Failed RCs!!!!!

Man, did I have a weird one last night.

Between the time change and working hideous hours, I've not achieved an LD in a couple (few?) weeks. I've barely even been remembering my dreams... which usually requires no effort.

I woke after three hours of sleep, stayed awake for a bit, then decided to try FILD. I had no success with that, so gave it up in favor of more traditional WILD, and it worked. (If you are interested in the experience itself, it is in my journal for April 7.) The LD was great, and I was able to accomplish a couple of the things I had determined to do the next timeI managed an LD. Then something weird happened.

I "woke" to a situation that should have been so very obviously a false awakening it was ridiculous and didn't recognize it. Not only that... but two different RCs failed!

The first was looking at my digital clock. It said 9:01. I looked away and back - 9:01. Just for good measure, I pinched my nose shut and couldn't breathe. All the while, I was in an apartment... (I don't live in an apartment,) I had slept until 9:00 in the morning, (I am up at five even when I don't have to work,) my clock LEDs were the wrong color and on and on. And had I just recognized it, the LD could have continued!

As it went, I "fell back asleep" in my dream... then really woke up.

Anybody else here have experience with failed reality checks???

I had a failed RC just a couple days ago :( I looked at a clock and it said something like 11:30, and then I looked back and it said 11:30:17. I was just like oh, must be 17 seconds into 11:30... grrr, lol.

I think the problem both of us are having is that we do our RCs mechanically. I know when I do a RC I'm not really questioning whether I'm asleep or awake very much, I'm seeing if the time changes. Really try hard to determine whether you're asleep or awake when you do your RCs, and you probably won't have this problem anymore.

- Pete

I think the thing about RC's is that we really have to be questioning whether we're dreaming or not when we perform them. If you perform an RC and expect a particular outcome, I think that is the outcome your mind will produce.

Example:
In a dream you suspect you may be dreaming. You look at clock. It's 10:15. You turn away and (without realizing it) go back to believing you're likely awake. You look back at clock, and still no change - you've lost that suspicion so your mind gave you what you would expect - the proper time.

Now, had you turned away from the clock and planned it to say 5:20 when you looked back and it DOES, then THAT would surely be a sign that you're dreaming - hence, you're controling your environment. And that's not something that could happen in real life.

The thing to do in real life RC's is to (once verified that you're awake) make up an alternative responce to your test.

Example:
You suspect you're dreaming because some dude in the street is wearing a strange hat. You do a reality check, and the check turns out to prove you're awake. You should then look back at the guy in the hat, and imagine what would happen if you HAD been in a dream. Perhaps the hat would morph into a snake and slither down his back.

Why do this? - because if the reality check fails and you look back at the guy in the hat and imagine the snake, your mind will likely not be able to help itself and PRODUCE that snake in the dream. Then you'd get your second chance at lucidity.

Thanks for the comments. There is a consistant theme... don't take an RC for granted. I am guilty, indeed.

The way I'm doing RCs is changing immediately.

Since we don't think clearly in dreams, try to make an RC that wouldn't require too much thought. Like the double or triple checking of text, for example, all you gotta look out for if the text looks at all different. If you think it does look different after the first glance, immediately assume that there's a chance of being lucid. Center yourself, and try again, chances are you'll probably be fully lucid then.

My first ever FA was a failed RC. I rarely do RCs, but when I do they fail. About a month ago, though, I did two and they both worked.