Thread: This Is Weird

Well lately I've been getting more lucid dreams than usual, though they all end as soon as I realize I'm dreaming.

Anyway, last night I became aware that I was dreaming. I went to perform a reality check and I pinched my nose and tried to breathe in... and I couldn't! So I'm like "why can't I breathe in?" because I knew I was dreaming. So I close one eye and look at my nose and its there. So then I try a few more reality checks like pinching myself but none of them worked.

Then I try to run through my friend so I run into him and I fall down.

You might be saying "well why reality check if you knew you were dreaming?" but the thing is I wasn't even sure because it was so real

I've only had such a vivid lucid dream a few times, even though I ended up not doing anything.

Quite perplexing.

Something like that happened to me too. I wasn't lucid but I remember sitting on a balcony and doing my usuall Rc (nose pinch and finger through hand). I was very frustrated in the morning, finding out that I did a Rc (because of the habbit) and it acted like I was awake, I couldn't breathe through my nose so I just thought I wasn't dreaming.

Do you think this is because I got used to not being able to breathe, while my nose is pinched? Should I stop my reality checks, so I could "forget" how it feels?

no, it's probably not that you are used to it. It's more likely because you didn't really question it and it was more just doing it on instinct. Like, I know I look at my hands in dreams all the time, but only when I actually question if it 's a dream and look at my hands does it actually work.

So now when you do RCs reallllllly think about how aware you are and if you are dreaming.

Ok I'll do my best.
Thanks!

aww that takes so much more effort lol

I've started to think we should call them "reality surveys" rather than reality checks. What we want to do is survey our surroundings and try to establish whether we're dreaming or not. So instead of starting with any one check, I've been trying to start with the question "How can I tell if I'm dreaming or not?" Then the individual checks become tools that are chosen for the particular situation. This mindset has helped me to keep reality checks an active mental process, rather than an automatic set of tasks to complete. I am also learning to trust that "I think I'm dreaming" feeling more, depending less on reality checks.