Reality Check Fail?

Hey all, I had my 4th lucid last night, the problem was I had false awakening. However I did a reality check and became lucid again, however just to double check I was lucid (false awakening was weird) I pinched my nose and blew but it happened as it would awake (couldn't blow), then I thought to check my hands but they were normal too. So I checked them again still normal, at this point my mind automatically assumed I must be awake (even though my room was as it was about 2years ago *face palms*) and I lost my lucidity.

My question is: Has anyone else ever experienced a failed RC like this (it appeared you were awake)?

Yes. Just a few nights ago the hand RC failed me. It hadn't done that before then. >.>

That's why it's important to think while doing your reality checks. Don't just do the physical reality check; look around and ask yourself questions. How did you get there? Who are you with? Do you know those people? Do you remember waking up since the last time you went to bed (won't work for FA's, obviously)? Does everything look how it should? Did the answers you just gave make sense, or are you dreaming?

For about a week I did that type of RC consitently. Lucid dreams galore. But it does take more effort than just counting your fingers, so after awhile I stopped, and now I have less lucids.

Yes, I had an RC fail recently when it could have been very awesome.
And I always suck in through my nose, not blow :/

Yep. RC failed me about a week ago. It was even after I noticed my dream sign. Damn.

Haven't failed one yet :[

Yes I've had the EXACT same thing happen. Both the nose pinch and the hand test failed me when my brain finally learned to simulate them both. This happened in February and is all recorded in my dream journal at post #51.

Luckily a very experienced lucid dreamer on this site (spaceexplorer) advised me to get a digital watch as he's been lucid dreaming for over twenty years and has never seen digital numbers act normally in dreams. I took his advice and have been using a dig watch since Feb with great success. Occasionally a test will fail but it is because i don't pay enough attention in the dream not because the numbers appear normal. In fact, last night I was lucid and I deliberately looked at my watch in my dream not to RT as I was already lucid but simply to see the numbers going crazy. It looks so cool.

Most of my advanced lucid dreaming friends on this site use digital watches. I strongly recommend you start using one as your standard RT. I couple it with a mental RT as backup which for me is to ask where I am and if it makes sense for me to be there.

Feel free to PM me if you have questions in the future and to let me know how you go with the dig watch.

PS spaceexplorer made my avatar!

Question about the digital numbers thing: do the numbers have to be electronic, or would a long, random list of unmemorizable numbers (phone numbers, perhaps), do the trick? Since the goal is to look for number and/or letter mutations, would a fixed list keep mutating in your dreams (provided you didn't memorize the darn thing?)

Also, when you look for number/letter inconsistencies, do you watch the numbers until they change, or do you look away and look back? How long does it take for the numbers/letters to change?

Thanks!

(Please forgive me for the total thread hijack. Sorry!) :hijack:

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Originally Posted by Mario92

Question about the digital numbers thing: do the numbers have to be electronic, or would a long, random list of unmemorizable numbers (phone numbers, perhaps), do the trick? Since the goal is to look for number and/or letter mutations, would a fixed list keep mutating in your dreams (provided you didn't memorize the darn thing?)

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A long list of numbers written on a piece of paper would indeed be a reliable reality test. You don't need a digital watch, although a digital watch has the advantage of being readily accessible to view as it's right there on your wrist at all times. But figures on a piece of paper will also change in the same way electronic numbers change.

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Originally Posted by Mario92

Also, when you look for number/letter inconsistencies, do you watch the numbers until they change, or do you look away and look back?

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Usually the figures (whether they be numbers or letters and whether they be on a digital watch or a piece of paper) are changing on their own right before my eyes in a dream. They will be "rolling" quickly like a stop watch. However, in a particularly stable dream they will stay the same and only when I look away and back again will they have changed. Therefore when reality testing I always look away and back again in case I'm reality testing in a stable dream.

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Originally Posted by Mario92

How long does it take for the numbers/letters to change?

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As long as it takes to look away and back again. I only look away for 1-2 seconds when reality testing. However I will do this more than once just to make sure.

PS it wouldn't matter whether you had memorized the list of numbers/letters or not. They will still alter and change :)

Thank you so much! I'm used to carrying a pocket watch, so I often check my pockets instead of my wrist. Now I have a big list of numbers, letters, and even symbols in there. Hoping this works! :mrgreen:

The finger through the hand RC has always failed me. The looking at the hand RC started failing me so I stopped doing it. The text RC has failed me once, but I don't regularly use it anyway. the pinch/bite your tongue RC I've only used as a secondary check, but it seems reliable as that. The nose RC has been my most reliable one. The first time I used it I blew out and it failed, but every time since then I have breathed in and it's worked.

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Originally Posted by Mario92

Thank you so much!

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You're welcome. Happy lucids :)

It's good to know that I'm not alone, with the way a lot of people swear by RC's it kinda gave me the impression they're always successful, it never really occurred to me that I could simulate things that well in my dreams lol

Where would I go to get a programmable watch? I think before I get one I might try doing my reality checks differently (breathing in when pinching my nose rather than out), or doing a new one like the tongue biting.