Mind too smart? reality checks are failing?

the hand reality check failed for me last night... the one where you try to push your fingers through your palm? but i somehow knew i was dreaming an i had to do something, the fact that reality check failed confused me... it was the first time i have ever done it in a dream and it failed... i was on this plain so there wasnt a clock to check, and the lucidity was so low i couldnt think straight... how do i increase lucidity? and can anyone reccomend a reality check that will NOT fail? i dont understand how it did fail... i only used it twice in real life.

this is so frustrating too, ive gotten to the point where i can tell myself before i go to sleep to have a lucid, and ill get a lucid dream where im aware but i cant keep my lucidity long enough to do anything!

Well the first thing that would come to mind is that you haven't "unlearned" the laws of waking life in your lucid dreams. At first it's very easy to know that your dreaming, and even know that impossible things are possible there, yet still be unconvinced enough for it all to not actually work out.

Next time you're in a lucid dream, think about gravity. Is there such a thing in a lucid dream? Of course not. Then why are you standing on the ground? Why do you not just float around? How can you walk, or stand, or sit? All because that's what you expect to happen. So if you want to fly, for example, just expect yourself to fly the same way you expect yourself to walk. There's no difference.

The same applies to objects. How can you feel them, or touch them? How can they keep you from going right through them? They don't exist, so again, it's just because you expect all that. But you expect to be able to move through open space, so you have no trouble there. Expect to move through objects that same way, and bingo, you go through it no problem.

In the words of a kid in the Matrix: "Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth. There is no spoon. Then you'll see that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself." Once you really grasp that, you'll have very little trouble with putting your finger through your hand...or doing any other form of dream control :)

Ok, long talk over now...check out the tutorials for reality checks and increasing lucidity, but the things that I hear work the best for everyone (and I know they work the best for me), is #1, pinch your nose and try to breath in as a reality check. Obviously, in a dream, you'll be able to breath in just fine, but in real life, you won't be able to at all. #2, rub your hands and/or spin around to increase lucidity. The sensations caused by both really pull you into the dream and make it clear and vivid, not to mention longer lasting. I hear shouting "INCREASE LUCIDITY" works too, but honestly I've never tried it.

wow i never thought of it like that! thank you. yea i just found the nose pinch rc and i remember spinning and rubbing your hands together helps lucidity...i have another question... o-o how long did it take you to discard what you expect to happen? :/

It was difficult at first. The first time I tried I walked up to a window in my LD and reminded myself that it didn't exist, then tried to run through it. I only succeeded in being knocked down :cheeky: So I took it a bit slower. I pressed my thumb up against the pane and pressed, constantly reminding myself that it didn't exist. Slowly, my thumb went through, and then my whole hand did! After that my whole arm moved in and out of it with ease. By my next lucid dream, I could move through anything effortlessly...because now I expected myself to be able to.

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Originally Posted by Skydreamer707

wow i never thought of it like that! thank you. yea i just found the nose pinch rc and i remember spinning and rubbing your hands together helps lucidity...i have another question... o-o how long did it take you to discard what you expect to happen? :/

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It depends on you... for me... well before I was introduced to Lucid Dreaming... I never had that stiff physic in me.... so it was pretty easy to believe that you can fly and etc... since I imagine them all the time... Just think to yourself.... I can fly.... there is no gravity.... dreams are YOUR world... they are what you think of the world... so if you think in your head that there is no gravity.... at least in the dream then it won't be there.... but most of the time when people think that... they dont think of ... oh crap we're going to fly into space... it's only limited to the fact that you can float...... no intention to confuse you here....

Though that's as far as there's no gravity go... if you take it to the literal definition of physic and intend to act it out... imagine that you will get sucked into space... and that's what will happen.

lol! XD i tried that once.... i got a head start and ran at a wall.... thinking itd be a good reality check (to pass through a wall) i ended up slamming into it,dying, and waking up freaked out... XD but ok... hmm.. so i have one tonight, could i try sinking into the ground? :O

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Originally Posted by Skydreamer707

ok... hmm.. so i have one tonight, could i try sinking into the ground? :O

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well of course you could, but personally I wouldn't recommend that until/unless you're really comfortable with your level of dream control. Start with something small and then build up...a window is a pretty good idea IMO, since you can already see what's on the other side. It's just going through that's the challenge, and there's not much of a chance of you getting 'stuck', either.

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Originally Posted by Skydreamer707

lol! XD i tried that once.... i got a head start and ran at a wall.... thinking itd be a good reality check (to pass through a wall) i ended up slamming into it,dying, and waking up freaked out... XD but ok... hmm.. so i have one tonight, could i try sinking into the ground? :O

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I don't recommend running into a wall as a reality check! LOL

If it is real life you'll be screwed. :panic:

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Originally Posted by jarrhead

I don't recommend running into a wall as a reality check! LOL

If it is real life you'll be screwed. :panic:

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Rofl.

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Originally Posted by jarrhead

I don't recommend running into a wall as a reality check! LOL

If it is real life you'll be screwed. :panic:

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I seriously LOL'd at that :D

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Originally Posted by LiveInTheDream

I seriously LOL'd at that :D

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me two hilarity aside

You RC in dreams because you RC in real life..... but then again if you RC when you're awake, no matter the method, you'll remember to RC in dream, and there you can choose to run into the wall.

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Originally Posted by jarrhead

I don't recommend running into a wall as a reality check! LOL

If it is real life you'll be screwed. :panic:

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Roflmao!

For a reality check you can do anywhere, try just thinking back. Where were you before you were here, and how did you get here?

Think about this throughout the day, and hopefully it will work its way into your dreams.

if you are serious about lucid dreaming reality checks should become a daily part of your life. i apologize for not reading the above posts so i might be a bit redundant.

the only good reality check in my very humble (and experienced) opinion is the simple covering your nose with your hand and shutting your mouth and trying to breathe. This works every time for me. Do it during the day every so often whenever something strange happens or you have a sudden change in anything.

as i say in tons of other posts.. just try to be more aware in waking life, and it will carry over to dream life. the reason i love lucid dreaming so much is because its given me a better view of the real world, kind of funny how that happens. good luck.

LiveInTheDream is correct - but there is also a problem.

What he is suggesting is a fairly hard to learn technique called forced, or active dream control.

It's a good concept, and when you get it right, it usually works. However, there is a problem. When you force your dreams to do something, you essentially separate yourself from your dreams, an lose the immersive experience that they give you. The fun of a dream is being able to get lost inside of your own world. Not to take it, and mold it like play dough.

Forced control should only be used when there is not better alternative.

Instead, try using passive control. It is much easier to use, and will produce higher quality dreams.

Here is a tutorial.

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Originally Posted by Skydreamer707

the hand reality check failed for me last night... the one where you try to push your fingers through your palm? but i somehow knew i was dreaming an i had to do something, the fact that reality check failed confused me... it was the first time i have ever done it in a dream and it failed... i was on this plain so there wasnt a clock to check, and the lucidity was so low i couldnt think straight... how do i increase lucidity? and can anyone reccomend a reality check that will NOT fail? i dont understand how it did fail... i only used it twice in real life.

this is so frustrating too, ive gotten to the point where i can tell myself before i go to sleep to have a lucid, and ill get a lucid dream where im aware but i cant keep my lucidity long enough to do anything!

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The finger through palm is a crappy reality check IMO. A more effective one would be the nose plug RC, or perhaps the watch RC.

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Originally Posted by Noogah

LiveInTheDream is correct - but there is also a problem.

What he is suggesting is a fairly hard to learn technique called forced, or active dream control.

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Right; I kinda forgot to mention that. :cheeky: But IMO, the expectation thing is what drives all forms of dream control, even in non-lucid dreams. If you want to use the 'passive control' approach, you're still relying on the fact that you expect it to work; doing it passively just stretches/bends your mind and the dream world a good deal less.

I should have clarified that instead of just mixing it in with my own experience of forced control...good catch, Noogah :)