself afloat longer than would be normal in waking life. Which worked for me as an RC in a recent lucid... I jumped across a street, and continued to make myself hover and float beyond the street, then sure it was a dream from there I continued flying up and over the tree tops.

Thank you everyone for your time and help. I will keep working at it.

Something I have noticed that got me my first lucid dreams is to, when reality checking in real life, as the check inevitably fails, never thinking about the fact that it failed and solely thinking about the check itself caused them to stop being fake reality checks in my dreams.