Thread: 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 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.

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? :/

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

Originally Posted by Skydreamer707

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

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.

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

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

If it is real life you'll be screwed.

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!

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.