Hello,
since more than 6 months now I make 12+ Reality Checks each day, each one lasting a minute, including seriously asking myself if I dream, trying to convince myself THAT I dream, making 3-4 techniques (breathing with closed nose, pushing my fingers through the palms of my hands and watching at my hands / fingers) and even afterward investing further 15-20 seconds to remember why I’m here, what I did before etc.
I also meditate twice a day, 30 minutes each time, and try to be aware as often and long as possible throughout the day (that part belongs to my spiritual practice, but should enhance the daily work of lucid dreams, I assume).
Well, despite that daily work and awareness (and a dream recall pf 2-4 dreams each morning) I only remember 2 dreams where I indeed managed to make Reality Checks.
in both cases I had thoughts like „come on, that’s unreal - this MUST be a dream!“ and then made the techniques, as I do when awake.
In both cases all techniques didn’t work, they showed the same result like in awaken state. I even remember the first of those two dreams where I was totally confused afterwards and said to myself „unbelievable - I could swear that I dream!“ and repeated the breathing-with-closed-nose technique again, of course with the same result (I couldn’t breathe through the nose).
My question now is: are there people who just aren’t able to lucid dream?
How is it possible that a Reality Check inside a dream, practiced intensely and even convinced (of proving dream-state) doesnt work? In 2 dreams in a row?
And is it normal that this (2 dreams with Reality Checks) is the only meager result after over a half year with daily practice, meditation and all-day-awareness?
Thanks!
@bullwey1975 in my experience, a reality check is just one of the possible options for a "final step" before becoming lucid but not your only option (for example WILD doesn't require it, the "hands technique" doesn't require it and arguably SSILD). In other words, reality checks only work (for me at least) as the very final step - after I already entered the pre-lucid state (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-lucid_dream) using other means. During normal dreams reality checks can fail without triggering lucidity and the normal dreaming self can "think" about dreams and such without becoming lucid. It happened to me that reality tests failed in dreams (and even in waking reality) and I simply rationalised it somehow (ah, this light switch is faulty) and move on. Also, I have found that the dream renderer "learns" to produce the correct results for, at least for some reality checks, with time. For example text looks fine in my dreams now. I used to be able to try to bend my fingers backwards but last time I tried I could feel the normal pain and had to try flying - which still works. My recommendation - focus on intention and on becoming pre-lucid (which requires your critical thinking self to become present) and give wake-back-to-bed, the hands technique or SSILD a shot.
@bullwey1975 Ah, sorry, I didn't expect the whole subthread to vanish! Just in case you didn't have the time to catch what I said in my reply to your latest one, I'll repeat it here:
Thank you so much! I'll post my actual reply to your comment above in a new post a little later (and delete my previous reply now that you've edited yours 😊)!
Yeah, I already started to do so. ^^
Actually I’m also trying out a Sleep Mask while my WBTB-practice, including Bluetooth for binaural beats.
At least I made a small progress with that WBTB-approach: first time in my life I experienced the body falling asleep, at least there was a sudden sensation of falling, together with a wave of heat. Very short, not even a whole second, I guess..
After that I just must have slept away, as I can only remember that I had a funny dream afterwards (about still trying to fall asleep with that mask).
I guess I just have to practice now staying aware while the body starts to sleep.
Thanks again for your kind support!
Hello there, and welcome to the forum! Good to have you here 😊
First of all, a disclaimer: Please only see my reply here as "thinking out loud", as I'm absolutelu in no way an "expert" on this.
With that out of the way: @Saffrinian 1 has already made some good points here, but I'll add some thoughts too -- as well as a few links to videos and streams by Lucid Dream Portal / Daniel Love that I think it might be worth checking out if you haven't already done so.
First of all, I agree with Saffrinian that it sounds like you're on the right track, and to me, too, it does seem like you're very close to success. Though it could definitely also be that you are someone who will naturally have a slightly harder time with lucid dreaming than what you tend to see and hear about online (and I am in that same boat).
I'd highly recommend swapping out the "finger through palm" and "looking at your hands" tests for more reliable ones, as, like Saffrinian says, these are notoriously unreliable (one reason for this is, like Daniel Love mentions in his book, our hands are in our field of vision for so much of our day that it's likely that our hands are the part of your body that your dreaming mind can recreate the most easily and realistically). If I were you, I'd replace those with the digital watch or morphing text test.
Another thing I wanted to point out is, as Daniel Love so often says, that expectation is incredibly important. This may not be relevant to you, but I will include it here as a thought just in case: Is there a possibility that you are somehow expecting your tests to show a certain result? (For example, personally, I think I've created a subconscious expectation for myself on how the nose pinch test will play out, which in turn has made me miss out on a few lucids. I'm working hard to try to correct this.)
It sounds like you're putting a lot of work into being aware, which I think will be a major strength for you in the long term. Please keep in mind that I don't know what made you feel certain you were dreaming even though the tests you performed showed otherwise -- but, I will suggest this anyway: Perhaps it would be wise to trust your situational awareness and mindset over the results of the physical reality tests in these cases. Though, of course, obviously do not do anything that could potentially pose a danger to yourself or others unless you are absolutely 100% certain that you are indeed dreaming.
Also, I wanted to say that I agree with Saffrinian that it might be wise to focus more on the quality of the reality tests than on the quantity.
Finally, here are a few links you may want to check out if you haven't already 😊
[Livestream] Reality Tests - Do You REALLY Know How to Do Them?
[Video] Reality Checks - Why Should I Bother?
[Video] All Day Awareness (ADA)
[Video] How Easy Is Lucid Dreaming? A Zero BS Answer for Beginners
But, perhaps most importantly, I advise you to keep going, as it sounds like a lucid dream may be right around the corner for you! Good luck, and please keep us posted on your progess! 😀
I have a few possible answers for you:
First, there of course might be people out there who can’t lucid dream, but based on your experience, it sounds like you can. I think you are fairly close to success.
Next, it’s important to note that every reality test can fail, especially if you don’t have high awareness linked to it. Most people report becoming lucid without even doing a reality test, because the awareness carries over into the dream instead of the physical test. You might want to focus on quality over quantity, although it already sounds like you are. Keep in mind that the finger through palm and looking at your hand reality checks are unreliable in general.
And as for the “Is this normal?” question, there really is no set standard of normal in lucid dreaming, because of the lack in research done over the years. If you have improved over the past 6 months, there is a good chance that you are on the right track. The likely answer is that you are in the percent of people who find it harder than average to lucid dream. I think persistence is your best path forward.
However, this is my opinion, and I’m not the final word at all on what you should do differently.