I’m not sure if this is abnormal/ an odd question, but my past few lucid dreams have been frequent, but nearly impossible to control. I’m not sure why. On top of that, I’ve been having trouble with reality checks.
last night, I had another LD where I already knew I was dreaming (I often go through my day repeating “this is all a dream” and it easily filters into my sleep, so I haven’t actually done reality checks in a while). But my dream felt different. I looked down at my hands and there was great detail sketched into them—they looked incredibly normal. but when I tried to push a finger through it, nothing happened. It was like real life. Unfortunately I didn’t have enough time to try any other reality checks to see if there was the same effect.
Has anyone else experienced this? Can it be fixed? Could it have failed because I’ve been wondering recently if RC’s could actually fail in dreams? Or do I simply need to continue doing reality checks alongside the ADA technique I use?
No reality check is 100% reliable, and there are several ways you can fail a reality check, like rushing it with critical thought, or explaining the result away. In addition, it sounds like you are using the finger-through palm reality check, which is less reliable than the nose pinch and digital clock reality checks because of the logic involved. Most people see their hands a lot every day, and often experience the solidity of their body. So, in a dream, expecting your hands to be permeable just because of belief, and not accounting for actual dream logic, like that you can breathe while closing your mouth and nose etc, is unlikely to be effective most of the time. In short, pick a more reliable reality check to work- eg. nose pinch- and don’t expect RCs to be 100% reliable (this is why it’s good to do more than one). I hope this answers your question.
i had the same experience!!!! i am new to lucid dreaming and I have only had 2. the second was the most vivid dream of my life, and my reality checks totally worked (my finger went through my palm, i bit my tongue and felt nothing, and i looked at one hand and had 8 fingers) so i was positive i was dreaming. i attemted again today (btw they were both during naps and thats the only time ive actually had any luck so i would suggest trying that) but this dream was different. i woke up with that feeling where i was positive i was dreaming, because it just felt different. i still went to do a reality check anyways, but when i went to put my finger through my palm it wouldnt go through, but it felt different so i knew i wasnt awake. i tried biting my tongue, and it hurt! i was so confused because i knew it was a dream (and now i know it was a dream for sure because when i woke up i hadn't moved a muscle from when i fell asleep). i also have a very hard time controlling my lucid dreams. i cant get anything to happen when i want it to. the current goal is to get a certain place to appear behind my door but every time i try it never works. any tips?
Finger through palm should be used more as a 'convincer' reality test for those times in a lucid dream when you need definitive proof that you are dreaming. If your finger is through your palm, I think it's safe to say you are not in the waking world lol. This reality test might become more reliable once you are more experienced and have actually done it successfully in a dream. You will know what to expect when you do it and what it actually "feels" like for your finger to go through your palm. The reason the nose pinch and digital time tests work so well is bc they rely on actual known limitations of the dream world (as opposed to somehow expecting your finger to pop right through your palm, which is really hard to imagine actually happening or how that would even look/feel lol).