I'm dreaming and RCing but I can't tell if I'm dreaming. Help!

Hi there, I need some help. Please bear with me.

I had a lucid dream last night, my second (hurrah!). I had to take on a new technique. I used to count my fingers, but now I ask myself, "Am I dreaming? And if so, how would I know?" and then I try to answer that. This is because in real life I don't count my fingers when with people because I look like a weirdo (rendering it not very useful in a dream where I'm often with people).

Anyway, in my dream I was out for a walk somewhere (on my own) and somehow something in the environment prompted me to ask the question and somehow I instantly knew the answer - I was dreaming. The first lucid dream had me getting so excited that I had a false awakening. This time I was calm, but even still I tried to fire a bolt of lightning out of my hand. It didn't work, and very soon things started to go grey. I was losing lucidity.

Suddenly I was awake (well, not really, it was a false awakening) and I jumped out of bed. I was in my room. Now here's the thing. I did stop to consider that I was asleep and I went around my room doing what I normally do. I take a moment to examine something and say to myself, "Now this seems perfectly normal to me, but everything seems normal in a dream, so just examine it for a bit." I even took the time to look at some taken down shelves in my room and ask myself if they were normal. I concluded they were, but of course I have no such shelves. Then I turned towards my computer and had a conversation with two people on MSN. I recall very clearly that the computer worked, but I could only see clearly one of the chat windows, and the messages didn't make a lot of sense (although I still seem to know what they were saying).

So here's the thing... my past single lucid experience was like this one. The minute I could ask myself if I was dreaming, I knew I instantly was. It's this new second bit that worries me. Being in a dream, trying to figure out if I'm dreaming and then thinking I'm not. I know you can do secondary reality checks and stuff, but I only want the mental one because it looks too weird to do some of the more unusual reality checks, especially at work which I dream about sometimes. I don't know. I'm guessing I'd like some advice from the more seasoned lucid dreamers out there. I always thought if I could just RC that would be enough, but this time it wasn't, even though I've willed myself into RCing often when I wake up (which I did in the dream).

Thanks in advance.

You could maybe try a memory-based check: Do you remember going to sleep? Do you remember waking up? What time were you supposed to wake up, and what time is it now?

Alternatively, you could try some less conspicuous physical reality checks if you're afraid of looking weird. For example, you could look at the time, bite the inside of your mouth a little to see if you feel pain normally, or try to will something to levitate or do whatever.

Overall, I wouldn't worry too much about your dreams tricking you even when you start questioning them -- unless this happens often or your dreams or very realistic, I think you should usually be able to figure out you're dreaming.

Well a very simple fix to this would be reality checking after you wake up. But you can wake up RC and then fall asleep into a false awakening. How do you stop this? You answered your own question, do another reality check. I will type up some info you can use.

I understand not wanting to look odd in public so you need something discrete. Take your left middle finger (it can be either but it is left for this example) And stick it through your left palm.
http://i790.photobucket.com/albums/y...V/IMG_1563.jpg
You don't stick your fingers up I just lifted them to get the picture.

Do this and imagine your finger getting longer and slipping through a curtain of water.

If this reality check fails the first thing most people will do is think, "ahh damn I am not dreaming yet, quickly followed by a sadface :(" But several things can happen here. 1) your RC may have failed. 2) If you tried it right after waking up you may have fallen asleep again. So what do you do without looking odd?

You should think of your main dream goal, why? Because what is the first thing you are going to want to do in your lucids? Well you will want to do your dream goals. Thinking of your dream goal after a RC will help you keep them in mind while becoming lucid.

Now you need to do another RC. A good one is looking at a digital watch memorize the time and then look back. Or you can look at your fingers and see if they look odd. This can just be a quick glance that will not draw attention.

I hope this helped :)

~Zeb

How I count fingers without drawing attention is that I tap each finger on an object, whether it's your leg or a desk or inside your jacket pocket. I actually LD'd last night due to it. I didn't tap my fingers, but moved each one as I looked at it and became lucid