Thread: Failed reality checks

Thats what I do! I always try to puch my fingers through my palm.. Now I'm worried!!!

Don't be, they've always worked for me before, but everyone has moments where they don't. The one where you hold your nose, close your mouth, and try to breath has never failed for me.

I usualy do that one when I'm not convinced I'm not dreaming.

I never had to do it before, the finger one usually works, but the dream wasn't even that vivid last night so I really didn't care. It's just that I couldn't fall asleep until 2 so I was surprised I got my REM.

always do the breathing RC. it can't fail!

Originally Posted by Blitzwing

always do the breathing RC. it can't fail!

It failed for me last night!
In the dream, I plugged my nose and tried breathing and it worked, and I got really excited. But then I realized that my mouth may have been open, so I tried it again and I couldn't breath, so I figured I wasn't dreaming. DX It was the first time that I'd ever done a reality check in a dream too! I was so disappointed. ||OTL

Originally Posted by Blitzwing

always do the breathing RC. it can't fail!

Can too if you have a stuffy nose.

Originally Posted by MadHatter17

Can too if you have a stuffy nose.

This guy has a point here.

Originally Posted by MadHatter17

Can too if you have a stuffy nose.

That's right. It happened to me. I could breath but I still had a feeling that I wasn't getting enough air. Luckily I had encountered a dream sign so I continued with other RCs that worked. Maybe it's best to do 2 or 3 different RCs.

Originally Posted by Scarhand

Don't be, they've always worked for me before, but everyone has moments where they don't. The one where you hold your nose, close your mouth, and try to breath has never failed for me.

lol I did that last night for the first time and it didnt fail.

When you RC, it's not just the physical action that's important. It's also vital that you critically consider whether or not you are dreaming.

That really worries me , i thought reality checks never failed!
Hmmm.....

Has anyone got a reality check that has never failed?

Originally Posted by 5triker

That really worries me , i thought reality checks never failed!
Hmmm.....

Has anyone got a reality check that has never failed?

The brain can make these things fail. Maybe its best to try a few just to be safe. And make them of different sorts. My last one is always to attempt to fly, which usually works if I'm dreaming.

hmmmm??? the breathing RC actually really CANT fail! you must have a strong subconsciousness, because the breathing RC is just physically logical: when youre dreaming your bodys breathing automatically and when youre closing mouth and nose while dreaming and try to breath your real body will breath...

maybe your body really wasnt breathing in that moment. did you try it for longer? how long can you hold your breath, victorybear? try do it longer than you can hold your breath...

Originally Posted by Blitzwing

hmmmm??? the breathing RC actually really CANT fail! you must have a strong subconsciousness, because the breathing RC is just physically logical: when youre dreaming your bodys breathing automatically and when youre closing mouth and nose while dreaming and try to breath your real body will breath...

maybe your body really wasnt breathing in that moment. did you try it for longer? how long can you hold your breath, victorybear? try do it longer than you can hold your breath...

Yeah, you could be right. I can usually hold my breath for about a minute or so pretty easily, and in the dream, I think I tried it for about five seconds maybe. I probably should have done more than one type of reality check in that moment though, but I wasn't really thinking clearly.

Originally Posted by Blitzwing

hmmmm??? the breathing RC actually really CANT fail! you must have a strong subconsciousness, because the breathing RC is just physically logical: when youre dreaming your bodys breathing automatically and when youre closing mouth and nose while dreaming and try to breath your real body will breath...

maybe your body really wasnt breathing in that moment. did you try it for longer? how long can you hold your breath, victorybear? try do it longer than you can hold your breath...

It's failed for me before. I'm not convinced that breathing in dreams is always directly linked to RL breathing, or that experiencing breathing at all in dreams is even necessary.

Originally Posted by Blitzwing

hmmmm??? the breathing RC actually really CANT fail!

But sure it can. If you believe you can't breath, you simply can't. I don't think there is such a thing as a perfect RC. It's important that you expect an RC to fail in a dream (reality check failing = dreaming), if you don't, it most likely won't. Mechanically repeating RCs during the day without questioning the state will probably take you nowhere. You'd just do them in dreams the same way, mechanically and pointlessly. But if you question your state when doing an RC, I think you don't even have to fully execute it when dreaming. The act of questioning your state may already be enough to become lucid.